The works of Walter Benjamin (1892--1940) are widely acclaimed as being among the most original and provocative writings of twentieth--century critical thought, and have become required reading for scholars and students in a range of academic discip…
The search for gold and for the mythical El Dorado gripped the imagination of the conquistadors from the beginning of the sixteenth century. Crossing over the Andes, they explored the unknown eastern forests and jungles, launching expeditions that w…
In this important new book Alan Irwin maps out the knowledge, teaching and research in the emerging field of environmental sociology. He reviews the key sociological debates in the field and sets out a new framework for analysis and practice.
This is a refreshingly original analysis of human rights, past and present, which sets out major new terms of reference for political debate, it will become a standard text in the human rights field.
Scholarship on African American history has changed dramatically since the publication of George Washington Williams pioneering A History of the Negro Race in America in 1882. Organized chronologically and thematically, What is African American Hist…
This book provides an accessible account of popular political, social and economic movements in the Third World. Focusing on poor and marginalized groups within developing countries, it shows how these groups have been stimulated into action by rece…
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…
Post--Democracy is a polemical work that goes beyond current complaints about the failings of our democracy and explores the deeper social and economic forces that account for the current malaise. Colin Crouch argues that the decline of those social…
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 is the second volume of Theweleita s extraordinary study of the fantasies of some of the men centrally involved in the rise of Nazism. The author develops his account by focusing on the representation of masculinity and homosexuality and their…
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…
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…
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…
In this important book, Antonio Negri develops the key ideas that were to form the basis for the highly influential analyses of new forms of power and social struggle presented in Empire and Multitude. He shows how new technology and the break-up of…
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…
Against Management argues that management is increasingly being seen as a problem, and not a solution. Martin Parker argues that managing is not the only way to organize and that managerialism is a global form of ideology, which is being used to jus…
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…
