Andrew Sayer undertakes a fundamental critique of social science's difficulties in acknowledging that people's relation to the world is one of concern. As sentient beings, capable of flourishing and suffering, and particularly vulnerable to how others treat us, our view of the world is substantially evaluative. Yet modernist ways of thinking encourage the common but extraordinary belief that values are beyond reason, and merely subjective or matters of convention, with little or nothing to do with the kind of beings people are, the quality of their social relations, their material circumstances or well-being. The author shows how social theory and philosophy need to change to reflect the complexity of everyday ethical concerns and the importance people attach to dignity. He argues for a robustly critical social science that explains and evaluates social life from the standpoint of human flourishing.

This vibrant and significantly revised new edition is a comprehensive and accessible text for studying political theory in a changing world. Bringing together classic and contemporary political concepts and ideologies into one book, it introduces the major approaches to political issues that have shaped our world, and the ideas that form the currency of political debate. Consistently, it relates political ideas to political realities through effective use of examples and case studies making theory lively, contentious, and relevant. With significant revisions which reflect the latest questions facing political theory in an increasingly international context, key features and updates include: Two brand new chapters on Migration and Freedom of Speech and a significant new section on the radical right; Thought-provoking case studies to bring the theory to life including social media and internet regulation, Brexit and the EU, anti-vaxxer campaigns, surrogacy tourism, and autonomous anarchist zones; A revamped website, including podcasts, to aid study of, and reading around, the subject. Introduction to Political Theory, Fourth Edition is the perfect accompaniment to undergraduate study in political theory, political philosophy, concepts and ideologies, and more broadly to the social sciences and philosophy.

George Herbert Mead has long been known for his social theory of meaning and the 'self' - an approach which becomes all the more relevant in light of the ways we develop and represent ourselves online. But recent scholarship has shown that Mead's pragmatic philosophy can help us understand a much wider range of contemporary issues including how humans and natural environments mutually influence one another, how deliberative democracy can and should work, how thinking is dependent upon the body and on others, and how social changes in the present affect our understandings of the past. Historical scholarship has also changed what we know of Mead's life, including new emphasis on his social reform efforts, his engagement with colonization and war, and critical reinterpretation of the works published after his death. This book provides an approachable introduction to Mead's contemporary relevance in the social sciences, showing how a pragmatic view of social action serves as the core of Mead's theory, offering striking insights into human agency, symbolism, politics, social change, temporality, and materiality. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology and the social sciences more broadly, with interests in social theory and the enduring importance of the sociological classics.

This book explores the relationship between the changing nature of capitalism and the creation of the new worker. In a changing global economy, work - as the activity that structures individuals in capitalism both socially and psychologically - is being undermined. Combining a Gramscian critique of contemporary patterns of capitalist labour control with Lacanian psychoanalysis, Durand examines what kinds of human beings are emerging in and through modern work, or on its margins. Creating the New Worker will be of interest to students and scholars who engage in the sociology and psychology of work, economics, and labour.

1. This book will find a market on theory courses, and it also has significant potential to be used on a range of programmes such as Inside-Out in the US, and the Prison-University Partnerships Network in the UK. 2. While most theory books only offer brief coverage of the origins of criminological thought, this is the main focus of this book. Unlike other books that offer mainly a twentieth century account, this traces the development of our understanding of crime and deviance throughout the ages to inform readers of the significant role the past has played in our contemporary theories of crime. 3. Each chapter is written by an incarcerated author housed at a men's medium and maximum-security prison in the US who are supported by one or more co-authors: university students who carry out the research for each chapter, offering a new way of thinking about theory and making a significant contribution to convict criminology.

1. This book will find a market on theory courses, and it also has significant potential to be used on a range of programmes such as Inside-Out in the US, and the Prison-University Partnerships Network in the UK. 2. While most theory books only offer brief coverage of the origins of criminological thought, this is the main focus of this book. Unlike other books that offer mainly a twentieth century account, this traces the development of our understanding of crime and deviance throughout the ages to inform readers of the significant role the past has played in our contemporary theories of crime. 3. Each chapter is written by an incarcerated author housed at a men's medium and maximum-security prison in the US who are supported by one or more co-authors: university students who carry out the research for each chapter, offering a new way of thinking about theory and making a significant contribution to convict criminology.

