- SSPSSR, Cornwallis NE, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NF
- 01227-827151
The drawing of boundaries has always been a key part of the Jewish tradition and has served to maintain a distinctive Jewish identity. At the same time, these boundaries have consistently been subject to negotiation, transgression and... more
The drawing of boundaries has always been a key part of the Jewish tradition and has served to maintain a distinctive Jewish identity. At the same time, these boundaries have consistently been subject to negotiation, transgression and contestation. The increasing fragmentation of Judaism into competing claims to membership, from Orthodox adherence to secular identities, has brought striking new dimensions to this complex interplay of boundaries and modes of identity and belonging in contemporary Judaism.
Boundaries, Identity and Belonging in Modern Judaism addresses these new dimensions, bringing together experts in the field to explore the various and fluid modes of expressing and defining Jewish identity in the modern world. Its interdisciplinary scholarship opens new perspectives on the prominent questions challenging scholars in Jewish Studies. Beyond simply being born Jewish, observance of Judaism has become a lifestyle choice and active assertion. Addressing the demographic changes brought by population mobility and ‘marrying out,’ as well as the complex relationships between Israel and the Diaspora, this book reveals how these shifting boundaries play out in a global context, where Orthodoxy meets innovative ways of defining and acquiring Jewish identity.
Boundaries, Identity and Belonging in Modern Judaism addresses these new dimensions, bringing together experts in the field to explore the various and fluid modes of expressing and defining Jewish identity in the modern world. Its interdisciplinary scholarship opens new perspectives on the prominent questions challenging scholars in Jewish Studies. Beyond simply being born Jewish, observance of Judaism has become a lifestyle choice and active assertion. Addressing the demographic changes brought by population mobility and ‘marrying out,’ as well as the complex relationships between Israel and the Diaspora, this book reveals how these shifting boundaries play out in a global context, where Orthodoxy meets innovative ways of defining and acquiring Jewish identity.
Research Interests:
The post-2008 crisis has long historical origins that are discussed here with reference to theories of world systems and globalization – two bodies of literature that have only intermittently engaged with each other. The discussion... more
The post-2008 crisis has long historical origins that are discussed here with reference to theories of world systems and globalization – two bodies of literature that have only intermittently engaged with each other. The discussion addresses the transition from colonialism to post-colonialism as movements in the global system that is currently undergoing further restructuring, one feature of which is growing inequality both within and between developed and developing counties. Although not yet well articulated, this could require some rethinking of the global relations of ‘core’ and ‘periphery’.
Research Interests:
In this compelling and timely book, Larry Ray offers a wide-ranging and integrated account of the many manifestations of violence in society. He examines violent behaviour and its meanings in contemporary culture and throughout... more
In this compelling and timely book, Larry Ray offers a wide-ranging and integrated account of the many manifestations of violence in society. He examines violent behaviour and its meanings in contemporary culture and throughout history.
Introducing the major theoretical debates, the book examines different levels of violence - interpersonal, institutional and collective - and different forms of violence - such as racist crime, homophobic crime and genocide. It provides readers with a succinct and comprehensive overview of its nature and effects, and the solutions and conflict resolutions involved in responses to violence.
Interdisciplinary in its approach, the text draws on evidence from sociology, criminology, primate studies and archaeology to shed light on arguments about the social construction and innate nature of violence. Engaging, wide-reaching and authorative, this is essential reading for students, academics and researchers in sociology, criminology, social pyschology and cultural studies.
Introducing the major theoretical debates, the book examines different levels of violence - interpersonal, institutional and collective - and different forms of violence - such as racist crime, homophobic crime and genocide. It provides readers with a succinct and comprehensive overview of its nature and effects, and the solutions and conflict resolutions involved in responses to violence.
Interdisciplinary in its approach, the text draws on evidence from sociology, criminology, primate studies and archaeology to shed light on arguments about the social construction and innate nature of violence. Engaging, wide-reaching and authorative, this is essential reading for students, academics and researchers in sociology, criminology, social pyschology and cultural studies.
