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The dramatic transformation of relationships between humans and animals in the 20th century are investigated in this fascinating and accessible book. At the beginning of this century these relationships were dominated by human needs and interests, modernization was a...
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This major collection explores the contested nature of love and eroticism, examining the ways in which erotic bodily pleasures have become central to contemporary consumer culture. It investigates the spatial dimension of erotic life through considerations of Bohemian...
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This book goes beyond Baudrillard's writings on consumer objects, the Gulf War and America, to identify the fundamental logic that underpins his writings. It does this through a series of close readings of his main texts, paying particular attention to the form and...
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This authoritative overview of drugs and society today examines: whether a process of `normalization' of drugs and drug use is under way; the debate over prohibition versus legislation; `drugs' and `users' as `other' or `dangerous'; drugs and dance cultures; drug use...
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This book is one of the first to take an in-depth look at how an advertising image works. It situates the Nike swoosh logo in terms of political economy, sociology, culture and semiotics. Nike Culture describes and deconstructs the themes and structures of Nike's...
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In this major work, Zygmunt Bauman seeks to classify the meanings of culture. He distinguishes between culture as a concept, culture as a structure and culture as praxis and analyzes the different ways in which culture has been used in each of these settings. For...
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In this textbook, Derek Layder offers a better understanding of the links between theory and research, and provides an analysis of the relationship between the two. He develops clear usable strategies to encourage theory development in the practical context of social...
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Bakhtin and the Human Sciences demonstrates the abundance of ideas Bakhtin's thought offers to the human sciences, and reconsiders him as a social thinker, not just a literary theorist. The contributors hail from many disciplines and their essays' implications extend...
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This book provides an introduction to the historical and theoretical foundations of consumerism. It then moves on to examine the experience of consumption in the areas of space and place, technology, fashion, `popular' music and sport. Throughout, the author brings a...
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`I recommend this book to all readers interested in thinking about the self; I am sure that anyone who reads it will come away with some new ideas' - Therapeutic Communities
This critical and comprehensive examination of the relation of theory and identity discusses...
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In this sociology text the contributors provide an introduction to the subject without over-simplifying or `writing-down' to their audience. The book aims to furnish undergraduates with the knowledge that will help them to understand and practice sociology and also to...
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This broad-ranging and clearly structured book critically overviews the many themes of social constructionism and its relevance to contemporary social and political issues. It brings together leading international contributors from across the social sciences, drawing on...
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`This addition to a growing number of texts which approach emotions and emotionality from a social constructionist perspective is well written, scholarly, accessible and interesting....
There is both breadth and depth to this work.' - Feminism and Psychology
This...
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Demonstrating that all notions of nature are inextricably entangled in different forms of social life, the text elaborates the many ways in which the apparently natural world has been produced from within particular social practices. These are analyzed in terms of...
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In this major new book, the author of the bestselling McDonaldization of Society provides an exploration of one of the most innovative and imaginative sociological theses of the last decade of the twentieth century - `McDonaldization'.
Part One centres on a discussion...
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Neoliberalism and deregulation have come to dominate national and international political economy. This major book addresses this convergence and analyzes the implications for the future of capitalist diversity. It considers important questions such as: Is the...
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This lucid introduction to the sociology of consumerism examines the relationship between production and consumption in late capitalist societies. The historical and theoretical discussion provides the student with the tools to examine key themes in the sociology of...
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This shrewd and probing book seeks to theorize shopping as an autonomous realm. It avoids the reductionist characteristics of economics and marketing. At the same time it avoids the moralizing tone of many contemporary discussions of shopping and consumption. It also...
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Explanations of how identities are constructed are fundamental to contemporary debates in feminism and in cultural and social theory. Formations of Class & Gender demonstrates why class should be featured more prominently in theoretical accounts of gender, identity and...
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Peter Leonard provides an accessible analysis of debates about the crisis of the welfare state under the contemporary conditions of postmodern scepticism and the triumphs of global market capitalism. In the last two decades Western governments have sought to replace the...
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