Jeffrey C. Alexander's Books

Performance and Power

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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Performativity has emerged as a critical new idea across the humanities and social sciences, from literary and cultural studies to the study of gender and the philosophy of action. In this volume, Jeffrey Alexander demonstrates how performance can reorient our study of politics and society. Alexander develops a cultural pragmatics that shifts cultural sociology from texts to gestural meanings. Positioning social performance between ritual and strategy, he lays out the elements of social performance - from scripts to mise-en-scène, from critical mediation to audience reception - and systematically describes their tense interrelation. This is followed by a series of empirically oriented studies that demonstrate how cultural pragmatics transforms our approach to power. Alexander brings his new theory of social performance to bear on case studies that range from political to cultural power: Barack Obama's electoral campaign, American failure in the Iraqi war, the triumph of the Civil Rights Movement, terrorist violence on September 11th, public intellectuals, material icons, and social science itself. This path-breaking work by one of the world's leading social theorists will command a wide interdisciplinary readership.

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402

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John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

0745655661

ISBN 13

9780745655666

The Drama of Social Life

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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The Drama of Social Life

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

In this book Jeffrey Alexander develops the view that cultural sociology and “cultural pragmatics” are vital for understanding the structural turbulence and political possibilities of contemporary social life. Central to Alexander’s approach is a new model of social performance that combines elements from both the theatrical avant-garde and modern social theory. He uses this model to shed new light on a wide range of social actors, movements, and events, demonstrating through striking empirical examples the drama of social life. Producing successful dramas determines the outcome of social movements and provides the keys to political power. Modernity has neither eliminated aura nor suppressed authenticity; on the contrary, they are available to social actors who can perform them in compelling ways. This volume further consolidates Alexander’s reputation as one of the most original social thinkers of our time. It will be of great interest to students and scholars in sociology and cultural studies as well as throughout the social sciences and humanities.

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180

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John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1509518142

ISBN 13

9781509518142

The Meanings of Social Life

A Cultural Sociology

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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The Meanings of Social Life

A Cultural Sociology

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

In The Meanings of Social Life , Jeffrey Alexander presents a new approach to how culture works in contemporary societies. Exposing our everyday myths and narratives in a series of empirical studies that range from Watergate to the Holocaust, he shows how these unseen yet potent cultural structures translate into concrete actions and institutions. Only when these deep patterns of meaning are revealed, Alexander argues, can we understand the stubborn staying power of violence and degradation, but also the steady persistence of hope. By understanding the darker structures that restrict our imagination, we can seek to transform them. By recognizing the culture structures that sustain hope, we can allow our idealistic imaginations to gain more traction in the world. A work that will transform the way that sociologists think about culture and the social world, this book confirms Jeffrey Alexander's reputation as one of the major social theorists of our day.

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309

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198036469

ISBN 13

9780198036463

Trauma

A Social Theory

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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Trauma

A Social Theory

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

In this book Jeffrey C. Alexander develops an original social theory of trauma and uses it to carry out a series of empirical investigations into social suffering around the globe. Alexander argues that traumas are not merely psychological but collective experiences, and that trauma work plays a key role in defining the origins and outcomes of critical social conflicts. He outlines a model of trauma work that relates interests of carrier groups, competing narrative identifications of victim and perpetrator, utopian and dystopian proposals for trauma resolution, the performative power of constructed events, and the distribution of organizational resources. Alexander explores these processes in richly textured case studies of cultural-trauma origins and effects, from the universalism of the Holocaust to the particularism of the Israeli right, from postcolonial battles over the Partition of India and Pakistan to the invisibility of the Rape of Nanjing in Maoist China. In a particularly controversial chapter, Alexander describes the idealizing discourse of globalization as a trauma-response to the Cold War. Contemporary societies have often been described as more concerned with the past than the future, more with tragedy than progress. In Trauma: A Social Theory, Alexander explains why.

