Sociology through the Projector takes issue with the question of how contemporary film can help answering the general, abstract but still urgent question: what is the social today? This book explains the performative relation to contemporary social theory in which cinema functions as a tool for social diagnosis.

There is much to be learned about social theory through an encounter with films as films are part and parcel of the society they portray. Increasingly more lay knowledge about social problems and facts stems from cinema as it offers to large audiences a popular and pedagogical introduction to social knowledge. Social theory cannot avoid a critical engagement with cinema as cinema interprets, invents, displaces and distorts the object of sociological inquiry.

This book will provide a deeper understanding of contemporary social theory as the chosen films will work as a pedagogical route into contemporary social theory. The films represent a mix of European and American blockbusters and more aesthetically orientated films.

The authors question several dominant topics and concerns within social theory and film studies. Firstly, by cross-examining a series of concepts such as identity, representation, memory and surveillance (filming social behaviour) which are of concern to both film theory and social theory. Secondly, by trying to develop imaginative approaches to standard social concerns such as exclusion, gender roles and inequalities, power, infantilisation and commodification of the social and psychological bonds.

This book will be a great resource for students and researchers of Sociology, Contemporary Social Theory, Film Studies and Cultural Studies.

Sociology through the Projector takes issue with the question of how contemporary film can help answering the general, abstract but still urgent question: what is the social today? This book explains the performative relation to contemporary social theory in which cinema functions as a tool for social diagnosis. There is much to be learned about social theory through an encounter with films as films are part and parcel of the society they portray. Increasingly more lay knowledge about social problems and facts stems from cinema as it offers to large audiences a popular and pedagogical introduction to social knowledge. Social theory cannot avoid a critical engagement with cinema as cinema interprets, invents, displaces and distorts the object of sociological inquiry. This book will provide a deeper understanding of contemporary social theory as the chosen films will work as a pedagogical route into contemporary social theory. The films represent a mix of European and American blockbusters and more aesthetically orientated films. The authors question several dominant topics and concerns within social theory and film studies. Firstly, by cross-examining a series of concepts such as identity, representation, memory and surveillance (filming social behaviour) which are of concern to both film theory and social theory. Secondly, by trying to develop imaginative approaches to standard social concerns such as exclusion, gender roles and inequalities, power, infantilisation and commodification of the social and psychological bonds. This book will be a great resource for students and researchers of Sociology, Contemporary Social Theory, Film Studies and Cultural Studies.

A major contribution to the debate about the reconstruction of Kosovo, and to the general discussion surrounding the revived 'trusteeship institution' model in the context of the UN internationalism of the 1990s and the War on Terror following 9/11.
Bringing together leading international scholars, this book presents the latest empirical research alongside detailed theoretical analysis. Examining the key questions local parties and the international community have encountered in Kosovo, including how to develop effective and inclusive local government, how to counter crime and the dysfunctional aspects of liberal economic reform, how to unite the partly opposed goals of reconstructing the province while avoiding renewed ethnic and international strife, and how to handle the specific challenge of Kosovo's future status. The contributors also re-examine the background factors that continue to influence and hamper the attempt to administrate and reconstruct the province, first of all the nationalist ideologies and the record of ethnic violence.
This book will be of great interest to all students of Balkan politics, peacekeeping, international relations and security studies in general.

This book is about the troublesome international administration and reconstruction of Kosovo, as well as the problems of trusteeship arrangements generally.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, the practices of international intervention, peace-building and the reconstruction of war-torn societies have increasingly taken the shape of ambitious de facto trusteeship arrangements with the ongoing international administration of Kosovo as the primary example. This book examines the obstacles to reconciliation and social reconstruction in Kosovo in the context of what is neither war nor substantial peace. It also discusses the potential and problems of the revived trusteeship institution more generally, as well as its ramifications for the institutional machinery of international society.
The book brings together a combination of internationally distinguished academics and younger scholars representing practical knowledge as well as theoretical analysis. At the practical level the book discusses a number of the major problems, challenges and dilemmas that the local parties and the international community have encountered in Kosovo including how to develop effective and inclusive local government, how to counter crime and the dysfunctional aspects of liberal economic reform, how to construct an educational system capable of stimulating integration and development, how to unite the partly opposed goals of reconstructing the province while avoiding renewed ethnic and international strife over its future, and how to handle the specific challenge of Kosovo's future status. The book also re-examines the background factors that continue to influence and hamper the attempt toadministrate and reconstruct the province, first of all the nationalist ideologies and the record of ethnic violence.
At the more general and theoretical level, the book asks whether the revived international trusteeship arrangement is a dead end or the way forward for the international community when faced with reconstruction challenges of the scale of Kosovo, Bosnia, East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq. In perspective, it also discusses the ramifications of the increasing securitization, militarization and great power domination of international trusteeship arrangements indicated by the examples of Afghanistan and Iraq.
This volume makes a highly important contribution to the specific debate about the reconstruction of Kosovo as well as the general one about the pros and cons of the revived trusteeship institution in the context of the UN internationalism of the 1990s and the war against terror following 9/11.

This textbook offers a new approach to understanding social theory. Framed around paired theoretical perspectives on a series of sociological problems, the book shows how distinctive viewpoints shed light on different facets of social phenomena. The book includes sociology's "founding fathers", major 20th-century thinkers and recent voices such as Butler and Zizek. Philosophically grounded and focused on interpretation and analysis, the book provides a clear understanding of theory's scope while developing students' skills in evaluating, applying and comparing theories.

This textbook offers a new approach to understanding social theory. Framed around paired theoretical perspectives on a series of sociological problems, the book shows how distinctive viewpoints shed light on different facets of social phenomena. The book includes sociology's "founding fathers", major 20th-century thinkers and recent voices such as Butler and Zizek. Philosophically grounded and focused on interpretation and analysis, the book provides a clear understanding of theory's scope while developing students' skills in evaluating, applying and comparing theories.

A study of Slavoj Zizek's political philosophy. Focusing on the combination of psychoanalytic theory and philosophy, the book offers an overview of Zizek's analysis of contemporary society. In five chapters, the reader is introduced to Zizek's method, his view of the political impasse in the postmodern world, and his suggestion for a way ahead to renewed action and political invention. Rich in examples, the book gives an engaging and entertaining tour around the landscape of Zizek's political endeavour, while at the same time insisting on a more systematic and piecemeal approach than the Slovenian tends to offer himself.