Social Theory

Spanning religion, moral philosophy and scientific understanding of the human conditions, this unique book adds to the latest thinking on morality, proposing ways to enhance the capacity of public policy to respond to morality and associated shifts in social mores in different cultural settings.

This radical book unsettles how we think about taking responsibility for environmental catastrophe.

Going beyond both hopelessness and false hope as responses to climate change, Hill envisions a society that does not centre human beings at its core and calls for sustaining a coexistence of animals, plants and minerals bound by one planet.

Mary Mellor examines money’s social, political and commercial histories to debunk longstanding myths such as money being in short supply and needing to come from somewhere. She sets out a new finance system, based on green and feminist concerns, to bring radical change for social good.

This book investigates masculinity/ies in relation to world politics. Explaining the gender is both an asymmetrical binary and a hierarchy, the book shows how masculinization works via ‘nested hierarchies’ of domination and subordination and explores the imbrication of masculinities with the nation-state and great power politics.

Focusing on a range of welfare issues this book examines the views, values and perceptions of a number of theorists from ancient times to the 19th century, including Plato, St Aquinas, Hobbes, Wollstonecraft and Marx.

Revisiting philosophical developments, historical figures and events, including Adam Smith, colonialism and modernity, this interdisciplinary book presents a ‘loving critique’ of society. It shows how learning to love better is key to releasing ourselves from the alienating grip of the market.

This innovative book takes Bauman’s notions of ‘liquid modernity’ one step further to develop a theory of ‘liquid racism’. The authors show that while post-race theory argues that society is moving beyond racism, in reality, historical manifestations of racism continue. Except, society is now faced with a racism whose structures have changed .

Paul Spicker's new book takes the three founding principles of the French Revolution - Liberty, Equality, Fraternity - and examines how they relate to social policy today. The book considers the political and moral dimensions of a wide range of social policies, and offers a different way of thinking about each subject.

Using global case studies and many practical examples, this book explores the innovation challenges that face the public sector today.

This volume investigates the relationship between nostalgia and contemporary social issues. From history and political theory to marketing and media, each chapter discusses the way nostalgia has been presented within a specific disciplinary context and shows how nostalgia as a topic of research has evolved over time.

Drawing on theoretical and empirical studies, this book offers a unique and timely reformulation of socialism adapted to current challenges. It makes explicit the ‘silent utopia’ of intersectionality theory and lays the conceptual groundwork for an emancipatory politics.

Written by experts in interpretive sociology, this volume examines semiotic models in a sociological context. Contributors offer case studies to demonstrate ‘how to do things’ with semiotics. Synthesizing a diverse and fragmented landscape, this is a key reference work for understanding the connection between semiotics and sociology.