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209

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John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

0745661351

ISBN 13

9780745661353

The Meanings of Social Life

A Cultural Sociology

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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The Meanings of Social Life

A Cultural Sociology

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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309

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0190207574

ISBN 13

9780190207571

The Dark Side of Modernity

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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The Dark Side of Modernity

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

In this book, one of the world’s leading social theorists presents a critical, alarmed, but also nuanced understanding of the post-traditional world we inhabit today. Jeffrey Alexander writes about modernity as historical time and social condition, but also as ideology and utopia. The idea of modernity embodies the Enlightenment’s noble hopes for progress and rationality, but its reality brings great suffering and exposes the destructive impulses that continue to motivate humankind. Alexander examines how twentieth-century theorists struggled to comprehend the Janus-faced character of modernity, which looks backward and forward at the same time. Weber linked the triumph of worldly asceticism to liberating autonomy but also ruthless domination, describing flights from rationalization as systemic and dangerous. Simmel pointed to the otherness haunting modernity, even as he normalized the stranger. Eisenstadt celebrated Axial Age transcendence, but acknowledged its increasing capacity for barbarity. Parsons heralded American community, but ignored modernity’s fragmentations. Rather than seeking to resolve modernity’s contradictions, Alexander argues that social theory should accept its Janus-faced character. It is a dangerous delusion to think that modernity can eliminate evil. Civil inclusion and anti-civil exclusion are intertwined. Alexander enumerates dangerous frictions endemic to modernity, but he also suggests new lines of social amelioration and emotional repair.

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184

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John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

0745665063

ISBN 13

9780745665061

Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

Five sociologists develop a theoretical model of 'cultural trauma' & build a new understanding of how social groups interact with emotion to create new & binding understandings of social responsibility.

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326

Publisher

Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520235959

ISBN 13

9780520235953

Narrating Trauma

On the Impact of Collective Suffering

By: Ronald Eyerman,Jeffrey C. Alexander,Elizabeth Butler Breese

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Narrating Trauma

On the Impact of Collective Suffering

By: Ronald Eyerman,Jeffrey C. Alexander,Elizabeth Butler Breese

Through case studies that examine historical and contemporary crises across the world, the contributing writers to this volume explore the cultural and social construction of trauma. How do some events get coded as traumatic and others which seem equally painful and dramatic not? Why do culpable groups often escape being categorised as perpetrators? These are just some of the important questions answered in this collection. Some of the cases analysed include Mao's China, the Holocaust, the Katyn Massacre and the Kosovo trauma. Expanding the pioneering cultural approach to trauma, this book will be of interest to scholars and postgraduate students of sociology.

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333

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317255690

ISBN 13

9781317255697

The Performance of Politics

Obama's Victory and the Democratic Struggle for Power

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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The Performance of Politics

Obama's Victory and the Democratic Struggle for Power

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

Contemporary observers of politics in America often reduce democracy to demography. Whatever portion of the vote not explained by the class, gender, race, and religious differences of voters is attributed to the candidates' positions on the issues of the day. But are these the only--or even the main--factors that determine the vote? The Performance of Politics develops a new way of looking at democratic struggles for power, explaining what happened, and why, during the 2008 presidential campaign in the United States. Drawing on vivid examples taken from a range of media coverage, participant observation at a Camp Obama, and interviews with leading political journalists, Jeffrey Alexander argues that images, emotion, and performance are the central features of the battle for power. While these features have been largely overlooked by pundits, they are, in fact, the primary foci of politicians and their staff. Obama and McCain painstakingly constructed heroic self-images for their campaigns and the successful projections of those images suffused not only each candidate's actual rallies, and not only their media messages, but also the ground game. Money and organization facilitate the ground game, but they do not determine it. Emotion, images, and performance do. Though an untested senator and the underdog in his own party, Obama succeeded in casting himself as the hero--and McCain the anti-hero--and the only candidate fit to lead in challenging times. Illuminating the drama of Obama's celebrity, the effect of Sarah Palin on the race, and the impact of the emerging financial crisis, Alexander's engaging narrative marries the immediacy and excitement of the final months of this historic presidential campaign with a new understanding of how politics work.

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381

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0199781354

ISBN 13

9780199781355

What Makes a Social Crisis?

The Societalization of Social Problems

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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What Makes a Social Crisis?

The Societalization of Social Problems

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

In this book Jeffrey Alexander develops a new sociological theory of social crisis and applies it to a wide range of cases, from the church paedophilia crisis to the #MeToo movement. He argues that crises are triggered not by objective social strains but by the discourse and institutions of the civil sphere. When strains become subject to the utopian aspirations of the civil sphere, there emerges widespread anguish about social justice and the future of democratic life. Once admired institutional elites come to be represented as perpetrators and the civil sphere becomes legally and organizationally intrusive, demanding repairs in the name of civil purification. Resisting such repair, institutional elites foment backlash, and a war of the spheres ensues. This major new work by one of the world’s leading social theorists will be of great interest to students and scholars in sociology, politics, and the social sciences generally.

