Social theory

This book examines a range of critical concepts that are central to a shift in the social sciences toward "e;pragmatic inquiry,"e; reflecting a twenty-first century concern with particular problems and themes rather than grand theory.

In the 2000 national elections, $100 million was spent on campaign polling alone.

The ongoing neoliberalisation of education is complex, varied and relentless.

An experienced teacher of courses on the sociology of the family, D.

Active at the time when the social sciences were founded, Max Weber's social theory contributed significantly to a wide range of fields and disciplines.

Drawing on a range of data from across disciplines, this book explores a series of fundamental questions surrounding the nature, working and effects of democracy, considering the reasons for the emergence and spread of democratic government, the conditions under which it endures or collapses - and the role of wealth in this process - and the peaceful nature of dealings between democracies.

This book poses spatial violence as a constitutive dimension of architecture and its epistemologies, as well as a method for theoretical and historical inquiry intrinsic to architecture; and thereby offers an alternative to predominant readings of spatial violence as a topic, event, fact, or other empirical form that may be illustrated by architecture.

This ground breaking work explores the genealogical analysis of the discourses of reflection.

By examining intercultural relations in seventeen societies, this book answers the fundamental question: ''how shall we all live together?

Lisa McCormick considers the history of classical music competitions and their role in society today by examining highlights and controversies.

This primer isthe first introductory guide to the work of Max Weber designedspecifically for students and those new to his work, providing a readable, clear, comprehensive andauthoritative overview.

The analysis of social and public policy and professional practice has become increasingly theoretical in recent years.

The second edition of this seminal work includes the original text, first published in 1974, alongside two major new chapters.

Proposes a new approach to causal analysis in international relations by exploring the concept''s roots and uses in the field.

This book explores the inter-relationship between religious groups and wider society and examines the way religious groups change in relation to societal norms, potentially to the point of undergoing processes of 'internal secularisation' within secular and secularist cultures.

This timely and fascinating feminist ethnography is the first of its kind to focus on commercial surrogacy workers in Russia and from other countries of the former Soviet Union.

Since the early 1960s, the internationally acclaimed and highly distinguished Swedish geographer Gunnar Olsson has made substantial contributions to his own discipline.

Britain is no longer the sole organizing centre for cultural studies.

This book explores the metaphysics of political communities.

Two waves of interviews with management and workers demonstrate how the Lactation at Work Law made substantial changes within organizations.

This book covers key issues related to comprehensive reform in China in a broad range of areas, such as the economy, politics, culture, social management, the environment and CPC Party building.

This book examines Rousseau's conception of freedom and its significance for our modern technological world.

Zygmunt Bauman's 'liquid sociology' confronts the awesome task of reminding individual men and women that an alternative way of living together is within our eminent capabilities, if only we start to think differently about our world.

This book was shortlisted for the 2015 BSA Philip Abrams Memorial Prize.

This book argues that contemporary European politics creates new forms oftransnational power that challenge the traditional parameters of the nation-state.

This title was first published in 2000.

Rethinking Class and Social Difference brings together contributions from scholars developing new social scientific and theoretical approaches to a wide range of differing forms of social difference and inequality, especially as they are rooted in and informed by the political economy of capitalism.

This thoroughly revised and updated edition of Fashion Theory: A Reader brings together and presents a wide range of essays on fashion theory that will engage and inform both the general reader and the specialist student of fashion.

Political protest and social movements are ubiquitous phenomena.

Bourdieu's theory of social fields is one of his key contributions to social sciences and humanities.

Globalization and Social Change takes a refreshing new perspective on globalization and widening social and spatial inequalities.

This book argues that modern governance is performed by actors who seek social change epistemically, by drawing on widespread, public views of reality.

Transgression is truly a key idea for our time.

Guilt is the dark force behind haunting anxiety, obsessive-compulsive behaviour, life meaninglessness, and depression - a force to be kept in check.

The Giddens phenomenon has been one of the most obvious and talked about features of world sociology since the late 1960's.

Arguing that the politics of democracy is inseparable from a notion of dialogue that emerges from conflicting and often traumatic memories, Democracy, Dialogue, Memory examines the importance of dialogue for the achievement of understanding in civil society rather than consensus, so that democratic participation and inclusion can be strengthened.

First published in 1985, this book provides a comprehensive reappraisal of the diverse Communist development strategies that shaped the twentieth century.

Globalisation is heavily dependent on physical transport, as people and goods travel over longer distances and with higher frequency.

This book demonstrates how horse breeding is entwined with human societies and identities.

This volume addresses the perceived gap between symbolic interaction and ethnomusicological approaches to the study of music.

Has evolution made men promiscuous skirt chasers?

Extensively revised, the second edition of Geographies of Postcolonialism introduces the principal themes and theories related to postcolonialism.

In contrast to other figures generated within social theory for thinking about outsiders, such as Rene Girard's 'scapegoat' and Zygmunt Bauman's 'stranger', Foucault's Monsters and the Challenge of Law suggests that the figure of 'the monster' offers greater analytical precision and explanatory power in relation to understanding the processes whereby outsiders are constituted.

Is modernity being replaced by an opposite culture of postmodernity, or is postmodernism simply an internal critique of modernist culture?

Any serious attempt to explain social life has to come to terms with sociology's positivist legacy.

The oft-used phrase ‘Money makes the world go round’ not only highlights the purely economic nature of money but also underscores its significant implications for politics, society, and humanity.

This book, first published in 1987, sets out to examine and extend our understanding of Australian popular culture, and to counter the long-established, traditional criticism bewailing its lack.