Sociology Theory

The Marvel of Martyrdom takes a broad perspective on self-sacrifice and martyrdom, bringing together religion, popular culture, history, psychology, and mythology. Stories of individuals both famous (Gandhi) and obscure (Rodrigo Rosenberg) intertwine with research on altruism, happiness, and radicalization to terrorism. The changing landscape of the book's setting - from The Roman Empire to 19th-century Russia to Nazi Germany to post-World War II India to present day Ukraine - makes the power of self-sacrifice and martyrdom come alive.

In this magisterial work, leading cultural critic Mary Eberstadt delivers a powerful new theory about the decline of religion in the Western world. The conventional wisdom is that the West first experienced religious decline, followed by the decline of the family. Eberstadt turns this standard account on its head. Marshalling an impressive array of research, Eberstadt shows that the reverse has also been true: the undermining of the family has further undermined Christianity itself.

What do we see when we watch reality television? Sociologist and TV lover Danielle J. Lindemann takes a long, hard look in the “funhouse mirror” of this genre, from countless rose ceremonies on The Bachelor to the White House and more (so much more!). Beginning with the first episodes of The Real World, reality TV has not only remade our entertainment and cultural landscape—it also uniquely refracts our everyday experiences and social topography.

Un original ensayo político sobre cómo la mediocridad ha conquistado el poder, en el que Jano García desmonta con datos el relato establecido sobre la igualdad, la justicia social, la multiculturalidad o la solidaridad intergeneracional. Un audiolibro imprescindible que nos ofrece argumentos para contrarrestar la más dañina de las pandemias: la de la estupidez.

Since the election of Scott Walker, Wisconsin has been seen as ground zero for debates about the appropriate role of government in the wake of the Great Recession. In a time of rising inequality, Walker not only survived a bitterly contested recall that brought thousands of protesters to Capitol Square, he was subsequently reelected. How could this happen? How is it that the very people who stand to benefit from strong government services not only vote against the candidates who support those services but are vehemently against the very idea of big government?

Cuteness has taken the planet by storm. Global sensations Hello Kitty and Pokémon, the works of artists Takashi Murakami and Jeff Koons, Heidi the cross-eyed opossum and E.T. - all reflect its gathering power. But what does “cute” mean, as a sensibility and style? Why is it so pervasive? Is it all infantile fluff, or is there something more uncanny and even menacing going on - in a lighthearted way? In The Power of Cute, Simon May provides nuanced and surprising answers.

We don't understand the reactionary mind. As a result, argues Mark Lilla in this timely book, the ideas and passions that shape today's political dramas are unintelligible to us. The reactionary is anything but a conservative. He is as radical and modern a figure as the revolutionary, someone shipwrecked in the rapidly changing present, and suffering from nostalgia for an idealized past and an apocalyptic fear that history is rushing toward catastrophe.

Like F.A. Hayek, Ludwig von Mises moved beyond economics in his later years to address questions regarding the foundation of all social science. But unlike Hayek's attempts, Mises' writings on these matters have received less attention than they deserve. Theory and History, writes Rothbard in his introduction, "remains by far the most neglected masterwork of Mises". Here Mises defends his all-important idea of methodological dualism: one approach to the hard sciences and another for the social sciences.

As heard in a 2018 episode of The Hidden Brain, the tall poppy syndrome is a human condition that has been present in every society from the beginning of time. It explains why we seek out equality and justify our actions by cutting others down. With over 600 citations, The Tall Poppy Syndrome: The Joy of Cutting Others Down is the most comprehensive audiobook on the subject. Doug Garland has been studying the phenomenon for over 10 years after he experienced it firsthand in his own career.

After receiving a doctorate in medicine, Le Bon travelled in Europe, North Africa, and Asia and wrote several books on anthropology and archaeology. His interests later shifted to natural science and social psychology. Gustave Le Bon is best known for his seminal work Crowd Psychology where he describes the psychological effects in various group settings. In Psychology of Peoples written in 1894 he utilizes his anthropological knowledge and cross-references it with social psychology.