Few concepts are as central to sociology as institutions. Yet, like so many sociological concepts, institutions remain vaguely defined. This book expands a foundational definition of the institution, one which locates them as the basic building blocks of human societies-as structural and cultural machines for survival that make it possible to pass precious knowledge from one generation to the next, ensuring the survival of our species. The book extends this classic tradition by, first, applying advances in biological evolution, neuroscience, and primatology to explain the origins of human societies and, in particular, the first institutional sphere: kinship. The authors incorporate insights from natural sciences often marginalized in sociology, while highlighting the limitations of purely biogenetic, Darwinian explanations. Secondly, they build a vivid conceptual model of institutions and their central dynamics as the book charts the chronological evolution of kinship, polity, religion, law, and economy, discussing the biological evidence for the ubiquity of these institutions as evolutionary adaptations themselves.

A Treatise in Phenomenological Sociology: Object, Method, Findings, and Applications provides the first systematic approach to phenomenological sociology. Carlos Belvedere claims that phenomenological sociology is a distinctive paradigm endowed with its peculiar object, method, and stock of knowledge. He defines phenomenological sociology as a science dealing with the natural attitude of groups. When it comes to its method, he describes the actual, centenary use of the epoche, the eidetic variation, and constitutional analysis in the practice of classical and contemporary social thinkers. Finally, he collects a wealth of precious findings in the history of phenomenological sociology, which starts with the ego agens as the substratum of social life, then goes on to consider intermediate stages such as pragmata, habitualities, social personalities, and institutions. He argues that social behavior can take different forms, subjective as well as objective, because it can experience a wide range of transformations thanks to specific qualities of pragmata, such as reiterableness and transferability.

An essential read for activists, community organizers, justice scholars, and academic administrators, Critical Animal Studies and Social Justice: Critical Theory, Dismantling Speciesism, and Total Liberation is a collection that combines scholarship and activism in nine ground-breaking and provocative chapters. The book includes contributions from around the world influenced by critical theory, feminism, social justice, political theory, media studies, environmental justice, food justice, disability studies, and Black liberation. By promoting total liberation and liberatory politics, these essays challenge the reader to think about new approaches to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion . The contributors also examine and disrupt many of the exclusionary assumptions and behaviors by those working toward justice and liberation, encouraging the reader to reflect on their own thoughts and actions. They emphasize the direct links between exploitation of animals, the planet, and people, the significance of which we can no longer afford to ignore.

Key text for scholars, researchers and students of refugee studies, migration and diaspora studies, public policy, social policy and development studies Discusses current laws like CAA and procedures like NRC

This book examines the different conceptions of the individual that have emerged in recent new approaches in economics, including behavioral economics, experimental economics, social preferences approaches, game theory, neuroeconomics, evolutionary and complexity economics, and the capability approach. These conceptions are classified according to whether they seek to revise the traditional atomist individual conception, put new emphasis on interaction and relations between individuals, account for individuals as evolving and self-organizing, and explain individuals in terms of capabilities. The method of analysis uses two identity criteria for distinguishing and re-identifying individuals to determine whether these different individual conceptions successfully identify individuals. Successful individual conceptions account for sub-personal and supra-personal bounds on single individual explanations. The former concerns the fragmentation of individuals into multiple selves; the latter concerns the dissolution of individuals into the social. The book develops an understanding of bounded individuality, seen as central to the defense of human rights.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "In our uncertain age, which can so often feel so dark and disturbing, Steven Pinker has distinguished himself as a voice of positivity." - New York Times Can reading a book make you more rational? Can it help us understand why there is so much irrationality in the world? Steven Pinker, author of Enlightenment Now (Bill Gates's "new favorite book of all time") answers all the questions here Today humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding--and also appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that developed vaccines for Covid-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, medical quackery, and conspiracy theorizing? Pinker rejects the cynical cliche that humans are simply irrational--cavemen out of time saddled with biases, fallacies, and illusions. After all, we discovered the laws of nature, lengthened and enriched our lives, and set out the benchmarks for rationality itself. We actually think in ways that are sensible in the low-tech contexts in which we spend most of our lives, but fail to take advantage of the powerful tools of reasoning we've discovered over the millennia: logic, critical thinking, probability, correlation and causation, and optimal ways to update beliefs and commit to choices individually and with others. These tools are not a standard part of our education, and have never been presented clearly and entertainingly in a single book--until now. Rationality also explores its opposite: how the rational pursuit of self-interest, sectarian solidarity, and uplifting mythology can add up to crippling irrationality in a society. Collective rationality depends on norms that are explicitly designed to promote objectivity and truth. Rationality matters. It leads to better choices in our lives and in the public sphere, and is the ultimate driver of social justice and moral progress. Brimming with Pinker's customary insight and humor, Rationality will enlighten, inspire, and empower.

