This work is a guide which locates Elias' work within the development of sociology and also against the background of current debates. Between the 1930s and 1980s he developed an approach to social theory which is now beginning to take root in contemporary social research and theory. Since the translation of his work into English from the 1980s onwards, a growing number of articles on such topics as health, sexuality, crime, national and ethnic identity, and feminimity and globalization, in a variety of disciplines, refer to Elias as an authority in the history of emotions, identity,...

This book locates Elias's work clearly within the development of sociology and also against the background of current debates.
Between the 1930s and the 1980s he developed a unique approach to social theory which is now beginning to take root in contemporary social research and theory. Since the translation of his work into English began to accelerate in the 1980s, a growing number of books and articles on topics including health, sexuality, crime, national and ethnic identity, femininity and globalization, in a variety of disciplines, make positive reference to Elias as an authority on...

Max Weber (1864-1920) remains a key figure in the rise of sociology as an international discipline in its own right. This study of Weber's sociology provides a discussion of the most important elements of Weber's thinking.

Focuses on the analysis of the relations of power and knowledge and modes of objectification through which human beings are made subjects; and addresses controversial issues concerning the state and resistance to power.

This classic series provides students with concise and readable introductions to the work, life and influence of the great sociological thinkers.

Karl Marx probably had more influence on the political course of the last century than any other social thinker. There are many different kinds of Marxism, and the 20th century saw two huge Marxist states in total opposition to one another. In the West, Marxism has never presented a revolutionary threat to the established order, though it has taken root as the major theoretical critique of capitalist society in intellectual circles, and new interpretations of Marx's thought appear each year. Peter Worsley discusses all these major varieties of Marxism, distinguishing between those ideas which...

The Institute of Social Research, from which the Frankfurt School developed, was founded in the early years of the Weimar Republic. It survived the Nazi era in exile, to become an important centre of social theory in the postwar era. Early members of the school, such as Adorno, Horkheimer and Marcuse, developed a form of Marxist theory known as Critical Theory, which became influential in the study of class, politics, culture and ideology. The work of more recent members, and in particular Habermas, has received wide attention throughout Europe and North America.
Tom Bottomore's study...

This timely book provides a concise but critical introduction to the work of a sociological phenomenon. After introducing the man, his major influences, and his special way of "thinking sociologically," Blackshaw traces the development of Bauman's project by identifying and explaining the two major shifts of emphasis in his work--the postmodern "turn" and the subsequent refocusing on "liquid" modernity. He also offers a clear and accessible guide to the key conceptual hinges that move the reader from one to the other, taking in the ideas of legislators and interpreters, ambivalence, seduction...

This timely book provides the definitive concise introduction to the phenomenon of Zygmunt Bauman. After introducing the man, his major influences and his special way of 'thinking sociologically', author Blackshaw traces the development of Bauman's project by identifying and explaining the major shifts of emphasis in his work the break with Marxism and the postmodern 'turn', and the subsequent refocusing on 'liquid' modernity as well as offering a clear and accessible guide to the key conceptual hinges which move the reader on.

This book, the only concise introduction to...

Decades after his death, the figure of Erving Goffman (1922-82) continues to fascinate. Perhaps the best-known sociologist of the second half of the twentieth century, Goffman was an unquestionably significant thinker whose reputation extended well beyond his parent discipline.

A host of concepts irrevocably linked to Goffman's name - such as 'presentation of self', 'total institutions', 'stigma', 'impression management' and 'passing' - are now staples in a wide range of academic discourses and are slipping into common usage. Goffman's writings uncover a previously unnoticed pattern...