In today s liberal democracies, does the political process focus on the people, or on the political leaders representing them? In Toward Leader Democracy, Jan Pakulski and Andras Korosenyi argue that there is a trend toward an increasingly pronounced focus on political leaders, or leader democracy, which is reinforced by the prominence of electronic media, the decline of major parties, the centrality of electoral competitions, and the frequently aggressive actions taken by our political elites. This trend is compatible with predictions made by elite theorists such as Max Weber and Joseph...

This volume addresses a central problem of contemporary states, namely how to manage the eruption of public religions. While the liberal framework formerly regarded religion as simply a matter of private practice and conscience, in modern states religion has often come to challenge the so-called Westphalian model of church-state relations, and has brought into question many liberal notions of secularism and tolerance. There is much discussion about post-secular society in which religion has to be taken seriously in public affairs. This collection of case studies - looking at Turkey,...

Pierre Bourdieu is widely regarded as one of the most influential sociologists of his generation, and yet the reception of his work in different cultural contexts and academic disciplines has been varied and uneven. This volume maps out the legacy of Pierre Bourdieu in contemporary social and political thought from the standpoint of classical European sociology and from the broader perspective of transatlantic social science. It brings together contributions from prominent scholars in the field, providing a range of perspectives on the continuing relevance of Bourdieu's oeuvre to...

In Consumption, Cities and States: Comparing Singapore with Asian and Western Cities, Ann Brooks and Lionel Wee focus on the interrelationship of consumption, citizenship and the state in the context of globalization, calling for greater emphasis to be placed on the citizen as consumer. While it is widely recognized that citizenship is increasingly defined by gradations of esteem, where different kinds of rights and responsibilities accrue to different categories and subcategories of citizens, not enough analytical focus has been given to how the status of being a citizen impacts the...

Emile Durkheim and the Collective Consciousness of Society: A Study in Criminology challenges conventional thinking on the use of Durkheim s key concept of the collective consciousness of society, and represents the first ever book-length treatment of this underexplored topic. Operating from both a criminological and sociological perspective, Kenneth Smith argues that Durkheim s original concept must be sensitively revised and updated for its real relevance to come to the fore.

This study puts forward three major adjustments to Durkheim s concept of the collective consciousness. It...

Emile Durkheim and the Collective Consciousness of Society: A Study in Criminology challenges conventional thinking on the use of Durkheim s key concept of the collective consciousness of society, and represents the first ever book-length treatment of this underexplored topic. Operating from both a criminological and sociological perspective, Kenneth Smith argues that Durkheim s original concept must be sensitively revised and updated for its real relevance to come to the fore.

This study puts forward three major adjustments to Durkheim s concept of the collective consciousness....

This collection of essays incorporates the insight of an international group of experts to explore the impact of neoliberal ideology upon political, social and economic domains, as well as institutions such as the prison, healthcare and education systems and the voluntary sector. Examining the effects of the emergence of late-modern capitalism in the 1970s, the articles look at how the reaction against post-war Keynesian ideology manifested itself in each of these areas. This neoliberal resurgence has been characterised by competition and free markets, individual and family responsibility,...

Today, in an age of globalization, religion represents a potent force in the lives of billions of people worldwide. Yet when social theorists examine the impact of globalization on contemporary religious movements, they tend to focus on issues such as Islamic fundamentalism and threats to US or global security. This collection of essays takes a different approach, analyzing with special reference to Asia religion through lived experience. The key issues covered in the volume include: how religious impulses contribute to globalization; how religious groups and organizations repackage...

Human liberation has become an epochal challenge in today's world, requiring not only emancipation from oppressive structures but also from the oppressive self. It is a multidimensional struggle and aspiration in which knowledge - self, social and spiritual - can play a transformative role. 'Knowledge and Human Liberation: Towards Planetary Realizations' undertakes such a journey of transformation, and seeks to rethink knowledge vis-a-vis the familiar themes of human interest, critical theory, enlightenment, ethnography, democracy, pluralism, rationality, secularism and...