This book is dedicated to the discussion of key problems in the foundations of contemporary social-scientific theory. It deals with central topics of sociological thinking, primarily the concepts of social action, actors, social roles, institutions, structures, functions, and systems. Attention is focused on fundamental contradictions and dilemmas in these categories, whose solution is related to terms such as critical eclecticism and reconfigurationism. This approach is rooted in the conception of sociology as a science of social processes. Despite dealing mainly with abstract theoretical problems, the book's argument is clear, accessible, and understandable.