ABSTRACT

If today students of social theory read Jurgen Habermas, Michael Foucault and Anthony Giddens, then proper regard to the question of culture means that they should also read Raymond Williams, Julia Kristeva and Slavoj Zizek. The second edition of the Routledge Handbook of Social and Cultural Theory is fully revised and updated to provide students, teachers and researchers with a comprehensive, critical guide to the major traditions of thought in social and cultural theory, as well as tracing the complex intellectual connections between these distinct but related approaches to understanding society and culture.

The Handbook, edited by acclaimed sociologist Anthony Elliott, develops a powerful argument for bringing together social and cultural theory more systematically than ever before. Key social and cultural theories, ranging from classical approaches to postmodern, psychoanalytic and post-feminist approaches, are drawn together and critically appraised. There are also new chapters on mobilities and migrations, as well as posthumanism.

The Handbook, written in a clear and direct style will appeal to a wide audience of students and scholars. The extensive references and sources will direct students to areas of further study.

part I|214 pages

Contemporary social theory

chapter 3|17 pages

Structuralism and post-structuralism 1

chapter 4|19 pages

Structuration theories

Giddens and Bourdieu

chapter 5|23 pages

Feminist and post-feminist theories

chapter 6|17 pages

Zygmunt Bauman and social theory

chapter 8|21 pages

Psychoanalytic social theory

chapter 9|20 pages

Social theories of risk

chapter 10|18 pages

Networks

chapter 11|16 pages

Globalization theory

part II|167 pages

Contemporary cultural theory

chapter 12|9 pages

Cultural and social things

Is there a difference?

chapter 13|21 pages

British cultural theory

chapter 14|18 pages

American cultural theory

chapter 15|22 pages

Queer theory 1

chapter 18|16 pages

Media and cultural identity

chapter 20|15 pages

Posthumanism