Social theory has been formed through elaboration and critique of the classical tradition, and this introductory volume illuminates current theoretical terrain by examining major classical theories - of Saint-Simon, Comte, Marx, Durkheim,... more
Social theory has been formed through elaboration and critique of the classical tradition, and this introductory volume illuminates current theoretical terrain by examining major classical theories - of Saint-Simon, Comte, Marx, Durkheim, Dilthey, Tonnies, Simmel and Weber - highlighting recurring themes and debates. It explains how classical sociology emerged through a debate with the Enlightenment, in which the concept of the 'social' took shape. This was constructed around various themes emphasizing contrasting components of social life - including material, cultural, rational and moral factors. These divergent theorizations set the scene for the play of theoretical oppositions that characterize much subsequent theoretical dispute. Along with these debates there were questions about the very identity of sociology, which in turn relate to a core issue in the discipline - grasping the crisis of modernity. This authoritative text introduces the key issues of classical sociology to undergraduates, making use of student-friendly features such as clear summaries, further reading and a glossary. It lays the foundations for an understanding of contemporary discussion, and will also be recognized at the postgraduate level as a key reference in the field.
The collapse of communist governments in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union requires a major rethink of many sociological theories of social integration and change. Drawing on a range of social theory, this text offers a comparative... more
The collapse of communist governments in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union requires a major rethink of many sociological theories of social integration and change. Drawing on a range of social theory, this text offers a comparative analysis of the democratic revolutions, combining historical understanding with accounts of the crisis in communism in Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Russia. The author identifies contradictions within Soviet societies, developing a theory of crisis management that accounts for both the survival of the system over several decades and for its eventual failure. The social structure of Soviet systems is analyzed in relation to debates in sociological theory over legitimation, social integration, social movements and modernity. The author examines new forms of class, political and national identity in post-socialist Europe, demonstrating how political conflicts are related to economic transformation, especially the emergence of "nomenklatura capitalism", and asks whether sufficient conditions exist for the stabilization of democratic citizenship? This text comparatively analyzes the communist and post-communist experiences of a number of East European countries in the light of a critical examination of the broad issues of social theory and modernity
Globalization and Everyday Life provides an accessible account of globalization by developing two themes in particular. First, globalization is an outcome of structural and cultural processes that manifest in different ways in economy,... more
Globalization and Everyday Life provides an accessible account of globalization by developing two themes in particular. First, globalization is an outcome of structural and cultural processes that manifest in different ways in economy, politics, culture and organizations. So the globalized world is increasingly heterogeneous, unequal and conflictual rather than integrated and ordered. Secondly, globalization is sustained and created by the everyday actions of people and institutions. Both of these have far-reaching consequences for everyday life and are fully explored in this volume.
Larry Ray skilfully guides students through the various
aspects of the globalization debate and illustrates key arguments with reference to specific topics including nation, state and cosmopolitanism, virtual societies, transnationals and development. This innovative book provides this information in a clear and concise manner suitable for the undergraduate student studying sociology, social geography, globalization and development studies.
Larry Ray skilfully guides students through the various
aspects of the globalization debate and illustrates key arguments with reference to specific topics including nation, state and cosmopolitanism, virtual societies, transnationals and development. This innovative book provides this information in a clear and concise manner suitable for the undergraduate student studying sociology, social geography, globalization and development studies.
In this broad-ranging text, Ray assesses Critical Theory, particularly that of J[um]urgen Habermas. Developing an analysis of such ideas as the public sphere, communicative action and the colonization of the lifeworld, he examines the... more
In this broad-ranging text, Ray assesses Critical Theory, particularly that of J[um]urgen Habermas. Developing an analysis of such ideas as the public sphere, communicative action and the colonization of the lifeworld, he examines the insights that Critical Theory can offer global analysis and the challenges to Critical Theory from global social change.
