Showing titles in Social Theory

The bestselling author of What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20's engaging and practical guide to how to become lucky, based on her classes at Stanford University and her popular TED talk. Much of what we call luck is the result of deliberate actions and consistent efforts. As Tina Seelig shared in...

Brought to you by Penguin. *WINNER OF THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION* *THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER* *A BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR THE TIMES, NEW YORK TIMES, GUARDIAN, OBSERVER, AND PROSPECT* When Naomi Klein discovered that a woman who shared her first name, but had radically different...

Brought to you by Penguin. An eye-opening journey through the secret forces shaping our opinions, this book reveals why we think what we think – and why disagreement matters Our opinions – whether we believe in God or in ghosts, our views on sex or animal rights or immigration, our basic...

Brought to you by Penguin. The Extinction of Experience reveals the true cost of our digital age – and shows us how to return to the real world, while we still can. Human experiences are disappearing. Community is now found online; schools prioritise typing; and with headphones in and eyes...

An "introduction to the nonfascist life" (Michel Foucault, from the Preface) When it first appeared in France, Anti-Oedipus was hailed as a masterpiece by some and "a work of heretical madness" by others. In it, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari set forth the following theory: Western society's...

If a gorilla walked out into the middle of a basketball pitch, you’d notice it. Wouldn’t you? If a serious violent crime took place just next to you, you’d remember it, right? The Invisible Gorilla is a fascinating look at the unbelievable, yet routine tricks that your brain plays on you...

Madness, sexuality, power, knowledge—are these facts of life or simply parts of speech? In a series of works of astonishing brilliance, historian Michel Foucault excavated the hidden assumptions that govern the way we live and the way we think. The Archaeology of Knowledge begins at the level of things aid and moves quickly to illuminate the connections between knowledge, language, and action in a style at once profound and personal. A summing up of Foucault's own methodological assumptions, this book is also a first step toward a genealogy of the way we live now.

“Excellent.”—The Wall Street Journal Since its publication ten years ago, businesspeople, investors, doctors, parents, students, athletes, and musicians at every level have adopted the maxims of Talent Is Overrated to get better at what they’re passionate about. Now this classic has been...

'Indispensable, engaging and brilliant book about the pervasiveness of loneliness in the twenty-first century and its far-reaching impact...a hopeful book that couldn't be more important or timely.' Philippa Perry, author of The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read Even before a global pandemic...

From two times number one Sunday Times bestselling author, James Smith, comes HOW TO BE CONFIDENT – the third instalment in James’ no-nonsense guides to gaining the tools to empower your decision-making and change your life. Now, more than ever, we are so often lost within a cycle of...

Brought to you by Penguin. This Penguin Classic is performed by Philip Stevens. This definitive recording includes an introduction by Christopher Brooke. Thomas Hobbes lived through the Thirty Years War and Britain's civil wars, and the trauma of these events led to his great masterpiece of...

One of the most important books in social psychology of the last fifty years, “The classic account of the human tendency to follow orders, no matter who they hurt or what their consequences.” (Washington Post Book World) The landmark examination of humanity's susceptibility to...

From the bestselling author of Waking Up and The End of Faith, a collection of the best conversations from his wildly popular, often controversial podcast, Making Sense. “Civilization rests on a series of successful conversations.” —Sam Harris Sam Harris—neuroscientist, philosopher, and...

Brought to you by Penguin. Frantz Fanon's urgent, dynamic critique of the effects of racism on the psyche is a landmark study of the black experience in a white world. Drawing on his own life and his work as a psychoanalyst to explore how colonialism's subjects internalize its prejudices...

From Marcus Collins, strategist to Apple, Nike and Beyoncé, discover the powerful force behind what we buy, what we do, and who we want to be . . . 'Compelling and vivid' – Robert Cialdini, author of Pre-Suasion We all try to influence others in our daily lives. We are all marketers, whether...

Many of the prices we pay seem to make little sense. We shell out $2.29 for a coffee at Starbucks when a nearly identical brew can be had at the corner deli for less than a dollar. We may be less willing to give blood for $25 than to donate it for free. Americans hire the cheap labor of illegal immigrants to fix the roof or mow the lawn and vote for politicians who promise to spend billions to keep them out of the country.

Civil resistance is a method of conflict through which unarmed civilians use a variety of coordinated methods (strikes, protests, demonstrations, boycotts, and many other tactics) to prosecute a conflict without directly harming or threatening to harm an opponent. This form of political action is now a mainstay across the globe. In Civil Resistance: What Everyone Needs to Know, Erica Chenoweth explains what civil resistance is, how it works, why it sometimes fails, how violence and repression affect it, and the long-term impacts of such resistance.

Brought to you by Penguin. In The Age of the Strongman, Gideon Rachman finds global coherence in the chaos of the new nationalism, leadership cults and hostility to liberal democracy. We are in a new era: authoritarian leaders have become a central feature of global politics. Since 2000...

Beauty today is a paradox. The cult of beauty is ubiquitous but it has lost its transcendence and become little more than an aspect of consumerism, the aesthetic dimension of capitalism. The sublime and unsettling aspects of beauty have given way to corporeal pleasures and 'likes', resulting in...

In Why We're Polarised, Klein reveals the structural and psychological forces behind America's descent into division and dysfunction. Neither a polemic nor a lament, this book offers a clear framework for understanding everything from Trump's rise to the Democratic Party's leftward shift to the politicisation of everyday culture. America is polarised, first and foremost, by identity. Everyone engaged in American politics is engaged, at some level, in identity politics.