Social theory Books

Book SynopsisThe COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for individuals, societies, and economies around the world. But it has also presented opportunities for growth and improvement in various domains. In this book, Dr. Saeed Siyal, an expert in management science, provides a comprehensive explanation for why pandemics and similar crises are both detrimental and simultaneously prompt long-needed change. Through a thorough analysis of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Saeed Siyal explores the ways in which it has forced individuals, organizations, and governments to adapt and find new solutions to the problems we face, many of which were exacerbated by the crisis. Using Crises and Disasters as Opportunities for Innovation and Improvement covers a range of topics, including healthcare, remote work, education, environment, and social connections, and provides evidence-based insights and practical solutions for adapting to the challenges and opportunities of COVID-19. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in advancing the standards of their organizations and making a positive impact on society. It is designed for managers, leaders, corporate sectors, MNCs, SMEs, academicians, and policymakers.

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Book SynopsisSouthern Theory presents the case for a radical re-thinking of social science and its relationships to knowledge, power and democracy on a world scale.Mainstream social science pictures the world as understood by the educated and affluent in Europe and North America. From Weber and Keynes to Friedman and Foucault, theorists from the global North dominate the imagination of social scientists, and the reading lists of students, all over the world. For most of modern history, the majority world has served social science only as a data mine.Yet the global South does produce knowledge and understanding of society. Through vivid accounts of critics and theorists, Raewyn Connell shows how social theory from the world periphery has power and relevance for understanding our changing world from al-Afghani at the dawn of modern social science, to Raul Prebisch in industrialising Latin America, Ali Shariati in revolutionary Iran, Paulin Hountondji in post-colonial Benin, Veena Das and Ashis Nandy in contemporary India, and many others.With clarity and verve, Southern Theory introduces readers to texts, ideas and debates that have emerged from Australia''s Indigenous people, from Africa, Latin America, south and south-west Asia. It deals with modernisation, gender, race, class, cultural domination, neoliberalism, violence, trade, religion, identity, land, and the structure of knowledge itself.Southern Theory shows how this tremendous resource has been disregarded by mainstream social science. It explores the challenges of doing theory in the periphery, and considers the role Southern perspectives should have in a globally connected system of knowledge. Southern Theory draws on sociology, anthropology, history, psychology, economics, philosophy and cultural studies, with wide-ranging implications for social science in the 21st century.

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Book SynopsisOur culture is one that speaks rather than listens. From reality TV to political rallies, there is a clamour to be heard, to narrate, and to receive attention. It reduces 'reality' to revelation and voyeurism. The Art of Listening argues that this way of life is having severe and damaging consequences in a world that is increasingly globalized and interconnected. It addresses the question: how can we listen more carefully? Social and cultural theory is combined with real stories from the experiences of the desperate stowaways who hide in the undercarriages of jet planes in order to seek asylum, to the young working-class people who use tattooing to commemorate a lost love. The Art of Listening shows how sociology is in a unique position to record 'life passed in living' and to listen to complex experiences with humility and ethical care, providing a resource to understand the contemporary world while pointing to the possibility of a different kind of future. 'This is a wise and human piece of writing, concerned to break out of sociology's academic straitjacket and speak to a wider audience...If anything can recover the somewhat tarnished reputation of sociology amongst the general public, then it is a book like this. ' New Humanist 'The Art of Listening is a rare book in its commitment to vitalize an ethical, global sociology for the twenty-first century. Students are encouraging their parents to read it. Everyone needs this book -- especially jaded academics.' Sanjay Sharma, British Journal of SociologyTrade ReviewThis is a wise and humane piece of writing, concerned to break out of sociology's academic straitjacket and speak to a wide audience. Stuart Sim, New Humanist The Art of Listening is a rare book in its commitment to vitalize an ethical, global sociology for the twenty-first century. Students are encouraging their parents to read it. Everyone needs this book -- especially jaded academics. Sanjay Sharma, British Journal of Sociology A sparkling, thought-provoking book that challenges many of our assumptions as researchers and students David Bissell, University of Brighton Back has shown us how to produce an applied sociology to examine the everyday and see how it is actually constructed. Andy T. Hanson, Lancaster University His book provides clear examples of his principles that should be interesting and useful to those of us who work in communities. Michele Sexton, Community DevelopmentTable of ContentsSpeaking of Remarkable Things * Lines of Hate, Colours of Memory * Falling From the Sky * Concrete Screens and the Urban Uncanny * Listening with our Eyes * Inscriptions of Love * Curiosity at its Limit * Conclusion: Shelf Life * Postscript: Dancing and Wrestling with Scholarship

