Creating Deviance is a basic text introductory text for deviance studies. Dotter identifies the convergences between social deviance, the interactionist tradition, and the construction of cultural meaning. He provides an in-depth analysis of the significant theoretical contribution of interactionism to the study of deviant behavior and crime, examining the works of George Herbert Mead, Herbert Blumer, Howard S. Becker, Edwin Shur, and Norman Denzin, among others. Dotter applies this framew...

Stanley R. Barrett's Anthropology has long been a premiere sourcebook for students, providing a comprehensive overview of both theory and method in the discipline. In this updated second edition, Barrett's discussion of the origins and evolution of anthropology remains, augmented by sections addressing recent changes and ongoing questions in the field.The second edition of Anthropology adds important new material on questions of culture versus power, Max Weber's t...

In Anthropology and Social Theory the award-winning anthropologist Sherry B. Ortner draws on her longstanding interest in theories of cultural practice to rethink key concepts of culture, agency, and subjectivity for the social sciences of the twenty-first century. The seven theoretical and interpretive essays in this volume each advocate reconfiguring, rather than abandoning, the concept of culture. Similarly, they all suggest that a theory which depends on the interested action ...

On his death in 2007, Richard Rorty was heralded by the New York Times as “one of the world’s most influential contemporary thinkers.” Controversial on the left and the right for his critiques of objectivity and political radicalism, Rorty experienced a renown denied to all but a handful of living philosophers. In this masterly biography, Neil Gross explores the path of Rorty’s thought over the decades in order to trace the intellectual and professional journey that led him to tha...

Talk of love surrounds us, and romance is a constant concern of popular culture. Ann Swidler's Talk of Love is an attempt to discover how people find and sustain real love in the midst of that talk, and how that culture of love shapes their expectations and behavior in the process. To this end, Swidler conducted extensive interviews with Middle Americans and wound up offering us something more than an insightful exploration of love: Talk of Love is also a compelling study...

Questions about who we are, who we can be, and who is like and unlike us underpin a vast range of contemporary social issues. What makes our families so important to us? What do the often stark differences between how we self-identify and the way others see and define us reveal about our social world? Why do we attach such significance to 'being ourselves'?In this new edition of her popular and inviting introduction, Steph Lawler examines a range of important debates about identity...

First published in 1999. Megan Boler combines cultural history with ethical and multicultural analyses to explore how emotions have been disciplined, suppressed, or ignored at all levels of education and in educational theory. FEELING POWER charts the philosophies and practices developed over the last century to control social conflicts arising from gender, class, and race. The book traces the development of progressive pedagogies from civil rights and feminist movements to Boler's own rec...

This second edition of Cultural Theory provides a concise introduction to cultural theory, placing major figures, traditional concepts, and contemporary themes within a sharp conceptual framework.Provides a student-friendly introduction to what can often be a complex field of studyUpdates the first edition in response to reader feedback and to the changing nature of the fieldIncludes additional coverage of theorists from the classical period to in...

In Telling Stories, Mary Jo Maynes, Jennifer L. Pierce, and Barbara Laslett argue that personal narratives—autobiographies, oral histories, life history interviews, and memoirs—are an important research tool for understanding the relationship between people and their societies. Gathering examples from throughout the world and from premodern as well as contemporary cultures, they draw from labor history and class analysis, feminist sociology, race relations, and an...

Drawing upon philosophy and social theory, Social Theory of International Politics develops a theory of the international system as a social construction. Alexander Wendt clarifies the central claims of the constructivist approach, presenting a structural and idealist worldview which contrasts with the individualism and materialism which underpins much mainstream international relations theory. He builds a cultural theory of international politics, which takes whether states view each othe...

In many arenas the debate is raging over the nature of sexual orientation. Queer Words, Queer Images addresses this debate, but with a difference, arguing that homosexuality has become an issue precisely because of the way in which we discuss, debate, and communicate about the concept and experience of homosexuality. The debate over homosexuality is fundamentally an issue of communication-as we can see by the recent controversy over gays in the military. This controversy, termed b...

Qualitative Research is changing as a result of postmodern influences which have changed the way research is interpreted and understood. This has prompted questions which have been knocking at the door of qualitative research for some time now: Who is the researcher in this research account? How does the researcher relate to his/her research? How can the researcher who reads qualitative research relate to and understand the nuances and complexities in qualitative research? How can this vol...