Social theory Books

Book Synopsis* A robust examination of the role of citizenship * Provides a critique of Blairite and Thatcherite approaches to public, market and private domains * Argues that the public domain is essential to a civilised society .Trade Review"David Marquand is a unique, perhaps irreplaceable, figure in British life ... [He] has written yet another stimulating book. He could strike a massive popular chord as Will Hutton did in the State We're In, and re-ignite British political thought." (Kenneth O. Morgan, The Guardian) "Gripping from start to finish ... a brilliant book. Marquand is as fresh and powerful as ever." (Financial Times) "What makes Marquand's book so helpful is the historical sweep of how Britain developed the "public domain" in the first place." (Madeleine Bunting, The Guardian) "Highly readable." (Camden New Journal) "Decline of the Public echoes concerns being heard across the political divide ... Marquand's analysis of the problem is compelling - and certainly worth worrying about." (Health Service Journal) "...powerful and eloquent polemic." (TLS) "This short, powerful book should interest students and eperts alike." (Political Studies Review)Table of ContentsAcknowledgements. Prologue. 1 Economical with the Actualité. 2 The Public Conscience. 3 Troubled Zenith. 4 Kulturkampf. 5 Counter Attack. Notes. Selected Bibliography. Index.

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Book SynopsisMedia are fundamental to our sense of living in a social world. Since the beginning of modernity, media have transformed the scale on which we act as social beings. And now in the era of digital media, media themselves are being transformed as platforms, content, and producers multiply.Trade ReviewWinner of the Choice award for Outstanding Academic Title"In his new and refreshingly ambitious book on media and social theory, Nick Couldry attempts to map out the rough contours of our new media world and give us some direction... The book throughout is marked by an ethical seriousness, and a careful attention to empirical work, and Couldry's ability to handle an amazingly diverse set of sources is truly impressive. All told, it strikes me as an honest accounting of where we stand at the present moment"New Media & Society"An excellent summation of current media theory, presented in a manner meant to be accessible for those in the broader field of sociology."MedieKultur"A compelling case for the study of media practices as the foundation for a new sociology of digital media culture."Cultural Studies"Media, Society, World is comprehensive and current in its coverage - of research, of real-world examples, and of larger pressing questions about new media. The book is empirically and theoretically informed, and surveys both the academic research and historical developments in media in a single work. It is Castells-like in its range and ambition."John Durham Peters, University of Iowa"Media keep reframing, de-centring and dis-intermediating one another. A shrinking world offers the startling experience of radically new contiguities. 'Society' is no longer the ultimate explanation once sought by Durkheim. Couldry's portrayal of this unsteady constellation offers a much needed counterpart to the short-lived enthusiasms of technophilic sycophants. His book invites us to confront a basic crucial question. What is it that the media - old and new - allow us to do to each other? What should they permit us to do for each other?"Daniel Dayan, Institut d'Etudes Politiques, Paris "In this richly insightful, incisive and thoroughly engaging book, Nick Couldry's original synthesis of social theory, media analysis and subtle observation invites a radical rethink of what it means to live in a media-saturated world."Sonia Livingstone, London School of Economics and Political ScienceTable of ContentsPreface1. Introduction: Digital Media and Social Theory2. Media as Practice3. Media as Ritual and Social Form4. Media and the Hidden Shaping of the Social5. Network Society? Networked Politics?6. Media and the Transformation of Capital and Authority7. Media Cultures: A World Unfolding8. Media Ethics, Media JusticeReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisWinston Churchill said of democracy that it was the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.' The same could be said of liberalism. While liberalism displays an unfailing optimism with regard to the capacity of human beings to make themselves masters and possessors of nature', it displays a profound pessimism when it comes to appreciating their moral capacity to build a decent world for themselves. As Michea shows, the roots of this pessimism lie in the idea an eminently modern one that the desire to establish the reign of the Good lies at the origin of all the ills besetting the human race. Liberalism's critique of the tyranny of the Good' naturally had its costs. It created a view of modern politics as a purely negative art that of defining the least bad society possible. It is in this sense that liberalism has to be understood, and understands itself, as the politics of lesser evil'. And yet while liberalism setTrade Review"In this highly original study of contemporary free-trade liberalism, Jean-Claude Michea develops and brings to a conclusion his decade-long duel with the bankrupt thinking of the institutionalized Left. The originality of Michea's approach consists in his strenuous effort to discover and unravel the original populist themes in Marx's work, themes that return - recycled and somewhat refashioned - in present-day liberal individualism. This allows him to rewrite, in a controversial yet fascinating manner, the history of modernity. The result is a book that should be widely read and discussed and should stir up debate across the social sciences, drowning as they now are in a stale concoction of yesterday's intellectual fashions." Zygmunt Bauman, Emeritus Professor of the University of LeedsTable of ContentsNote. Chapter One: The Unity of Liberalism. Chapter Two: Questions of Method. Chapter Three: The ‘Open Society’ and the Politics of Necessity. Chapter Four: Tractatus Juridico-Economicus. Chapter Five: Egoism and Common Decency. Chapter Six: The Unconscious of Modern Societies. Chapter Seven: From the Realm of Lesser Evil to the Best of Worlds.

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Book SynopsisUnravelling the logic that lies at the heart of the liberal project, this book sheds light on one of the key ideas that have shaped the civilization of the West.Trade Review"In this highly original study of contemporary free-trade liberalism, Jean-Claude Michea develops and brings to a conclusion his decade-long duel with the bankrupt thinking of the institutionalized Left. The originality of Michea's approach consists in his strenuous effort to discover and unravel the original populist themes in Marx's work, themes that return - recycled and somewhat refashioned - in present-day liberal individualism. This allows him to rewrite, in a controversial yet fascinating manner, the history of modernity. The result is a book that should be widely read and discussed and should stir up debate across the social sciences, drowning as they now are in a stale concoction of yesterday's intellectual fashions." Zygmunt Bauman, Emeritus Professor of the University of LeedsTable of ContentsNote. Chapter One: The Unity of Liberalism. Chapter Two: Questions of Method. Chapter Three: The ‘Open Society’ and the Politics of Necessity. Chapter Four: Tractatus Juridico-Economicus. Chapter Five: Egoism and Common Decency. Chapter Six: The Unconscious of Modern Societies. Chapter Seven: From the Realm of Lesser Evil to the Best of Worlds.

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Book SynopsisEveryone cares about recognition: no one wants to be treated with disrespect, insulted, humiliated, or simply ignored. In this compelling new book, McBride examines how a basic need for recognition is the motivation behind struggles for inclusion and equality in contemporary society.Trade Review"McBride is a sure-footed guide to the recognition literature and a clear-eyed judge of the claims to be found there. This is a very fine book."Philip Pettit, Princeton University"Cillian McBride's penetrating and broad-ranging study gives a sympathetic hearing to the claims of recognition but also exposes a multitude of errors and false assumptions in the thinking that has dominated the subject. His insightful analysis and acute criticism deliver a radical reappraisal of how we should respond to demands for recognition."Peter Jones, Newcastle University"In this book, McBride successfully performs a difficult feat: he gives a wide-ranging and insightful account of the various philosophical, political and sociological aspects of the idea of recognition, while at the same time presenting and providing a persuasive defence of his own 'interactive' conception of recognition."Simon Thompson, University of the West of EnglandTable of ContentsAcknowledgements vii Introduction 1 1 The Politics of Recognition 9 2 Respect 42 3 Esteem and Social Distinction 72 4 Justice and Recognition 103 5 The Struggle for Recognition 134 Notes 164 References 171 Index 180

