Social Theory

Challenging social science’s established orthodoxies, this book is a call for academia to embrace new theoretical frameworks and research methods to better understand the reality of life in a post-Covid world.

Throughout history there has always been an ‘other’, often based on culture, race, gender or class, that has been demonised by the majority. Whitehead challenges the idea that this is an inevitable fact of life. This important book offers a resolution that benefits society as a whole rather than just the powerful few.

People in the top 10% of earners often drive politics, the public conversation and much of the private sector. This book draws attention to this potentially powerful section of society and explains why it is in their interest that inequality is reduced.

Geoff Mulgan, a pioneer in the global field of social innovation, explains how it provides answers to today’s global social, economic and sustainability issues. He argues for matching R&D in technology and science with a socially focused R&D and harnessing creative imagination on a larger scale than ever before.

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 fascinating fictional account introduces key ideas in social and political philosophy in a funny, informative and entertaining way. The reader will learn about freedom, responsibility, justice and fairness and see how these are played out in the different utopian futures of a range of socio-political regimes.

This accessible guide provides readers with an introduction to the key concepts and main developments in gender studies. Highlighting the importance of gender in the contemporary world, it is an ideal overview for students and professionals alike.

This is the first comprehensive engagement of Pierre Bourdieu’s influential sociology with affect theory. It draws on empirical research and everyday examples from sociology to develop a theory of “Affective Affinities,” deepening our understanding of how everyday moments contribute to constructs and remaking of social class.

This book sets out practical and theoretically robust approaches for understanding and tracking change that any organisation can use to evaluate their contribution to social change and become more efficient and effective.

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.

Re-examining C.Wright Mills’s legacy as a jumping off point, this original introduction to sociology illuminates global concepts, themes and practices that are fundamental to the discipline and rethinks and re-imagines what a critically committed, politically engaged and publicly relevant sociology should look like in the 21st century.

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