In a detailed discussion of post-communist eastern Europe, Islamic revivalism in Iran and the liberation struggle in South Africa, the author argues that modernity is poised between the threat of authoritarian politics of identity on one hand and the promise of opening up new democratic communicative organizations on the other.
In a detailed discussion of post-communist eastern Europe, Islamic revivalism in Iran and the liberation struggle in South Africa, the author argues that modernity is poised between the threat of authoritarian politics of identity on one hand and the promise of opening up new democratic communicative organizations on the other.
Social theory and photographic aesthetics both engage with issues of representation, realism and validity, having crossed paths in theoretical and methodological controversies. This discussion begins with reflections on the realism debate... more
Social theory and photographic aesthetics both engage with issues of representation, realism and validity, having crossed paths in theoretical and methodological controversies. This discussion begins with reflections on the realism debate in photography, arguing that beyond the polar positions of realism and constructivism the photographic image is essentially ambivalent, reflecting the ways in which it is situated within cultural modernity. The discussion draws critically on Simmel's sociology of the visual to elucidate these issues and compares his concept of social forms and their development with the emergence of the photograph. Several dimensions of ambivalence are elaborated with reference to the politics and aesthetics socially engaged photography in the first half of the 20th century. It presents a case for the autonomy of the photographic as a social form that nonetheless has the potential to point beyond reality to immanent possibilities. The discussion exemplifies the processes of aesthetic formation with reference to the 'New Vision' artwork of László Moholy-Nagy and the social realism of Edith
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Page 1. tHOMillillllllklll William Outhwaite and Larry Ray Pkd»ir*hfc>9 Page 2. ... Page 4. Outhwaite/ Social Theory andPost-Communism FinalProof 19.10.2004 11:35am page iii Social Theory and Postcommunism William Outhwaite and Larry... more
Page 1. tHOMillillllllklll William Outhwaite and Larry Ray Pkd»ir*hfc>9 Page 2. ... Page 4. Outhwaite/ Social Theory andPost-Communism FinalProof 19.10.2004 11:35am page iii Social Theory and Postcommunism William Outhwaite and Larry Ray Page 5. ...
Research Interests: Sociology, Social Theory, Surprise, Political Science, Modernity, and 5 moreSocialism, Solidarity, Hn, Hm, and H
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Organizing Modernity provides a reassessment of the significance of Max Weber's work for the current debates about the institutional and organizational dynamics of modernity. It re-evalutates Weber's sociology of bureaucracy and... more
Organizing Modernity provides a reassessment of the significance of Max Weber's work for the current debates about the institutional and organizational dynamics of modernity. It re-evalutates Weber's sociology of bureaucracy and his general account of the trajectory of modernity with reference to the strategic social structures that dominated the emergence and development of modern society. Included here are detailed analyses of contemporary issues such as the collapse of communism, fordism, coporatism and traditionalism in both Western and Eastern societies. All of the contributors are scholars of international repute. They undertake analyses of Weber's texts and his broader intellectual inheritance to reassert the centrality of Weberian sociology for our understanding of the moral, political and organizational dilemmas of late modernity. These analyses challenge orthodox readings of Weber as the prophet of the iron cage. Instead they offer interpretations of his work which emphasize the reality of modernity as a dual process with the potential for both disarticulation of rational structures and deeper colonization of daily life. Not only is this book essential reading for Weber specialists but it also provides compelling analyses of modernity and the inherently contingent nature of global cultural and stuctural transformation.