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Book SynopsisIn this important new book, the leading cultural theorist and philosopher Bernard Stiegler re-examines the relationship between politics and aesthetics in our contemporary hyperindustrial age.Trade Review"In this decisive contribution to a critical understanding of contemporary life, Stiegler demonstrates how mass exclusion from cultural production constitutes a form of generalized impoverishment, threatening to reduce our existence to mere subsistence. Typically though, he also suggests how we might build alternatives to this 'symbolic misery'. This work forms a vital part of Stiegler's essential project." Martin Crowley, Queen�s College, University of Cambridge "Expanding on Deleuze�s idea of 'control societies', Bernard Stiegler provocatively diagnoses the 'misery' of contemporary society as a collective exclusion from the creation of symbols. A war is being waged, he argues: capitalistic marketing is the instrument of choice, the battleground is aesthetics and the fight is for the control of affect. Recommended for anyone interested in the contemporary cultural condition." N. Katherine Hayles, Duke UniversityTable of ContentsForeword Of Symbolic Misery, the Control of Affects, and the Shame that Follows As Though We Were Lacking or How to Find Weapons in Alain Resnais’s Same Old Song Allegory of the Anthill The Loss of Individuation in the Hyper-industrial Age Tiresias and the War of Time On a Film by Bertrand Bonello Afterword

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Book SynopsisIn this important new book, leading cultural theorist and philosopher Bernard Stiegler re-examines the relationship between politics and art in the contemporary world. Our hyper-industrial epoch represents what Stiegler terms a ?katastroph of the sensible?. This katastroph is not an apocalypse or the end of everything, but the denouement of a drama; it is the final act in the process of psychic and collective individuation known as the ?West?. Hyper-industrialization has brought about the loss of symbolic participation and the destruction of primordial narcissism, the very condition for individuation. It is in this context that artists have a unique role to play. When not subsumed in the capitalist economy, they are able to resist its synchronizing tendency, offering the possibility of reimagining the contemporary model of aesthetic participation. This highly original work - the second in Stiegler?s Symbolic Misery series - will be of particular interest to students Trade Review"What links Andy Warhol, Bela Bartok, Glenn Gould and Joseph Beuys? This, says Stiegler: each in his own way understood the decisive changes brought about in the arts by their entanglement in networks of industrial production and commercial consumption, and each also realized that this entanglement called into question whether any of us - actual or merely potential artists - could any longer be said to participate in the creation and circulation of symbols. This is the question of what Stiegler terms �symbolic misery�, and he answers it with characteristic defiance. If we are indeed excluded from such participation, then the possibility of overturning this state of affairs is everywhere around us: in precisely those technical forms we more usually experience as feeding our addiction to alienation. All that is needed is to transform these from poison into cure, which is to say: to learn how to use them! This is a work of sober, impassioned understanding." Martin Crowley, Queens� College, Cambridge "In Symbolic Misery one of Europe�s leading contemporary thinkers offers indispensable insights into modern technology and its influence on the ways we come to think and feel. Stiegler does not simply diagnose a collective malaise, however; his writing is a call to arms and a programme for a total rethinking of our relationship to technical objects." Ian James, Downing College, CambridgeTable of ContentsCall to Adventure Notice to the Reader Prologue with Chorus Sensibility’s Machinic Turn and Music’s Privilege I Sensing through Participation Or the Art of Acting Out II Setting Out From Warhol and Beuys III Us All Individuation as Trans-formation and Trans-formation as Social Sculpture IV Freud’s Repression Where the Living Seize the Dead and Vice Versa V The Disjunctive Conjunction Mais où est donc Ornicar?

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Book SynopsisBruno Latour's long term project is to compare the felicity and infelicity conditions of the different values dearest to the heart of those who have never been modern'. According to him, this is the only way to develop an anthropology of the Moderns. After his work on science, on technology and, more recently, on law, this book explores the truth conditions of religious speech acts. Even though there is no question that religion is one of the values that has been intensely cherished in the course of history, it's also clear that it has become immensely difficult to tune in to its highly specific mode of enunciation. Every effort to speak in the right key sounds awkward, reactionary, pious or simply empty. Hence the necessity of devising a way of writing that brings to the fore this elusive form of speech to render it audible again. In this highly original book, the author offers a completely different tack on the endless science and religion' conflict by protecting them bTrade Review"In a book both informative and transformative, Latour may well have succeeded in his aim to ‘reboot the teeniest hint of a beginning of a religious sentiment’" Southern Semiotic Review "Rejoicing is a kind of meditation: Latour has composed, in Yeats’ phrase, a dialogue of self and soul.” Chicago Tribune "In this honest , profound yet accessible book, a distinguished French scholar and public intellectual carries on an agonized dialog with himself as he faces the obstacles to religious faith today - and then points toward a resolution. As I read, I felt he had climbed into my soul." John O’Malley, Georgetown University "Rejoicing constitutes a creative, thought-provoking and impressive blend of, and reflection upon, learning and traditions." Rebecca Catto, Coventry University

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Book SynopsisMichel Foucault is recognized as one of the twentieth century's most influential thinkers, however the authors in this volume contend that more use can be made of Foucault than has yet been done and that some of the uses to which Foucault has so far been put run the risk of and occasionally simply amount to misuse.Trade Review"No thinker of the last generation helped shape understandings of the world more powerfully than Foucault. This splendid and up-to-date anthology shows that his work, through its various phases, retains its analytic power today."—Simon During, University of Queensland "Now is an appropriate time to reassess Foucault's work, to reflect upon its significance, relevance, and impact. These wide-ranging and challenging essays by leading figures in the field demonstrate the extraordinary breadth and depth of Foucault's contribution to the social sciences and humanities."—Barry Smart, University of Portsmouth "Foucault Now shows that 'Foucault then' is as relevant today as ever he was. The essays collected here traverse the full range of Foucault's work. In situating his concerns and methods within the politics of his times, they also connect them to the politics of the present with a compelling urgency. Foucault's originality still astonishes, and he remains simply indispensable."—Tony Bennett, University of Western SydneyTable of ContentsAcknowledgements vii Contributors viii Abbreviations xiii Introduction: The Use of Foucault 1 James D. Faubion Part I: Object Lessons 1 The Undefined Work of Freedom: Foucault’s Genealogy and the Anthropology of Ethics 23 James Laidlaw 2 Déraison 38 Ian Hacking 3 Foucault’s Evil Genius 52 Lynne Huffer 4 Toward an Ethics of Subjectivation: French Resistances to Psychoanalysis in the 1970s 71 Didier Eribon 5 Michel Foucault’s Critical Empiricism Today: Concepts and Analytics in the Critique of Biopower and Infopower 88 Colin Koopman 6 Foucault’s Face: The Personal is the Theoretical 112 John Forrester Part II: Cases in Point 7 Biopower, Sexual Democracy, and the Racialization of Sex 131 Eric Fassin 8 “A New Schema of Politicization”: Thinking Humans, Animals, and Biopolitics with Foucault 152 Cary Wolfe 9 Parrhesia and Therapeusis: Foucault on and in the World of Contemporary Neoliberalism 168 Laurence McFalls and Mariella Pandolfi 10 Foucault, Marx, Neoliberalism: Unveiling Undercover Boss 188 Toby Miller 11 Assembling Untimeliness: Permanently and Restively 203 Paul Rabinow 12 Constantine Cavafy: A Parrhesiast for the Cynic of the Future 225 James D. Faubion References 243 Index 264

