On the disorder of things: sociology, postmodernity and the 'end of the social'

The feasibility, relevance and value of modern sociology is in question in a number of analyses which have identified possible limits to the project of modernity. Through a discussion of the works of a number of theorists, consideration is given to (i) the effect of transformations of modernity upon sociology and (ii) the question of postmodernity and sociology. Although a preoccupation with the state of the discipline is longstanding, the current debate over modernity and postmodernity raises a number of fundamental issues for sociological investigation.