Research in and around popular culture continues to flourish. And its study is, more than ever, a key component of Media and Communications Studies courses, and a vital part of Cultural Studies and Cultural Sociology curricula.

The sheer scale of the available research exploring popular culture?and the breadth and complexity of the canon on which it draws?makes this new four-volume Routledge collection especially timely. It answers the urgent need for a wide-ranging collection which provides ready access to the key items of scholarly literature, material that is often inaccessible or scattered throughout a variety of specialist journals and books from a broad range of disciplines.

Volume I (?History and Theory?) brings together the best work on the rise of popular culture as a subject for serious academic study, uncovering its roots and exploring its rapid development in the years after the Second World War. Key debates (e.g. between base and superstructure, hegemony and control, colonialism and postcolonialism) are traced to provide users with a clear understanding of the foundational approaches that inform the more applied examinations of popular culture in the succeeding volumes.

Volume II assembles the most important thinking on ?Ideology and Representation?, including work drawn from feminism, structuralism, post-structuralism, and postmodernism. Volume III gathers crucial work on ?Fissures and Fusions?, while the last volume in the set is organized around ?Critical Departures?.

Popular Culture is supplemented with a full index, and includes a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context. It is destined to be valued by scholars and advanced students as a vital research and reference resource.

How do figurational sociologists approach the subjects of sport and leisure? How does their approach differ from other approaches in the field? This major collection, edited by leading writers on sport and leisure, offers a superb introduction to the figurational sociology of sport and leisure. The distinctive features of the approach are clearly explained and contributors show how figurational sociology is applied in the analysis of concrete problems. However, the collection also gives space to critics of the figurational approach. Included here are contributions which claim that the approach is inaccurate, blinkered and irrelevant.

First published in 1989, The Haunt of Misery offers social workers and students critical essays for critical times. Faced with unreflective wealth creation and the fragmentation of the counterculture, social work is perceived as failing to meet the needs of the client. Many social workers are left feeling angry, stranded and confused. Written by academics and professionals, the essays range over social work and unemployment, the crisis of AIDS and HIV infection, drug use, client collectives, the elderly, the ethnic minorities, professionalism, and self-management. The authors offer constructive criticism of existing social work practice and suggest radical and exciting issues for the profession in the 1990s and beyond.

First published in 1985, this title explores theories of leisure in a capitalist society. Basing his argument on a refutation of the conventional association of leisure with freedom and free time, Chris Rojek examines the four main structural characteristics of modern leisure practice: privatisation, individuation, commercialisation and pacification. The writings of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, and Freud are used to locate the question of leisure in more mainstream social theory. This interesting reissue will be of particular value to students of sociology and leisure studies, and those with an interest in the relationship between leisure and power.

First published in 1985, this title explores theories of leisure in a capitalist society. Basing his argument on a refutation of the conventional association of leisure with freedom and free time, Chris Rojek examines the four main structural characteristics of modern leisure practice: privatisation, individuation, commercialisation and pacification. The writings of Marx, Durkheim, Weber, and Freud are used to locate the question of leisure in more mainstream social theory. This interesting reissue will be of particular value to students of sociology and leisure studies, and those with an interest in the relationship between leisure and power.

Full Contributors:
Ioan Davies, York University, Toronto, Canada; Mike Gane, Loughborough University, UK; John O'Neill, York University, Toronto, Canada; Caroline Ramazanoglu, Goldsmiths College, London, UK; Chris Rojek, Nottingham Trent University, UK; Victor J. Seidler, Goldsmiths College, London, UK; Barry Smart, University of Auckland, New Zealand; Bryan Turner, Deakin University, Australia

It is becoming ever clearer that while people tour cultures, cultures and objects themselves are "on the bus" in the sense that they are in a constant state of migration. "Touring Cultures" is edited by John Urry, one of the most acclaimed authors in the field of tourism studies. This collection brings together some of the most influential writers in the field, including Jenni Craik and David Chaney, to examine the complex connections between tourism and cultural change and the relevance of tourist experience to current theoretical debates on space, time and identity. Certain to be an indispensible asset to those involved in learning or teaching about tourism, "Touring Cultures," bringing together in one volume a wealth of thinking from a multidisciplinary range, will also have cross-course appeal in a variey of fields.

Social Work and Received Ideas examines the language of both traditional and radical social work as forms of power, arguing that the will to help and care for people unintentionally results in new types of dependency, control and domination.