The Covid-19 pandemic and the disruptions of climate change are features of post-normal times. In Sociology in Post-Normal Times, Charles Thorpe contends that the modern project of creating normalcy within the nation state has broken down. Integral to this is sociology, which is the science of social reform. Drawing from the work of seminal theorists such as Zygmunt Baumann and Anthony Giddens, Thorpe contends that sociology's "society" is no longer viable because globalization has put an end to social reform, thus the assumptions and goals of sociology must be left behind in order to create a new global humanity. In the face of the pandemic and climate change, Sociology in Post-Normal Times demands no less than the birth of a global humanity beyond nation states as the precondition for human survival.

This book presents, for the first time in the English language, Marcel Gauchet's interpretation of the challenges faced by contemporary Western societies as a result of the crisis of liberal democratic politics and the growing influence of populism. Responding to Gauchet's analysis, international experts explore the depoliticising aspects of contemporary democratic culture that explain the appeal of populism: neo-liberal individualism, the cult of the individual and its related human rights, and the juridification of all human relationships. The book also provides the intellectual context within which Gauchet's understanding of modern society has developed-in particular, his critical engagement with Marxism and the profound influence of Cornelius Castoriadis and Claude Lefort on his work. It highlights the way Gauchet's work remains faithful to an understanding of history that stresses the role of humanity as a collective subject, while also seeking to account for both the historical novelty of contemporary individualism and the new form of alienation that radical modernity engenders. In doing so, the book also opens up new avenues for reflection on the political significance of the contemporary health crisis. Marcel Gauchet and the Crisis of Democratic Politics will be of great interest to scholars and postgraduate students of social and political thought, political anthropology and sociology, political philosophy, and political theory.

This handbook critically examines the three concepts of exclusion, inequality and stigma and their interrelationship in the Indian context. Divided into five parts, the volume deals with the issues of exclusion, inequality, gender discrimination, health and disability, and assault and violence. It discusses important topical themes such as caste and social exclusion in rural labour markets, impact of poverty and unemployment, discrimination in education and literacy, income inequality and financial inclusion, social security of street vendors, women social entrepreneurs, rural-urban digital divide, workplace inequality, women trafficking, acid attacks, inter-caste marriages, honour killings, health care and sanitation, discrimination faced by those with disabilities, and regional disparities in India. The book traces rising socio-economic inequality and discrimination along with the severe lack of access to resources and opportunities, redressal instruments, legal provisions and implementation challenges, while also looking at deep-rooted causes responsible for their persistence in society. With emphasis on affirmative action, systemic mechanisms, and the role of state and citizens in bridging gaps, the volume presents several policies and strategies for development. It combines wide-ranging empirical case studies backed by relevant theoretical frameworks to map out a new agenda for research on socio-economic inequality in India with important implications for public policy. Comprehensive and first of its kind, this handbook will serve as a key reference to scholars, researchers and teachers of exclusion and discrimination studies, social justice, political economy, sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, development studies, education and public administration. It will also be useful to policymakers, bureaucrats, civil society activists, non-governmental organisations and social entrepreneurs in the development sector, in addition to those interested in third world studies, developing economies and the global south.

