Social Capital (Key Ideas)

The term "social capital" is a way of conceptualizing the intangible resources of community, shared values and trust upon which we draw in daily life. It has achieved considerable currency in the social sciences and has been taken up within politics and sociology as a means of explaining the decline of social cohesion and community values in many western societies. This is an indispensable introduction to the topic which explains the theoretical underpinning of the subject, the empirical work that has been done to explore its operation and the effect that it has had on policy making.

The City provides an accessible yet critical introduction to one of the key concepts in human geography. Always at the heart of discussions in social theory, the definition and specification of 'the city' nonetheless remains illusive. In this volume, Phil Hubbard accordingly seeks to locate the concept of 'the city' within current traditions of social thought, providing a basis for understanding its varying usages and meanings through a critical discussion of the contribution of key authors and thinkers.

Written in a lively and accessible style, the individual chapters of The City offer a thematic overview of four dominant ways of approaching cities: as lived-in places, as imagined spaces, as networks of association and as technologies of flow. This book thus considers some of the most important currents in contemporary debates about urban spatiality, considering the decisive contributions of key feminist, post-structural and post-modern theorists to understandings of the city. Situating these traditions within the rich heritage of urban studies and urban sociology, the book develops the argument that none of these approaches, when taken alone, helps us grasp the uniqueness of 'the urban' as distinct from 'the rural'. The book thus spells out the importance of a geographical perspective on the city, suggesting that it is only by brining these different ways of mapping the city together that we can begin to make sense of cities.

Drawing on a diverse range of literatures and case studies, The City provides a short but incisive guide to the state-of-art in urban studies. In the process, it shows how contemporary approaches to the study of the city frame the 'urban question' in ways that are distinctive to those developed in past decades. Suggesting that much has been gained in the process, but also that much has been lost, the book argues that academics need to reconsider what is truly distinctive about urban space. Promoting the argument that we need to take space seriously again in urban studies, this book thus represents an important intervention in contemporary debates surrounding society and space.

"The new edition is very nice indeed. I like the timeline, not only for the usual dates of theorists' births and deaths, but even more for the list of historical events, which are well chosen and will help students get a sense of historical context for the ideas themselves. Also, the expanded material at the end on global society is great. . . .and the list of questions will prove helpful too. I think this is the best introduction to social theories currently on the market!"

-Donald A. Nielsen, University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire

With each passing generation, contemporary members of society are intrigued by how those who lived before them viewed and dealt with their changing world. Newer generations borrow ideas from their predecessors and adapt those ideas to new circumstances in order to define and manage social change. Key Ideas in Sociology, Second Edition explores some of the major ideas that have developed out of this tradition and evaluates their origins, their development, and their relevance at the dawn of the twenty-first century.

The book follows the course of key concepts that have shaped sociological discourse from the founding period in the nineteenth century to the present, and examines four key ideas that have played a central role—industrial society, democracy, individualism, and modernity. Author Peter Kivisto brings these concepts alive by connecting them to the legendary figures responsible for developing, revising, and expanding sociological theory.

Features of this text:

Interconnects how ideas developed by one theorist have evolved and have been further shaped by subsequent theorists;
Links classical sociological ideas to today’s thinking about contemporary life;
Portrays theorizing not as a dry, abstract exercise, but as a practical human necessity in the ongoing quest to understand our ever-changing social conditions.

New to the Second Edition:

A new concluding chapter on globalization provides a broader view of the sociological enterprise.

A new timeline familiarizes students with major events in the historical periods when the ideas were generated.
Theoretical ideas and contributions from women and ethnic minorities are given more coverage.
Chapter summaries and review questions have been added to aid student comprehension.

Key Ideas in Sociology provides undergraduate and graduate students with a concise and intellectual account of ideas that have been developed over time by a variety of social thinkers. It is an ideal supplementary textbook for an idea-oriented introductory sociology course or for any social theory course.

To read a sample chapter from Key Ideas in Sociology click on "Additional Materials" in the left column under "About This Book" or simply click here.

Most of us are programmed into thinking of our sexuality as a wholly natural feature of life. But sexual relations are just one form of social relations. Sexuality has both a history and a sociology -- it is not simply a matter of biological or psychological drives. Drawing on the analysis of Michel Foucault and other key thinkers, this new edition of Sexuality examines the subject in terms of social, moral and political issues, and features new material on AIDS, queer theory and postcolonial perspectives on race.

This book provides an indispensable, comprehensive introduction to the sociology of sexuality, discussing its cultural and socio-historical construction, its relationship with power, and the state's involvement in its rationalization and regulation.

With risk analysis, risk assessment and risk management as ever-expanding industries, we are now living in a "risk" society. In this book, Deborah Lupton examines why risk has come to such prominence at this particular point in history. She traces how risk has been constructed over time from pre-modernity to the later modern era and provides an introduction to the main theories surrounding the subject.

Risk covers a wide range of issues, including: risk and culture; sociocultural and scientific perspectives; blame, danger and trust; and risk and pleasure. Including examples of the ways in which risk is experienced in everyday life, this book provides a lively and engaging introduction to one of today's major sociocultural concepts.

The constraints of geography are shrinking and the world is becoming a single place. Globalization and the global society are increasingly occupying the center of sociological debates. Widely discussed by journalists and a key goal for many businesses, globalization has become a buzz word in recent years. In this extensively revised and restructured new edition of Globalization, Malcolm Waters provides a user-friendly introduction to the main arguments about the process, including a chapter on the critiques of the globalization thesis that have emerged since the first edition was published.

Without social identity there is no human world. Without frameworks of similarity and difference, people would be unable to relate to each other in a consistent and meaningful fashion. In the second edition of this highly successful text, Richard Jenkins develops his argument that identity is both individual and collective, and should therefore be considered within one analytic framework. Using the work of major social theorists, such as Mead, Goffman, and Barthes to explore the experience of identity in everyday life, Jenkins considers a range of different issues, including embodiment, categorization and boundaries, the institutionalizing of identities, and identity and modernity.
Written in a clear and accessible style throughout, the text has been thoroughly revised and updated. It is essential reading for all students interested in the concept of identity in the contemporary world.