Research Interests:
The 2011 hard cover edition of Pinker’s book generated widespread public debate so the gist of his thesis is already widely known. This is, he says, what may be ‘the most important thing that has ever happened in human history... [that]... more
The 2011 hard cover edition of Pinker’s book generated widespread public debate so the gist of his thesis is already widely known. This is, he says, what may be ‘the most important thing that has ever happened in human history... [that] violence has declined over long stretches of time, and today we may be living in the most peaceable era in our species’ existence’ (p. xix). In the following seven chapters Pinker provides a rich accumulation of social, historical and anthropological evidence to persuade us that this trend is real and then (Chapters 8–10) develops rather eclectic explanations based in psychology, criminology and (a little) sociology. The argument is framed by a rather simplistic binary tension Pinker sees in ‘human nature’ between our ‘better angels’ (a term taken from Abraham Lincoln) and ‘inner demons’ (from Dan Brown?). Over millennia the dominant balance in human behaviour, he claims, has shifted from the latter towards the former. Pinker argues that since the trend towards diminution of violence is observed at every level, among families, neighbourhoods, armies and states, it is not coincidental and calls for explanation. Although he is keen to tell us how bold and controversial a thesis this is, it is unlikely to surprise those familiar with Elias’s ‘Civilizing Process’ and the historical criminology written in this genre. However, whereas Elias was very aware of the fragility of this process, in Pinker’s hands it is a classical liberal-Enlightenment story of progress. He identifies six historical trends (Chapters 2–7). First is the ‘Pacification Process’, from the primal anarchy of hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural state civilizations (c.5000 years ago); second, the ‘Civilizing Process’ from the Middle Ages to the 20th century, which draws heavily on Elias’s concept; third, the ‘Humanitarian Revolution’ of the Age of Reason and Enlightenment with the decline of socially sanctioned violence such as despotism, slavery, judicial torture and spectacles of violence; fourth, the ‘Long Peace’ following the post-Second World War decline of interstate wars; fifth, there is the ‘New Peace’ – the decline in civil war and genocide since the end of the Cold War; finally, the ‘Rights Revolution’ begins with the post-1948 culture of Human Rights and growing revulsion towards violence against minorities and vulnerable groups. Chapter 8 outlines the ‘inner demons’ of predatory violence, dominance, sadism and utopian ideology, by contrast 513855 SOC47610.1177/0038038513513855SociologyBook Review research-article2013
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Page 1. THEORIZING CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGY Page 2. Open University Press Buckingham · Philadelphia THEORIZING CLASSICAL SOCIOLOGY Larry J. Ray Page 3. Open University Press Celtic Court 22 Ballmoor Buckingham MK18 1XW ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Radha Chakravarty has written an excellent, very well-researched, study of six women writers across cultures studying the implications of subjectivity, thus extending the feminist critique on the issue. Her introduction brings the reader... more
Radha Chakravarty has written an excellent, very well-researched, study of six women writers across cultures studying the implications of subjectivity, thus extending the feminist critique on the issue. Her introduction brings the reader up to date regarding contemporary criticism, dealing one by one with the problematics of her conception of women’s subjectivity. The writers selected for her study are: Doris Lessing, Anita Desai, Mahasweta Devi, Buchi Emecheta, Margaret Atwood and Toni Morrison. She opens with a quotation from Judith Butler: ‘How can it be, that the subject, taken to be the condition for, and instrument of agency, is at the same time the effect of subordination, understood as deprivation of agency?’ (p. 11). Her analyses of the women protagonists show how the individual, submitting to critical experience, often painful, reaches a point where choice is possible. What those choices are, depend on her connections—with community, family and cultural and religious imperatives. Doris Lessing, considered to be one of the early feminists, did not as a matter of fact subscribe to either a limited view of feminist issues, or a liberal humanist approach. Her own ‘chequered history’ was in part responsible for a broad worldview that continually developed throughout the corpus of her work. She wrote novels, plays, essays and autobiography, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2007. Chakravarty chose to study in depth three novels from each of the writers. The works chosen here are: The Golden Notebook, The Fifth Child and Love, Later. Of these, probably The Golden Notebook is the best known. Reminding one of