Strongly affected by modern history and facing dilemmas of modernity, Central and Eastern Europe has been healing fresh wounds for the past 30 years. The present volume analyzes the contemporary challenges related to the heritage of 1989. The peaceful revolution brought substantial socio-cultural, institutional and strategic transformations, setting a long-term course for Central and Eastern European policymaking. Recently, however, these legacies, namely the geopolitical aspects of the transformation, the policies of collective memory, and even intrasocietal issues, have been questioned more than ever. It seems the region is approaching the end of a revolutionary cycle of transition. This volume tries to investigate this phenomenon as it unfolds.

The media are ubiquitous and constantly changing, causing social and cultural shifts. This book examines how processes of mediatization affect almost all areas of contemporary social and cultural life, and takes the theoretical debate on mediatization in communication studies and media sociology to a critical edge.

This book offers insights into the development of social welfare policies by exploring the interconnections between policies and practice throughout history. It challenges tacitly accepted arguments that favour particular approaches to welfare, such as conditionality and eligibility. It provides examples of enduring social assumptions which influence the way we perform social welfare, such as the equivocal position of women in social welfare and the unintended consequences of reforms such as Universal Credit. By identifying continuities in welfare policy, practice and thought, it offers the potential for the development of new thinking, policy making and practice.

Bringing together the work of scholars from across Europe, this book shows how Simmel's categories can be used to explore contemporary issues and further shed light on trends characteristic of global modernity. Thematically organised around the major societal challenges currently faced by developed countries - those of making societies that are inclusive, reflexive and creative, sustainable, and democratic societies - it examines diverse phenomena, such as living in an increasingly multicultural societies, the social exclusion of vulnerable ethnic groups, the increasing concern with cyberbullying, the need to fight climate change, the rise of political populism, and the recruitment of youths from western countries to Islamic religious fundamentalism. Drawing on Simmel's sociological theory and expounding new approaches to research inspired by his work, this volume emphasises the conceptual pillars of Simmelian thought, meanings, processes, and forms. As such, it will appeal to scholars of sociology and social theory with interests in the work of Simmel and its contemporary relevance.

This Handbook uses methodologies and cases to discover how and when to evaluate social policy, and looks at the possible impacts of evaluation on social policy decisions. The contributors present a detailed analysis on how to conduct social policy evaluation, how to be aware of pitfalls and dilemmas and how to use evidence effectively. Organized into three thematic sections, this new resource includes contributions from a variety of researchers from a range of disciplines and countries. The first section explores evaluation and examples of methods used; the second focuses on the intersection between evaluation and policy-making; and the third delves into current social policy in order to discover the use of evaluation within central welfare state policies. One conclusion found is that welfare states are increasingly using evidence, but that it varies from and within different welfare areas. Researchers and students with an interest in evaluation and social policy analysis, as well as policy-makers and administrators in need of evidence and analysis on the subject, will find much value in this clear and precise overview of the use and misuse of evidence. Contributors include: K. Bakhai, M. Barnard, A.E. Boardman, R. Boruch, K.N. Breidahl, C. Brown, M. Calnan, E. Cassells, M. Costa, C. Deeming, P. Dahler-Larsen, T. Douglass, J. Edbrooke-Childs, W. Eichhorst, D. Etherington, S. Evans-Lacko, J.-E. Furubo, H. Gaus, M. Gerressu, H. Gleeson, D. Gondek, B. Greve, A. Hagelund, A. Halvorsen, M.B. Hansen, T. Haux, M.A. Hussain, J.M. Hyatt, C. Irish, J. Jacob, H.C. Kavli, M. Knapp, R. Konle-Seidl, M. Lakhanpaul, K. Liket, N. McHugh, C.E. Mueller, L. Richardson, R. Rodrigues, M.J. Roy, S. Sinclair, K. Smith, T. Sundberg, H. Turner, W. Van Lancker, A.R. Vining, J. Warren, I. Whelan, J. Wistow, M. Wolpert, R. Yang