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Book SynopsisMichel Foucault is recognized as one of the twentieth century's most influential thinkers, however the authors in this volume contend that more use can be made of Foucault than has yet been done and that some of the uses to which Foucault has so far been put run the risk of and occasionally simply amount to misuse.Trade Review"No thinker of the last generation helped shape understandings of the world more powerfully than Foucault. This splendid and up-to-date anthology shows that his work, through its various phases, retains its analytic power today."—Simon During, University of Queensland "Now is an appropriate time to reassess Foucault's work, to reflect upon its significance, relevance, and impact. These wide-ranging and challenging essays by leading figures in the field demonstrate the extraordinary breadth and depth of Foucault's contribution to the social sciences and humanities."—Barry Smart, University of Portsmouth "Foucault Now shows that 'Foucault then' is as relevant today as ever he was. The essays collected here traverse the full range of Foucault's work. In situating his concerns and methods within the politics of his times, they also connect them to the politics of the present with a compelling urgency. Foucault's originality still astonishes, and he remains simply indispensable."—Tony Bennett, University of Western SydneyTable of ContentsAcknowledgements vii Contributors viii Abbreviations xiii Introduction: The Use of Foucault 1 James D. Faubion Part I: Object Lessons 1 The Undefined Work of Freedom: Foucault’s Genealogy and the Anthropology of Ethics 23 James Laidlaw 2 Déraison 38 Ian Hacking 3 Foucault’s Evil Genius 52 Lynne Huffer 4 Toward an Ethics of Subjectivation: French Resistances to Psychoanalysis in the 1970s 71 Didier Eribon 5 Michel Foucault’s Critical Empiricism Today: Concepts and Analytics in the Critique of Biopower and Infopower 88 Colin Koopman 6 Foucault’s Face: The Personal is the Theoretical 112 John Forrester Part II: Cases in Point 7 Biopower, Sexual Democracy, and the Racialization of Sex 131 Eric Fassin 8 “A New Schema of Politicization”: Thinking Humans, Animals, and Biopolitics with Foucault 152 Cary Wolfe 9 Parrhesia and Therapeusis: Foucault on and in the World of Contemporary Neoliberalism 168 Laurence McFalls and Mariella Pandolfi 10 Foucault, Marx, Neoliberalism: Unveiling Undercover Boss 188 Toby Miller 11 Assembling Untimeliness: Permanently and Restively 203 Paul Rabinow 12 Constantine Cavafy: A Parrhesiast for the Cynic of the Future 225 James D. Faubion References 243 Index 264

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Book SynopsisIn this short book Peter Sloterdijk offers a genealogy of the concept of freedom from Ancient Greece to the present day. This genealogy is part of a broader theory of the large political body, according to which Sloterdijk argues that political communities arise in response to a form of anxiety or stress.Trade Review"In this essay on the meaning of freedom today Peter Sloterdijk offers a stunning account of our post-modern predicaments. He writes as ever with polemical verve and great wit, tracing an aberrant freedom from the dissidence of Rousseau�s figure of the solitary walker to the existential principles of Beckett�s neglected first play Eleutheria. The result is an impassioned tour de force in defence of freedom and a call for a renewed ethic of liberality and generosity. This is a must read." Keith Ansell-Pearson, University of WarwickTable of Contents Large-Scale Political Bodies as Stress Communes Lucretia�s Revolt, Rousseau�s Retreat Stress and Freedom The Reaction of the Real On the Source of Committed Freedom

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Book SynopsisIn SOCIAL, ETHICAL, AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF ENGINEERING,engineers, faculty, and students will find an informative guide tothe professional, societal, and ethical responsibilities that facepracticing engineers today. Through an integrated approach to thetheory of engineering ethics and practical real-world issues, thiscomprehensive book offers readers an in-depth analysis oftechnology''s current social role. Drawing on readings and case studies first published in IEEETechnology and Society Magazine, this easy-to-read text willdevelop readers'' understanding of the important issues surroundingmacroethical public policy debates, including discussions ofsustainable development, public health, risk and product liability,and telecommunications. These cases and readings also provide anopportunity to apply the theory in real-world situations. SOCIAL, ETHICAL, AND POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF ENGINEERING will helpstudents meet the new accreditation criteria for engineeringadoptedTable of ContentsPreface. Acknowledgments. TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND SOCIETY. Technology, Values, and Society. The Social Context of Engineering. SOCIAL AND ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITIES OF ENGINEERS. Moral Dilemmas in Engineering. Frameworks for Engineering Ethics. ENGINEERING ETHICS AND PUBLIC POLICY. Technology Policy and Ethical Issues. Risk and Product Liability. Engineering and Sustainable Development. Engineering in a Global Context. Technology and Health Care. Information Technology. Appendix. Author Index. Subject Index. About the Editor.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"What is the nature of the modern state, what were its origins, and what seem to be the present trends? In answering these questions ... Poggi succeeds in presenting a well-informed but elegantly parsimonious statement... In its historical depth and concise exposition, it should make very worthwhile reading for graduate students and many of their teachers... An excellent historical introduction for political sociologies." -Guenther Roth ,Contemporary Sociology "A brief but careful introduction to the major forms of the political realm since the Carolingian period in Western Europe... The author treats several prominent forms of political rule: feudal rule, rule by the Standestaat, rule by the absolutist regimes, rule by the nineteenth-century constitutional state, and the rule of present-day liberal regimes. He tells history well, with an admirably lucid and concise prose; and it is a story that is occasionally as penetrating as it is consistently informative." -Anthony M. Orum ,Social Forces "Poggi's expressed intent, namely to render intelligible centuries of political development via the presentation of a succession of highly abstract models ... is achieved with clarity and distinction and in the process opens vistas for further exploration... The book provides a useful base from which to launch a course on the modern state." Social Science QuarterlyTable of ContentsContents I. II. III. IV. V. VI.

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Book SynopsisThis collection of eight essays by some of today's most innovative and seminal thinkers argues that there is a limit beyond which the enterprise of literary theory becomes something different from what it presents itself as being.Trade Review"In response to the noisy world of contemporary theory, Kavanagh has assembled a provocative collection of essays by critics and philosophers who share the conviction that there is a limit beyond which the drive to theorize transforms theory into something different from what it presents itself as being. . . . Limits attempts with considerable success to strike a delicate balance between critiquing theoretical excess and defending theory's usefulness."—Scott Sprenger, Modern Language Notes

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Book SynopsisDrawing upon the insights of several disciplines, this work focuses on the structural and experiential dynamics of interpersonal and collective apologetic discourse as means of tempering antagonisms and resolving conflicts in contemporary Western society.Trade Review"A book of elegance and grace in the grand sociological tradition, this work could become a classic. Tavuchis forces readers to recognize that all human contact is ultimately dyadic. . . . Apology in Japan is compared to its expression in the West, as is, to a lesser extent, secular apology and religious confession. The normative community, sacred or secular, required definitions of exactly what is forgivable and what is not; Tavuchis uses the perspective of Georg Simmel to examine this construct."—ChoiceTable of ContentsContents 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

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Book SynopsisJacques Derrida, Giorgio Agamben, Werner Hamacher, Samuel Weber, and others rethink the concept of violence, both in itself and in relation to the formation and transformation of identities-individual, collective, political, cultural, religious, and secular.Table of ContentsIntroduction Hent de Vries and Samual Weber 1. Violence and testimony: on sacrificing sacrifice Hent de Vries 2. Monastic violence M. B. Pranger 3. Characteristic violence, or, the physiognomy of style Marian Hobson 4. Wartime Samuel Weber 5. The camp as the Nomos of the modern Giorgio Agamben 6. Enlightenment and Paranomia Stathis Gourgouris 7. Cannibals all: the grave wit of Kant's perpetual peace Susan M. Shell 8. Otherwise than self-determination: the mortal freedom of Oedipus Asphaleos Michael Dillon 9. The victim's tale: memory and forgetting in the story of violence Peter van der Veer 10. Eroticism, colonialism, and violence Ali Behdad 11. Traumatic awakenings Cathy Caruth 12. Habeas corpus: the law's desire to have the body Anselm Haverkamp and Cornelia Vismann 13. On the politics of pure means: Benjamin, Arendt, Foucault Beatrice Hanssen 14. Marx, mourning, messianicity Peter Fenves 15. Violence, identity, self-determination, and the question of justice: on Specters of Marx Peggy Kamuf 16. One to many multiculturalisms Werner Hamacher 17. ... and pomegranates Jacques Derrida Notes.

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Book SynopsisEssays by Germany's most prominent and influential social thinker link his social theory to the question "What is modern about modernity?" and shows the origins and context of his theory.Table of ContentsPreface 1. Modernity in contemporary society 2. European rationality 3. Contingency as modern society's defining attribute 4. Describing the future 5. The ecology of ignorance Notes.