Research Interests:
Claude Lanzmann’s film The Last of the Just (2013) presents the director’s extended interview with Rabbi Dr. Benjamin Murmelstein, the only survivor of the Jewish Council of the Elders of Theresienstadt. Lanzmann had shelved his1975... more
Claude Lanzmann’s film The Last of the Just (2013) presents the director’s extended interview with Rabbi Dr. Benjamin Murmelstein, the only survivor of the Jewish Council of the Elders of Theresienstadt. Lanzmann had shelved his1975 footage until 2013 for perspective, and now supplemented it with historical material and filmed sequences of the landscapes of “Ghetto Terezin,” Vienna and other locations. The current article treats the interview as a visual document of first-person court testimony delivered by an eyewitness, examines the interviewer-interviewee relationship and the moral implications of Murmelstein’s actions in the context of the chaos in which he acted.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Theory* of Adorno and Horkheimer and the work of Michel Foucault in relation to the &dquo;crisis of Marxism&dquo; which during the 1980s entered the center stage of disputes about social theory in the English-speaking world. This... more
Theory* of Adorno and Horkheimer and the work of Michel Foucault in relation to the &dquo;crisis of Marxism&dquo; which during the 1980s entered the center stage of disputes about social theory in the English-speaking world. This occurred after a gradually growing interest in Critical Theory (in both its older and Habermasian variants) from the 1970s. The upshot of these diverse themes has been a merging of debates about postmodernism, Critical Theory and Foucaultism, exemplified by Peter Dews’s recent work; discussions in Theory Culture and Society, Telos, New German Critique, Praxis International, etc.; and of course by Habermas’s own critique of Foucault and the postmoderns in Der philosophische Diskurs der Moderne (Chs. 9 and 10) and elsewhere (e.g., Habermas 1981 ).
Research Interests:
1. Introduction: From the First Edition to the Second 2. Sketching the Lineage: The Critical Method and the Idealist Tradition 3. Karl Korsch: Western Marxism and the Origins of Critical Theory 4. Philosophical Anticipations: A Commentary... more
1. Introduction: From the First Edition to the Second 2. Sketching the Lineage: The Critical Method and the Idealist Tradition 3. Karl Korsch: Western Marxism and the Origins of Critical Theory 4. Philosophical Anticipations: A Commentary on the "Reification" Essay of Georg Lukacs 5. Utopian Projections: In Honor of Ernst Bloch 6. Horkheimer's Road 7. Reclaiming the Fragments: On the Messianic Materialism of Walter Benjamin 8. Political Aesthetics: Reflections on the Expressionism Debate 9. Dialectics at a Standstill: A Methodological Inquiry into the Philosophy of Theodor W. Adorno 10. Fromm in America 11. The Anthropological Break: Aesthetics and Politics in the Work of Herbert Marcuse 12. Jurgen Habermas and the Language of Politics 13. Critical Theory and Civil Society 14. Points of Departure: Sketches for a Critical Theory with Public Aims
Research Interests:
Book Reviews: Economies of Signs & Space, Postmodernity USA: The Crisis of Social Modernism in Postwar America, Organizing Modernity, Postmodernism, Reason and Religion, the Adventure of Difference, Ways of Escape: Modern Transformations in Leisure and Travel, Relocating Cultural Studies: Develop...more
Research Interests:
Page 1. tHOMillillllllklll William Outhwaite and Larry Ray Pkd»ir*hfc>9 Page 2. ... Page 4. Outhwaite/ Social Theory andPost-Communism FinalProof 19.10.2004 11:35am page iii Social Theory and Postcommunism William Outhwaite and Larry... more
Page 1. tHOMillillllllklll William Outhwaite and Larry Ray Pkd»ir*hfc>9 Page 2. ... Page 4. Outhwaite/ Social Theory andPost-Communism FinalProof 19.10.2004 11:35am page iii Social Theory and Postcommunism William Outhwaite and Larry Ray Page 5. ...
Research Interests:
The subject matter of this book, Jewish identity is and has been of social and religious salience. As Susan A. Glenn and Naomi B. Sokoloff state ‘The question of who is a Jew and what constitutes “...
