"Across the humanities and social sciences, debate is currently focusing on how to rebuild theory and criticism in the wake of postmodernism. In this timely and original book leading international scholars address the key questions posed by the postmodernist challenge." "This interdisciplinary text provides a wide-ranging overview of different responses to such dilemmas and thus examines ways to reconstruct social theory and critique following the postmodern attack on the traditional foundations of knowledge."--Jacket.