What global future would ensure hope, justice and peace to the human mankind? In view of a fast evolving post-Covid world order, this volume explores a novel Christian post-colonial approach to global affairs. It examines the existing 'sociology of the powers' theoretical scheme, the debate between Christian realism and Christian pacifism, the method and practice of prophetic witnessing, to elaborate a new Christian approach to statecraft and futurology in terms of theory, methodology and ontology. This book: * Uses the COVID-19 pandemic as the background to examine why and how the pandemic has accelerated the US's decline, and to identify the tacit game rules that contributed to the UK government's mishandling of the pandemic; * Compares the political systems between China and the West, and engages with selected theoretical narratives from the Global South to envision an alternative 'shared globalisation' project; * Argues why it is important for post-colonial Christian individuals and communities to get involved in this global discussion for a new world order of complex realist interdependencies grounded on hope, social justice and peace. A fresh take on global politics and international relations, this volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of political science, religious studies, peace studies, theology and future studies.

Once the world's most technologically advanced civilisation, China is poised to yet again take this mantle, having made incredible technological strides over recent decades; but what does this in fact mean? What will this mean for Chinese society, and what ramifications might it have for the future? This book offers an account of social change under the growing influence of communications technology in media-saturated urban China. The challenges presented by the rise of technology and its pervasive nature in the mediation of all facets of everyday life pose questions not just for Chinese society but for all contemporary media societies. Drawing on theories from the philosophy of technology and conceptual tools from political anthropology, this title moves beyond debates surrounding mediative technology as a liberating or malevolent force. China at a Threshold addresses academic concerns surrounding communications technology and state control, looking for an interpretative approach to understand the role media might play in social change so that we might ascertain its impact on social relations. Urging a reconsideration in our understanding of technology as neither liberative nor oppressive, the author advances a proposal that brings social forces into play in their own right. Taking inspiration from thinkers in philosophy and anthropology, this title investigates storytelling and liminal characters as real agents in social change so that we might identify alternative forces for change not reducible to technological impact or human proclivity.

This book suggests that escapism - the desire to leave one's physical or emotional circumstances for an ideal alternative - is a way to understand the social conflicts that structure our world. Considering this phenomenon across psychology, labour and cultural studies, the author engages with critical theorists such as Lukacs, Fromm and Marcuse to examine how escapism appears in our minds, workplaces and utopian imaginaries from fiction to music. In this study, escapism emerges as a constitutive feature of the late capitalist lifeworld - a feature that must be understood in order to create social change. Defining escapism as a new field of study, Late Escapism and Contemporary Neoliberalism: Alienation, Work and Utopia suggests that the phenomenon has much to teach us about contemporary consciousness and how we resist and reshape the edicts of neoliberalism. As such, this book will appeal to scholars of cultural and critical theory, social movements and political sociology.

This book examines the phenomenon of prime time soap operas on Indian television. An anthropological insight into social issues and practices of contemporary India through the television, this volume analyzes the production of soaps within India's cultural fabric. It deconstructs themes and issues surrounding the "everyday" and the "middle class" through the fiction of the "popular". In its second edition, this still remains the only book to examine prime time soap operas on Indian television. Without in any way changing the central arguments of the first edition, it adds an essential introductory chapter tracking the tectonic shifts in the Indian "mediascape" over the past decade - including how the explosion of regional language channels and an era of multiple screens have changed soap viewing forever. Meticulously researched and persuasively argued, the book traces how prime time soaps in India still grab the maximum eyeballs and remain the biggest earners for TV channels. The book will be of interest to students of anthropology and sociology, media and cultural studies, visual culture studies, gender and family studies, and also Asian studies in general. It is also an important resource for media producers, both in content production and television channels, as well as for the general reader.

M. N. Srinivas is acclaimed as a doyen of modern sociology and social anthropology in India. In this book, A. M. Shah, a distinguished Indian sociologist and a close associate of Srinivas's, reflects on his legacy as a scholar, teacher, and institution builder. The book is a collection of Shah's five chapters on and an interview with Srinivas, with a comprehensive introduction. He narrates Srinivas's life and work in different phases; discusses his theoretical ideas, especially functionalism, compared with Max Weber's ideas; deliberates on his concept of Sanskritisation and its contemporary relevance; and reflects on his role in the history of sociology and social anthropology in India. In the interview, Srinivas responds to a large number of questions from the style of writing to the dynamics of politics. It shows that while his scholarship was firmly rooted in India, it was sensitive to global ideas and institutions. This book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers in sociology, social anthropology, history, and political science. The general reader interested in these subjects will also find it useful.