Research Interests: Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Philosophy, Jewish Studies, Ethnomusicology, and 14 moreIsrael Studies, Hip-Hop/Rap, Judaism, Modern Jewish History, Jewish Cultural Studies, Jewish Identity, Religious Studies, Boundaries, Religious Identity, Russian Jewish history and culture, Israel Palestine, Music Teacher Identity, Routledge, and Subject Matter
Research Interests:
In this compelling and timely book, Larry Ray offers a wide-ranging and integrated account of the many manifestations of violence in society. He examines violent behaviour and its meanings in contemporary culture and throughout history.... more
In this compelling and timely book, Larry Ray offers a wide-ranging and integrated account of the many manifestations of violence in society. He examines violent behaviour and its meanings in contemporary culture and throughout history. Introducing the major theoretical debates, the book examines different levels of violence - interpersonal, institutional and collective - and different forms of violence - such as racist crime, homophobic crime and genocide. It provides readers with a succinct and comprehensive overview of its nature and effects, and the solutions and conflict resolutions involved in responses to violence. Interdisciplinary in its approach, the text draws on evidence from sociology, criminology, primate studies and archaeology to shed light on arguments about the social construction and innate nature of violence. Engaging, wide-reaching and authorative, this is essential reading for students, academics and researchers in sociology, criminology, social pyschology and ...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Series editor s acknowledgements vi Introduction 1 Jane Kilby and Larry Ray The socioeconomic function of evil 13 Steve Hall Trauma, guilt and the unconscious: some theoretical notes on violent subjectivity 32 Simon Winlow The... more
Series editor s acknowledgements vi Introduction 1 Jane Kilby and Larry Ray The socioeconomic function of evil 13 Steve Hall Trauma, guilt and the unconscious: some theoretical notes on violent subjectivity 32 Simon Winlow The sociological analysis of violence: new perspectives 50 Michel Wieviorka Is war becoming obsolete? A sociological analysis 65 Sini a Male evic Family honour and social time 87 Mark Cooney Towards an embodied sociology of war 107 Kevin McSorley On violent democracy 129 Karl von Holdt Violence before identity: an analysis of identity politics 152 Glenn Bowman Competitive violence and the micro-politics of the fight label 166 Curtis Jackson-Jacobs Mainstreaming domestic and gender-based violence into sociology and the criminology of violence 187 Sylvia Walby, Jude Towers and Brian Francis Notes on contributors 215 Index 220
Research Interests:
This special issue brings together reflections on the thirtieth anniversary of the revolutions of 1989 and considers their consequences for our understandings of European and global society. What seemed for some at least the surprising... more
This special issue brings together reflections on the thirtieth anniversary of the revolutions of 1989 and considers their consequences for our understandings of European and global society. What seemed for some at least the surprising and rapid collapse of Eastern European state socialism prompted rethinking in social theory about the potential for emancipatory politics and new modes of social and political organization. At the same time, there was increased reflection on the nature of varieties of capitalism and the meaning of socialism beyond the failure of at least its etatist and autarkic mode. The five articles here and the editors’ introduction address themes such as utopian hopes, civil society, the transformation of Europe, the world beyond 1989, and new configurations of power and conflict.