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Book SynopsisAt the heart of Stripping, Sex, and Popular Culture lies a very personal story, of author Catherine Roach's response to the decision of her life-long best friend to become an exotic dancer. Catherine and Marie grew up together in Canada and moved to the USA to enroll in PhD programs at prestigious universities. For various reasons, Marie left her program and instead chose to work as a stripper. The author, at first troubled and yet fascinated by her friend's decision, follows Marie's journey into the world of stripping as an observer and analyst. She finds that this world raises complex questions about gender, sexuality, fantasy, feminism, and even spirituality. Moving from first hand interviews with dancers and others, the book broadens into a provocative and accessible examination of the current popularity of "striptease culture," with sex-saturated media imagery, thongs gone mainstream, and stripper aerobics at your local gym. Stripping, Sex, and Popular Culture scrutinizes the naked truth of a lucrative industry whose norms are increasingly at the center of contemporary society.Trade Review[Roach] neither oversimplifies nor romanticizes stripping... What makes Roach's book different is her intensely personal concern about the ramifications of stripping... she puts real faces on abstract theories. Recommended. * CHOICE *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Marie/Foxy Part I. The Strip Club 1. Stripping: Demeaning and/or Empowering? 2. The Work of A Stripper: Six-inch Heels and Pole Tricks 3. 'A Lot of Guys Just Want to Talk' and (Other) Reality Costs of Stripping 4. Where Fantasy Becomes Reality Part II. Stripping and Popular Culture 5. Striptease Culture: Thongs for Everywoman 6. Strippers, Whores, and Sluts: 'Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics' 7. At the Feet of the Goddess: Stripping, Sex, and Spirituality Conclusion: Take It Off!

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Book SynopsisGlobalization and consumerism are two of the buzzwords of the early twenty-first century. In Consuming Cultures, renowned scholars explore the links between modernity and consumption. The book fills a gap in contemporary thinking on the subject by approaching it from a truly global point-of-view. It draws on case studies from around the world, with Africa, Asia and Central America featuring as prominently as Western countries. A transnational perspective allows the authors to investigate the diversity of consumer cultures and the interaction between them. The authors look at the genealogy of the modern consumer and the development of consumer cultures, from the porcelain trade and consumption in Britain and China in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, to post Second World War developments in America and Japan, and the contemporary consumer politics of cosmopolitan citizenship. Challenging and pioneering, Consuming Cultures problematizes popular accounts of globalization and consumerism, decentring the West and concentrating on putting history back into these accounts.Trade Review'We may live today in a global consumer society, but until Brewer and Trentmann's important book the study of consumption remained tied to narrowly defined times and places. They offer us an enticing feast of new insights spanning East and West, North and South, past and present, consuming and resisting. Indulge yourself!' Lizabeth Cohen, Harvard University and author of A Consumers' Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America'There may be lots of books on consumption, but very few of them reach anywhere close to the novelty and verve of this book. By concentrating on the multiple histories and geographies of the world of goods, the editors have produced a collection in which consumer objects speak back to us in all their density of use and meaning. A vital text.' Nigel Thrift, University of Oxford'Genuinely international and cross-disciplinary perspectives are promised and delivered.'Economic History Review'This edited book is a contribution to theTable of Contents1. The Modern Evolution of the Consumer: Meanings, Knowledge, and Identities Before the Age of Affluence Frank Trentmann, Birkbeck College 2. Brand Management and the Productivity of Consumption Adam Arvidsson, University of Copenhagen 3. On the Movement of Porcelains: Rethinking the Birth of the Consumer Society as Interactions of Exchange Networks, China and Britain, 1600-1750 Robert Batchelor, Georgia Southern University 4. Consumer Culture and Extractive Industry on the Margins of the World System Richard Wilk, Indiana University 5. 'Flowers of Paradise' or 'Polluting of the Nation'? Contested Narratives of Khat Consumption David Anderson and Neil Carrier, Oxford University 6. Chewing Gum: American Taste and the 'Shadowlands' of the Yukatan Michael Redclift, Kings College London 7. Japan's Post-war 'Consumer Revolution,' or Striking a 'Balance' between Consumption and Saving Sheldon Garon, Princeton University 8. Trust, Food and Contestation: From the Buying Nothing Day to Fair Trade Goods Roberta Sassatelli, University of East Anglia and University of Bologna 9. Renegotiating the Social Contract in Post-War Europe: The American Marshall Plan and Consumer Democracy Sheryl Kroen, University of Florida 10. Emerging Global Water Welfarism: Access to Water, Unruly Consumers and Transnational Governance Bronwen Morgan, University of Bristol

