Drawing on the diverse experience of a team of internationally recognised specialists, Teaching Political Sociology provides educators with a concise and accessible guide to the main topic areas likely to form part of term, semester, or year-long courses in political sociology. The book focuses on the key pedagogic challenges posed to teachers of political sociology, from general issues of value-freedom and engagement with students’ political commitments, to more specific issues which arise in relation to sensitive areas such as political violence and extremist ideologies of the far right. Chapters introduce readers to the state of the art in a wide range of topics, including race and postcoloniality, postcommunism, legal sociology, human rights, and the sociology of war and peace. Highlighting the challenges and opportunities presented by these topics for political sociology teaching and curricula, the book provides an invaluable starting point for educators. Diverse in scope and approach, and offering an evaluation of appropriate literature at various levels, this book will prove an essential resource for teachers of political sociology and related fields such as international relations.

The collapse of communist governments in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union requires a major rethink of many sociological theories of social integration and change.Drawing on a wide range of social theory, Social Theory and the Crisis of State Socialism offers a comparative analysis of the democratic revolutions, combining historical understanding with accounts of the crisis of communism in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Russia. Larry Ray identifies contradictions within Soviet societies, developing a theory of crisis management that accounts both for the survival of the system over several decades and for its eventual failure. The social structure of Soviet systems is analysed in relation to debates in sociological theory over legitimation, social integration, social movements and modernity. Larry Ray examines new forms of class, political and national identity in post-socialist Europe, demonstrating how political conflicts are related to economic transformation, especially the emergence of 'nomenklatura capitalism', and asks whether sufficient conditions exist for the stabilization of democratic citizenship. Social Theory and the Crisis of State Socialism will be welcomed for comparatively analysing the communist and post-communist experiences of a number of East European countries in the light of a critical examination of the broad issues of social theory and modernity.

Globalization and Everyday Life provides an accessible account of globalization by developing two themes in particular. First, globalization is an outcome of structural and cultural processes that manifest in different ways in economy, politics, culture and organizations. So the globalized world is increasingly heterogeneous, unequal and conflictual rather than integrated and ordered. Secondly, globalization is sustained and created by the everyday actions of people and institutions. Both of these have far-reaching consequences for everyday life and are fully explored in this volume.

Larry Ray skilfully guides students through the various aspects of the globalization debate and illustrates key arguments with reference to specific topics including nation, state and cosmopolitanism, virtual societies, transnationals and development. This innovative book provides this information in a clear and concise manner suitable for the undergraduate student studying sociology, social geography, globalization and development studies.

Since the early 1990s 'globalization' has entered public and academic debate within a wide range of disciplines. However, the meaning and significance of globalization remains unclear. Is it an outcome of complex socio-economic developments or an emergent process in its own right? How should we evaluate the debate between 'optimists' vs. 'pessimists' and 'critics', and between sceptics and radicals? How does globalization theory relate to earlier theories of convergence and world systems? Much of this debate is moving in circles and is proving difficult to resolve. particular. First, unlike earlier theories of convergence, globalization points towards increasing hybridity and differentiation, and therefore depicts a complex and fluid social world. Second, globalization is an outcome of structural and cultural processes that manifest in different ways in economy, politics, culture and organizations. Both of these themes have far-reaching consequences for everyday life that are fully explored in this volume. this innovative new book presents the information in a clear and concise manner suitable for its undergraduate reader. It covers key questions, relates theory to practical situations, and skilfully guides students through the various aspects of the globalization debate.

This text aims to provide a reassessment of the significance of Max Weber's work for the current debates about the institutional and organizational dynamics of modernity. It re-evaluates Weber's sociology of bureaucracy and his general account of the trajectory of modernity, with reference to the strategic social structures that dominated the emergence and development of modern society. Included here are detailed analyses of contemporary issues, such as the collapse of Communism, Fordism, corporatism and traditionalism in both Western and Eastern societies. It also signals the potential for new organizational and institutional forms to emerge in the aftermath of these social ruptures and upheavals. All of the contributors undertake analyses of Weber's texts and his broader intellectual inheritance to reassert the centrality of Weberian sociology for our understanding of the moral, political and organizational dilemmas of late modernity.

This book provides a re-evaluation of Weber's work on the current debates about the institutional and organizational dynamics of modernity. It reassembles Weber's sociology of bureaucracy and his general account of the trajectory of modernity with reference to the strategic social structures that dominated the emergence and development of modern society.