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Book SynopsisThis leading sociologist brings his distinctive method of social criticism to bear on some of the most significant ideas, political and social events, and thinkers of the late twentieth century.Trade Review"For almost fifty years, Wrong may well have been the single most consistent voice for good sense and moderation in both the fevered circles of the New York intelligentsia and the discipline of sociology. He brings to his analyses a unique combination of historical perspective and a temperamental inclination to cut through the hype. As a result, whether he is reconsidering past events or arguments (McCarthyism, Hannah Arendt's characterization of totalitarianism, David Riesman's The Lonely Crowd) or assessing current events and fads (rational choice theory, postmodernism, Allan Bloom's lament about the state of the 'American Mind'), Wrong invariably ends up providing a new, balanced perspective where none existed before." -Axel van den Berg,McGill UniversityTable of ContentsPart I. Concepts and Realities: 1. Disaggregating the idea of capitalism; 2. Is rational choice humanity's most distinctive trait?; 3. Hannah Adrendt on totalitarianism; 4. The concept of power: boundless or delimited?; 5. Myths of alienation; 6. The politics of left and right; 7. Cultural relativism as ideology; Part II. Intellectuals and Middle Classes: 8. The new class: does it exist? 9. Knowledge and power: intellectuals, Universities, and the class structure; 10. The influence of sociological ideas on American culture; 11. Professional jargon: is sociology the culprit? 12. The New York intellectuals and McCarthyism; 13. David Riesman: The Lonely Crowd revisited; 14. Daniel Bell: a specialist in generalizations; 15. Christopher Lasch: is progress a delusion? 16. Allan Bloom: the paperbacking of the American mind; Autobiographical coda; 17. 'As we grow older the world becomes stranger'; Notes; Bibliography; Sources.

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Book SynopsisSociology has long sought to find out how acting in a situation and observing that situation may differ and nevertheless belong to a single kind of social operation. Spencer-Brown's Law of Form provides one way to conceive of such an operation, and this book is the first to make sociological use of this mathematical calculus of form.Table of ContentsCONTENTS BAECKER DIRK LUHMANN NIKLAS ROBERTS DAVID LUHMANN NIKLAS SCHORR KARL EBERHARD ESPOSITO ELENA BAECKER DIRK HUTTER MICHAEL STICHWEH RUDOLF WILLKE HELMUT JAPP KLAUS P. CORSI GIANCARLO SIMON FRITZ B.

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Book SynopsisExplores the accomplishments of the golden age of "macrohistory," the sociologically informed analysis of long-term patterns of political, economic, and social change. The topics range from the Marxian-inspired theory of revolutions to the roots of the Holocaust.Trade Review"Given that a short review cannot do justice to the complexity and richness of this compelling book, it must suffice to say that its most innovative and exciting aspect is Collins' discussion of the still under-theorized dimension of democratic modernity. This is especially the case when his discussion is combined with his reflections on ethnic change." -- Journal of the History of Behavioral SciencesTable of ContentsList of figures; Introduction: the golden age of macrohistorical sociology; 1. Maturation of the state-centered theory of revolution and ideology; 2. The geopolitical basis of revolution: the prediction of the Soviet collapse; 3. 'Balkanization' or 'Americanization': a geopolitical theory of ethnic change; 4. Democratization from the outside in: a geopolitical theory of collegial power; 5. German-bashing and the theory of democratic modernization; 6. Market dynamics as the engine of historical change; 7. An Asian route to capitalism; Appendices; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis book explores how Arab workers (mainly women) and Jewish managers in the Israeli textile industry negotiate the terms and meanings of factory work. It examines the tension between traditional familial and social roles and the demands of industrial life, as well as the complications created by Arab-Jewish political and military conflict.Trade Review"Drori's book is a useful addition to the literature of a largely neglected, but important subject." -- Journal of Palestine Studies"The book beautifully documents the interplay between the culture of the local Arab communities and the culture of the plants that employ women from those communities. . . . Drori does a masterful job of showing how the local Arab culture enters into the workplace to shape the nature of social relations, norms, expectations, and values. . . . The Seam Line is a wonderful ethnography situated in a rich setting." -- Administrative Science Quarterly"A significant contribution to the literature in organizational ethnography." -- Work and OccupationsTable of Contents1. Introduction 2. Methods: reflections on the field 3. On factory daughters and the culture of the workplace 4. The sewing plants: scenes from the social arena 5. The seamstresses: in motion toward reconstructing work and life 6. The supervisors: go betweens 7. The managers: embodying a double system 8. Out with the old and in with the Hi-Tex 9. Conclusion Notes References Index.

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Book SynopsisThis first volume of Niklas Luhmann''s two-part final work was initially published in German in 1997. The culmination of his thirty-year theoretical project to reconceptualize sociology, it offers a comprehensive description of modern society on a scale not attempted since Talcott Parsons. Beginning with an account of the fluidity of meaning and the accordingly high improbability of successful communication, Luhmann analyzes a range of communicative media, including language, writing, the printing press, and electronic media as well as success media, such as money, power, truth, and love, all of which structure this fluidity and make communication possible. An investigation into the ways in which social systems produce and reproduce themselves, the book asks what gives rise to functionally differentiated social systems, how they evolve, and how social movements, organizations, and patterns of interaction emerge. The advent of the computer and its networks, which trigger potentially Trade Review"Luhmann's understanding of society offers critical theology an insightful account of how original sin manifests itself in North Atlantic societies today . . . [I]t is insightful regarding how the particular logics of social systems constrain the views and actions of people involved in them. . . [B]y attending to how social systems function and have become globalized, Luhmann's thoery helps uncover possibilities for collective solidarity."—Don Schweitzer, The Ecumenist"This work builds on and refines [Luhmann's earlier studies], constructing a relativistic theory that challenges classical sociological theories of action, meaning, and the subject." — C. T. Loader, CHOICE"One of the masterpieces of social theory written after World War II."—Axel Honneth, Columbia University"Niklas Luhmann's membership in the canon of genuinely original and comprehensive social theorists is radiantly evident. Together with that of Simmel, Durkheim, Weber, Mead, and Parsons, his work stands as one of the monumental achievements of twentieth-century sociology. With the English publication of Theory of Society, Luhmann's magnum opus is finally available to a global readership. Students who master its supple conceptuality will find it indispensable in understanding the complexity and dynamism of the contemporary world."—David Wellbery, University of Chicago

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Book SynopsisThis book offers a complex theory of modern society that simultaneously considers issues of communication, the media, differentiation, and evolution.Trade Review"Luhmann's understanding of society offers critical theology an insightful account of how original sin manifests itself in North Atlantic societies today . . . [I]t is insightful regarding how the particular logics of social systems constrain the views and actions of people involved in them. . . [B]y attending to how social systems function and have become globalized, Luhmann's thoery helps uncover possibilities for collective solidarity."—Don Schweitzer, The Ecumenist"This work builds on and refines [Luhmann's earlier studies], constructing a relativistic theory that challenges classical sociological theories of action, meaning, and the subject." — C. T. Loader, CHOICE"One of the masterpieces of social theory written after World War II."—Axel Honneth, Columbia University"Niklas Luhmann's membership in the canon of genuinely original and comprehensive social theorists is radiantly evident. Together with that of Simmel, Durkheim, Weber, Mead, and Parsons, his work stands as one of the monumental achievements of twentieth-century sociology. With the English publication of Theory of Society, Luhmann's magnum opus is finally available to a global readership. Students who master its supple conceptuality will find it indispensable in understanding the complexity and dynamism of the contemporary world."—David Wellbery, University of Chicago