By 2016, it was impossible to ignore an international resurgence of xenophobia. What had happened? Looking for clues, psychiatrist and historian George Makari started out in search of the idea’s origins. To his astonishment, he discovered an unfolding series of never-told stories. While a fear and hatred of strangers may be ancient, he found that the notion of a dangerous bias called “xenophobia” arose not so long ago.

From the late 19th century through the 1930s, scholars of politics defined and continually reoriented their field in response to the political imperatives of the racial order at home and abroad as well to as the vagaries of race science. The Gilded Age scholars who founded the first university departments and journals located sovereignty and legitimacy in a "Teutonic germ" of liberty planted in the new world by Anglo-Saxon settlers and almost extinguished in the conflict over slavery.

Demography, literally the study of people, addresses the size, distribution, composition, and density of populations, and considers the impact the drivers which mediate these will have on both individual lives and the changing structure of human populations. This Very Short Introduction considers the way in which the global population has evolved over time and space. Sarah Harper discusses the theorists, theories, and methods involved in studying population trends and movements.

After many years during which it languished in relative obscurity, in remote classrooms of computer science departments and in small prototype projects for tech companies, artificial intelligence (AI) is now a searingly hot topic across the media. Yet much of the public discussion is so feverish that an understanding of the basic scientific and engineering elements of the field is easily lost, often resulting in exaggerated claims, as well as dangerously neglected threats.

In 1983 Chicago elected Harold Washington as the city's first black mayor. This is the story of Washington's improbable victory over Jane Byrne, heir to the late Richard J. Daley's political empire, and over Daley's eldest son. It's the story of a coalition outside the party's mainstream coming to power and ruling in the country's most political of cities. In Fire on the Prairie, Gary Rivlin reveals the personalities and philosophies of those who were at the center of events, from black separatists such as Lu Palmer to community organizers such as Jesse Jackson....

Este é o resumo de Não-coisas. O livro gira em torno de coisas e não-coisas. Desenvolve tanto uma filosofia do smartphone quanto uma crítica da inteligência artificial a partir de uma nova perspectiva. Ao mesmo tempo, recupera a magia do sólido e do tangível e reflete sobre o silêncio que se perde no ruído da informação.

Max Weber hat in diesem Vortrag eine komprimierte Fassung seines umfassenden Werkes geschaffen. Themen sind Wirtschaft, Recht, Religion, Gesellschaft, Staat und Herrschaft und eine Fülle historischer Fakten. Dies alles bekommt seine Erwähnung als Bedingung für den Willen zum Beruf als Politiker. Es ist dies fast ein Handbuch Politik. Jeder an Politik Interessierte sollte dies kennen.

Piven and Cloward have updated their classic work on the history and function of welfare to cover the American welfare state's massive erosion during the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton years. The authors present a boldly comprehensive, brilliant new theory to explain the comparative underdevelopment of the US welfare state among advanced industrial nations. Their conceptual framework promises to shape the debate within current and future administrations as they attempt to rethink the welfare system and its role in American society.

„Essais" bedeutet „Versuche" – und genau das unternahm Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592) mit seinem gleichnamigen Werk: Er begründete ein neues literarisches Genre, in dem er sich den großen Fragen seiner Zeit mit persönlichem Blick und philosophischer Offenheit widmete. In stilistisch brillanter Prosa denkt Montaigne über das menschliche Maß, die Grenzen des Wissens und das Wesen des guten Lebens nach. Seine Reflexionen sind zugänglich, zeitlos und überraschend modern.

It is where Fidel Castro raised money to overthrow Batista and where two generations of Castro's enemies have raised armies to overthrow him, so far without success. It is where the bitter opera of Cuban exile intersects with the cynicism of U.S. foreign policy. It is a city whose skyrocketing murder rate is fueled by the cocaine trade, racial discontent, and an undeclared war on the island 90 miles to the south.