Unrivalled in its clarity and coverage, this sparkling new edition of Chris Shilling's classic text is a masterful account of the emergence and development of body matters in sociology and related disciplines. A timely, well reasoned response to current concerns and controversies across the globe, it provides chapter-by- chapter coverage of the major theories, approaches and studies conducted in the field. Each chapter has been revised and updated, with new discussions of action network theory', bodywork, pragmatism, the global resurgence of religious identities, new genetics', biological...

Cosmopolitanism: Uses of the Idea offers an illuminating and dynamic account of an often confusing and widespread concept. Bringing together both historical and contemporary approaches to cosmopolitanism, as well as recognizing its multidimensional nature, Zlatko Skrbis and Ian Woodward manage to show the very essence of cosmopolitanism as a theoretical idea and cultural practice.

Through an exploration of various social fields, such as media, identity and ethics, the book analyses the limits and possibilities of the cosmopolitan turn and explores the different...

"About time Two key experts in the field remind us of the significance and power of religion as bio-political and bio-economic."
- Beverley Skeggs, Goldsmiths, University of London

"A welcome addition to a continuing body of work by two distinguished theorists of religion."
- Grace Davie, University of Exeter

"Mellor and Shilling cement their place at the pinnacle of the contemporary sociological theorisation of religion and the sacred. If sociological work is going to have any future it is to be found in the...

"One thing is clear: in marginalising Chinese tradition and falling short of wholesale importation of Western cultural and political ideals and institutions, Chinese cities have become, in one sense, the scrapyard of half-hearted emulations and acts of resistance, appearing to be neither here nor there..."
- Li Shiqiao, writing in the South China Morning Post

This book teaches us to read the contemporary Chinese city. Li Shiqiao deftly crafts a new theory of the Chinese city and the dynamics of urbanization by:

• examining how the...

"One thing is clear: in marginalising Chinese tradition and falling short of wholesale importation of Western cultural and political ideals and institutions, Chinese cities have become, in one sense, the scrapyard of half-hearted emulations and acts of resistance, appearing to be neither here nor there..."
- Li Shiqiao, writing in the South China Morning Post

This book teaches us to read the contemporary Chinese city. Li Shiqiao deftly crafts a new theory of the Chinese city and the dynamics of urbanization by:

• examining how the...

-Brilliant... explains how the rhetoric of competition has invaded almost every domain of our existence.-
- Evgeny Morozov, author of To Save Everything, Click Here

-A sparkling, original, and provocative analysis of neoliberalism... a distinctive account of the diverse, sometimes contradictory, conventions and justifications that lend authority to the extension of the spirit of competitiveness to all spheres of social life.-
- Professor Bob Jessop, University of Lancaster

-In a world that seems to lurch from...

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.