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Book SynopsisWe constantly hear about 'the consumer'. The 'consumer' has become a ubiquitous person in public discourse and academic research, but who is this person? The Making of the Consumer is the first interdisciplinary study that follows the evolution of the consumer in the modern world, ranging from imperial Britain to contemporary Papua New Guinea, and from the European Union to China. It makes a novel contribution by broadening the study of consumption from a focus on goods and symbols to the changing role and identity of consumers. Offering a historically informed picture of the rise of the consumer to its current prominence, authors discuss the consumer in relation to citizenship and ethics, law and economics, media, work and retailing.Contributors include:Donald Winch (University of Sussex)Frank Trentmann (Birkbeck College, University of London)Vanessa Taylor (Birkbeck College, University of London)Marie-Emmanuelle Chessel (CNRS: Centre de Recherches Historiques, cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris)Michelle Everson (Birkbeck College, University of London)Erika Rappaport (University of California, Santa Barbara)Uwe Spiekermann (Georg-August University, Gttingen)Jos Gamble (Royal Holloway University)Stephen Kline (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada)Frank Mort (University of Manchester)Ina Merkel (Philipps-Universitt, Marburg, Germany)James G. Carrier (Indiana University and Oxford Brookes University)Ben Fine (SOAS: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London)Trade Review'At a time when it has become commonplace to accept 'the consumer' as a timeless and neutral concept, it is vital to question just when, where and how this particular figure appeared. An exciting and important collection that leads consumption studies forward into new territory, this book offers highly relevant and engaged social science which will have a broad appeal.'Professor Richard Wilk, Gender Studies and Anthropology, Indiana University, USA'Epitomizes the maturity reached by consumer studies. Framed by a far-reaching introduction, the wide-ranging and original essays develop a much-needed genealogical approach to the development of the consumer as a contested social figure embedded both in everyday life and in commercial and public knowledge.'Dr. Roberta Sassatelli, Department of Communication Studies, University of Bologna, Italy'This bracing collection arrives at a crucial moment in the development of consumption studies. It demonstrates the benefits and tensions tTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Knowing Consumers: Histories, Identities, Practices: An Introduction Frank Trentmann (Birkbeck College, University of London) Part One Defining Consumers: Consumers in Economics, Law and Civil Society 2. The Problematic Status of the Consumer in Orthodox Economic Thought Donald Winch (University of Sussex) 3. From Users to Consumers: Water Politics in Nineteenth-Century London Frank Trentmann (Birkbeck College, University of London) and Vanessa Taylor (Birkbeck College, University of London) 4. Women and the Ethics of Consumption in France at the Turn of the Twentieth Century Marie-Emmanuelle Chessel (CNRS: Centre de Recherches Historiques, cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, France) 5. Legal Constructions of the Consumer Michelle Everson (Birkbeck College, University of London) Part Two Commercial Relations: Retailers, Experts, and the Contested Consumer 6. Packaging China: Foreign Articles and Dangerous Tastes in the Mid-Victorian Tea Party Erika Rappaport (University of California, Santa Barbara) 7. From Neighbour to Consumer: The Transformation of Retailer-Consumer Relationships in Twentieth-Century Germany Uwe Spiekermann (Georg-August University, Goettingen) 8. Consumers with Chinese Characteristics? Local Customers in British and Japanese Multinational Stores in Contemporary China Jos Gamble (Royal Holloway University) 9. A Becoming Subject: Consumer Socialization in the Mediated Marketplace Stephen Kline (Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada) Part Three Reframing Consumers and Consumption: Contemporary Culture and Political Economy 10. Competing Domains: Democratic Subjects and Consuming Subjects in Britain and the United States since 1945 Frank Mort (University of Manchester) 11. From Stigma to Cult: Changing Meanings in East German Consumer Culture Ina Merkel (Philipps-Universitt, Marburg, Germany) 12. The Limits of Culture: Political Economy and the Anthropology of Consumption James G. Carrier (Indiana University and Oxford Brookes University) 13. Addressing the Consumer Ben Fine (SOAS: School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London) Index

