This book provides a comprehensive and integrated introduction to the major debates and schools of thought in social theory today. Some thirty different selections cover the period from the turn of the century up to the present.

Classical social thought is well represented: Marx and Weber, Simmel, Mead and the Frankfurt School are among those included in this volume. The main emphasis of the text, however, is upon current social theory, its main lines of orientation, and the dominant areas of controversy and advance. Problems of method and epistemology are given some prominence;...

This new book is a lively and highly accessible introduction to the sociology of education. Written in a clear and comprehensible way, it introduces students to the key theoretical perspectives and conceptual frameworks in the sociology of education, and provides a guide to contemporary issues and current debates.





The book reviews the ways in which sociology contributes to our understanding of the relationship between education and society. The sociology of education is treated in historical depth, dealing with the classic thinkers as well as with...

This new book is a lively and highly accessible introduction to the sociology of education. Written in a clear and comprehensible way, it introduces students to the key theoretical perspectives and conceptual frameworks in the sociology of education, and provides a guide to contemporary issues and current debates.





The book reviews the ways in which sociology contributes to our understanding of the relationship between education and society. The sociology of education is treated in historical depth, dealing with the classic thinkers as well as with...

This volume offers an accessible and wide-ranging introduction to the history of international political thought.

Taking as its starting-point the various concepts people have used to think about differences between political communities, the book explores changing perceptions of international politics from antiquity to the twentieth century. As well as discussing well-known themes such as relations between independent sovereign states and the tension between raison d'etat and a universal code of natural law, it also examines less familiar ideas which have influenced the...

This volume offers an accessible and wide-ranging introduction to the history of international political thought.

Taking as its starting-point the various concepts people have used to think about differences between political communities, the book explores changing perceptions of international politics from antiquity to the twentieth century. As well as discussing well-known themes such as relations between independent sovereign states and the tension between raison d'etat and a universal code of natural law, it also examines less familiar ideas which have influenced the...

Culture, Raymond Williams once wrote, is one of the most difficult words in language. Since then the concept has become part of our everyday vocabulary; it is used in a variety of different contexts: to describe the behaviour of corporations or criminals; to provide personal and national identity; it even gives its name to a Department of State.

In this engaging new textbook, Fred Inglis charts the history of the concept from its origins in the German Enlightenment to contemporary attempts to come to terms with the cultural impact of globalization. Drawing on the work of leading...

Isaiah Berlin was one of the leading political thinkers of the twentieth century, and his work continues to attract admiration and debate. In Isaiah Berlin: Liberty, Pluralism and Liberalism, George Crowder provides both an accessible introduction to Berlin's ideas and an original contribution to political theory.

Berlin's range of interests and learning was vast but united by a single overarching project: the uncovering of the conceptual roots of twentieth-century totalitarianism. He traces these through three levels of analysis: the distortion of the concept of freedom by...

Isaiah Berlin was one of the leading political thinkers of the twentieth century, and his work continues to attract admiration and debate. In Isaiah Berlin: Liberty, Pluralism and Liberalism, George Crowder provides both an accessible introduction to Berlin's ideas and an original contribution to political theory.

Berlin's range of interests and learning was vast but united by a single overarching project: the uncovering of the conceptual roots of twentieth-century totalitarianism. He traces these through three levels of analysis: the distortion of the concept of freedom by...

Justice is a concise and accessible introduction to the central theories of justice in contemporary political theory. The book aims to provide readers with a clear understanding of the theories and the main objections to them, as well as showing how these theories engage with one another.

It offers detailed accounts of John Rawls's theory of justice as fairness; the alternative 'capabilities approach' developed by Nobel-prize winning economist Amartya Sen; the libertarian theories of Milton Friedman and Robert Nozick; the 'group-rights' based theory of Will Kymlicka; and...

In The Network Society, Darin Barney provides a compelling examination of the social, political and economic implications of network technologies and their application across a wide range of practices and institutions.

Are we in the midst of a digital revolution? Have new information and communication technologies given birth to a new form of society, or do they reinforce and extend existing patterns and relationships? This book provides a clear and engaging discussion of these and other questions. Using a sophisticated model of the relationship between technology and society,...