Social theory

This book provides an overview and analysis of the thought of figures across the human and social sciences on the character, causes, and consequences of discontent in modern societies.

Originally published in 1895, this title provides fascinating insights into the development of socialism in the decades prior to the explosion of 20th century socialist revolutions.

How can we rethink ideas of policy failure to consider its paradoxes and contradictions as a starting point for more hopeful democratic encounters?

This book examines the largely-neglected shift in Max Weber's work from political economy to economic sociology.

Although Marx's concept of ideology has been a subject of considerable discussion, much of the debate has proved to be rather disappointing.

Southern social movements have played an important role in shaping world history and politics.

Progresses in Ammonia: Science, Technology and Membranes: Decomposition considers the membrane technology for improving ammonia decomposition.

Normativity and Naturalism in the Social Sciences engages with a central debate within the philosophy of social science: whether social scientific explanation necessitates an appeal to norms, and if so, whether appeals to normativity can be rendered "e;scientific.

Tavistock Press was established as a co-operative venture between the Tavistock Institute and Routledge & Kegan Paul (RKP) in the 1950s to produce a series of major contributions across the social sciences.

The Routledge International Handbook of Valuation and Society builds on the growing research interest in practices of valuation throughout contemporary society, providing an up-to-date overview of the different facets of research in the sociology of valuation.

This book presents, for the first time in the English language, Marcel Gauchet's interpretation of the challenges faced by contemporary Western societies as a result of the crisis of liberal democratic politics and the growing influence of populism.

First published in 1981, Values in Social Policy provides a means towards understanding the conflicts, contradictions and uncertainties involved in working in a welfare state.

This book examines the relationship between critical realism and Marxism.

China has experienced radical societal change since the initiation of the reform and openness programme in 1978.

Deploying a distinctive disaggregative approach to the study of 'religion', this volume shows that spiritual movements with extensive counterfactual beliefs have been much more creative than one might expect.

This edited collection focuses on global migration in its inter-regional, international and transnational variants, and argues that contemporary migration scholarship is significantly advanced both within anthropology and beyond it when ethnography is theoretically engaged to grapple with the social consequences and asymmetries of twenty-first century capitalism's global modalities.

'One may state Dilthey's significance in most general fashion by characterizing his work as the first thorough-going and sophisticated confrontation of history with positivism and natural science.

Crowds in the 21st Century presents the latest theory and research on crowd events and crowd behaviour from across a range of social sciences, including psychology, sociology, law, and communication studies.

Das Buch zeigt auf, wie sehr Europa in den letzten Jahrzehnten auf dem Weg zu einer immer engeren Union der Bürgerinnen und Bürger vorangekommen ist.

Winner of the 2022 Gradiva(R) Award for Best Edited Book!

Humanistic theory for more than the past 100 years is marked by extensive attention to practice and practices.

This book provides a reimagining of how Western law and legal theory structures the human-earth relationship.

Drawing on international comparisons of data on happiness, this book offers both general and academic audiences a simple, deep, and honest answer to the timeless question: "e;What makes people happy"e;?

This book highlights the importance of employing imaginative sensibilities to thinking and action in social work and social policy practice.

This book synthesises several decades of research to extend beyond the limitations of a traditional functionalist model, offering a twenty-first century theory of professions and professionalism for a new generation engaging in theorising and research.

In this lively and entertaining book, Gordon Marshall explores ten classic studies of British society to demonstrate the valuable qualities of British sociology, and its importance for understanding contemporary society.

The work of Michel Foucault, one of the most influential of modern French social theorists and philosophers, has had a dramatic and far-reaching effect on many disciplines.

Disenchantment is a key term in the self-understanding of modernity.

This powerful book explicates the many ways in which colonial encounters continue to shape forced migration, ever evolving with times and various geographical contexts.

Today, it often seems as though Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ARTs) have reached a stage of normalization, at least in some countries and among certain social groups.

Media studies needs richer and livelier intellectual resources.

Adopting a conversation analytic approach informed by ethnomethodology, this book examines the process of socialization as it takes place within everyday parent-child interactions.

In what is the first sustained analysis of Marx's attitude to the puzzle of the individual in history and society, this book, first published in 1990, challenges received views on the importance of class analysis and the place of a theory of human nature in Marx's thought.

The transformation of the human sciences into the social sciences in the third part of the 19th century was closely related to attempts to develop and implement methods for dealing with social tensions and the rationalization of society.

Taking inspiration from the classic text by Raymond Williams, Keywords in Criminology reflects on the language used by criminologists and offers a one stop guide to core concepts in the discipline.

This thoughtful examination of incarceration in the United States from the 1980s to the current time offers for consideration a transparent and humane correctional model for the future.

How do academic social scientists and survey professionals use social measurement techniques?

This book, first published in 1913, examines early twentieth century thinking on crowds and human nature.

This book advances a counter-intuitive thesis: modern attacks on the global ecological balance are exclusively the result of processes of social domination, whether they are based on class, gender or nation.

Long-running trends towards increasing inequality between the rich and poor across Europe have been exacerbated by the 2008 global financial crisis and its aftermath.

Democracy as Creative Practice: Weaving a Culture of Civic Life offers arts-based solutions to the threats to democracies around the world, practices that can foster more just and equitable societies.

Niklas Luhmann offers an accessible introduction to one of the most important sociologists of our time.

The nature of the contemporary global political economy and the significance of the current crisis are a matter of wide-ranging intellectual and political debate, which has contributed to a revival of interest in Marx's critique of political economy.

A Primer in Theory Construction is for those who have already studied one or more of the social, behavioral, or natural sciences, but have no formal introduction to the way theories are constructed, stated, tested, and connected together to form a scientific body of knowledge.

First published in 1989, this Routledge Revival is a major collection of essays on the competing traditions of social and political theory.

This book brings together some of the world''s leading writers to engage with the most profound question in penology: why prison?

What is Europe?