Introduction: The contemporary reconfiguring of social theory and cultural politics

Part I. Resisting Difference: The Malaise of the Human Sciences: 1. The political unconscious of the human sciences

2. The end of sociological theory

3. Relativizing sociology: the challenge of cultural studies

4. The refusal of sexual difference: queering sociology 5. Difference troubles: the flight of sociology from 'otherness'

Part II. Between Identity and Difference: From Lesbian and Gay to Queer Theory: 6. Identity and politics in a 'postmodern' gay culture

7. Deconstructing queer theory or some difficulties in a theory and politics of difference

Part III. Democratic Prospects: The Politics of Knowledge and Identity: 8. Transfiguring sexual identity: aids and the cultural politics of sexuality and homosexuality

9. From gay ethnicity to queer politics: the renewal of gay radicalism in the United States

10. Postmodern anxiety: the politics of epistemology

11. The politics of sexual difference in late twentieth century America

12. Difference and democracy: group recognition and the political cultures of the United States, Holland, and France

Epilogue: pragmatism, difference and a culture of strong democracy.