Research Interests:
Social theory and photographic aesthetics both engage with issues of representation, realism and validity, having crossed paths in theoretical and methodological controversies. This discussion begins with reflections on the realism debate... more
Social theory and photographic aesthetics both engage with issues of representation, realism and validity, having crossed paths in theoretical and methodological controversies. This discussion begins with reflections on the realism debate in photography, arguing that beyond the polar positions of realism and constructivism the photographic image is essentially ambivalent, reflecting the ways in which it is situated within cultural modernity. The discussion draws critically on Simmel’s sociology of the visual to elucidate these issues and compares his concept of social forms and their development with the emergence of the photograph. Several dimensions of ambivalence are elaborated with reference to the politics and aesthetics socially engaged photography in the first half of the 20th century. It presents a case for the autonomy of the photographic as a social form that nonetheless has the potential to point beyond reality to immanent possibilities. The discussion exemplifies the pro...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Introduction - Larry Ray and Andrew Sayer Social Justice in the Age of Identity Politics - Nancy Fraser Redistribution, Recognition and Participation Valuing Culture and Economy - Andrew Sayer Economy, Equality and Recognition - John... more
Introduction - Larry Ray and Andrew Sayer Social Justice in the Age of Identity Politics - Nancy Fraser Redistribution, Recognition and Participation Valuing Culture and Economy - Andrew Sayer Economy, Equality and Recognition - John O'Neill Market Boundaries and the Commodification of Culture - Russell Keat Reconciling Culture and Economy - Harriet Bradley and Steve Fenton Ways Forward in the Analysis of Gender and Ethnicity Capitalism's Cultural Turn - Nigel Thrift Changing the People - Paul Thompson and Patricia Findlay Social Engineering in the Contemporary Workplace Social Differentiation, Transgression and the Politics of Irony - Larry Ray Performing Politics - Bronislaw Szerszynski The Dramatics of Environmental Protest The Culture Did It - Mary Evans Comments on the 1997 British General Election New Labour - Stephen Driver and Luke Martell Culture and Economy
Research Interests:
Hannah Arendt’s Jewish writings were central to her thinking about the human condition and engaged with the dialectics of modernity, universalism and identity. Her concept of the ‘conscious pariah’ attempted both to define a role for the... more
Hannah Arendt’s Jewish writings were central to her thinking about the human condition and engaged with the dialectics of modernity, universalism and identity. Her concept of the ‘conscious pariah’ attempted both to define a role for the public intellectual and understand the relationship between Jews and modernity. Controversially she accused Jewish victims of lack of resistance to the Nazis and argued that their victimization resulted from apolitical ‘worldlessness’. We argue that although Arendt’s analysis was original and challenging, her characterization of Jewish history as one of ‘powerlessness’ is exaggerated but, more importantly, her underdeveloped concept of ‘the social’ is insensitive to the complex modalities of resistance and consciousness among subaltern Jewish communities. Furthermore, her lack of interest in religious observance obscures the importance of Judaism as a resource for resistance. This is illustrated by the ‘hidden transcripts’ of Jewish resistance from ...
Research Interests:
The sociology of violence is an emerging field but one in which there remains a tension between structural explanations and phenomenological-situational ones that focus on the micro conditions of violence. This article proposes an... more
The sociology of violence is an emerging field but one in which there remains a tension between structural explanations and phenomenological-situational ones that focus on the micro conditions of violence. This article proposes an analytical framework for connecting these levels through a critical appropriation of Scheff's theory of the shame-rage cycle. It argues that while shame is a significant condition for violent action, Scheff does not have a theory of violence in itself but treats the connections between shame-rage and violence as largely self-evident. While emotions such as shame have agental properties, as Scheff and others argue, these need to be situated within structural and cultural conditions that are likely to evoke shame. Moreover, to develop Scheff's approach further, violence needs to be understood as being communicative and invoking normative justifications, which mediate the effects of shame-rage. This analysis is developed with reference to recent insta...
Research Interests:
Violence presents a paradox. There is evidence that violence is universal in all in human societies. However, in writing mostly from the standpoint of relatively peaceful social spaces, violence often appears exceptional, and a product of... more
Violence presents a paradox. There is evidence that violence is universal in all in human societies. However, in writing mostly from the standpoint of relatively peaceful social spaces, violence often appears exceptional, and a product of the breakdown of integrating social institutions and conventions. Norbert Elias persuasively identified growing thresholds of repugnance towards violence with the transition to modernity, although understanding the balance between formalization and informalization poses some critical questions about his thesis. The discussion begins with these as a means of opening a broader discussion of theories of violence which are developed through a critical analysis of Girard’s and Gans’ theories. It is argued that these may offer a way of addressing the informalization problem in a context of mimetic consumption desires in a context of apparent but false equalization in contemporary societies.
