For most of the twentieth century, social thinkers devoted their attention mainly to the issues of economic class. They generally dismissed the more primordial bonds of racial, ethnic, and national identities as irrational anachronisms that either communism or the liberal frameworks of democracy would dissolve.
Today, communism is nearly dead and liberalism is on the wane. At the same time, older ethno-racial tribalisms, along with some newly invented ones, have shattered our illusions of a rationally manageable world. They find expression in chauvinistic nationalisms,...
For most of the twentieth century, social thinkers devoted their attention mainly to the issues of economic class. They generally dismissed the mor...
This volume traces the origins, ethos, and workings of modern propaganda, which now permeates all institutions in our society. Scholars such as C. Wright Mills, Walter Lippmann, and Hans Speier here explore the social and institutional groundwork of modern propaganda. The book then examines the axial age of propaganda, from the Great War through the Cold War, focusing on key propaganda organizations, such as the Committee on Public Information, the Nazi propaganda machine, and the group of Hollywood directors that produced propaganda films for the armed services during the Second World...
This volume traces the origins, ethos, and workings of modern propaganda, which now permeates all institutions in our society. Scholars such as C. ...
Social movements have shown themselves to be one of the most dramatic and effective forms of political action. America, founded as the result of a challenge to one kind of political order, has been, in part, recreated as a result of movements of collective protest.
Social movements continue to arise in America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the present age, when such social movements abound, it is crucial to investigate the theoretical similarities and underpinnings of older and current collective protests. With chapters on AIDS, the Iranian revolution, the New Left,...
Social movements have shown themselves to be one of the most dramatic and effective forms of political action. America, founded as the result of a ...
Sexual confessions on television talk shows. Gender and medical discourse in colonial India. River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho. White women in a German colony. Henry James' thwarted love. What do these seemingly diverse subjects have in common?
All address, in different ways, social and cultural attempts to contain eroticism by delineating the perimeters of genders. They scrutinize the political investments in the construction of gender in such disparate locations as contemporary Hollywood, Renaissance England, colonial India and Africa, and in modern and contemporary...
Sexual confessions on television talk shows. Gender and medical discourse in colonial India. River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho. White wo...
Since Galileo, critics have waged a relentless assault against science, attacking it as dehumanizing, reductionist, relativistic, dominating, and imperialistic. Supporters meanwhile view science as synonymous with modernity and progress. The current debates over the role of science-- described by such headlines as Scientists are Urged to Fight Back Against Politically Correct' Critics in The Chronicle of Higher Education--testify to how deeply divided we remain about the values and responsibilities of science in the modern age.
Acknowledging the validity of a deep skepticism about...
Since Galileo, critics have waged a relentless assault against science, attacking it as dehumanizing, reductionist, relativistic, dominating, and i...
Historians consider the previous century to have been one of the most violent periods in human history. As we move into an era where violence is sanitized and normalized in the media, and depicted as glamorous and fun, how will we relate to the violence in our midst? Why do people and their governments choose to engage in violent activity? How to peaceful people who live under violent conditions such as warfare or domestic abuse make sense of it?
Catherine Besteman tackles these questions in this multi-disciplinary anthology that explores the topic of violence from a wide variety of...
Historians consider the previous century to have been one of the most violent periods in human history. As we move into an era where violence is sa...
