Cultural Theory Books

New and Published Books

1. Celebrity Society

   By Robert van Krieken

   On television, in magazines and books, on the internet and in films, celebrities of all sorts seem to monopolize our attention. Celebrity Society brings new dimensions to our understanding of celebrity, capturing the way in which the figure of ‘the celebrity’ is bound up with the emergence of...

   Published May 27th 2012 by Routledge
2. The Psychology and Politics of the Collective

   Groups, Crowds and Mass Identifications

   Edited by Ruth Parkin-Gounelas

   Series: Routledge Studies in Social and Political Thought

   What are the psychological factors in operation when we form groups or crowds, and how are these affected by socio-historical circumstances? History offers endless examples of different forms of human collectivity, both private and public, small-scale and large: from the primal horde to the modern...

   Published April 24th 2012 by Routledge
3. Intentional Communities (Routledge Revivals)

   Ideology and Alienation in Communal Societies

   By Barry Shenker

   Some communities exist for tens, even hundreds, of years. Others short-lived. What, then, makes for communal 'success'? Bary Shenker, who lived on a Kibbutz for a number of years, compares the Hutterites, the Kibbutzim and therapeutic communities - and argues that there is no simple formula....

   Published April 15th 2012 by Routledge
4. Cultural Analysis and Bourdieu’s Legacy

   Settling Accounts and Developing Alternatives

   Edited by Elizabeth Silva, Alan Warde

   Series: CRESC

   Cultural Analysis and Bourdieu’s Legacy explores the achievements and limitations of a Bourdieusian approach to cultural analysis through original contributions from distinguished international scholars. This edited collection offers sustained critical engagement, substantiated by new empirical...

   Published April 15th 2012 by Routledge
5. Genealogy and Ontology of the Western Image and its Digital Future

   By John Lechte

   Series: Routledge Advances in Art and Visual Studies

   With the emerging dominance of digital technology, the time is ripe to reconsider the nature of the image. Some say that there is no longer a phenomenal image, only disembodied information (0-1) waiting to be configured. For photography, this implies that a faith in the principle of an "...

   Published April 2nd 2012 by Routledge
6. Why We Take Drugs

   Seeking Excess and Communion in the Modern World

   By Tom Yardley

   In older cultures, the use of intoxicant drugs was integrated into the rhythms of social existence and bounded by rituals and taboos that ensured their dangerous forces were contained and channelled. In modern western societies, by contrast, the state and the institutions of society have washed...

   Published March 28th 2012 by Routledge
7. The Good Life in a Technological Age

   Edited by Philip Brey, Adam Briggle, Edward Spence

   Series: Routledge Studies in Science, Technology and Society

   Modern technology has changed the way we live, work, play, communicate, fight, love, and die. Yet few works have systematically explored these changes in light of their implications for individual and social welfare. How can we conceptualize and evaluate the influence of technology on human...

   Published March 20th 2012 by Routledge
8. Managing Overflow in Affluent Societies

   Edited by Barbara Czarniawska, Orvar Löfgren

   Series: Routledge Advances in Sociology

   “It is simply too much” is a common complaint of the modern age. This book looks at how people and institutions deal with overflow - of information, consumption or choices. The essays explore the ways in which notions of overflow – framed in terms of excess and abundance or their implicit...

   Published March 20th 2012 by Routledge
9. Foucault and Education

   Disciplines and Knowledge

   Edited by Stephen J. Ball

   First published in 1990, this book was the first to explore Foucault's work in relation to education, arguing that schools, like prisons and asylums, are institutions of moral and social regulation, complex technologies of disciplinary control where power and knowledge are crucial. Original and...

   Published February 27th 2012 by Routledge
10. Cultural Analysis

    The Work of Peter L. Berger, Mary Douglas, Michel Foucault, and Jürgen Habermas

    By Robert Wuthnow, James Davison Hunter, Albert J. Bergesen, Edith Kurzweil

    First published in 1984, Cultural Analysis is a systematic examination of the theories of culture contained in the writings of four contemporary social theorists: Peter L. Berger, Mary Douglas, Michel Foucault, and Jürgen Habermas. This study of their work clarifies their contributions to the...

    Published February 27th 2012 by Routledge