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Ideal for teaching international lawyers about the U.S.study of law, this coursebook uses a global perspective to put the basic principles of legal reasoning, writing, and research into context. To effectively teach analysis and communication within
In the most complete, accurate and accessible presentation of Karl Marx’s theory of capitalism to date, Johan Fornäs presents a guide for anyone who wants to understand how today’s crisis-ridden society has emerged and is able to sustain and intensify its own deep inner contradictions. Capitalism clearly explains these contradictions, which are so relevant again today in the wake of the financial crisis. This clear and engaging guide explains capitalism for absolute beginners. Fornäs situates Marx’s ideas in context, remaining faithful to the concepts and structure of his work. This complete introduction to Marx’s economy critique covers all three volumes of Capital. It explores all the main aspects of Marx’s work – including his economic theory, his philosophical sophistication and his political critique – introducing the reader to Marx’s typical blend of sharp arguments, ruthless social reportage and utopian visions. This book will be of interest to students throughout the social sciences and humanities, including those studying sociology, social theory, economics, business studies, history, cultural studies, and politics.
Exploring the theoretical, conceptual and historical issues surrounding the topic of sex research and sex therapy, this book examines the influential scientific sex research completed by Masters and Johnson and its implications for sex therapy and the study of human sexuality.
Bourdieu’s theory of social fields is one of his key contributions to social sciences and humanities. However, it has never been subjected to genuine critical examination. This book fills that gap and offers a clear and wide-ranging introduction to the theory. It includes a critical discussion of its methodology and relevance in different subject areas in the social sciences and humanities. Part I "theoretical investigations" offers a theoretical account of the theory, while also identifying some of its limitations and discussing several strategies to overcome them. Part II "Education, culture and organization" presents the theory at work and highlights its advantages and disadvantages. The focus in Part III devoted to "The State" is on the formation and evolution of the State and public policy in different contexts. The chapters show the usefulness of field theory in describing, explaining and understanding the functioning of the State at different stages in its historical trajectory including its recent redefinition with the advent of the neoliberal age. A last chapter outlines a postcolonial use of the theory of fields.
Gabriel Tarde was a highly influential figure in 19th century French sociology: a prolific and evocative writer whose understanding of the social differed radically from that of his younger opponent Emile Durkheim. Whereas Durkheimian sociology went on to become the core of the social scientific canon throughout much of the 20th century, Tarde’s sociology fell out of the picture, and he was remembered mostly through a few footnotes in which Durkheim dismissed him as an individualist, a psychologist and a metaphysician. The social sciences and humanities are now being swept by a Tardean revival, a rediscovery and reappraisal of the work of this truly unique thinker, for whom ‘every thing ...
Notions of social change are often divided into local versus international. But what actually happens at the national level—where policies are ultimately made and implemented—when policy-making is interdependent worldwide? How do policy-makers take into account the prior choices of other countries? Far more research is needed on the process of interdependent decision-making in the world polity. National Policy-Making: domestication of global trends offers a unique set of hybrid cases that straddle these disciplinary and conceptual divides. The volume brings together well-researched case studies of policy-making from across the world that speak to practical issues but also challenge curre...
This book offers a sociological overview of the theories and research on economic innovation. Over the past few decades, the economics of innovation has given rise to a lively flow of studies, and innovation studies continues to develop as an interdisciplinary field of research. Sociology in general, and economic sociology in particular, have already made a significant contribution to innovation and continue to play a crucial role in this emerging field. This book presents an integrated sociological approach to the study of economic innovation. It explores the key theories and sociological research on innovation, as well as other contributions to the field of Innovation Studies from economists, geographers, and psychologists. Ramella argues that in order to understand the processes of innovation, it is necessary to look at the actors of innovation, at the relations that exist between them and at the sectoral and territorial contexts in which they operate. For students, this book includes international case studies throughout, as well as further study questions at the end of each chapter.
In Retail and Social Change Steven Miles, presents a cross-disciplinary analysis of the evolution of retail and how in both its material and virtual guises it has come to reframe our relationship with the social world. Retail has become increasingly influential in homogenising the urban experience. And yet in reacting to trends in virtual consumption retailers are also becoming more and more conscious of the need to engage with consumers in more sophisticated ways. Retail and Social Change will interest students and scholars in geography, cultural studies, sociology, marketing and business studies interested in how and why retail pervades both our physical and emotional lives in increasingly unexpected ways. It will provide a lively, comparative and thought-provoking contribution that interrogates the implications of retail change, for what it means to be a citizen of a consumer society in the twenty-first century.
Heterosexuality is a largely ‘silent’ set of practices and identities – it is assumed to be everywhere and yet often remains unnamed and unexplored. Despite recent changes in the theoretical understanding and representation of sexuality, heterosexuality continues to be socially normative. Forging a new agenda for the study of heterosexuality, this in-depth volume, the first research monograph to focus on heterosexuality and society, presents an empirical study of the construction, negotiation and enactment of heterosexual sexuality. Using detailed interview data, it investigates how heterosexuality, as both an identity and a set of practices, is accomplished through love relationships....