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Book SynopsisThis newly expanded and reorganized collection of readings provides a compelling exploration of what arguably remains the single most important problem in social theory: the problem of social order.Trade Review"...I could not wait to turn the page. The key to its readability is not only the short and well-drawn excerpts, but also the enlightening way they are knitted together by the editors, Michael Hechter and Christine Horne.... This book will surely inspire many social scientists to give more attention to theory and integrate it more effectively in empirical research. It also brings out the editors' argument that the best explanations of social phenomena point out both causal factors and the mechanism by which they work."—Helge Holtermann, Journal of Peace Research"The second edition of this remarkable innovative text is closely aligned to what many of us believe is the most important development in 21st century social science, namely, a growing consensus that effective theories are those that specify mechanisms to account for phenomena to be explained." —Thomas J. Fararo, University of Pittsburgh"Theories of Social Order is already an essential addition to any undergraduate theory course because of the unique way in which it challenges students to address the landscape of ideas, focusing on areas of agreement and disagreement between different major theorists. The new addition adds to this by clearly showing how the work of a diverse set of important contemporary theorists of social order developed from earlier debates." —Sun-Ki Chai, University of Hawaii"Too often, social theory can seem abstract, dissociated from the intrigues of the social world. In Theories of Social Order, Hechter and Horne smartly reverse this tendency in two ways. First, the readings they include focus on a central and long-standing theoretical puzzle—social order—across a range of topics, from individuals to hierarchies to networks. Second, they insist that the best theories traffic in explanations of real-world phenomena. The result is a fascinating compilation that will enrich the sociological imaginations of both students and the scholars who teach them." —John R. Hall, University of California, Davis"I have used Michael Hechter and Christine Horne's book Theories of Social Order: A Reader in my courses of Social Theory at DePaul University for several years. I have obtained much better results with my students than I did with previous textbooks I used. The reason is that Hechter and Horne have a very original focus on theories rather than on theorists, which makes it easier for students to understand the arguments and compare different theories. In addition, the authors chose to analyze the very important problem of social order from diverse theoretical perspectives, which allows the application of the theories discussed in their book to current problems related with social order, such as rebellions, wars, economic recessions, social deviance, etc. I look forward to using the second edition of this book in my classes, which has been improved significantly with the re-arrangement of topics and theories as well as the addition of new materials and theories relevant to contemporary problems of social order. I am sure the second edition will be as successful and welcomed as the first one has been."—Jose Soltero, DePaul University"Hechter and Horne succeed in presenting the complexity of theoretical thinking without the somnolent verbiage so typical of some of the classical theorists. They present direct connections between theoretical concepts and empirical research. But the most attractive aspect of the book is that it avoids the typical conventions used to teach theory: somewhat arbitrary categorizations by paradigm, chronology, and biography, in favor of looser and overlapping ideas and approaches to the problem of social order. The result is a book that emphasizes the convergences of theoretical thinking in sociology, without presenting a level of disciplinary integration that doesn't exist. The book does a very good job of teaching students how to think sociologically."—Karl T. Pfeiffer, University of Alaska Anchorage

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Book SynopsisThe Rewards of Punishment explains why people enforce norms, describes a series of lab experiments testing the theoretical explanation, and explores the implications of the theory for important substantive questions about sex, crime, and human rights.Trade Review"In this elegant short volume, Horne exhibits a mastery of experimental methods used to evaluate theories of norm enforcement and also shows a nearly staggering breadth of reference to philosophical, literary, economic, and political theory, as well as relevant concepts from within experimental psychology. Tour de force comes to mind as an apt description of what she treats us with in The Rewards of Punishment: A Relational Theory of Norm Enforcement." * Keith E. Davis *"Horne's very innovative ideas, particularly her discussion of the origin of political correctness as an over-enforcement of norms, are insightful and original, as are the experiments she has designed to test them. This work includes one of the best defenses of the experimental method around and the real-life examples and empirical puzzles will pique readers' intrinsic interest." -- Satoshi Kanazawa"This is an important book. Previous theories of norms either have been psychological or, if sociological, have not gone much beyond simply recognizing that norms have something to do with groups. In linking norms to the conditions for their enforcement, Horne grasps a connection essential for understanding social norms and their emergence." -- David Willer * University of South Carolina, coauthor of Building Experiments: Testing Social Theory *"This work provides the big picture and then some. Horne tests theoretical predictions in controlled laboratory settings and then applies insights gleaned from the theory to real world problems. This incredibly rare offering will be welcome in the social sciences." -- Brent Simpson

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Book SynopsisGreat Minds revisits key social thinkers that have made significant, distinctive, and controversial contributions to the development of modern social theory.Trade Review"Sociologists Poggi and Sciortino (both, Univ. of Trento, Italy) have written brief interpretative essays for nine classical and contemporary sociological theorists: Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim, Max Weber, Georg Simmel, George Herbert Mead, Talcott Parsons, Erving Goffman, Harold Garfinkel, and Niklas Luhmann. This book, translated from Italian, provides crisp, elegant prose that will assist students in grappling with complex topics and becoming familiar with each theorist's key concepts and methodology."—J. H. Rubin, Choice"Poggi and Sciortino provide a fresh, lively encounter with sociology's major thinkers. The book is effortlessly engaging and conveys the complexity of sociological thinking with ease. Readers are given the chance to both deepen their knowledge and revisit authors in a new and stimulating way. A great achievement!"—Delia Baldassarri, Princeton University"Through a series of highly engaging encounters with the great contributors to our tradition, Poggi and Sciortino do much to advance the critical self-reflection of sociology. Never content with mere exposition, they probe the 'great minds' of the discipline for fresh guidance and insight into the problems still open in sociological inquiry. Even with its focus on the past, this is an inspiringly present- and future-oriented work."—Mustafa Emirbayer, University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Book SynopsisArgues that postcolonial fiction about catastrophe is underpinned by a Disaster Unconscious, a buried but mobile agenda that forces disastrous events to narrate themselves. Pallavi Rastogi writes that in disaster fiction, a literary Story and its real-life Event are in constant dialectic tension.

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Book SynopsisIn this volume, Bernstein forsees and outlines the development of a social theory that is at once empirical, interpretive, and critical.Trade Review"Anyone who wants to understand the profound changes that have overtaken the social disciplines in the course of the past decade ought to read Bernstein's book. He examines an extraordinarily wide range of theories with the most scrupulous care, in each case adding a series of extremely perceptive criticisms." * Quentin Skinner, New York Review of Books *"Richard Bernstein is uniquely gifted among our contemporaries to bring into focus the mutual relevance of highly disparate strands in modern social and political theory. We are not likely to have a better work in the field." * Alasdair MacIntyre *"Valuable . . . for identifying the requirements for all rational life." * Religious Studies Review *"A masterful survey and exposition of a broad range of literature on the social sciences. This book . . . shows Bernstein's extraordinary gift for interpretation. He takes author after author and deftly lays out the essentials of their arguments, relating them to others, and gradually developing a coherent picture of a whole realm of discourse. . . . A contribution that is vitally needed." * Political Theory *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA timely collection of articles by some of the leading and emerging scholars and specialists on Haiti, offering a wide range of critical perspectives on the question and meaning of sovereignty in Haiti."" - Alex Dupuy, coauthor of The Prophet and Power: Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the International Community, and Haiti ""Directly asks the provocative question of ownership and Haitian sovereignty within the post-earthquake moment—an unstable period in which ideas on (re)development, humanitarianism, globalization, militarism, self-determination, and security converge."" - Millery Polyné, author of From Douglass to Duvalier: U.S. African Americans, Haiti, and Pan Americanism, 1870–1964""Powerful essays by experts in their fields addressing what matters most to smaller nations—the meaning of sovereignty, and the horrid trajectory from colonialism, to neocolonialism into neoliberalism."" - Patrick Bellegarde-Smith, author of Haiti: The Breached CitadelTable of Contents List of Illustrations List of Tables Abbreviations Acknowledgements Foreword Amy Wilentz Introduction: Sovereignty and ‘Ownership’ from the Inside and Out Scott Freeman and Robert Maguire 2. Haitian Sovereignty: A Brief History Laurent Dubois 3. Haiti and the Limits of Sovereignty: Trapped in the Outer Periphery Robert Fatton Jr. 4. New Wine in Old Bottles: the Failure of the Democratic Transition in Haiti Francois Pierre-Louis, Jr 5. Brazilian and South American Political and Military Engagement in Haiti Ricardo Seitenfus 6. Who ‘Owns’ US Aid to Haiti? Robert Maguire 7. Who Owns the Religion of Haiti? Karen Richman 8. Sovereignty and Soil: Collective and Wage Labor in Rural Haiti Scott Freeman 9. Street Sovereignty: Power, Violence, and Respect among Haitian Chelsey Kivland 10. Conclusion: Reflections on Sovereignty Robert Maguire, Scott Freeman & Nicholas Johnson List of Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisUtopian and intentional communities have dotted the American landscape since the colonial era, yet only in recent decades have archaeologists begun analysing the material culture left behind by these groups. This volume includes discussions of the Shakers, the Harmony Society, the Moravians, the Oneida community, Brook Farm, and Mormon towns.Trade Review“Kozakavich’s brilliant volume may serve as a thorough guidebook to understanding the culture and history of communal and intentional communities. . . . [It] goes beyond the historical record to tease out little-known aspects of intentional communities through the material record.”—Choice “A valuable overview of the topic with thoughtful perspectives on approaches to analysis and interpretation. . . . Provides valuable inspiration for anyone contemplating the role of dissidence in social change.”—Historical Archaeology “A captivating read for anyone with an interest in archaeology and history. It provides an introduction on the history of utopian and intentional communities and archaeological details from many of these communities.”—North American Archaeologist“Useful to archaeologists and students of archaeology who are not familiar with this subject.”—Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