Jean Baudrillard is a central figure in the area of sociology and cultural studies today, but his writings infuriate as many people as they intoxicate. This collection aims to provide a wide-ranging, measured assessment of Baudrillard's work. The contributors examine Baudrillard's relation to consumption, modernity, postmodernity, social theory, feminism, politics and culture. They attempt to steer a clear course between the hype which Baudrillard himself has done much to generate, and the solid value of his startling thoughts. Baudrillard's ideas and style of expression provide a challenge to established academic ways of proceeding and thinking. The book explores this challenge and speculates on the reason for the extreme responses to Baudrillard's work. The appeal of Baudrillard's arguments is clearly discussed and his place in contemporary social theory is shrewdly assessed. Baudrillard emerges as a chameleon figure, but one who is obsessed with the central themes of style, hypocrisy, seduction, simulation and fatality.

This collection of original papers provides a prismatic guide and reckoning to one of the most controversial and poorly understood writers of the present day. His work in relation to consumption, politics, feminism, culture, theory and postmodernity is clearly discussed and evaluated. The picture of Baudrillard that emerges is surprising but always engaging and accessible. This book is a benchmark for understanding and assessing this dazzling and disturbing writer.

Social Work and Received Ideas examines the language of both traditional and radical social work as forms of power, arguing that the will to help and care for people unintentionally results in new types of dependency, control and domination.

Jean-Francois Lyotard is still considered to be the father of postmodernism. An international range of contributors in the field of cultural and philosophical studies, including Barry Smart, John O' Neill and Victor J. Seidler consider Lyotard's writings on justice and politics of difference, feminism, youth and Judaism.

Is Britain really perceived as a nation of poorly dressed, roast-beef-eating, snaggle-toothed xenophobes? Or do the British perhaps all live in stately homes, and lead supercilious, emotionally repressed, tea-drinking lives? In "Brit-Myth", well-known social and cultural commentator Chris Rojek probes these and other myths, conceptions and misconceptions of Britishness, looking not only at how Britons see themselves, but also at how the British are seen overseas. Moving easily between high and popular culture, from the myths of King Arthur and Albion to national opinion polls on Great and Evil Britons'; and from "Big Brother" to films such as "The Patriot" and "Austin Powers" to international surveys of British national characteristics, Chris Rojek delineates the current state of Britishness in an age of multi-culturalism, multi-ethnicity and globalization. Offering an antidote to both dry scholarly meditations on British identity, and nationalist rants in favour of the British, this book opens up a way of being British that transcends racism, highlights the importance of individualism and non-conformity to the British national character, and defends the proposition that the British are distinctive among nations. Full of thought-provoking insights and engaging anecdotes, "Brit-Myth" will entertain both Anglophiles and Anglophobes as well as those who want to learn more about the land under the Union Jack.

This book explores the meaning of leisure in the context of key social formations of our time. Chris Rojek brings together the insights of Marxism, feminism, Weber, Elias, Simmel, Nietzsche and Baudrillard to produce a survey - and rethinking - of leisure theory. At the same time he presents a radical critique of the traditional centring' of leisure, on escape', freedom' and choice'.

He describes the relations between capitalism and leisure, the meaning of free time for workers in a capitalist system, and the gendered nature of leisure. He then discusses the social construction of leisure under modernity and the main competing arguments. Finally he examines postmodernity. Revealing how leisure practices have responded t

How do figurational sociologists approach the subjects of sport and leisure? How does their approach differ from other approaches in the field? This major collection, edited by leading writers on sport and leisure, offers a superb introduction to the figurational sociology of sport and leisure. The distinctive features of the approach are clearly explained and contributors show how figurational sociology is applied in the analysis of concrete problems. However, the collection also gives space to critics of the figurational approach. Included here are contributions which claim that the approach is inaccurate, blinkered and irrelevant.

A collection of critical essays which reject the assumptions that leisure relations are relations of freedom, self determination, life satisfaction and growth. The essays look at power and policy issues in leisure relations and attempt to produce a critical sociology of the subject.;The first part deals with theoretical perspectives on leisure, associated with the conventional wisdom and neo-Marxism, Elias, Freud, Simmel and bourgeois thought. The second considers issues of power and planning in leisure practice. It consists of essays on leisure policy, women's leisure, the informal economy, drug use and struggles over leisure time and space.

This collection brings together some of the most influential writers in the field to examine the complex connections between tourisma and cultural change and the relevance of tourist experience to debates on space, time and identity.

In contemporary society, the cult of celebrity is inescapable. Anyone can be turned into a celebrity, and anything can be made into a celebrity event. Celebrity has become a part of everyday life, a common reference point. But how have people like Elvis Presley, John Lennon, Bill Clinton or Princess Diana impressed themselves so powerfully on the public mind? Do they have unique qualities, or have their images been constructed by the media? And what of the dark side of celebrity - why is the hunger to be in the public eye so great that people are prepared to go to any lengths to achieve it, as numerous mass murderers and serial killers have done.
Chris Rojek brings together celebrated figures from the arts, sports, politics and other public spheres, from O.J. Simpson and Marilyn Monroe to Hitler and David Bowie, and touches on many movements and fads, including punk, rock-and-roll and fashion. Rojek analyzes the difference between ascribed celebrity, which derives from bloodline, and achieved celebrity, which follows on from personal achievement - the difference between Princess Margaret and, say, Woody Allen. He also shows how there is no parallel in history to today's ubiquitous "living" form of celebrity, powered by newspapers, PR departments, magazines and electronic mass media.

