Sociology Theory

Covering diversity and equality, globalization, human rights, modern urban living and the role of work and institutions, The Sociology Book looks at the big questions of how we cooperate: What is society? What makes it tick? Why do we interact in the way that we do with our friends, co-workers, and rivals?

Virtually all human societies were once organized tribally, yet over time most developed new political institutions which included a central state that could keep the peace and uniform laws that applied to all citizens. Some went on to create governments that were accountable to their constituents. We take these institutions for granted, but they are absent or are unable to perform in many of today’s developing countries—with often disastrous consequences for the rest of the world.

Slavoj Žižek's first book is a provocative and original work looking at the question of human agency in a postmodern world. In a thrilling tour de force that made his name, he explores the ideological fantasies of wholeness and exclusion which make up human society.

David Harvey's Companion to Marx's Grundrisse builds upon his widely acclaimed companions to the first and second volumes of Capital in a way that will reach as wide an audience as possible. Marx's stated ambition for this text is to reveal "the exact development of the concept of capital as the fundamental concept of modern economics, just as capital itself is the foundation of bourgeois society."

This is a study of how intellectuals as a class affect modern societies by shaping the climate of opinion in which official policies develop, on issues ranging from economics to law to war and peace. You will hear a withering and clear-eyed critique about (but not for) intellectuals that explores their impact on public opinion, policy, and society at large.

In this, his best-known work, the controversial American economist and social critic Thorstein Veblen appropriates Darwin's theory of evolution to analyze the modern industrial system. For Veblen, the shallowness and superficiality observed in society results from the tendency to believe that true accomplishment lies in arriving at a condition of ostentatious wealth and status.

Employers are increasingly recruiting their workers into politics to change elections and public policy - sometimes in coercive ways. Using a diverse array of evidence, including national surveys of workers and employers, as well as in-depth interviews with top corporate managers, Alexander Hertel-Fernandez's Politics at Work explains why mobilization of workers has become an appealing corporate political strategy in recent decades.

Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929) was an American economist and sociologist. His most famous work, The Theory of the Leisure Class: An Economic Study of Institutions (1899), is a treatise on economics and a social critique of consumption and of consumerism, based on the social stratification of people and the division of labor. This work is in the tradition of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations and is rightly considered a classic of economic theory and social history.

Mit seiner Schrift "Die Kernpunkte der sozialen Frage" aus dem Jahre 1919 reagiert Steiner auf die Krise des modernen Bewusstseins, die in den gesellschaftlichen Konflikten des frühen 20. Jahrhunderts sowie im Ersten Weltkrieg ihren destruktiven Ausdruck gefunden hat. Er schlägt einen spirituell begründeten Ansatz zur Lösung der sozialen Frage vor, der als ein dritter Weg zwischen Sozialismus und Kapitalismus verstanden werden kann.

Viviamo in una realtà piena di contraddizioni. Oltre alla "fine della storia" ci è toccata anche la "fine della geografia": il pianeta è diventato piatto e stereotipato. Eppure nel simulacro dell'esotico inseguiamo ancora la lontananza e i viaggi continuano a prometterci l'avventura. La globalizzazione ha appiattito differenze etniche e culturali, ma ogni giorno assistiamo al riemergere di nuove spinte nazionalistiche e tribali. Siamo succubi dei miti dell'istantaneità e dell'iperconnessione, i social e i blog hanno inaugurato una nuova stagione di egualitarismo a oltranza.

This textbook offers the perfect introduction to the complex world of social work theory, giving a concise and engaging overview of how practice is influenced by each theoretical approach described. The book begins by outlining the origins and historical context of social work, which allows the listener to see show how theoretical fashions have changed and adapted to certain times, and concludes with advice on the best way forward for the modern-day social worker.

Por que os seres humanos tendem a estabelecer relações de domínio e servidão? Além dos fatores sociais, políticos e históricos em jogo, quais são as bases psíquicas de tal tendência? Este audiolivro é um ensaio em torno de tais questões, tomando como eixo central o modo como se institui psiquicamente a autoridade e se forma o Eu autoritário. Sua referência principal é a psicanálise, mas não sem diálogos com a antropologia, filosofia, sociologia, linguística e literatura. Por meio desses diálogos, elabora dois conceitos-chave.

The eighteenth century was a time of cultural friction: individuals began to assert greater independence and there was a new emphasis on social equality. In this surprising history, Lynn Hunt examines women's expanding societal roles, such as using tea to facilitate conversation between the sexes in Britain. In France, women also pushed boundaries by becoming artists, and printmakers' satiric takes on the elite gave the lower classes a chance to laugh at the upper classes and imagine the potential of political upheaval.

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.

In 1890s America Thorstein Veblen attacked a careless acceptance of prevailing social structures, identifying ancient roots for ‘pecuniary culture’ and ‘conspicuous consumption’–realities that promoted materialism and squashed fulfilment. In The Theory of the Leisure Class the worthy Engineer, creating essential products for all, is pitted against the predatory Businessman, exempt from grubby industrial toil and focussed on useless profits.

Though created by humans, our technologies, markets, and institutions often contain an antihuman agenda. Douglas Rushkoff, digital theorist and host of the NPR-One podcast Team Human, reveals the dynamics of this antihuman machinery and invites us to remake these aspects of society in ways that foster our humanity. In 100 aphoristic statements, his manifesto exposes how forces for human connection have turned into ones of isolation and repression.

On Being Unreasonable mounts a vital and spirited defence of why and how being unreasonable can help improve the world. It examines and parses the pros and cons of our rules around reason, but leaves us with the rousing question: What if behaving unreasonably at times might be the best way to bring about meaningful change that is long overdue?

"Dass ich den Dieselmotor erfunden habe, ist schön und gut. Aber meine Hauptleistung ist, dass ich die soziale Frage gelöst habe." Jeder kennt Rudolf Diesel (1858 - 1913) als Erfinder des gleichnamigen Motors. Doch weit wenigeren ist bekannt, dass er im Jahre 1903 mit seinem Werk "Der Solidarismus" das Bild einer neuen Wirtschafts- und Gesellschaftsordnung entwarf, das Konzepte wie Grundeinkommen und Crowdfunding praktisch einhundert Jahre vorwegnahm!

Plattformen wie YouTube, Facebook, Twitter oder Amazon sind die neuen sozialen Magneten - Clanbildner einer sich anbahnenden globalen digitalen Stammesgesellschaft. Während die herkömmlichen sozialen Bindungskräfte von Familien, Institutionen, Parteien, Verbänden und Staaten zunehmend schwinden, entstehen um digitale Plattformen wimmelnde Kollektive, die sich wie Schwärme oder Horden ausnehmen. Ihre Benutzer sind "Follower", digitale Gefolgschaft hält die neuen Clans zusammen.

Härskarteknik är något som vi alla, oavsett kön, ålder och position, använder mot varandra. Det handlar inte bara om män som förtrycker kvinnor eller chefer som missbrukar sin makt. Problemet är att de flesta inte vet om det. Den här boken visar när och hur det sker.