Bücher der Reihe Published in association with Theory, Culture & Society

Drawing on the work of Derrida, Foucault, Levinas and Ricouer, this book proposes that the question of postmodernity is inseparable from that of postcolonialism. It maps out a new geneaology of the birth of the modern and suggests a new way of grounding the idea of an emancipation of being.

Analyzes the role of religion as a global cultural force in the tension between tradition and modernity. Social theories of religion are explored through a comparative and historical analysis of the Abrahamic faiths and theoretical approaches to the social function of religion are assessed.

Demonstrating that all notions of nature are entangled in different forms of social life, the text elaborates the ways in which the apparently natural world has been produced from within particular social practices. These are analyzed in terms of different senses, different times and the production of distinct spaces.

Presents a multidimensional, complex approach to sociological theory that focuses on culture. This title develops the theme of globalization in relation to the cultural turn, world-systems theory, the civilizing process, modernity and postmodernity, nostalgia politics and fundamentalism.

Underpinning this examination of Western societies is the notion of the `risk society'. The changing nature of society's relation to production and distribution is related to the environmental impact as a totalizing, globalizing economy based on scientific and technical knowledge becomes more central to social organization and social conflict.

In this second edition of this classic text the authors develop an analysis of education. They show how education carries an essentially arbitrary cultural scheme based on power. More widely, the reproduction of culture through education is shown to play a key part in the reproduction of the social system.

A fully revised edition of a seminal text from a world class authority in tourism. Each chapter has been significantly updated to include fresh data, examples and critical theory and three entirely new chapters have been added. A modern classic.

This book frames speculation on what postcapitalist societies could be, with regimes of private accumulation replaced by a politics and ethics of a democratic and ecologically-grounded Commons.

In a powerful reframing of debates about secularization and the revitalization of religion, Shilling and Mellor develop the concept of habitus to explore the significance of the religious body in social structures. A powerful argument about how religious and secular forms of the sacred underpin major conflicts in the world today.

An anthropological study of the gift, that relates giving to the institutions and social structures of modern life

This book provides a critical introduction to de Certeau's work and influence, looks at his key ideas and asks how we should try to understand him in relation to theories of modern culture and society.

Dennis Smith offers a fascinating survey of Elias's life and writings and traces the growth of his reputation. He also illustrates how Elias's insights can be applied to understand Western modernity and social and political change, showing why Elias is so important to sociology.

A look at the strengths and weaknesses of cultural studies, providing a blend of performance and risk theory. It explores the need to erase the separation of "high" and "popular" culture studies, starting from the thesis that cultural studies has been too pre-occupied with popular culture.

An examination of Virilio's work on cultural theory; includes an interview with Virilio; a recently translated example of his work; and a select bibliography of his writings.

Paul Virilio demonstrates how technology has made inertia the defining condition of modernity. An instantaneous present has replaced space and the sovereignty of territory - everything happens without the need to go anywhere.

Global Modernities is a sustained commentary on the international character of the most microcosmic practices. It demonstrates how the global increasingly informs the regional, so deconstructing ideas like the `nation-state' and `national sovereignty'. The spatialization of social theory, hybridization and bio-politics are among the critical issues discussed.

This delightful, thought-provoking book tackles head-on the assumption that laughter and humour are necessarily good in themselves. The author proposes a social theory that places humour central to social life. Billig argues that all cultures use ridicule as a disciplinary means to uphold norms of conduct and conventions of meaning.

A revision of the centrality of belonging in contemporary culture. A group of contributors draw on sociology, philosophy and anthropology to examine belonging as an achievement, involving several levels of production, performance and embodiment.

Buci-Glucksmann explores the condition of modernity through the works of a number of writers and philosophers. She considers how figures such as Nietzsche, Adorno, Musil, Barthes and Lacan constitute a baroque paradigm, united by their allegorical style, their conflation of aesthetics with ethics and their subject matter.

'... a powerful piece of work that deserves to be read widely. It ranges across central concerns in the fields of social theory, political theory, and science studies and engages with the ideas of key classical and contemporary thinkers' - Barry Smart, Professor of Sociology, University of Portsmouth

An engaged and impassioned exploration of the extent to which neoliberalism has succeeded in replacing politics with economics. Can economics continue to provide government legitimacy?

In this book leading international social scientists analyze the extent to which we are seeing a globalization of culture. Differing explanations are offered for trends towards global unification and their relation to an economic world-system.

This wide-ranging and accessible contribution to the study of risk, ecology and environment helps us to understand the politics of ecology and the place of social theory in making sense of environmental issues. The book provides insights into the complex dynamics of change in `risk societies'.

`It is difficult to qualify excitement and enthusiasm for this book.... For those studying and teaching on the body... the book is an essential text....' - Sociology of Health and Illness`...enriches the conceptual arsenal for interdisciplinary analysis of political, social and cultural change...' - The American Journal of Sociology

Undoing Culture is a notable contribution to our understanding of modernism and postmodernism. It explores the formation and deformation of the cultural sphere and the effects on culture of globalization.

This study seeks to recast the social dynamic of postmodernity. It argues, in contrast to much contemporary thought defining this dynamic as the contraction of the social into the individual, that it is in fact a retreat into tribalism.

The Symbol Theory draws together three central themes. At the first level the book is concerned with symbols in relation to language, knowing and thinking. Secondly, Elias stresses that symbols are tangible sound-patterns of human communication. Finally, the book addresses theoretical issues about the ontological status of knowledge.

This collection enables the reader to engage with the full range of Georg Simmel's dazzling contributions to the study of culture. It opens with his basic essays on defining culture, its changes and its crisis. These are followed by more specific explorations of culture.

`Friedman has produced a book of importance.... It features many tantalizing insights and observations in the author's attempt to comprehend the global constitution of the world and the "positional identities" - not least the identities of social scientists - within the global arena' - Theory, Culture & Society

Developing a comparative analysis of the UK and US, the new Germany and Japan, Lash and Urry show how restructuration after organized capitalism has its basis in increasingly reflexive social actors and organizations. The consequence is not only the much-vaunted 'postmodern condition' but also a growth in reflexivity.