This book looks at the public policy profiles of eight advanced capitalist states and asks what makes them distinctive. The volume also examines national policies comparatively by exploring the extent to which each nation fits into patterns establis…
This book makes an essential contribution to the debate now opening up over the future of Europe in the wake of the demise of the Constitution. Since 1989 much about the European Union has changed, including the very definition of 'Europe' itself. T…
Durkheim is one of the founding fathers of modern sociology and a key figure in the development of social theory. And yet today his work is often misunderstood, since it is commonly viewed through the lens of later authors who used his writings to i…
Jacques Delors has been the most successful President of the European Commission in the history of the European Community. The events of his time in Brussels may have constituted the best chance yet to create a new supranational order to consolidate…
This revised edition of Patrick Baert's widely acclaimed Social Theory in the Twentieth Century , now benefitting from the collaboration of Filipe Carreira da Silva has been brought right up-to-date with cutting-edge developments in social theory to…
Most interpretations of ethnicity concentrate either on particular societies or on specific dimensions of a world societya . This work takes quite a different approach, arguing that variations within and across societies are vital for understanding…
Everything in their respective positions divides them: Alain Badiou is the thinker of a revitalized communism and Alain Finkielkraut the mournful observer of the loss of values. The two opponents, gathered here for their first-ever debate, have irre…
Traditionally, economists have attributed consistency and rational calculation to the actions of `economic man'. In a challenge to orthodox thinking, Geoffrey Hodgson maintains that social institutions play a central and essential role in moulding p…
This important book examines the role of written and spoken language in shaping our sense of reality, in exchanges of social life, and in fashioning our sense of self. It develops a distinctive, socio--historical approach to these issues, offering a…
Hans-Georg Gadamer is one of the leading philosophers in the world today. His philosophical hermeneutics has had a major impact in a wide range of disciplines, including the social sciences, literary criticism, theology and jurisprudence. Truth and…
Kleinians is a compelling account of the extraordinary revolution in psychology pioneered by the psychoanalyst Melanie Klein and nine of her colleagues and followers, including Susan Isaacs, Joan Riviere, Wilfred Bion, Frances Tustin and Hanna Segal…
Janet Sayers tells the story of the revolution in psychology pioneered by psychoanalyst Melanie Klein through an account of the personal and public lives of its main architects, their families and patients. The result is a mixture of biography, psyc…
In this thoroughly revised and updated second edition of the highly successful Ecological Ethics, Patrick Curry shows that a new and truly ecological ethic is both possible and urgently needed. With this distinctive proposition in mind, Curry introd…
The chief concerns of this book are with the "vulnerability" of modernity. It addresses a series of questions including economic and moral institutions established by the West meet the immense challenges now posed in the late 20th century? Are we li…
This book offers a fresh, accessible and original interpretation of the modern state, concentrating particularly on the emergence and nature of democracy. Poggi presents an extensive conceptual portrait of the state, distinguishing its early charact…
This new book is a lively and highly accessible introduction to the sociology of education. Written in a clear and comprehensible way, it introduces students to the key theoretical perspectives and conceptual frameworks in the sociology of education…
Representations of Youth examines the various constructions of 'youth' and 'adolescence' in recent British and North American research. Mainstream and radical approaches have presented a series of 'crises' about young people in relation to, among ot…
The education gender gap is closing. Since the 1980s examination results have changed dramatically, as girls have "caught up" and, in some cases, overtaken boys. This text discusses whether the gender gap in education and society is closing or not.
In this important and stylish book, Michel Maffesoli argues that it is impossible to reduce knowledge to a conception of science inherited from the nineteenth century. Instead, he argues, we must go beyond intellectual conformities based on limited…
An analysis of developments in social policy in the main EU member states. It provides a systematic account of welfare retrenchment and assesses the competing explanations of this process.
