[anticlimacus]

Just for fun...

In terms of impact, breadth, novelty, and personal liking...Here is my top five:

1. Karl Marx
2. Max Weber
3. Pierre Bourdieu
4. Niklas Luhmann
5. Jurgen Habermas

What's yours?

[The Clockwork Rat]

I'm not quite so fond of Weber as yourself. I'd probably stick Foucault in there, though whether he counts as a sociologist or not is another matter.

[anticlimacus]

Sure he does...where would you put Foucault?

[The Clockwork Rat]

I'm not into the Buzzfeed listing trend, but I don't know who Luhmann is so he'd be out. Honestly, I'm one of those sociology graduates who does enough to get the grades but forgets all the names and shit. I was terrible at utilising specific sociologists' theories in my essays and tended to just ramble on until I needed to make a point.

[anticlimacus]

Well, you're not alone concerning Luhmann. He's much more widely known in Europe, particularly Germany. But he is increasingly becoming more well known. He first became famous due to a debate with Habermas in the early seventies. He later became known on his own merit. However, like Parsons, he's also terribly abstract and difficult to understand, which gives the temptation to simply ignore him, like many do.

Nevertheless, his theory of functional differentiation, in my opinion, is enough to warrant some significant consideration.

And at least you are one of "those" sociology graduates...I never formally studied it. I studied theology, unfortunately. Sociology became an interest after graduate school...and now...well...I wish I too was one of those graduates, at the very least

[Paradigm]

In terms of personal preference:

1. Bruno Latour
2. Jurgen Habermas
3. Pierre Bordieu
4. Karl Marx
5. Michel Foucault