Classical and Contemporary Social Theory
About the Book Series
Classical and Contemporary Social Theory publishes rigorous scholarly work that re-discovers the relevance of social theory for contemporary times, demonstrating the enduring importance of theory for modern social issues. The series covers social theory in a broad sense, inviting contributions on both 'classical' and modern theory, thus encompassing sociology, without being confined to a single discipline. As such, work from across the social sciences is welcome, provided that volumes address the social context of particular issues, subjects, or figures and offer new understandings of social reality and the contribution of a theorist or school to our understanding of it. The series considers significant new appraisals of established thinkers or schools, comparative works or contributions that discuss a particular social issue or phenomenon in relation to the work of specific theorists or theoretical approaches. Contributions are welcome that assess broad strands of thought within certain schools or across the work of a number of thinkers, but always with an eye toward contributing to contemporary understandings of social issues and contexts.
The Gift and its Paradoxes: Beyond Mauss
1st Edition
By Olli Pyyhtinen
November 28, 2016
Bringing social theory and philosophy to bear on popular movies, novels, myths, and fairy tales, The Gift and its Paradoxes explores the ambiguity of the gift: it is at once both a relation and a thing, alienable and inalienable, present and poison. Challenging the nature of giving as reciprocal, ...
The Puritan Culture of America's Military: U.S. Army War Crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan
1st Edition
By Ronald Lorenzo
November 24, 2016
This book explores Puritanism and its continuing influence on U.S. and military law in the Global War on Terror, exploring connections between Puritanism and notions of responsibility in relation to military crimes, superstitious practices within the military, and urges for revenge. Engaging with ...
Violence, Society and Radical Theory: Bataille, Baudrillard and Contemporary Society
1st Edition
By William Pawlett
November 23, 2016
Shedding light on the relationship between violence and contemporary society, this volume explores the distinctive but little-known theories of violence in the work of Georges Bataille and Jean Baudrillard, applying these to a range of violent events - events often labelled ’inexplicable’ - in ...
Imaginative Methodologies in the Social Sciences: Creativity, Poetics and Rhetoric in Social Research
1st Edition
By Michael Hviid Jacobsen, Michael S. Drake, Anders Petersen
October 27, 2016
Imaginative Methodologies in the Social Sciences develops, expands and challenges conventional social scientific methodology and language by way of literary, poetic and other alternative sources of inspiration, as sociologists, social workers, anthropologists, criminologists and psychologists all ...
Marx and Weber on Oriental Societies: In the Shadow of Western Modernity
1st Edition
By Lutfi Sunar
October 26, 2016
The Orient was central to the work of Marx and Weber, both figures building their theories around the question of why modernity appeared to emerge only in the West. While Marx’s account focused on the accumulation of capital in the West, Weber’s explanation for this phenomenon centred on Western ...
Utopia: Social Theory and the Future
1st Edition
Edited
By Keith Tester, Michael Hviid Jacobsen
October 19, 2016
In the light of globalization's failure provide the universal panacea expected by some of its more enthusiastic proponents, and the current status of neo-liberalism in Europe, a search has begun for alternative visions of the future; alternatives to the free market and to rampant capitalism. Indeed...
Torture, Intelligence and Sousveillance in the War on Terror: Agenda-Building Struggles
1st Edition
By Vian Bakir
September 08, 2016
Torture, Intelligence and Sousveillance in the War on Terror examines the communication battles of the Bush and Blair political administrations (and those of their successors in America and Britain) over their use of torture, first-hand or second-hand, to gain intelligence for the War on Terror. ...