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Book SynopsisExtreme metal--one step beyond heavy metal--can appear bizarre or terrifying to the uninitiated. Extreme metal musicians have developed an often impenetrable sound that teeters on the edge of screaming, incomprehensible noise. Extreme metal circulates on the edge of mainstream culture within the confines of an obscure 'scene', in which members explore dangerous themes such as death, war and the occult, sometimes embracing violence, neo-fascism and Satanism. In the first book-length study of extreme metal, Keith Kahn-Harris draws on first-hand research to explore the global extreme metal scene. He shows how the scene is a space in which members creatively explore destructive themes, but also a space in which members experience the everyday pleasures of community and friendship.Including interviews with band members and fans, from countries ranging from the UK and US to Israel and Sweden, Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge demonstrates the power and subtlety of an often surprising and misunderstood musical form.Trade ReviewThis fascinating book... provides real insights into the margins of our culture. Times Higher Education Supplement Sharp, engaging, and staggeringly comprehensive. Extreme Metal is a must-read for metal fans and anyone interested in the study of popular music and subcultural politics in a globalizing age. -- Sam Dunn, Co-Director, Metal: A Headbanger's Journey Although its a thorough work of sociological research, looking at how scenes work differently in different countries, as well as what unites them, delving into the close-knit interactions and often isolationist perspectives that accommodate each other so uniquely and much more, anyone involved in the metal scene can recognise their own relationship with extreme metal in the book, as well as understand the bigger picture. Neuro/Vision Extra: Extreme Metal As the first book-length academic study of extreme metal music and culture, Kahn-Harris's Extreme Metal is an important - and overdue - contribution to scholarship in this field. Perfect BeatTable of Contents* Introduction: From Heavy Metal to Extreme Metal * Chapter One: The Extreme Metal Scene * Chapter Two: The Scene and Transgression * Chapter Three: Experiencing the Scene * Chapter Four: Capital, Power, Infrastructure * Chapter Five: Comparing Extreme Metal Scenes * Chapter Six: Extreme Metal and Subcultural Capital * Chapter Seven: Reflexivity, Music and Politics * Chapter Eight: The Scene and Modernity * Appendix: Details of Quoted Interviewees

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Book SynopsisFashion is bound up with promoting the 'new', concerned with constantly changing aesthetics. The favoured styles or looks of a season arise out of the work of a vast range of different actors who collectively produce, select, distribute and promote the new ideals, before moving on to next season. How, then, are fashionable commodities stabilized long enough for them to be selected, distributed and sold? Since there are few studies that actually examine the work that goes on inside the world of fashion, we know little about these processes. This book addresses this gap in our knowledge by examining how aesthetic products are defined, distributed and valued. It focuses attention on the work of some of the market agents, particularly model agents or 'bookers' and fashion buyers, shaping the aesthetics inside their markets. In analysing their work, Entwistle develops a theoretical framework for understanding the distinctive features of aesthetic marketplaces and the aesthetic calculations within them.Trade Review'This is a major book and a highly significant contribution to our understanding of how specific features of the fashion economy operate. Drawing on fascinating field work in a well-known department store and also in fashion model agencies, Entwistle uses the new sociology of markets and of actor networks to analyse the calculative practices which underpin the production of fashion worlds and their objects. This book has great originality and depth, and will be used across a range of academic disciplines.'Angela McRobbie, Goldsmiths, University of LondonTable of Contents1. Introduction Part One: Understanding aesthetic markets 2. An aesthetic marketplace: assembling 'economy' and 'culture' 3. The aesthetic economy: the production of value in the field of fashion modelling Part Two: Fashion buying: a case study 4. A brief introduction to the fieldwork 5. Understanding high fashion clothing: retailing and buying in the UK 6. The materialities of fashion and fashion knowledge 7. Tacit aesthetic knowledge: the fashion sense and sensibility of fashion buyers 8. Examining the interfaces: fashion buying encounters and the relationships between products, buyers, suppliers and customers

