This book situates sociology in its historical, philosophical and theological contexts and examines how the founders of the discipline developed competing analyses of the processes elementary to social and moral life through their distinctive sociological contributions. Surveying a range of sociological analyses from Comte to feminism, postmodernism and rational choice theory, this book examines the various attempts that have been made to reconstruct the discipline over the last century, and the challenges facing it today. Individual chapters examine Human Sociology', Sacred Sociology',...

This is an impressive book by one of the leading social theorists working in the field of body studies. It provides a critical summation of theoretical and substantive work in the field to date, while also presenting a powerful argument for a corporeal realism in which the body is both generative of the emergent properties of social structure and a location of their effects. Its scope and originality make it a key point of reference for students and academics in body studies and in the social and cultural sciences more generally' - Ian Burkitt, Reader in Social Science, University of...

This is an impressive book by one of the leading social theorists working in the field of body studies. It provides a critical summation of theoretical and substantive work in the field to date, while also presenting a powerful argument for a corporeal realism in which the body is both generative of the emergent properties of social structure and a location of their effects. Its scope and originality make it a key point of reference for students and academics in body studies and in the social and cultural sciences more generally' - Ian Burkitt, Reader in Social Science, University of...

'It is difficult to qualify excitement and enthusiasm for this book... For those studying and teaching on the body... the book is an essential text...' - Sociology of Health and Illness '...enriches the conceptual arsenal for interdisciplinary analysis of political, social and cultural change...' - The American Journal of Sociology

A study of 'the body' - one of the fastest growing, most influential, and most contested subjects in the social sciences and humanities.

• Includes cutting edge contributions from Europe, America and Asia
  
• Brings together a series of theoretical, methodological and empirical analyses by leading international exponents of body studies
  
• Explores the structural, interactional and phenomenological features of human embodiment
  
• Connects the concerns of classical sociologists to new advances in social theory, anthropology,...

Where are we at with studies of Body & Society? What are the key accomplishments in the field? This book provides the clearest and most comprehensive account of work in this area to date.

Featuring a series of studies on sport, transgenderism, migration, illness, survival and belief, it illuminates the relationship between bodily change and action. Chris Shilling's book provides an unrivalled survey of theory and empirical research and explores the hitherto neglected tradition of American 'body studies'.

Wide in scope, systematic and incisive the book represents...

An account of how the creation and evolution of different patterns of human community are related to the bodily experience of the sacred. The book makes a seminal contribution to understanding the world of religious and moral sentiment, the world of the bo

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...

"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...