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a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

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Book SynopsisDrawing on extensive data gathered from archives, interviews, and ethnographic observation, The Glass Church examines the spectacular collapse of The Crystal Cathedral to better understand both the strength and fragility of Robert H. Schuller's ministry. The apparent success of the ministry obscured the tensions that threatened its future.Trade Review"The Glass Church is an excellent example of what can be gained from exercising the sociological imagination, and tells an engaging story about the changing fortunes of one of America’s most entrepreneurial pastors. Martí and Mulder capably weave together analytical perspectives and empirical insights, exploring the very useful alliterative framework of constituency, charisma, and capital as well as the problems resulting from rapid religious growth." -- John P. Bartkowski * author of Remaking the Godly Marriage *"The Glass Church offers a riveting account of the rise and fall of Robert Schuller and the Crystal Cathedral. The story contains lessons for churches large and small. I couldn’t put it down." -- Mark Chaves * author of American Religion: Contemporary Trends *Table of ContentsContents Preface Chapter 1 Constituency, Charisma, and Capital Chapter 2 The Imperative of Church Growth Chapter 3 Migrants to Orange County, California Chapter 4 The Possibility Thinker Chapter 5 No Hippies in the Sanctuary Chapter 6 Dig a Hole, Schuller Chapter 7 Always a New Project Chapter 8 When the Glass Breaks Coda Ends and Beginnings Appendix Research Methodology Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAdding to the burgeoning fields of sport studies and body studies, these essays draw on the traditions of feminist theory, posthumanism, actor network theory, and new materialism to reposition the physical, moving body as crucial to the cultural, political, environmental, and economic systems that it constitutes and within which is constituted.Trade Review"Written by a veritable who’s who of the most visible, consistently provocative, and cutting-edge researchers and thinkers in the field, Sport, Physical Culture, and the Moving Body represents a field-shaping theoretical intervention that will enrich the sociological study of sport and has the potential to bring sport research and theory to broader scholarly audiences and attention." -- Douglas Hartmann * author of Midnight Basketball: Race, Sports, and Neoliberal Social Policy *NEW MATERIALISM AND THE ACTIVE BODY – EP 14 interview with Drs. Joshua Newman, Holly Thorpe, and David Andrews * Somatic Podcast *"Although sport and its accoutrements are the focus of all the authors, the primary purpose of the anthology is actually engagement with the theories in order to better understand sport. This anthology may introduce readers to a variety of theorists and approaches, but it is not an introductory work on sport theory. For serious sport theorists, though, it is a smorgasbord. Highly recommended." * Choice *"The editors assembled an impressive pool of scholars who are noted experts in sport fields of cultural, gender, and political studies.... [The book is] timely as it appears at a stage when the quantification of the black body through testing and measurement in the field of sport science has reappeared." * Journal of Sport History *Table of ContentsCover Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents Foreword Introduction: Sport, Physical Culture, and New Materialisms Part I: Body Ontologies Chapter 1. Contextualizing the Material, Moving Body Chapter 2. Objectified Bodies and Instrumental Movement: What Might Merleau-Ponty Say about Fitness Tracking? Chapter 3. Body Objects, Political Physics, and Incorporation: Object-Oriented Ontology for Sport and Physical Culture Chapter 4. Telomere Biology in an Age of Precarity: A "New" Materialist Experiment in a More-Than-Human Kinetics Part II: Body Technologies Chapter 5. Big Bodies, Big Data: Unpacking the FitnessGram Black Box Chapter 6. The Politics of the Gloves: Finding Meaning in Entangled Matter Chapter 7. Diffracting Mind-Body Relations: Feminist Materialism and the Entanglement of Physical Culture in Women's Recovery from Depression Chapter 8. Toward a Multispecies Sport Studies Chapter 9. Reimagining the Dancing Body with and through Barad Part III: Body Ecologies Chapter 10. Reassembling "Sport for Development and Peace" through Actor-Network Theory Chapter 11. Entangling Corporeal Matter and Geomatter: Making and Remaking the Beach Chapter 12. Bodies of Water: Intra-actions among Water, Sport, and the Body Politic Chapter 13. Feminist New Materialisms and the Troubling Waters of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic and Paralympic Games Chapter 14. Flattening the City: Assemblage Urbanism and the Moving Body Chapter 15. What Can New Materialisms Do for the Critical Study of Sport and Physical Culture? (Who Does This Book Think It Is?) Afterword Notes on Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisAdding to the burgeoning fields of sport studies and body studies, these essays draw on the traditions of feminist theory, posthumanism, actor network theory, and new materialism to reposition the physical, moving body as crucial to the cultural, political, environmental, and economic systems that it constitutes and within which is constituted.Trade Review"Written by a veritable who’s who of the most visible, consistently provocative, and cutting-edge researchers and thinkers in the field, Sport, Physical Culture, and the Moving Body represents a field-shaping theoretical intervention that will enrich the sociological study of sport and has the potential to bring sport research and theory to broader scholarly audiences and attention." -- Douglas Hartmann * author of Midnight Basketball: Race, Sports, and Neoliberal Social Policy *NEW MATERIALISM AND THE ACTIVE BODY – EP 14 interview with Drs. Joshua Newman, Holly Thorpe, and David Andrews * Somatic Podcast *"Although sport and its accoutrements are the focus of all the authors, the primary purpose of the anthology is actually engagement with the theories in order to better understand sport. This anthology may introduce readers to a variety of theorists and approaches, but it is not an introductory work on sport theory. For serious sport theorists, though, it is a smorgasbord. Highly recommended." * Choice *"The editors assembled an impressive pool of scholars who are noted experts in sport fields of cultural, gender, and political studies.... [The book is] timely as it appears at a stage when the quantification of the black body through testing and measurement in the field of sport science has reappeared." * Journal of Sport History *Table of ContentsCover Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents Foreword Introduction: Sport, Physical Culture, and New Materialisms Part I: Body Ontologies Chapter 1. Contextualizing the Material, Moving Body Chapter 2. Objectified Bodies and Instrumental Movement: What Might Merleau-Ponty Say about Fitness Tracking? Chapter 3. Body Objects, Political Physics, and Incorporation: Object-Oriented Ontology for Sport and Physical Culture Chapter 4. Telomere Biology in an Age of Precarity: A "New" Materialist Experiment in a More-Than-Human Kinetics Part II: Body Technologies Chapter 5. Big Bodies, Big Data: Unpacking the FitnessGram Black Box Chapter 6. The Politics of the Gloves: Finding Meaning in Entangled Matter Chapter 7. Diffracting Mind-Body Relations: Feminist Materialism and the Entanglement of Physical Culture in Women's Recovery from Depression Chapter 8. Toward a Multispecies Sport Studies Chapter 9. Reimagining the Dancing Body with and through Barad Part III: Body Ecologies Chapter 10. Reassembling "Sport for Development and Peace" through Actor-Network Theory Chapter 11. Entangling Corporeal Matter and Geomatter: Making and Remaking the Beach Chapter 12. Bodies of Water: Intra-actions among Water, Sport, and the Body Politic Chapter 13. Feminist New Materialisms and the Troubling Waters of the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic and Paralympic Games Chapter 14. Flattening the City: Assemblage Urbanism and the Moving Body Chapter 15. What Can New Materialisms Do for the Critical Study of Sport and Physical Culture? (Who Does This Book Think It Is?) Afterword Notes on Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisProvides an intimate, in-depth ethnography of religious disenchantment among ex-Mormons in Utah. Showing that former church members were once deeply embedded in their religious life, Brooks argues that disenchantment unfolds as a struggle to overcome the spiritual, social, and ideological devotion ex-Mormons had to the religious community.Trade Review"An extremely frank, thoughtful, compelling, and analytically rich exploration of contemporary apostasy and religious defection within a Mormon context. As more and more people walk away from their religion, it is essential that we understand the various dynamics at play—and Brooks's investigation on this front is not only highly readable, but extremely insightful. One of the best in-depth studies of apostasy I've ever encountered. Brooks's Disenchanted Lives is excellent. Highly recommended." -- Phil Zuckerman * author of Living the Secular Life *"Brooks has written a must-read for anyone interested in the LDS Church or the formerly religious. His ethnography is a well-researched and deeply informative study of the ties that bind ex-Mormons to the religion they’ve left behind—and the tremendous work they undertake to cut them. His focus on apostasy fills a clear gap in the growing literature on secular people, and his measured account of the challenges facing the Mormon Church is an important contribution to Mormon Studies." -- Joseph Blankholm * assistant professor of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara *"Understanding ex-Mormons" interview with Marshall Brooks by Jana Reiss * Religion News Service *"Disenchanted Lives is one of the best examinations of religious belief and disbelief published in recent years. It shines in the way Brooks illustrates social science processes with case studies. This is an excellent book worth reading by all who are interested in religion and religious disaffiliation." * Free Inquiry *"The strongest and most intriguing section of the book observes the ways that disenchantment is not simply a matter of rationality and reason coming to win out over faith, but how there are 'emotional, psychological, and embodied dimensions' of leaving the church and its beliefs as well." * Mormon Studies Review *"Contributes to the larger matter in religious studies of why people leave faith traditions even after years of investment." * Reading Religion *"The book is balanced and well-informed, driven not by ideology but by a desire to position the ex-Mormon experience with sensitivity and in the light of other scholarship on religious disaffection. It makes four primary contributions to advance the existing literature." * Dialogue Journal *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction: The “Crisis of Apostasy” in Modern Mormonism 1 Ambivalent Pasts: Sacred History and the Crisis of Memory 2 “Digging too Deep”: The Paradox of Faith 3 “The Other Side of Happiness”: Disenchantment, Loss, and World-Collapse 4 “I Lost My Body to the Church”: Sexual and Spiritual (dis)Embodiment 5 “Living in the Shadow of the Church”: Apostasy, Stigma, and Projective Fantasy 6 “I’m Apostate, Yes I am”: The Politics and Performance of Secular Identity 7 Religious (dis)Identification: Acquiescence and Anger on the Edge of Mormonism Conclusions: “Pastoral Apologetics” and the Future of Mormonism References About the Author