Research Interests:
Philip Brown and Hugh Lauder, Capitalism and Social Progress – the Future of Society in a Global Economy. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave, 2001, 338+xiv pp., paperback £18.99, hardback £52.50. Paul W. Kingston, The Classless Society.... more
Philip Brown and Hugh Lauder, Capitalism and Social Progress – the Future of Society in a Global Economy. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave, 2001, 338+xiv pp., paperback £18.99, hardback £52.50. Paul W. Kingston, The Classless Society. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000, 258+xviii pp., paperback £11.95/$18.95, hardback £30/$49.50 Michael Zweig, The Working Class Majority – America’s Best Kept Secret. Ithaca, NY and London: ILR Press/Cornell University Press, 2000, 198 + viii pp., paperback £8.99, hardback £14.95.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Contrary to Popper’s classic article with this title, it can be argued that the principal failure of Western analyses of communism was not the failure to predict the collapse of most of the communist regimes in and around 1989 but more a... more
Contrary to Popper’s classic article with this title, it can be argued that the principal failure of Western analyses of communism was not the failure to predict the collapse of most of the communist regimes in and around 1989 but more a failure of prophecy, in the sense of a more speculative theory of the contradictions of those regimes and their unsustainability. The reasons can be found in the polarisation between overblown theories of totalitarianism and excessively bland comparative approaches couched in terms of the, then popular, theories of industrial society and, often, convergence. There were also methodological reasons arising from the positivist shibboleths of factual documentation, with the consequence that dubious statistics were considered better than none, and value-freedom.
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
David McLellan, interviewed here, is a Fellow of Goldsmiths College, University of London and Emeritus Professor of Political Theory, University of Kent. Since the 1970s he has been one of the leading biographers, translators and... more
David McLellan, interviewed here, is a Fellow of Goldsmiths College, University of London and Emeritus Professor of Political Theory, University of Kent. Since the 1970s he has been one of the leading biographers, translators and commentators on Marx in the English-speaking world. He is the author of several books on Marx and Marxism, including The Young Hegelians and Karl Marx; Karl Marx: His Life and Thought; Karl Marx: Selected Writings; Marx before Marxism; and Marxism and Religion. He has also published a biography of Simone Weil, books on the political implications of Christianity, and a lengthy article on contract law and marriage. He lectures widely around the world on these topics, frequently in China, and in 2018 addressed a conference in Nairobi on religion and world peace. In this interview, or conversation, with Larry Ray and Iain Wilkinson, in July 2018, David discusses the origins of his interest in Marx, the development Marx’s thought and his critique of the Hegelian...
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
Research Interests:
This collective work covers two topics: First it focuses on the "evolution of dependency" (Marcin Fatalski, UJ; Larry Ray, Kent Univ.). Secondly it provides some "interdisciplinary approaches to depenency relations" (Kacper Van... more
This collective work covers two topics: First it focuses on the "evolution of dependency" (Marcin Fatalski, UJ; Larry Ray, Kent Univ.). Secondly it provides some "interdisciplinary approaches to depenency relations" (Kacper Van Wallendael, UW; Daniella Irrera, Univ of Catania; Mikeal Spang, Malmö Univ.)
The introduction is written by Prof. A. Galganek (UAM).
The introduction is written by Prof. A. Galganek (UAM).
Research Interests: Development Studies, Globalization, Violence, Critical Legal Theory, Legal Pluralism, and 8 moreThird World, The Hegelian Recognition / The Dialectic of Master and Slave Relationship, World-Systems Theory, Dependency Theory, Foreign Aid dependency, State-Dependency, Third World Economy, and Third world Marxisms/Tricontinental Marxisms (Mao
This will be the editorial introduction to a special issue of the Journal of Classical Sociology celebrating the two hundredth year of the birth of Karl Marx.
Research Interests:
A review of Steven Pinker Better Angels of Our Nature