Elliott - Routledge Handbook of Social and Cultural Theory

Routledge Handbook of Social and Cultural Theory

If today students of social theory read Jrgen Habermas, Michel Foucault and Anthony Giddens, then proper regard to the question of culture means that they should also read Raymond Williams, Stuart Hall and Slavoj iek. The Routledge Handbook of Social and Cultural Theory offers a concise, comprehensive overview of the convergences and divergences of social and cultural theory, and in so doing offers a novel agenda for social and cultural research in the twenty-first century.

This Handbook, edited by 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 substantive chapters looking at among others structuralism and post-structuralism, critical theory, network analysis, feminist cultural thought, cultural theory and cultural sociology. Throughout the Handbook there is a strong emphasis on interdisciplinarity, with chapters drawing from research in sociology, cultural studies, psychology, politics, anthropology, womens studies, literature and history.

Written in a clear and direct style, this Handbook will appeal to a wide undergraduate and postgraduate audience across the social sciences and humanities.

Anthony Elliott is Director of the Hawke Research Institute, where he is Research Professor of Sociology at the University of South Australia. His recent books include Reinvention (Routledge, 2013) and The Routledge Companion to Contemporary Japanese Social Theory (Routledge, 2012, ed. with Atsushi Sawai and Masataka Katagiri).

For those who are looking for a comprehensive guide to modern social and cultural theory, this is the place to start. Informed, comprehensive, invaluable; the book really is a milestone.

Professor Nigel Thrift, Vice-Chancellor, University of Warwick, UK

In a world in which different societies and cultures crisscross constantly, making an impact on each other, what we need is a navigator to instruct where we are and where should we go. This book will be a great guide, providing students and scholars with remarkably helpful and wide-ranging tools to gain an in-depth understanding of the social and cultural realities which we daily encounter in our contemporary globalized world.

Atsushi Sawai, Professor of Sociology, Keio University, Japan

Routledge Handbook of Social and Cultural Theory

Edited by Anthony Elliott

First published 2014

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

2014 selection and editorial material Anthony Elliott; individual chapters, the contributors

The right of the editor to be identified as the author of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Routledge handbook of social and cultural theory / edited by Anthony Elliott.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Sociology. 2. Culture. 3. Social sciencesPhilosophy. I. Elliott, Anthony, 1964

HM585.R684 2013

301dc23

2013015581

ISBN: 978-0-415-69609-8 (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-203-51939-4 (ebk)

Typeset in Bembo

by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk

Contents

PART I
Contemporary social theory

Anthony Elliott

Jordan McKenzie

Sam Han

Anthony Elliott

Ann Branaman

Keith Tester

John Cash

Anthony Elliott

Patrick Brown

Thomas Birtchnell

Eric L. Hsu

PART II
Contemporary cultural theory

Charles Lemert

Nick Stevenson

Sam Han

Max Kirsch

Jennifer Rutherford and David Crouch

Anthony Moran

Nick Stevenson

Simon Susen

David Crouch and Jennifer Rutherford

Rita Horanyi

Thomas Birtchnell is a lecturer at the University of Wollongong. His publications include the edited books Elite Mobilities (Routledge, 2013, with Javier Caletro) and Cargomobilities: Moving Materials in a Global Age (Routledge, 2014, with Satya Savitzky and John Urry) and the book Indovation: Innovation and a Global Knowledge Economy in India (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).

Ann Branaman is Associate Professor of Sociology at Florida Atlantic University. She is the author of several essays on Erving Goffman, Kenneth Burke, feminist and post-feminist social theories, and connections between contemporary social theories and topics in social psychology.

Patrick Brown is an assistant professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam. His recent books include Trusting on the Edge: Managing Uncertainty and Vulnerability in the Midst of Severe Mental Health Problems (Policy Press, 2012, with Michael Calnan) and Making Health Policy: A Critical Introduction (Polity, 2012, with Andy Alaszewski).

John Cash is an Honorary Fellow in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Melbourne, where, formerly, he was Deputy Director of the Ashworth Program in Social Theory. His recent publications include InSecurity and the Instituted Imaginary in Dangerous Others, Insecure Societies (Ashgate, 2013) and Obedience to Authority and its Discontents in Responsibility (Melbourne University Press, 2012). He is also an editor of the Journal of Postcolonial Studies.

David Crouch works at the University of Melbourne in the School of Social and Political Sciences and the School of Culture and Communication. His research interests include nineteenth-century print cultures, literary anthropologies and social theory. He has recently published Alien Intoxications: The Aggressions of a Brisbane Opium Smoker in Australian Literary Studies (2012).

Anthony Elliott is Director of the Hawke Research Institute, where he is Research Professor of Sociology at the University of South Australia. His recent books include Reinvention (Routledge, 2013) and The Routledge Companion to Contemporary Japanese Social Theory: From Individualization to Globalization in Japan Today (Routledge, 2012, edited with Atsushi Sawai and Masataka Katagiri).

Sam Han is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. His recent books include