Böcker i International Library of Sociology-serien

This work provides a global history and sociology, and a comparative political analysis of the family as an institution It focuses on: the rights and powers of fathers and husbands; marriage, cohabitation and extra-marital sexuality; and on fertility and birth-control.

Offering a critique of the humanist paradigm in social theory, this work offers a comprehensive sociological analysis of complexity theory. Drawing from sources in sociology, philosophy, complexity theory, 'fuzzy logic', systems theory, and more, it presents interdisciplinary perspectives on the sociology of complex, self-organizing structures.

Argues that only the society that achieves an appropriate balance between informality and formality of interaction will find itself in a position to move forward to further democratisation and an improved quality of life.

This stimulating book makes a major contribution to our understanding of the process of consumption. Its acute, sharply observed contributions are drawn from a variety of relevant disciplines.

This astute and timely book investigates the radical potential of technically unlimited reproduction in postmodern culture. It describes a move towards a regime of cultural rights ordered by simulation rather than originality.

This incisive inter-disciplinary text provides a major contribution to the study of finance capital and the metropolis.

Intended for social sciences and humanities researchers and postgraduates, this book promises to question the whole direction of social sciences methodology. Offering an introduction to this key topic, it brings together a body of work that has come to be known as non-representational theory. It also provides approaches to social sciences.

In clear, non-technical language, Robert Witkin guides the reader through the complexities of Adorno's argument about the link between music and morality and the detailed analytic discussions of specific musical works with which he supported it.

Is society being fragmented by political and economic changes? Through a comparative analysis of Australia, New Zealand and Britain, Thorns examines the debate surrounding global restructuring.

Using the example of the Apple iPod, this work investigates the way in which we use sound to construct key areas of our daily lives. It argues that the Apple iPod acts as an urban Sherpa for many of its users and in doing so joins the mobile army of technologies that many of us habitually use to accompany our daily lives.

Develops the theme of "co-production", showing how scientific knowledge both embeds and is embedded in social identities, institutions, representations and discourses. Accordingly, ways of knowing the world are inseparably linked to the ways in which people seek to organize and control it.

Exploring both popular cultural forms and changes in crime policies and criminal law, Valier elaborates new forms of critical engagement with the politics of crime and punishment.

The debate on modernity and postmodernity has awakened interest in the importance of the spatial for cultural formations. Rob Shields has here developed an alternative geography and sociology of space by examining 'places on the margin'.

This book is a startling, controversial and original manifesto for a complete review of research methods and methodology in the social sciences and a must read for anyone involved in this area.

Celia Lury considers the interrelated dimensions of the brand: as a creator of space, time and community, as a form of intellectual property and as an increasingly important medium of exchange in a global economy.

Do societies still exist? How should sociology adapt after globalisation? This book extends the recent debate about globalisation from the sociological perspective.

This authoritative and revealing book provides the first sociological examination of postmodernism. Lash examines the differences between modernism and postmodernism, providing a clear explanation of why postmodernism is important.

Examines the ways in which collective cultural identities are being reshaped under conditions of a postmodern geography and a communications environment of cable and satellite broadcasting. Looks at Europe, America, Islam and the Orient.

Contains significant essays on the sociology of place. Interrogates nature of time and place, how places are economically and culturally transformed and the ways in which travel has changed nature and the environment.

This book argues that the division of labour is a key but neglected factor underlying people's inability to adequately understand and relate to the natural world.

This important book will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in how questions of gender remake and are remade by the social and economic conditions in which they occur.

Exploring the social structure of visuality, this volume collates essays by internationally renowned scholars, and provides a unique opportunity for considering the changing character of visual experience today.

The field of science and technology studies has made considerable progress toward illuminating the relationship between scientific knowledge and political power. This book offers a collection of essays by leading scholars, showing how scientific knowledge embeds, and is embedded, in social identities, institutions, representations and discourses.