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Book SynopsisProvides an intimate, in-depth ethnography of religious disenchantment among ex-Mormons in Utah. Showing that former church members were once deeply embedded in their religious life, E. Marshall Brooks argues that disenchantment unfolds as a struggle to overcome the spiritual, social, and ideological devotion ex-Mormons had to the religious community and not out of a lack of dedication.Trade Review"An extremely frank, thoughtful, compelling, and analytically rich exploration of contemporary apostasy and religious defection within a Mormon context. As more and more people walk away from their religion, it is essential that we understand the various dynamics at play—and Brooks's investigation on this front is not only highly readable, but extremely insightful. One of the best in-depth studies of apostasy I've ever encountered. Brooks's Disenchanted Lives is excellent. Highly recommended." -- Phil Zuckerman * author of Living the Secular Life *"Brooks has written a must-read for anyone interested in the LDS Church or the formerly religious. His ethnography is a well-researched and deeply informative study of the ties that bind ex-Mormons to the religion they’ve left behind—and the tremendous work they undertake to cut them. His focus on apostasy fills a clear gap in the growing literature on secular people, and his measured account of the challenges facing the Mormon Church is an important contribution to Mormon Studies." -- Joseph Blankholm * assistant professor of Religious Studies, University of California, Santa Barbara *"Understanding ex-Mormons" interview with Marshall Brooks by Jana Reiss * Religion News Service *"Disenchanted Lives is one of the best examinations of religious belief and disbelief published in recent years. It shines in the way Brooks illustrates social science processes with case studies. This is an excellent book worth reading by all who are interested in religion and religious disaffiliation." * Free Inquiry *"The strongest and most intriguing section of the book observes the ways that disenchantment is not simply a matter of rationality and reason coming to win out over faith, but how there are 'emotional, psychological, and embodied dimensions' of leaving the church and its beliefs as well." * Mormon Studies Review *"Contributes to the larger matter in religious studies of why people leave faith traditions even after years of investment." * Reading Religion *"The book is balanced and well-informed, driven not by ideology but by a desire to position the ex-Mormon experience with sensitivity and in the light of other scholarship on religious disaffection. It makes four primary contributions to advance the existing literature." * Dialogue Journal *Table of ContentsPreface Introduction: The “Crisis of Apostasy” in Modern Mormonism 1 Ambivalent Pasts: Sacred History and the Crisis of Memory 2 “Digging too Deep”: The Paradox of Faith 3 “The Other Side of Happiness”: Disenchantment, Loss, and World-Collapse 4 “I Lost My Body to the Church”: Sexual and Spiritual (dis)Embodiment 5 “Living in the Shadow of the Church”: Apostasy, Stigma, and Projective Fantasy 6 “I’m Apostate, Yes I am”: The Politics and Performance of Secular Identity 7 Religious (dis)Identification: Acquiescence and Anger on the Edge of Mormonism Conclusions: “Pastoral Apologetics” and the Future of Mormonism References About the Author

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Book SynopsisPhilip Rieff earned recognition as one of the most profound social theorists of culture. Through such works as ""Freud: The Mind of the Moralist"", he proved himself an incisive interpreter of Freud and his legacy. Here, he elaborates on his critique of our culture as distinguishable only by its rejection of any and all visions of sacred order.

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Book SynopsisLyric essayists draw on memoir, poetry, and prose to push against the arbitrary genre restrictions in creative nonfiction, opening up space not only for new forms of writing, but also new voices and a new literary canon. This anthology features some of the best lyric essays published in the last several years by prominent and emerging writers.