Many of Freud's views were forged out of a reflection on his own experience. It follows that an adequate understanding of the man and his work can be reached only by studying both aspects in conjunction with one another. Drawing upon both published…
Sovereignty, Rights and Justice surveys the relationship between international relations theory and political theory, showing the way in which these two discourses, once considered separate, are now intertwined. In the first part of the book an hist…
We live in a time of great uncertainty about the future. Those heady days of the late 20th century, when the end of the Cold War seemed to be ushering in a new and more optimistic age, now seem like a distant memory. During the last couple of decade…
In this highly original book the author addresses the question of how we are to conceive of human reasoning in a situation where there are no global, privileged points of view. Drawing on the work of Nietzsche and Heidegger, Vattimo proposes a conce…
This text surveys some of the most important writings that declare we are entering a new information age. It suggests that while there have been some important changes prompted by the information technology revolution, these are often changes only i…
All the great ideals that gave life meaning in earlier societies - God, the nation, revolution, freedom, democracy - are in disarray today, questioned by many and rejected by those who have lost faith in them. But there is another value, rooted in t…
There are insights of interest and value to all in these pages. This book develops a fresh and insightful approach to the questions of children and television. Drawing on recent work in linguistics and semiotics, Hodge and Tripp analyse the rich and…
We must see to it that we put the best of ourselves in our letters; for there is nothing to suggest that we shall see each other again soon. So wrote Walter Benjamin to Gretel Adorno in spring 1940 from the south of France, shortly before he took hi…
In this essay, John Keane rethinks the relationship between the media and democracy. He opens up and explores a cluster of vital questions: where did the modern ideals of republican democracy and a liberty of the pressa originate? Have they been des…
An introductory text on child psychology discussing different theoretical perspectives by analysing major figures' work on the mental life of babies. It looks at Darwin, Freud, Piaget, Skinner, Chomsky, Bowlby and others, thus appraising the origins…
Jean Baudrillard, alternately provocative and astonishing, is one of the leading theorists of media and culture. Regarded by many as the chief prophet of postmodernism, his writings raise important issues about the changing nature of social and poli…
This book is a wide-ranging analysis of the nature of economic planning in both capitalist and statist societies. It seeks to establish an alternative to market forces as a means of coordinating decentralized economic decisions.Devine begins with an…
Inaction by governments in the face of climate change is often attributed to a lack of political will or a denial of the seriousness of the situation, but as Mark Alizart argues in this provocative book, we shouldn't exclude the possibility that par…
An accessible and practical guide to postcolonial criticism. Combines innovative insights with clear and practical definitions of key concepts. Tackles the 'biga questions in postcolonial studies in a common--sense manner that avoids jargon and exce…
This original book enters the undeveloped territory of feminist metaphysics and offers a bold and unusual contribution to debates about identity, essence and self. Using a diverse range of theories - from Kant to chaos theory, from Kierkegaard to De…
There have been significant political eras which have shaped not only the structure of world politics but the way in which it has been studied. The geopolitical and ideological contours of the Cold War period, for example, had an impact on almost ev…
The contemporary debate on economic policy is dominated by the issue of 'which model of capitalism works best'.
In this book Jorge Larrain discusses three of the most important concepts in the social sciences: ideology, reason and cultural identity.
This classic collection of essays has already established itself as a rich source of material for students of sixteenth and seventeenth--century France. Natalie Davis focuses on the lower social orders -- peasants, artisans, the poor generally -- an…
a Globalizationa is a word that is currently much in use. This book is an attempt to show that there is far more to globalization than its surface manifestations. Unpacking the social roots and social consequences of globalizing processes, this book…
After the success of the hardback, students and academics will welcome the publication of this book in paperback. The aim of the book is to explore the connection between two perspectives that have had a profound effect upon contemporary thought: po…
An analysis of patterns of historical and national consciousness in East and West Germany. Fulbrook presents a theory of the nation as a constructed community of shared legacy and shows how the conditions for the construction of any such identity ha…
This accessible text summarizes and explains the structure of British local government, focusing on key changes introduced during the Thatcher/Major years and initiatives implemented by the current Labour administration. While offering a detailed di…
Does a global economy render the traditional nation--state obsolete? Does globalization threaten democratic life, or offer it new forms of expression? What are the implications of globalization for our understanding of politics and of national and c…
This text shows students how to think theologically: how they can respond, both creatively and intelligently to the issues and challenges that face them today. It helps students construct theological arguments, which can be socially and politically…
The social sciences have long been based upon contrasts drawn between the militaristic societies of the past, and the capitalist or a industrial societies of the present. But how valid are such contrasts, given that the current era is one stamped by…
Since 9/11 politicians, preachers, conservatives and the media are all speaking about evil. In the past the dicourse about evil in our religious, philosophic and literary traditions has provoked thinking, questioning and inquiry. But today the appea…
This text provides an analysis of Western substate nationalism by drawing on a range of case studies. Drawing on a comparative framework, it offers a typology of the different political scenarios in which substate nationalism emerges and develops, r…
Written by a distinguished group of internationally renowned scholars, this volume provides a comprehensive and contemporary overview of the major issues dominating British politics. The book not only maps the current political agenda, but actively…
When we engage with the writings of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, we encounter a culture radically unfamiliar to us at the start of the twenty-first century. The past is a foreign country, and so too are many of its texts. This readable and pr…