This sequel to Randall Collins' world-influential micro-sociology of violence introduces the question of time-dynamics: what determines how long conflict lasts and how much damage it does. Inequality and hostility are not enough to explain when and where violence breaks out. Time-dynamics are the time-bubbles when people are most nationalistic; the hours after a protest starts when violence is most likely to happen. Ranging from the three months of nationalism and hysteria after 9/11 to the assault on the Capitol in 2021, Randall Collins shows what makes some protests more violent than others and why some revolutions are swift and non-violent tipping-points while others devolve into lengthy civil wars. Winning or losing are emotional processes, continuing in the era of computerized war, while high-tech spawns terrorist tactics of hiding in the civilian population and using cheap features of the Internet as substitutes for military organization. Nevertheless, Explosive Conflict offers some optimistic discoveries on clues to mass rampages and heading off police atrocities, with practical lessons from time-dynamics of violence.

Untrammelled neoliberalism and the inexorable force of production have produced a 21st century crisis of community: a narcissistic cult of authenticity and mass turning-inward are among the pathologies engendered by it. We are individuals afloat in an atomised society, where the loss of the symbolic structures inherent in ritual behaviour has led to overdependence on the contingent to steer identity. Avoiding saccharine nostalgia for the rituals of the past, Han provides a genealogy of their disappearance as a means of diagnosing the pathologies of the present. He juxtaposes a community without communication - where the intensity of togetherness in silent recognition provides structure and meaning - to today's communication without community, which does away with collective feelings and leaves individuals exposed to exploitation and manipulation by neoliberal psycho-politics. The community that is invoked everywhere today is an atrophied and commoditized community that lacks the symbolic power to bind people together. For Han, it is only the mutual praxis of recognition borne by the ritualistic sharing of the symbolic between members of a community which creates the footholds of objectivity allowing us to make sense of time. This new book by one of the most creative cultural theorists writing today will be of interest to a wide readership.

In this incisive new study, Milan Zafirovski identifies and investigates the resurgence of capitalist dictatorship in contemporary society, especially after 2016. The book introduces the concept of capitalist dictatorship to the academic audience for the first time. It examines the capitalist dictatorship as a total social system composed of specific systems such as a coercive economy, repressive polity, illiberal civil society, and irrational culture in contrast to liberal democracy. Capitalist Dictatorship also investigates multiple dimensions, forms, and indicators of capitalist dictatorship, and calculates degrees of capitalist dictatorship for contemporary Western and comparable societies, such as OECD countries. Capitalist dictatorship, including autocracy, Zafirovski argues, is the gravest threat to contemporary democratic society post-2016.

Value is seldom discussed in its own right, though it is of utmost importance to our relations with media texts and cultural objects, as we constantly make judgements of various kinds with respect to them. This book focuses on how value - aesthetic, political and social and economic value - is produced in contemporary media and cultural production. Contending that value is not constituted by the essence of a thing, but is rather produced in social relations, through negotiations and justifications, Value and the Media discusses changes in the cultural industries over the past two decades, emphasising the rise of new, digital media, and the opportunities that these afford for the production and consumption of media texts and objects. Richly illustrated with examples from the UK, USA and Europe, this volume explores a range of media: both old mass media and new personal media, with a constant focus on the importance of both for our understanding of the changes that have occurred on the media landscape and their implications for the production of value. As such, this book will be of interest to social scientists and theorists working in the fields of cultural and media studies, popular culture, and consumption.

Social Theory, Power and Practice explores key strands of contemporary social theory in developing an innovative framework for understanding the operation of power. This draws on structural theories of inequality and oppression and poststructural deconstructions of discourse, identity and emotion. These are used to examine the dynamics of social and personal change, and to inform the development of empowering practice within the human services with those who may experience distress, abuse or exclusion.