This book is a sustained argument for a creative and progressive social science. Modern social theory, despite an optimistic gloss, is profoundly pessimistic about social life and social inquiry. This pessimism is traced to the explanatory failures of social theory: failures that are shared by apparently disparate schools of thought. The book traces these similarities across non-Marxist and Marxist writings and in British, continental European and North American authors. It also shows the persistence of negative features over time, tracing cycles of hope to despair in successive generations.;Specific examples of explanatory problems given unprogressive treatment are chosen from the mainstream of current sociology. How the re-definition of categories and processes can solve these problems progressively is demonstrated. The object is to turn social science towards the real problems of society whose creative solution will expand human competence and practical resources.

In 2014 `Trojan Horse' affair, an alleged plot to `Islamify' several state schools in Birmingham, caused a previously highly successful school to be vilified. Holmwood and O'Toole challenge the accepted narrative and draw on the potential parallel with the Hillsborough disaster to suggest a similar false narrative has taken hold of public debate. This important book highlights the major injustice inflicted on the teachers and shows how this affair was used to criticise multiculturalism, and justify the expansion of a broad and intrusive counter extremism agenda.

The theories of Talcott Parsons' are enjoying a revival in the world of sociology. Rather than following closely the complex original prose in an effort to explain the theory in its minutiae, Holmwood presents a highly readable non-technical critique of several of the strongest underlying sociological themes and shows how, although flawed in many respects, these themes have been recurring, in different forms, in the theories of those critical of his work.

This major new three volume reference collection includes both classic and contemporary papers and covers the main issues of stratification -- status, class, occupation, gender, race and ethnicity. Each article represents a distinctive theoretical contribution which sets research agendas in its area. Together, the volumes offer a comprehensive treatment of issues which lie at the heart of social stratification and the modern discipline of sociology. John Holmwood's selection includes papers covering over 150 years of research which address the changing character of modern society as well as the relationships between issues of employment, welfare, household and the state.

The theories of Talcott Parsons' are enjoying a revival in the world of sociology. Rather than following closely the complex original prose in an effort to explain the theory in its minutiae, Holmwood presents a highly readable non-technical critique of several of the strongest underlying sociological themes and shows how, although flawed in many respects, these themes have been recurring, in different forms, in the theories of those critical of his work.

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. The Browne report advocates, in effect, the privatisation of higher education in England. With the proposed removal of the current cap on student fees and the removal of state funding from most undergraduate degree programmes, universities are set for a period of major reorganisation not seen since the higher education reforms in the 1960s. This book brings together some of the leading figures in Higher Education in the UK to set out what they see as the role of the university in public life. The book argues for a more balanced understanding of the value of universities than that outlined in the Browne Report. It advocates that they should not purely be seen in terms of their contribution to economic growth and the human capital of individuals but also in terms of their contribution to the public. This book responds to the key debates that the Browne review and Government statements have sparked, with essays on the cultural significance of the university, the role of the government in funding research, inequality in higher education, the role of quangos in public life and the place of social science research. It is a timely, important and considered exploration of the role of the universities in the UK and a reminder of what we should value and protect in our higher education system.