This major new textbook will equip students with a complete understanding of contemporary politics, state and society in the United Kingdom today.
Key underlying themes include:
– the differences between traditional and alternative `sites of power′ and what we mean by `political′
– the relationships between politics, society and how individuals become and remain engaged with politics
– the rapid transformations in contemporary social structures and their impact on social and political life
– the role of human agency and its significance to social and political action and movements
– contemporary cultural and social dislocations and their impact on some of the major contested areas of political life today.
Key features include:
– key concepts and issues
– key theorists and writers
– discussion questions
Comprehensive and accessible, An Introduction to Politics, State & Society is an essential text for all undergraduate students of politics, the contemporary state, power and political sociology.
James W Mc Auley is Professor of Political Sociology and Irish Studies in the School of Human and Health Sciences at the University of Huddersfield
Tabela de Conteúdo
Introduction
Politics, State and Society
PART ONE: POLITICS, POWER, POLITICAL LEGITIMACY AND THE STATE
Founding Arguments
Theorizing Politics, Power and the State
Legitimacy and Power in the United Kingdom
PART TWO: SOCIETY AND THE STATE
(Re)defining Politics
Neoliberalism and the State
The Politics of the Welfare and the Welfare State
Northern Ireland, Political Violence and the Politics of Terrorism
PART THREE: THE FUTURE OF POLITICS AND THE STATE
Social Class, Postmodernism and the End of Politics?
Politics in the New Millennium
Globalization and the End of Social Democracy?