This book presents essays that address fundamental issues in social and cultural theory by viewing them through the lens of aesthetic theory. Drawing on the aesthetic theories of Theodor W. Adorno, Gregory Bateson, Jean-Marie Guyau, Talcott Parsons and Georg Simmel, it suggests a new take on basic sociological concepts and methodologies. The chapters cover a wide range of topics, including the sensuality of social action, social construction of unreality, and The Rolling Stones' enduring success as a reflection of our society and culture. The book's title Sociology in a New Key refers to a classic work by Susanne K. Langer, whose Philosophy in a New Key argued for a reorientation of modern philosophical thought based on a thorough account of symbolism in general and of the arts in particular. In this way, the basic ideas and assumptions of the philosophical tradition are transposed to new understandings and perspectives. After all, it was Georg Simmel himself who claimed to have gained several of his general theoretical insights "via the detour of reflections on the essence of art." The book will appeal to scholars and students of the sociology of the arts and music, and to anyone interested in the intersection of social theory and aesthetics.

Can you remember 9/11 and the impact of the images of the planes flying into the Twin Towers? Tracing cultural memories, Victor Seidler explores an embodied social theory that is alive to fear, loss, vulnerability and mourning, and questions how these narratives reflected a dominant masculinity unprepared to show any sign of weakness. Thinking across the boundaries of individual and cultural trauma, he discusses a psychosocial theory that listens to a diversity of voices shaped by the tragedy. Seidler also engages with questions of Islam, modernity and fundamentalism to analyse the relationship between the East and West, as well as highlighting the neoconservative influences in the wars following 9/11.

This book discusses the epistemic foundation of the heuristic construct 'vagabond' and the convergence between the politics of itinerancy and that of dissent in the context of South Asia. It describes the fraught relationship between 'native' itinerant practices and techniques of governmentality which have furnished different categorizations and taxonomies of mobility. The book demonstrates the historical seismic breaks - from the Orientalist to the post-Orientalist, from the premodern to the modern, and from the colonial to the post-colonial - in the representation of the vagabond in the juridico-political imagination, in historiography and cultural articulation. For instance, the drunk European sailor, the quasi-religious mendicant, and the helpless famine refugee have all been referred to as 'vagabonds' in the colonial archive. This book examines the histories and conditions behind these conceptual overlaps, as well as the uncanny associations among categories that uneasily coexist and mirror each other as subsets of a vast range of phenomena, which may loosely be called 'vagabond(age)'. This volume will be of interest to students and researchers of literature, cultural studies, colonial and post-colonial studies, history, migration studies, sociology, and South Asia studies.

This volume examines civilizations through the broad lens articulated by the works of Max Weber. In focusing upon his comparative-historical mode of analysis and his causal explanations for the sources, contours, and trajectories of civilizations, this study reconstructs Weber's sociology in a manner that provides clear guidelines to researchers seeking to investigate civilizations systematically. Through detailed interpretations of the West's unique development from Antiquity to the Modern era, precise comparisons to the long-range and singular pathways taken by China and India, and careful demarcations of the "particular rationalisms" of several civilizations, the author addresses Weber's powerful model-building on the one hand and his opposition to organic holism and structural presuppositions on the other hand. Both a broad-ranging conceptual framework and case-based empirical investigations are pivotal to Weber. His research strategy emphasizes further the "subjective meanings" of actors East and West and the deep cultural origins of groups. Finally, this volume masterfully conveys Weber's contextual and multi-causal methodology rooted in a tight interweaving of the present with the past. Max Weber's Sociology of Civilizations: A Reconstruction will appeal to comparative sociologists and historians, as well as to theorists of all persuasions. The social scientist pursuing a cross-civilizational agenda will here discover the distinct contribution of Weber's "interpretive understanding" procedures to the now-essential field of civilizational analysis.

1) This is a comprehensive book on understanding equity in the context of the northeastern states in India. 2) It contains case studies from all seven states in the north eastern region. 3) This book will be of interest to departments of South Asian studies and Development Studies across UK and USA.