What has the death of Corporal Patrick D. Tillman of the US Army Rangers in an incident of friendly fire in Afghanistan in 2004 got to do with culture? How has the study of ideology, coding, theming and representation by Cultural Studies helped us to understand Reality TV, the Internet, mobile phones, the iPod and leading brands in neat capitalism like Virgin, The Body Shop and Apple?

This lively and assured book provides a concise and authoritative critical guide to Cultural Studies. It demonstrates that the field has moved through four moments': the National/Popular, the Textual/Representational, Global/Post Essentialism and Governmentality/Policy. It illustrates the meaning of each of these moments by a discussion of representative texts and concrete examples from popular culture. As such, it achieves a novel and accessible account of the origins and development of the field.

The book also shows how the readers personal experience can be systematically situated in cultural forces and used as a resource to clarify how culture works, through the analysis of on-location practice, embodiment, emplacement and context. Packed with illuminating examples, and a clear and compelling prose style, the book is the antidote to abstract, hazy accounts of the meaning and value of Cultural Studies. It is the ideal text for readers new to the field, but it will also be appreciated by established practitioners as good to think with.

?An important and timely contribution, Society and Culture engages crucial debates that are reshaping the core identity and future agenda of sociology. Turner and Rojek start with an insightful reconsideration of Parsons? theory of action, identify the strengths and limits of contemporary projects like those of Giddens and Beck, and offer a valuable new direction for future development? ? Craig Calhoun, Professor of Sociology and History, New York University Society and Culture reclaims the classical heritage, provides a clear-eyed assessment of the promise of sociology in the 21st century and asks whether the `cultural turn' has made the study of society redundant. Sociologists have objected to the rise of cultural studies on the grounds that it produces cultural relativism and lacks a stable research agenda. This book looks at these criticisms and illustrates the relevance of a sociological perspective in the analysis of human practice. The book argues that the classical tradition must be treated as a living tradition, rather than a period piece. It analyzes the fundamental principles of belonging and conflict in society and provides a detailed critical survey of the principal social theories that offer solutions to the challenges of modernism.

"Chris Rojek provides a useful and well-referenced survey of modernist and postmodernist cultural theory. Always careful to locate his analysis in the work of leading thinkers, the reader is treated to a concise trip around the houses of recent and current cultural theory, stopping regularly to reconsider what light can be shed on the question of leisure in postmodern society." --Paul Ransome School of Social Studies University of Nottingham "This then is a book to get you thinking. It has proved impossible to convey accurately the exciting, wide-ranging, seemingly effortless travel across a wide variety of schools, disciplines and thinkers which Rojek employs to support his argument. he uses a direct personal style which shines through the closely argued material and keeps you turning the pages to the very end. Students brought up in the modernist traditions of sociologies of leisure may find this book challenging and ultimately even frustrating, but it is an essential text which I hope will appear on recommended reading lists everywhere leisure is studied." --Diane Seymour in Work, Employment & Society Prized and pursued by members of all societies, leisure is recognized as a consistent element of culture; yet within the context of disparate political and social structures, both its literal and symbolic significance differ greatly. In Decentring Leisure, author Chris Rojek considers the influence of such key social constructs as capitalism, modernity, and postmodernity on the ways we have come to perceive and use leisure. Within a capitalist framework, issues ranging from the meaning of workers' free time to the gendered nature of leisure are explored; the impact of modernity is examined next, offering accounts and analyses of the prevailing--and conflicting--theories. Finally, the author assays the cultural condition that has radically changed the idea of leisure: postmodernism. From a critical assessment of the effects of living in a risk society to a survey of the works of philosophic masters including Marx, Weber, Nietzsche, and Baudrillard, this absorbing volume will be required reading for students of leisure, culture, and social theory.

"Rojek's argument is a psychological one, although his message is political: global events build on people's needs to feel empowered and jointly engaged in the pursuit of a higher purpose; they allow a break from daily routines, provide an illusion of intimacy and social membership, and create a sense of self-validation and personal gratification. In short, participation in such events makes us feel good. At the same time, the real effect of global events seems to be the maintenance of global inequality and social injustice, as well as huge profits for the organizations involved in planning, commercializing and securing these happenings. In sketching out this palliative function of global events from the perspective of people's needs on the one hand, and unveiling their puppet masters backstage on the other, Rojek's book presents a compelling account of the role of organized events in modern society." - Organization Studies Events dominate our screens, our lives, and increasingly global geopolitics. Analysis of events and their management has remained rooted in leisure and management studies - until now. This break-through book provides an introduction to event management, while also situating events in questions of power and social control.

