In Southern Theory Raewyn Connell presents the case for a
new 'world social science' - one that is inclusive of many
voices - by arguing for a more democratic global recognition of
social theory from societies outside the dominant European and
North American metropole.

Intellectual production of the majority 'southern' world
does in fact include theory, though its contribution is often
marginalised and intellectually discredited by the metropole.
Connell shows how social theory about the modern world from
peripheral societies is equal in intellectual rigour and is often
of greater political relevance to our changing world.

Beginning with an examination of the hidden assumptions of
modern general theory, Southern Theory looks to the
'southern' social experience and the theories that have
emerged from Australia, Indigenous peoples, Latin America, India,
Africa, Islam and other post-colonial societies, as sources of
important and vital contributions to world social science. These
myriad theories offer valuable perspectives so crucial to the
application of social theory in the contemporary world, having the
power to transform the influence of the metropolitan hegemony on
social thought by mutual regard and interaction.

Southern Theory is a major new work in social theory,
drawing on anthropology, history, psychology, philosophy, economics
and cultural studies, with wide-ranging implications for the social
sciences in the 21st century.