A group of leading social theorists re-examine Ernest Gellner's central ideas in a contemporary context.

This is a comparative analysis of the dominant ideologies and modes of legitimization in communist and post-Communist Serbia and Croatia. The aim of the book is to identify and explain dominant normative and operative ideologies and principal modes of legitimization in these three case studies. The book is based on the content analysis of manifestos of the ruling parties in post World War II Yugoslavia (League of Communists), post-Cold War Serbia (Socialist Party of Serbia) and Croatia (Croatian Democratic Union), as well as on the content analysis of the school textbooks and editorial of...

Ideology is a hotly disputed term in social and political theory. It continues to generate intellectual dispute more than 200 years after its birth in the fervour of the French Revolution. Most recently, post-structuralists such as Foucault and Deleuze launched a strident critique claiming that "there is no such thing as ideology," creating a theoretical environment which polarises critical opinion either for or against ideology. Ideology after Poststructuralism aims to end this culture of antagonism by bringing together leading scholars in the field to establish a dialogue between...

We live in a rapidly changing world. The collapse of the Cold War, the development of new technologies and the globalisation of the world economy have all had a dramatic impact on societies across the globe. Migration, new types of wars and changing borders mean that even the stability and security of nation-states has become a thing of the past. New nationalisms, new social movements and the resurgence of identity politics all indicate that we are entering a new era where the very notion of collective identity -- through nation states or through transnational identity culture -- is...

We live in a rapidly changing world. The collapse of the Cold War, the development of new technologies and the globalisation of the world economy have all had a dramatic impact on societies across the globe. Migration, new types of wars and changing borders mean that even the stability and security of nation-states has become a thing of the past. New nationalisms, new social movements and the resurgence of identity politics all indicate that we are entering a new era where the very notion of collective identity -- through nation states or through transnational identity culture -- is...

'Malesevic has written a masterwork. Indeed, The Sociology of Ethnicity will rapidly become required reading, especially for those seeking an introduction to the field. Its structure and style promise to make it appealing and useful in a range of courses'

- Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism

Spanning classical sociology to current debates, The Sociology of Ethnicity synthesizes the leading sociological interpretations of ethnic relations and provides a coherent theoretical framework for its analysis.

In this thoughtful and...

'Malesevic has written a masterwork. Indeed, The Sociology of Ethnicity will rapidly become required reading, especially for those seeking an introduction to the field. Its structure and style promise to make it appealing and useful in a range of courses'

- Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism

Spanning classical sociology to current debates, The Sociology of Ethnicity synthesizes the leading sociological interpretations of ethnic relations and provides a coherent theoretical framework for its analysis.

In this thoughtful and...

Despite profound disagreement on whether identities are essential or existential, primordial or constructed, singular or multiple, there is little dispute over whether identities exist or not. In this provocative study, Sinisa Malesevic interrogates the unproblematic use of concepts of identity, and in particular national or ethnic identity.

War is a highly complex and dynamic form of social conflict. This new book demonstrates the importance of using sociological tools to understand the changing character of war and organised violence. The author offers an original analysis of the historical and contemporary impact that coercion and warfare have on the transformation of social life, and vice versa. Although war and violence were decisive components in the formation of modernity most analyses tend to shy away from the sociological study of the gory origins of contemporary social life. In contrast, this book brings the study of...

Despite many predictions made over the last two hundred years that nation-states and nationalism are transient phenomena that will eventually fade away, the historical record and contemporary events show otherwise. Nationalism still remains the most popular, potent and resilient ideological discourse and the nation-state the only legitimate mode of territorial rule.

This innovative and concise book provides an in-depth analysis of the processes involved in the emergence, formation, expansion and transformation of nation-states and nationalisms as they are understood today. Sinisa...