Anthony Elliott by ed, Contemporary Social Theory 2nd -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Preface and acknowledgements 1. The Textures of Society

What is society? Society and social theory Coping with climate change: Anthony Giddens Key themes in contemporary social theory Further questions Further reading Internet links

2. The Contemporary Relevance of the Classics

The contradictions of modernity: Marx Modernity as iron cage: Weber Modernity as moral bonds: Durkheim Trauma, tragedy and Thanatos: Freud Summary points Further questions Further reading Internet links

3. The Frankfurt School

Horkheimer and Adorno: Dialectic of Enlightenment Freudian revolution: the uses of psychoanalysis Fromm: fear of freedom Adorno: The Authoritarian Personality , anti-Semitism and the psychodynamics of modernity Written in the stars: Adorno on astrology Marcuse: Eros, or one-dimensional futures? Utopia and social transformation: Marcuse on libidinal rationality Criticisms of Marcuse Summary points Further questions Further reading Internet links

4. Structuralism

Saussure and structural linguistics Criticisms of Saussure The Raw and The Cooked: Lévi-Strauss and structural anthropology Roland Barthes: structuralist semiology and popular culture Foucault: knowledge, social order and power Society and disciplined bodies The limits of structuralism: Foucault’s History of Sexuality Governmentality Criticisms of Foucault Summary points Further questions Further reading Internet links

5. Post-structuralism

Lacan: the mirror stage and imaginary Lacan’s reformulation of structuralism: language, symbolic order and the unconscious After Lacan: Althusser and society as interpellation Cinema studies: the screen as mirror Žižek: beyond interpellation Appraisal of Lacan Derrida: difference and deconstruction Rereading psychoanalysis: Derrida’s critique of Lacan Appraisal of Derrida Post-structuralism and post-colonial theory: Bhabha’s The Location of Culture Summary points Further questions Further reading Internet links

6. Theories of Structuration

Anthony Giddens: structuration and the practical routines of social life Giddens on modernity and the self Giddens, politics and the third way Criticisms of Giddens Pierre Bourdieu: habitus and practical social life Questions of taste: Bourdieu’s Distinction Criticisms of Bourdieu Summary points Further questions Further reading Internet links

7. Contemporary Critical Theory

Habermas: the democratization of society The early Habermas: development and decline of the public sphere Habermas on capitalism, communication and colonization Emotional imperialism: feminist criticism of Habermas Habermas on globalization and post-national societies Towards deliberative democracy Criticisms of Habermas Honneth: the struggle for recognition Summary points Further questions Further reading Internet links

8. Feminism and Post-feminist Theory

Theorizing patriarchy: 1970s feminisms Juliet Mitchell on femininity and sexual difference Dinnerstein: societal nurturing arrangements Chodorow: The Reproduction of Mothering Benjamin: the analysis of love Julia Kristeva: semiotic subversions Kristeva on motherhood and maternal ethics Appraisal of Kristeva Irigaray: the feminine imaginary Judith Butler: scripts of gender performance Appraisal of Butler Queer theory Summary points Further questions Further reading Internet links

9. Postmodernity

Deleuze and Guatarri: postmodernity as schizoid desire The postmodern condition: Lyotard Baudrillard: postmodernity as simulated media culture Baudrillard’s non-event: ‘The Gulf War did not take place’ Jameson: postmodernity as global capitalist transformations Bauman: postmodernity as modernity subtract illusions Postmodern ethics: the global moral gap Criticisms of postmodernism Summary points Further questions Further reading Internet links

10. Networks, Risks, Liquids

Manuel Castells: The Network Society Criticisms of Castells Global networks and fluids: Urry on mobilities Ulrich Beck: organized lives in a world of risk Beck on reflexive modernization Individualization Criticisms of Beck Living with liquidization: Bauman Collateral damage : Bauman on social inequality Bauman on liquid lives, loves and fears Criticisms of Bauman Summary points Further questions Further reading Internet links

11. Globalization

The globalization debate Global cosmopolitanism Globalization since 9/11 Criticisms of the globalization debate Globalization, work and the new economy Uncertain lives in the global electronic economy Globalization, communication and culture Globalization and the new individualism Life on the move: Elliott and Urry Summary points Further questions Further reading Internet links

Afterword: Social Theory Today and Towards 2025