There are several concepts within the social sciences that refer to the fundamental realities on which the various disciplines focus their attention. The concept of the "center," as defined by Edward Shils, has such a status in sociology, for it deals with and attempts to provide an answer to the central question of the discipline the question of the constitution of society. "Center" is a commonly used term with a variety of meanings. According to editors Liah Greenfeld and Michel Martin, "center" carries a twofold meaning when used as a concept. In its first sense, it is a synonym for...
There are several concepts within the social sciences that refer to the fundamental realities on which the various disciplines focus their attention. ...
Using a wealth of data collected in Israel, this study depicts a complete system in which art is created and evaluated--the scale of Israeli society allowing for a comprehensive and detailed description of all the agents involved in the production and consumption of modern art. The author analyzes the patterns of social relations and behavior created around two art worlds--the world of abstract avant-garde art and the world of traditional figurative painting. She argues that the two worlds differ radically both in terms of the factors that affect the formation of taste, the process of...
Using a wealth of data collected in Israel, this study depicts a complete system in which art is created and evaluated--the scale of Israeli society a...
Using a wealth of data collected in Israel, this study depicts a complete system in which art is created and evaluated--the scale of Israeli society allowing for a comprehensive and detailed description of all the agents involved in the production and consumption of modern art. The author analyzes the patterns of social relations and behavior created around two art worlds--the world of abstract avant-garde art and the world of traditional figurative painting. She argues that the two worlds differ radically both in terms of the factors that affect the formation of taste, the process of...
Using a wealth of data collected in Israel, this study depicts a complete system in which art is created and evaluated--the scale of Israeli society a...
The Spirit of Capitalism answers a fundamental question of economics, a question neither economists nor economic historians have been able to answer: what are the reasons (rather than just the conditions) for sustained economic growth? Taking her title from Max Weber's famous study on the same subject, Liah Greenfeld focuses on the problem of motivation behind the epochal change in behavior, which from the sixteenth century on has reoriented one economy after another from subsistence to profit, transforming the nature of economic activity. A detailed analysis of the development of...
The Spirit of Capitalism answers a fundamental question of economics, a question neither economists nor economic historians have been able t...
Nationalism is a movement and a state of mind that brings together national identity, consciousness, and collectivities. It accomplished the great transformation from the old order to modernity; it placed imagination above production, distribution, and exchange; and it altered the nature of power over people and territories that shapes and directs the social and political world. A five-country study that spans five hundred years, this historically oriented work in sociology bids well to replace all previous works on the subject. The theme, simple yet complex, suggests that England was the...
Nationalism is a movement and a state of mind that brings together national identity, consciousness, and collectivities. It accomplished the great ...
In this collection of Greenfeld's essays, we see her tackle the topic of nationalism from an array of angles, each giving us a unique perspective on what Einstein called 'the measles of mankind'. Covering the analogies between nationalism and religion, the political significance of culture, the incipience of nationalism in Tudor England, and much more, Greenfeld's writing is informative and well argued.
In this collection of Greenfeld's essays, we see her tackle the topic of nationalism from an array of angles, each giving us a unique perspective on w...
Joseph Ben-David died twenty-five years ago, in January 1986. An eminent sociologist of science, and a co-founder of this sub-discipline, he was only sixty-five years old. Few social scientists are remembered after they die and can no longer parlay their influence into the goods of this world for colleagues and acquaintances. This was not Ben-David's fate. His work continues to be taught and referred to by scholars spread far and wide (in terms of both countries and disciplines). His students never forgot him, his books were republished, and his essays appeared in new collections....
Joseph Ben-David died twenty-five years ago, in January 1986. An eminent sociologist of science, and a co-founder of this sub-discipline, he was only ...
Organised as an experiment testing the hypothesis that behind the hottest political issues of the quarter-century after the Cold War lies globalisation of national consciousness, this collection of essays unites authors from the four corners of the world. They focus on democratisation and its failure in Russia, transformations of identity in Eastern and Western Europe, Africa, North and South America, and South-East Asia, the rise of militant and political Islam, and the eruption of China onto the world stage. The volume makes the argument that globalisation we are witnessing is, for the most...
Organised as an experiment testing the hypothesis that behind the hottest political issues of the quarter-century after the Cold War lies globalisatio...
Organised as an experiment testing the hypothesis that behind the hottest political issues of the quarter-century after the Cold War lies globalisation of national consciousness, this collection of essays unites authors from the four corners of the world. They focus on democratisation and its failure in Russia, transformations of identity in Eastern and Western Europe, Africa, North and South America, and South-East Asia, the rise of militant and political Islam, and the eruption of China onto the world stage. The volume makes the argument that globalisation we are witnessing is, for the most...
Organised as an experiment testing the hypothesis that behind the hottest political issues of the quarter-century after the Cold War lies globalisatio...