This book explores the intersubjective nature of disgust, the fascination that often accompanies it-along with repulsion-and the ethical implications of the experience. With attention to what emotions do rather than what they necessarily are, it examines the ways in which disgust works to create structures of meaning about selfhood, interpersonal relationships, and the worlds we inhabit. Offering a critique of existing approaches to disgust, the author advances a feminist intersubjective perspective, drawing on the work of Jessica Benjamin to understand the relational aspects of disgust encounters. Thus, the focus is not on defining disgust definitively, nor debating what objects invoke disgust, nor on whether it is a universal experience, but on the effects of disgust once invoked, what the experience does and the impact it has. Through a case study of incarceration and death by self-inflicted strangulation-a death that was later ruled a homicide-this volume sheds light on the nature of the ethical demands of disgust and its nature as an active struggle for recognition. As such, A Politics of Disgust will appeal to scholars of gender studies, social theory and philosophy with interests in the emotions and intersubjectivity.

Population is the most influential factor in social development and economic growth, especially in China. In this book, author Tian Xueyuan provides macro illustrations of the main issues confronting China's population and development in the 21st century and advises on facing population development challenges to sustainable future development. This book explores issues such as the relation between the change of population and consumption, how the age of the working population affects economic structure and transition when above or below the Lewis turning point, the impact of population aging on growth speed and the pension system, how to remove the urban- rural dual structure, how to reform exam- oriented education, and how to balance relations between population, resource, environment, and sustainable growth. The discussions on population- consumption relations, labor- economy relations, urbanization and rural- urban relations, and beyond provide insightful judgment on and prospects for China's future development. This book is helpful for international audiences to better understand China's population and development challenges and strategies.

In spite of the fact that crime is an emotive topic, the question of emotion has been largely overlooked in criminological research, which has tended instead to examine criminal conduct in terms of structural background variables or rational decision-making. Building on research into emotions within sociology, this book seeks to show how criminologists can in fact take emotions seriously and why criminology needs to begin considering emotions as a central element of its theoretical, conceptual and methodological apparatus. Thematically organised and presenting both empirical and theoretical studies, Emotions and Crime pays attention to the different emotional dimensions of crime, victimhood, the criminal justice system, the practice of criminological research and the discipline of criminology. Bringing together the work of an international team of authors and discussing research into violence, punishment, gender, imprisonment and mass atrocity, this volume shows how crime and emotions are inextricably connected, and illustrates both the hidden and pervasive role of emotions in criminological work.

As modern society's routine sequestration of death and grief is increasingly replaced by late-modern society's growing concern with existential issues and emotionality, this book explores grief as a social emotion, bringing together contributions from scholars across the social sciences and humanities to examine its social and cultural aspects. Thematically organised in order to consider the historical changes in our understanding of grief, literary treatments of grief, contemporary forms of grief and grief as a perspective from which to engage in critique of society, it provides insights into the sociality of grief and will appeal to scholars of sociology, social theory and cultural studies with interests in the emotions and social pathologies.

Methods of visualising modernity and capitalism have been central to classical social science. Those methods of seeing, specifically in the work of Marx, were attempts to capture visually the fragmenting edifice of capital in its death throes and were part of a project to hasten its demise - yet capitalism persisted and perpetuated itself in new forms, such that its demise now looks less likely than it did 150 years ago. This book argues for a new way of understanding Marx and a new way of approaching both capitalist modernity and Marx's Capital by rethinking the nature of vision. Through studies of visualisation in relation to machines and the monstrous, memory, mirrors and optics, and the invisible, Visualising the Empire of Capital offers a new way of thinking about what capital is and its future. A new reading of - and against - Marx, this volume argues for new forms of sensual utopia while initiating antagonism to the empire of capital itself. As such, it will appeal to social theorists, social anthropologists and sociologists with interests in critical theory, visual culture and aesthetics.

The volume of studies into desistance has grown dramatically in recent years. Much of this research has focused on the internal dynamics of desistance such as decision-making, choice and restraint. Bringing together leading figures and drawing upon case studies from around the world, this book seeks to fill a vacuum in the contemporary literature on desistance by considering processes and practices at a societal level that influence how and why people desist from crime. Beginning with an outline of what is known about how social, cultural and economic structures shape desistance from crime, this book proceeds to explore studies of desistance in countries such as the UK, Brazil, France, Israel, Ireland, Sweden and Chile. These studies touch on variations by ethnicity, the nature of the criminal justice system, economic cycles, gender, religious belief systems and the use of time and space. Policy matters relating to desistance such as the rehabilitation and supervision of former offenders are also explored. This book will be invaluable reading to students and scholars of criminology, sociology and social studies engaged in studies of desistance, criminology, criminal justice, victimology, penology and probation.

