The Future of Social Theory

by Gane, Nicholas

• ISBN13: 9780826470652
• ISBN10: 0826470653
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-05-02
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic

Summary

The basic concept of society has come under attack - political acts, critical theory, new media and even history itself have undermined what we think of as the social. The Future of Social Theory brings together new interviews with the world's leading social theorists on what society means today: Zygmunt Bauman, John Urry, Saska Sassen, Bruno Latour, Scott Lash, Nikolas Rose, Judith Butler and Francoise Verges. The topics covered include: liquid modernization and the individualization of the society; the shift towards global forms of chaos and complexity; the displacement of the social into global city networks; the shift away from a theory of the social to a theory of space; the transformation of society with the rise of new technology; the continuing influence of historical forms of political power; society as a gendered idea; and society as a product of Empire.

Author Biography

Nicholas Gane is Lecturer in Sociology at the University of York, UK

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	viii
Notes on Contributors	ix
1. Introduction: Rethinking Social Theory	1	(16)
2. Zygmunt Bauman: Liquid Sociality	17	(30)
3. Judith Butler: Reanimating the Social	47	(30)
4. Bruno Latour: The Social as Association	77	(14)
5. Scott Lash: Information is Alive	91	(18)
6. John Urry: Complex Mobilities	109	(16)
7. Saskia Sassen: Space and Power	125	(18)
8. Ulrich Beck: The Cosmopolitan Turn	143	(24)
9. Nikolas Rose: Governing the Social	167	(19)
10. Francoise Verges: Postcolonial Challenges	186	(19)
Index	205