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Book SynopsisThere is a growing interest within law schools in the intersections between law and different areas of social theory. The second edition of this popular text introduces a wide range of traditions in sociology and the humanities that offer provocative, contextual views on law and legal institutions. The book is organised into six sections, each with an introduction by the editors, on classical sociology of law, systems theory, critical approaches, law in action, postmodernism, and law in global society. Each chapter is written by a specialist who reviews the literature, and discusses how the approach can be used in researching different topics. New chapters include authoritative reviews of actor network theory, new legal realism, critical race theory, post-colonial theories of law, and the sociology of the legal profession. Over half the chapters are new, and the rest are revised in order to include discussion of recent literature.Table of ContentsIntroduction Reza Banakar and Max Travers Section 1: Classical Sociology of Law Introduction by Reza Banakar and Max Travers 1 The Problematisation of Law in Classical Social Theory Alan Hunt 2 Sociological Jurisprudence A Javier Trevino Section 2: Systems Theory Introduction by Reza Banakar and Max Travers 3 The Radical Sociology of Niklas Luhmann Michael King 4 The Legal Theory of Jürgen Habermas: Between the Philosophy and the Sociology of Law Mathieu Defl em Section 3: Critical Approaches Introduction by Reza Banakar and Max Travers 5 Marxism and the Social Theory of Law Robert Fine 6 Pierre Bourdieu's Sociology of Law: From the Genesis of the State to the Globalisation of Law Mikael Rask Madsen and Yves Dezalay 7 Feminist Legal Theory Harriet Samuels 8 Critical Race Theory Angela P Harris Section 4: Law in Action Introduction by Reza Banakar and Max Travers 9 Interpretive Sociologists and Law Max Travers 10 Bruno Latour's Legal Anthropology Frédéric Audren and Cédric Moreau de Bellaing 11 New Legal Realism and the Empirical Turn in Law Stewart Macaulay and Elizabeth Mertz Section 5: Postmodernism Introduction by Reza Banakar and Max Travers 12 Foucault and Law Gary Wickham 13 Law and Postmodernism Shaun McVeigh 14 Postcolonial Theories of Law Eve Darian-Smith Section 6: Law in a Global Society Introduction by Reza Banakar and Max Travers 15 Reviewing Legal Pluralism Anne Griffiths 16 Globalisation and Law: Law Beyond the State Ralf Michaels 17 Law and Regulation in Late Modernity Reza Banakar 18 Studies of the Legal Profession Ole Hammerslev 19 Comparative Sociology of Law David Nelken

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Book SynopsisA central theme of this lively and accessible text is that theory helps us to understand policy, politics and practice. The book combines an in-depth exploration of selected theoretical perspectives and concepts with the student-friendly format of the Understanding Welfare series. The author uses diverse examples from contemporary social policy to help theoretical arguments come alive. It should provide a key text for 2nd and 3rd year undergraduates and postgraduates in social policy and related subjects, as well as their teachers.Trade Review"..provides an excellent text for students of social policy, particularly those taking second and third year courses in the topic." Critical Social Policy"Lucid, comprehensive and even-handed." Journal of Social Policy"This is an admirably clear and comprehensive account of the theories and concepts of contemporary social policy. Excellent and essential for undergraduate and postgraduate social policy and social theory courses. " Fiona Williams, Professor of Social Policy, University of Leeds"Theory has rarely been so interesting, lively, engaging and real. Ruth Lister has produced a text of great scholarship and a tour de force". Saul Becker, University of NottinghamTable of ContentsIntroduction: laying the groundwork Part One: Theoretical perspectives in the political arena: Dominant post-war ideological perspectives: from 'middle way' to 'third way' and beyond; Critical perspectives: Marxism, feminism, anti-racism and environmentalism; Part Two: Theoretical perspectives as an analytical tool: Post-Fordism and postmodernism; Social control, regulation and resistance; What's the problem? Social constructionism; Part Three: Concepts: Needs; Citizenship and community; Liberty, equality and social justice; Bringing it all together.

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