This book outlines key developments in understanding social harm by setting out its historical foundations and the discussions which have proliferated since. It examines various attempts to conceptualise social harm and highlights key sites of contestation in its relationship to criminology to argue that these act as the basis for an activist zemiology, one directed towards social change for social justice. The past two decades have seen a proliferation of debate related to social harm in and around criminology. From climate catastrophe and a focus on environmental harms, unprecedented deaths generating focus on border harms and the coronavirus pandemic revealing the horror of mass and arguably avoidable deaths across the globe, critical studies in social harm appear ever more pressing. Drawing on a range of international case studies of cultural, emotional, physical and economic harms, From Social Harm to Zemiology locates the study of social harm in an accessible fashion. In doing so it sets out how a zemiological lens can moves us beyond many of the problematic legacies of criminology. This book rejects criminologies which have disproportionately served to regulate intersectional groups, and which have arguably inflicted as much or more harm by bolstering the very ideologies of control in offering minor reforms that inadvertently expand and strengthen states and corporations. It does this by sketching out the contours, objects, methods and ontologies of a disciplinary framework which rejects commonplace assumptions of 'value freedom'. From Social Harm to Zemiology advocates social change in accordance with groups who are most disenfranchised, and thus often most socially harmed. An accessible and compelling read, this book is essential reading for all zemiologists, critical criminologists, and those engaged with criminological and social theory.

Chen, He and Yan present a range of applications of multiple-source big data to core areas of contemporary sociology, demonstrating how a theory-guided approach to macrosociology can help to understand social change in China, especially where traditional approaches are limited by constrained and biased data. In each chapter of the book, the authors highlight an application of theory-guided macrosociology that has the potential to reinvigorate an ambitious, open-minded and bold approach to sociological research. These include social stratification, social networks, medical care, and online behaviours among many others. This research approach focuses on macro-level social process and phenomena by using quantitative models to statistically test for associations and causalities suggested by a clearly hypothesised social theory. By deploying theory-oriented macrosociology where it can best assure macro-level robustness and reliability, big data applications can be more relevant to and guided by social theory. An essential read for sociologists with an interest in quantitative and macro-scale research methods, which also provides fascinating insights into Chinese society as a demonstration of the utility of its methodology.

The charge that symbolic interactionism (SI) is impaired by an astructural bias orbits around a number of sociology's core concerns: structure and agency, methodological individualism and methodological holism, the micro-macro link, the proper procedures to conduct research and when to state and how to test hypotheses and, whether interactionism can address structural concerns such as class, race, gender, power, and oppression. The Astructural Bias: Myth or Reality constitutes a collection of outstanding essays by scholars who address the concern of an astructural bias. Chapters explore the nature of social structure and SI's effectiveness in using the concept. This volume is beneficial for contemporary interactionists and their critics, social theorists, and all students of sociology who are interested in assessing the ability of SI to fully address the grave social circumstances and social problems of an increasingly precarious and dangerous world.

Available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence We live in a society that is increasingly preoccupied with allocating blame: when something goes wrong someone must be to blame. Bringing together philosophical, psychological, and sociological accounts of blame, this is the first detailed criminological account of the role of blame in which the authors present a novel study of the legal process of blame attribution, set in the context of criminalisation as a social and political process. This timely and topical book will be essential reading for anyone working or researching in the criminal justice field. It will also be of wider interest to anyone wishing to discover the role of blame in modern society.

Based on a reading of contemporary philosophical arguments, this book accounts for how punishment has provided audiences with pleasure in different historical contexts. Watching tragedies, contemplating hell, attending executions, or imagining prisons have generated pleasure, according to contemporary observers, in ancient Greece, in medieval Catholic Europe, in the early-modern absolutist states, and in the post-1968 Western world. The pleasure was often judged morally problematic, and raised questions about which desires were satisfied, and what the enjoyment was like. This book offers a research synthesis that ties together existing work on the pleasure of punishment. It considers how the shared joys of punishment gradually disappeared from the public view at a precise historic conjuncture, and explores whether arguments about the carnivalesque character of cruelty can provide support for the continued existence of penal pleasure. Towards the end of this book, the reader will discover, if willing to go along and follow desire to places which are full of pain and suffering, that deeply entwined with the desire for punishment, there is also the desire for social justice. An accessible and compelling read, this book will appeal to students and scholars of criminology, sociology, philosophy and all those interested in the pleasures of punishment.

