Covering a wide area of political sociology and social and political theory, this Reader offers a selection of extracts incorporating both primary and secondary readings. As well as a general introduction to the concept of social theory, each section is prefaced by an introduction to the relevant theorist(s) and each reading is accompanied by a short explanatory introduction.Including a broad range of texts, the book offers a general introduction to the main writings of political sociology and social theory. While other texts tend to focus either on either traditional or contemporary figures,...

Covering a wide area of political sociology and social and political theory, this Reader offers a selection of extracts incorporating both primary and secondary readings. As well as a general introduction to the concept of social theory, each section is prefaced by an introduction to the relevant theorist(s) and each reading is accompanied by a short explanatory introduction.Including a broad range of texts, the book offers a general introduction to the main writings of political sociology and social theory. While other texts tend to focus either on either traditional or contemporary figures,...

Hegemony: A Realist Analysis is a new and original approach to this important concept. It presents a theoretical history of the use of hegemony in a range of work starting with a discussion of Gramsci and Russian Marxism and going on to look at more recent applications. It examines the current debates and discusses the new direction to Marx made by Jacques Derrida, before outlining a critical realist/Marxist alternative.
This book employs critical realist philosophy in an explanatory way to help clarify the concept of hegemony and its relation to societal processes. This work...

How do influential social ideas contribute to global governance? This book takes an original approach to international relations by looking at the way social ideas help to portray the world in a particular way. Jonathan Joseph begins by analysing the role of important concepts such as globalisation, global civil society, social capital, networks and risk; then examines the role these concepts play in the discourse of international organisations. Using the concept of governmentality, he argues that contemporary social theories help justify contemporary forms of governance. By comparing...

This text offers a concise introduction to Marxism's main ideas and debates in a way that is easily accessible for the reader new to this substantial subject. It first assesses the key thinkers before exploring a number of debates and recent developments in Marxist thought, showing how Marxist thought continues to evolve.