The drawing of boundaries has always been a key part of the Jewish tradition and has served to maintain a distinctive Jewish identity. At the same time, these boundaries have consistently been subject to negotiation, transgression and contestation. The increasing fragmentation of Judaism into competing claims to membership, from Orthodox adherence to secular identities, has brought striking new dimensions to this complex interplay of boundaries and modes of identity and belonging in contemporary Judaism. Boundaries, Identity and Belonging in Modern Judaism addresses these new dimensions, bringing together experts in the field to explore the various and fluid modes of expressing and defining Jewish identity in the modern world. Its interdisciplinary scholarship opens new perspectives on the prominent questions challenging scholars in Jewish Studies. Beyond simply being born Jewish, observance of Judaism has become a lifestyle choice and active assertion. Addressing the demographic changes brought by population mobility and 'marrying out,' as well as the complex relationships between Israel and the Diaspora, this book reveals how these shifting boundaries play out in a global context, where Orthodoxy meets innovative ways of defining and acquiring Jewish identity. This book is essential reading for students and scholars of Jewish Studies, as well as general Religious Studies and those interested in the sociology of belonging and identities.

This highly respected title comes revised and updated in a second edition to provide you with a contemporary overview of violence and society. Clearly and lucidly written, this book offers broad coverage of theoretical debates, using case studies from the author's own extensive research to bring the various theories alive. With a sociological approach throughout, it provides up-to-date coverage of key topics including gender and violence, collective violence and media and violence. New to this edition: Three new chapters on 'Collective Violence', 'Violence and the Visual' and 'Theories of Violence' Material on sex offending and the night-time economy Learning features in each chapter and an 'at-a-glance' overview within the introduction

This highly respected title comes revised and updated in a second edition to provide you with a contemporary overview of violence and society. Clearly and lucidly written, this book offers broad coverage of theoretical debates, using case studies from the author's own extensive research to bring the various theories alive. With a sociological approach throughout, it provides up-to-date coverage of key topics including gender and violence, collective violence and media and violence. New to this edition: Three new chapters on 'Collective Violence', 'Violence and the Visual' and 'Theories of Violence' Material on sex offending and the night-time economy Learning features in each chapter and an 'at-a-glance' overview within the introduction

When the five single women at Thortin Bank in Westwood, Texas are faced with the loss of their jobs after the owner's death, they decide to do anything they can to save the bank. But in a poor economy, traditional measures just aren't enough. The solution head teller Rosita Valdez comes up with could save the bank, but it could also destroy her and the tellers' reputations and Rosita's own burgeoning relationship with the town doctor. With the other bank employees on board, the Bare Your Assets bank promotion soon has money rolling through the doors of the bank and satisfied male customers rolling out. Along the way, the girls must juggle their own love lives while dealing with the ever fragile male ego, an obnoxious parrot with a penchant for crime dramas, a trip to an airplane bathroom that goes hilariously wrong, and Rosita's mother, newly diagnosed with dementia, who gets in one laugh-out-loud situation after another. Add in the local sheriff, state auditors, and Texas Rangers and at the end, only one thing's for sure: they'll save the bank or they'll be in prison.

Traditionally social science treated culture as a peripheral issue, but the last 20 years have witnessed a cultural turn throughout the social sciences. Culture is now at the core of debate.

Culture and Economy After the Cultural Turn examines the impact of the cultural turn for the social sciences in relation to the decline of interest in economic aspects of society. It presents a number of responses to the changing relationship between culture and economy, and to the in which the cultural turn has sought to understand it. Contributors from a wide range of disciplines present differing views oon these matters in relation to issues of political sensibilities and movements, equality and recognition, `cultural management', class, ethnicity and gender, and cultural values.

This challenging book provides a clear and accessible account of what the cultural turn means. It will be recommended reading for students of cultural studies, sociology, political economy, politics and organization studies. 

In this broad-ranging text, Ray assesses Critical Theory, particularly that of J um]urgen Habermas. Developing an analysis of such ideas as the public sphere, communicative action and the colonization of the lifeworld, he examines the insights that Critical Theory can offer global analysis and the challenges to Critical Theory from global social change.

In a detailed discussion of post-communist eastern Europe, Islamic revivalism in Iran and the liberation struggle in South Africa, the author argues that modernity is poised between the threat of authoritarian politics of identity on one hand and the promise of opening up new democratic communicative organizations on the other.