This book examines the nature of the conflict between right-wing populism and multiculturalism: the West's defining conflict in the modern age. Drawing on a plethora of evidence from politics and culture in the West, it argues that these two positions, while antagonistic on the surface, are in fact similar: nationalism and multiculturalism are two names for one idea, the difference between them being simply a matter of geography; both outlooks have their roots in romanticism, sentimentalism, arrogance and a racist outlook. Rather than defend either approach, this volume urges us to consider the importance of roots and argues for greater consideration of what classical liberalism, socialism and feminism can do to break this impasse in our political thinking, with a concern for equality and concern for solidarity, regardless of cultural practice. As such it will appeal to social and political theorists with interests in political sociology and culture.

Since its emergence in early 2020, the COVID-19 crisis has affected every part of the world. Well beyond its health effects, the pandemic has wrought major changes in people's everyday lives as they confront restrictions imposed by physical distancing and consequences such as loss of work, working or learning from home and reduced contact with family and friends. This edited collection covers a diverse range of experiences, practices and representations across international contexts and cultures (UK, Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand). Together, these contributions offer a rich account of COVID society. They provide snapshots of what life was like for people in a variety of situations and locations living through the first months of the novel coronavirus crisis, including discussion not only of health-related experiences but also the impact on family, work, social life and leisure activities. The socio-material dimensions of quotidian practices are highlighted: death rituals, dating apps, online musical performances, fitness and exercise practices, the role of windows, healthcare work, parenting children learning at home, moving in public space as a blind person and many more diverse topics are explored. In doing so, the authors surface the feelings of strangeness and challenges to norms of practice that were part of many people's experiences, highlighting the profound affective responses that accompanied the disruption to usual cultural forms of sociality and ritual in the wake of the COVID outbreak and restrictions on movement. The authors show how social relationships and social institutions were suspended, re-invented or transformed while social differences were brought to the fore. At the macro level, the book includes localised and comparative analyses of political, health system and policy responses to the pandemic, and highlights the differences in representations and experiences of very different social groups, including people with disabilities, LGBTQI people, Dutch Muslim parents, healthcare workers in France and Australia, young adults living in northern Italy, performing artists and their audiences, exercisers in Australia and New Zealand, the Latin cultures of Spain and Italy, Asian-Americans and older people in Australia. This volume will appeal to undergraduates and postgraduates in sociology, cultural and media studies, medical humanities, anthropology, political science and cultural geography.

The concept of a relational self has been prominent in feminism, communitarianism, narrative self theories, and social network theories, and has been important to theorizing about practical dimensions of selfhood. However, it has been largely ignored in traditional philosophical theories of personal identity, which have been dominated by psychological and animal theories of the self. This book offers a systematic treatment of the notion of the self as constituted by social, cultural, political, and biological relations. The author's account incorporates practical concerns and addresses how a relational self has agency, autonomy, responsibility, and continuity through time in the face of change and impairments. This cumulative network model (CNM) of the self incorporates concepts from work in the American pragmatist and naturalist tradition. The ultimate aim of the book is to bridge traditions that are often disconnected from one another-feminism, personal identity theory, and pragmatism-to develop a unified theory of the self.

Featuring contributions from scholars from across the globe, Routledge Handbook of Public Criminologies is a comprehensive resource that addresses the challenges related to public conversations around crime and policy. In an era of fake news, misguided rhetoric about immigrants and refugees, and efforts to toughen criminal laws, criminologists seeking to engage publicly around crime and policy arguably face an uphill battle. This handbook outlines the foundations of and developments in public criminology, underscoring the need to not only understand earlier ideas and debates, but also how scholars pursue public-facing work through various approaches. The first of its kind, this collection captures diverse and critical perspectives on the practices and challenges of actually doing public criminology. The book presents real-world examples that help readers better understand the nature of public criminological work, as well as the structural and institutional barriers and enablers of engaging wider audiences. Contributors address policies around crime and crime control, media landscapes, and changing political dynamics. In examining attempts to bridge the gaps between scholarship, activism, and outreach, the essays featured here capture important tensions related to inequality and social difference, including the ways in which criminology can be complicit in perpetuating inequitable practices and structures, and how public criminology aims-but sometimes fails-to address them. The depth and breadth of material in the book will appeal to a wide range of academics, students, and practitioners. It is an important resource for early career researchers, more established scholars, and professionals, with accessible content that can also be used in upper-level undergraduate classes.