Social Change

by Editor: Tim Jordan (Open University); Editor: Steve Pile (Open University)

• ISBN13: 9780631233121
• ISBN10: 0631233121
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-05-01
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

This textbook introduces debates about the nature and meaning of social change. The authors offer a new way of thinking about the processes of change, reconsidering the roles played by time and space. The particular changes explored range from radical transitions from one kind of society to another, to less dramatic shifts in social interaction and social organisation.The text is thoroughly up-to-date, covering in detail the transformations in social relations associated with post-colonialism, the information society, city life, new communication forms, intimacy and governing the self. Each chapter is written by an author well known in their field and supported by readings that present a wide range of international case studies. These readings encourage students to engage with social and cultural documents as evidence of social change, developing their critical and analytical skills.

Author Biography

Tim Jordan is Lecturer in Sociology at The Open University. He is the author of Cyberpower: The Culture and Politics of Cyberspace and the Internet (1999) and co-editor of Storming the Millennium: The New Politics of Change (1999). He is co-founder and editor of the journal Social Movement Studies: The Journal of Social, Political and Cultural Protest.

Steve Pile is Senior Lecturer in Geography at The Open University. He is the author of The Body and the City (1996) and the co-editor of City Worlds (1999) and of City A-Z (2000).

Table of Contents

Preface	vii
Social change: introduction	ix
Tim Jordan
Steve Pile
`Social change and city life'	1	(48)
Steve Pile
`Contesting times: conflicting histories in post-colonial contexts'	49	(46)
Tony Bennett
`From industrial to information society'	95	(44)
Peter Hamilton
`New media and time--space reconfiguration'	139	(46)
Hugh Mackay
`Up close and personal: the changing face of intimacy'	185	(44)
Kath Woodward
`The regulation of the self'	229	(44)
Mitchell Dean
`Totalities and multiplicities: thinking about social change'	273	(44)
Tim Jordan
Readings in social change	317	(46)
Acknowledgements	363	(4)
Index	367