Rojek powerfully argues that events are essential elements in corporate-state partnerships of 'invisible government' that have revived the romance of charity as to form illusory communities, while cloaking power imbalances and social inequalities. Events are moving politics from the old idea of 'the personal is political' to the new, more seductive notion that 'representation is resistance'. Wielding rich case studies from the World Cup and the Olympics to Live Aid, Burning Man and Mardi Gras, Rojek presents a dazzlingly original account of communication power, social ordering and control. It is essential reading in media & communication studies and across the social sciences.

"Rojek's argument is a psychological one, although his message is political: global events build on people's needs to feel empowered and jointly engaged in the pursuit of a higher purpose; they allow a break from daily routines, provide an illusion of intimacy and social membership, and create a sense of self-validation and personal gratification. In short, participation in such events makes us feel good. At the same time, the real effect of global events seems to be the maintenance of global inequality and social injustice, as well as huge profits for the organizations involved in planning, commercializing and securing these happenings. In sketching out this palliative function of global events from the perspective of people's needs on the one hand, and unveiling their puppet masters backstage on the other, Rojek's book presents a compelling account of the role of organized events in modern society." - Organization Studies Events dominate our screens, our lives, and increasingly global geopolitics. Analysis of events and their management has remained rooted in leisure and management studies - until now. This break-through book provides an introduction to event management, while also situating events in questions of power and social control.

Rojek powerfully argues that events are essential elements in corporate-state partnerships of 'invisible government' that have revived the romance of charity as to form illusory communities, while cloaking power imbalances and social inequalities. Events are moving politics from the old idea of 'the personal is political' to the new, more seductive notion that 'representation is resistance'. Wielding rich case studies from the World Cup and the Olympics to Live Aid, Burning Man and Mardi Gras, Rojek presents a dazzlingly original account of communication power, social ordering and control. It is essential reading in media & communication studies and across the social sciences.

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. The follow up to Chris Rojek's hugely successful Celebrity, this book assesses celebrity culture today. It explores how the fads, fashions and preoccupations of celebrities enter the popular lifeblood, explains what is distinctive about contemporary celebrity, and reveals the psychological, social and economic consequences of fame both upon the public and celebrities themselves. The book develops the framework for looking at celebrity culture which Rojek set out back in 2001, by showing how ascribed celebrity, achieved celebrity and celetoids overlap. The book gives a new emphasis to the role of the media and public relations in engineering fame, and the psychological consequences of celebrity - notably Narcissistic Personality Disorder and Celebrity Worship Syndrome. The book is a landmark contribution in explaining how celebrities dominate the social horizon and why we need them.

In recent years, the study of celebrity has developed and cohered into a flourishing field of social and cultural analysis. There is huge interest in topics such as the politics and logic of glamour; the role of the public-relations industry in manipulating television audiences; the relationship between fame and social control; and the economics of the so-called celebrity industry. And as interest in celebrity continues to explode, a variety of forerunners to its study drawing on materials from a wide range of disciplines including sociology, cultural studies, history, psychology, organization studies, politics, film, and literary studies have been rediscovered and reformulated. Among the lines of enquiry and critical tools that have been recuperated as pertinent to the study of celebrity are leadership, charisma, role models, heroes, role sets, ideology, manipulation, commodification, interpellation, narcissism, signification and individuality.

The sheer scale of the available research exploring the many implications of the phenomenon of celebrity and the breadth and complexity of the canon on which celebrity studies draws makes this new Major Work from Routledge especially timely. It answers the urgent need for a wide-ranging collection which provides easy access to the key items of scholarly literature, material that is often inaccessible or scattered throughout a variety of specialist journals and books. In four volumes, Celebrity brings together the best and most influential foundational and cutting-edge research on: the aetiology and basic concepts of celebrity (including charisma, narcissism, and commodification); theoretical and methodological approaches (e.g. Marxism, structuralism, semiotics, and cultural materialism); the mechanics of celebrity (such as the sociology and psychology of showmanship); and key controversies and current debates (e.g. the politics of stardom; the superstructure of celebrity; and the interpellation of celebrity news and the media).

Celebrity is supplemented with a full index, and includes a comprehensive introduction, newly written by the editor, which places the collected material in its historical and intellectual context. It is destined to be valued by scholars, students, and researchers as a vital research resource.