Classical and Contemporary Social Theory publishes rigorous scholarly work that re-discovers the relevance of social theory for contemporary times, demonstrating the enduring importance of theory for modern social issues. The series covers social theory in a broad sense, inviting contributions on both 'classical' and modern theory, thus encompassing sociology, without being confined to a single discipline. As such, work from across the social sciences is welcome, provided that volumes address the social context of particular issues, subjects, or figures and offer new understandings of social reality and the contribution of a theorist or school to our understanding of it. The series considers significant new appraisals of established thinkers or schools, comparative works or contributions that discuss a particular social issue or phenomenon in relation to the work of specific theorists or theoretical approaches. Contributions are welcome that assess broad strands of thought within certain schools or across the work of a number of thinkers, but always with an eye toward contributing to contemporary understandings of social issues and contexts.
By Guido Gili, Emiliana Mangone
December 02, 2024
Why does hope appear in certain epochs and places, only at other times to disappear from people’s lives and from society as a whole? This book addresses hope from a sociological perspective, offering a theoretical framework and a set of concepts to consider a range of questions. With attention to ...
Edited
By Emiliano Bevilacqua, Mariano Longo, Michael Hviid Jacobsen
November 22, 2024
Love and Sexuality in Social Theory considers the role that love and sexuality play in private and public life. Drawing on both classical and contemporary social theory, it presents both theoretical and empirical studies of love and sexuality as social factors, from the earliest reconstructions of...
By Slavica Jakelić
November 15, 2024
Humanism is appealed to today whenever we want to tackle the conditions of dehumanization in the contemporary world. But for humanism to be viable in the twenty first century, this book argues, it needs to be pluralized. Employing theoretical, historical and sociological arguments, the book moves...
By Rowena Slope
November 08, 2024
Corporate Totalitarianism reflects on the changing nature of economic, political and social power in the global context and the ways in which this affects both individual and society. Inspired by the thought of Hannah Arendt and informed by Weber's work on rationalisation and bureaucracy, it shows ...
By Kieran Flanagan
August 26, 2024
A response to the depletion of the rhetoric of sociology and the spiritual capital of theology, this volume explores the remains of Christianity that still lurk as portents in a progressively de-Christianised society seeking replacements for belief. With the sociologist set in the role of an oracle...
Edited
By Michael Hviid Jacobsen
July 22, 2024
Dark Emotions is a book about a range of emotional experiences that are often regarded or characterized as ‘negative’, ‘disturbing’ or ‘dark’ as contrasted with emotions that are ‘positive’, ‘pleasant’ or ‘light’. Each chapter in the book is devoted to introducing different ‘dark emotions’ such as ...
Edited
By Grażyna Kubica, Dariusz Brzeziński
June 14, 2024
As one of the most renowned figures in the history of anthropology, Bronisław Malinowski is recognised as having been central to the development of the discipline, with interpretations of his thought usually drawing attention to his work in founding the approach of functionalism and his innovative ...
By Michael Symonds
June 03, 2024
This book extends Max Weber’s theory of the value-spheres of modernity into wholly new areas, showing that the addition of home, nature and sport to Weber’s own list of five spheres (economic, scientific/intellectual, political/legal, erotic and aesthetic) yields original insights into these ...
By Rowena Slope
May 27, 2024
This book explores two public sector scandals in the UK, drawing on Max Weber’s thought on ‘the iron cage’ to understand how these cases of patient-neglect in NHS hospitals and failures by police and social workers to address the organised sexual exploitation of young girls occurred. Through ...
Edited
By Michael Hviid Jacobsen
May 27, 2024
This volume describes and analyses a series of emotions prevalent in everyday life and culture, with each chapter exploring the main facets of a particular emotion and considering the ways in which it manifests itself in and informs our culture and lives. Considering our expression, conception, ...
By André Oliveira Costa
December 05, 2023
This book explores the influence of Freudian psychoanalysis on Norbert Elias’ theory of the civilizing process – an influence acknowledged by Elias himself – conducting a dialogue with a view to analyzing points of contact and distance between them. Examining the development of Elias’ work, it ...
Edited
By Christopher Adair-Toteff
October 02, 2023
This volume seeks to restore Vilfredo Pareto to his rightful place in the history of social and economic thought, bringing together studies by leading scholars to mark the centenary of his death in 1923. Assessing Pareto’s many contributions to the social sciences and his unique integration of the ...