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisDetails the experiences of Black people with diverse sexual identities from ages eighteen to thirty. The work examines how the intersection of racial, sexual, gender and religious identities influence self-expression and lifestyle choices in this understudied, often hidden population, by exploring how racial, sexual and religious dynamics play out.Trade ReviewFrom Jesus to J-Setting is a new take on religion, spirituality, and BIPOC LGBTQIA communities. I have not seen anything similar." - Carol S. Walther, author and coeditor of Fertility, Family Planning and Population Policy in China"From Jesus to J-Setting offers an innovative exploration of how BMSM embrace religion and spirituality, wrestling with the question of what can understanding BMSM’s connection to spirituality do to help religious and other institutions better support this population." - Erica Chito Childs, author of Fade to Black and White: Interracial Images in Popular Culture

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Book SynopsisDetails the experiences of Black people with diverse sexual identities from ages eighteen to thirty. The work examines how the intersection of racial, sexual, gender and religious identities influence self-expression and lifestyle choices in this understudied, often hidden population, by exploring how racial, sexual and religious dynamics play out.Trade ReviewFrom Jesus to J-Setting is a new take on religion, spirituality, and BIPOC LGBTQIA communities. I have not seen anything similar." - Carol S. Walther, author and coeditor of Fertility, Family Planning and Population Policy in China"From Jesus to J-Setting offers an innovative exploration of how BMSM embrace religion and spirituality, wrestling with the question of what can understanding BMSM’s connection to spirituality do to help religious and other institutions better support this population." - Erica Chito Childs, author of Fade to Black and White: Interracial Images in Popular Culture

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Book SynopsisLeading cultural theorists consider the meaning and implications of world-scale humanist scholarship by engaging with Immanuel Wallersteins world-systems analysis.Trade Review“As the current crisis of financial markets displays both its high level of economic uncertainty and its devastating geopolitical consequences—with East and West, North and South progressively trading their places—the prescience of Wallerstein’s world-systems analysis appears admirable. But the authors of this book also demonstrate that it potentially affects the basic time-space determinants of every cultural critique. A timely and fruitful contribution.”—Étienne Balibar, author of We, the People of Europe?“This is a very compelling collection, one that is sure to be of interest to humanists and social scientists and to the growing number of programs in ‘global studies.’ It turns to Immanuel Wallerstein’s ‘large-scale vision’ as a means of countering the historical damage done by large-scale capitalism and acquiring a sharper understanding of the notion of ‘system’ and of the contingencies of ‘culture’ within it.”—Françoise Lionnet, co-editor of The Creolization of Theory“One… indication of such promise is the collection Immanuel Wallerstein and the Problem of the World: System, Scale,Culture... As the collection stages a conversation between world-systems and literary and cultural studies, it brings Wallerstein into the optics of the known for colleagues who are neither in sociology nor history departments.” -- Stephen Shapiro * Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory *“The collection of essays in this compilation ... should be of interest to scholars both in the humanities and the social sciences, as well as those in the growing number of global studies programs.” -- Okori Uneke * International Social Science Review *"The breadth and scope of the volume make it a valuable reference resource for anyone interested in the contribution and implications of world-systems analysis to the humanities. The cogent analyses provided by the contributors offer a much-needed indication of the ongoing transformations in the field. At the same time, the thoughtful account of the impact and consequences of Wallerstein’s approach will benefit students and scholars alike—especially, those interested in developing a holistic approach for the explanation and understanding of the increasingly complex world system.” -- Emilian Kavalski * Itinerario *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments vii Introduction: The Most Important Thing Happening 1 Part 1. System and Responsibility The Modern World-System: Its Structures, Its Geoculture, Its Crisis and Transformation / Richard Lee 27 Blaming the System / Bruce Robbins 41 Part 2. Literature: Restructured, Re-historicized, Re-scaled World-Systems Analysis, Evolutionary Theory, Weltliteratur / Franco Moretti 67 The Scale of World Literature / Nivrana Tanoukhi 78 Part 3. Respatializing, Remapping, Recognizing The Space of the World: Beyond State-Centricism? / Neil Brenner 101 Cartographies of Connection: Ocean Maps as Metaphors for Inter-Area History / Kären Wigen 138 What Is a Poem?: The Event of Women and the Modern Girl as Problems in Global or World History / Tani E. Barlow 155 Part 4. Ethics, Otherness, System Legal System of International Rights / Helen Stacy 187 Rationality and World-Systems Analysis: Fanon and the Impact of the Ethico-Historical / David Palumbo-Liu 202 Thinking about the Humanities / Immanuel Wallerstein 223 The Twilight of Capital? / Gopal Balakrishnan 227 Bibliography 233 Contributors 249 Index 251

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Book SynopsisThis volume explores how contemporary governments, particularly in settler nations such as Australia and the United States, deflect social responsibility for the crushing harms experienced by communities living at the margins.Trade Review“Economies of Abandonment is an erudite book that unravels crucial linkages between the transformed character of liberal policies in our present and the shattered lives of those who live under its ever-expanding shadow. It will be widely read and appreciated for its thoughtful and provocative arguments.”—Saba Mahmood, University of California, Berkeley“Elizabeth A. Povinelli’s book is ambitious and original. It reflects her extraordinary ability to move from high theoretical discussions of philosophical concepts, to broad perspectives on late liberalism, to precise accounts of political and legal controversies, as well as public conversations on sex, drugs, religion, ecology, and other matters. Her argument in Economies of Abandonment is impressive in its breadth and depth. The book will provide an important contribution to future critical discussions, not only in anthropology but much more broadly.”—Éric Fassin, École Normale Supérieure“Economies of Abandonment impresses, to be sure, because of Povinelli’s penetrating analyses and intellectual sweep, but even more so because of her conscience, political passion and willingness to persevere.” -- Kenneth M. George * Interventions *“Situated between the ‘eventful’ tenses of settler governance and anthropological imaginaries, Povinelli continues to trace out how we might produce positive sociographies of those whom settler states encounter, scrutinize and abandon.” -- Timothy Neale * Postcolonial Studies *"Economies of Abandonment is extremely thought provoking, insightful and rich in ideas. It rewards, if not demands, re-reading." -- Geoff Buchanan * The Asia Pacific Journal of Anthropology *Table of ContentsPreface ix Acknowledgments xiii Introduction. The Child in the Broom Closet 1 1. The Part That Has No Part 47 2. The Brackets of Recognition 75 3. Road Kill: Ethical Substance, Exhaustion, Endurance 101 4. Events of Abandonment 131 5. After Good and Evil, Whither Sacrificial Love? 163 Conclusion. Negative Critique, Positive Sociographies 187 Notes 193 Bibliography 211 Index 225

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Book SynopsisKadji Amin challenges the idealization of Jean Genet as a paradigmatic figure within queer studies to illuminate the methodological dilemmas at the heart of queer theory, bringing the genealogy of Genet's imaginaries of attachment to bear on pressing issues within contemporary queer politics and scholarship, including prison abolition, homonationalism, and pinkwashing.Trade Review"Amin's commitment to re-evaluating the unsettling practices of Genet's life represents a serious attempt to contend with the colonial, racist, and hierarchical legacies present in queer social forms. . . . Disturbing Attachments, by investigating the traction queer theory can have in contending with the compromises and failures hidden within its own field, demonstrates the potential for critical self-inquiry." -- Rajat D. Singh * Gay & Lesbian Review *"There is no doubt that Disturbing Attachments is, first and foremost, a work of and about queer studies, a fearless and scholarly probing of its disciplinary norms, its discursive limits, and its most embarrassing relations. It should be read by all those who care about the discipline’s future . . . and, most importantly, by those who care about its past." -- Andrew Counter * French Studies *"Amin’s book offers a dizzying number of theoretical interventions, in an elegant style that makes up for the uncompromising density of the text. With refreshing currency, Disturbing Attachments displaces queer studies outside its presentist US context." -- Mehammed Amadeus Mack * Journal of Middle East Women's Studies *"Disturbing Attachments is a formidable read. It is theoretically mobile, stylistically gratifying, and conceptually probing." -- Helmut Puff * American Historical Review *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. Attachment Genealogies of Pederastic Modernity 19 2. Light of a Dead Star: The Nostalgic Modernity of Prison Pederasty 45 3. Racial Fetishism, Gay Liberation, and the Temporalities of the Erotic 76 4. Pederastic Kinship 109 5. Enemies of the State: Terrorism, Violence, and the Affective Politics of Transnational Coalition 141 Epilogue. Haunted by the 1990s: Queer Theory's Affective Histories 176 Notes 191 Bibliography 235 Index 249

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Book SynopsisPresents a new way of looking at Tibet under the rule of the Dalai Lamas (1642-1959). Peter Schwieger attempts to make transparent the complexity and dynamics of the Dalai Lamas' domination using the work of sociologist Niklas Luhman (1927-1998) as his theoretical starting point.

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