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120

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John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1509538267

ISBN 13

9781509538263

Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander,Ron Eyerman,Bernard Giesen,Neil J. Smelser,Piotr Sztompka

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Cultural Trauma and Collective Identity

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander,Ron Eyerman,Bernard Giesen,Neil J. Smelser,Piotr Sztompka

In this collaboratively authored work, five distinguished sociologists develop an ambitious theoretical model of "cultural trauma"—and on this basis build a new understanding of how social groups interact with emotion to create new and binding understandings of social responsibility. Looking at the "meaning making process" as an open-ended social dialogue in which strikingly different social narratives vie for influence, they outline a strongly constructivist approach to trauma and apply this theoretical model in a series of extensive case studies, including the Nazi Holocaust, slavery in the United States, and September 11, 2001.

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334

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Univ of California Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0520936760

ISBN 13

9780520936768

Culture, Society, and Democracy

The Interpretive Approach

By: Isaac Reed,Jeffrey C. Alexander

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Culture, Society, and Democracy

The Interpretive Approach

By: Isaac Reed,Jeffrey C. Alexander

This volume addresses the key question of the intersection of sociology and politics, and asks what a non-Marxist cultural perspective can offer the Left. Written by leading scholars, it develops new conceptions of social critique, new techniques of interpretive analysis, and new concepts for the sociology of democratic practice. It is a volume for the twenty-first-century, where global and local meet, when critical theory must examine its most fundamental presuppositions.

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206

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317261690

ISBN 13

9781317261698

Fin de Siècle Social Theory

Relativism, Reduction, and the Problem of Reason

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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Fin de Siècle Social Theory

Relativism, Reduction, and the Problem of Reason

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

In four closely interwoven studies, Jeffrey Alexander identifies the central dilemma that provokes contemporary social theory and proposes a new way to resolve it. The dream of reason that marked the previous fin de siècle foundered in the face of the cataclysms of the twentieth century, when war, revolution, and totalitarianism came to be seen as themselves products of reason. In response there emerged the profound skepticism about rationality that has so starkly defined the present fin de siècle. From Wittgenstein through Rorty and postmodernism, relativism rejects the very possibility of universal standards, while for both positivism and neo-Marxists like Bourdieu, reductionism claims that ideas simply reflect their social base. In a readable and spirited argument, Alexander develops the alternative of a "neo-modernist" position that defends reason from within a culturally centered perspective while remaining committed to the goal of explaining, not merely interpreting, contemporary social life. On the basis of a sweeping reinterpretation of postwar society and its intellectuals, he suggests that both antimodernist radicalism and postmodernist resignation are now in decline; a more democratic, less ethnocentric and more historically contingent universalizing social theory may thus emerge. Developing in his first two studies a historical approach to the problem of "absent reason," Alexander moves via a critique of Richard Rorty to construct his case for "present reason." Finally, focusing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, he provokes the most sustained critical reflection yet on this influential thinker. Fin de Siecle Social Theory is a tonic intervention in contemporary debates, showing how social and cultural theory can properly take the measure of the extraordinary times in which we live.

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246

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Verso

Published Date

ISBN 10

1859849962

ISBN 13

9781859849965

Motion Practice

By: David F. Herr,Roger S. Haydock,Jeffrey W. Stempel

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Motion Practice

By: David F. Herr,Roger S. Haydock,Jeffrey W. Stempel

This comprehensive guide not only analyzes every applicable rule of civil procedure, but also gives you practice-proven techniques for evaluating what motions will work most effectively in each of your cases. From early pretrial motions dealing with complaints and jurisdiction to appellate motion practice for both victor and vanquished, Motion Practice, Fourth Edition shows you both what is permissible and what is advisable in such aspects of motion practice as: Formal requirements Strategic uses Use of supporting documents Effective advocacy Persuasive oral argument Ethical issues The authors include a table of deadlines affecting motions, along with sample forms and illustrative trial examples.

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1270

Publisher

Wolters Kluwer

Published Date

ISBN 10

073555272X

ISBN 13

9780735552722

Remembering the Holocaust

A Debate

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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Remembering the Holocaust

A Debate

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

Remembering the Holocaust explains why the Holocaust has come to be considered the central event of the 20th century, and what this means. Presenting Jeffrey Alexander's controversial essay that, in the words of Geoffrey Hartman, has already become a classic in the Holocaust literature, and following up with challenging and equally provocative responses to it, this book offers a sweeping historical reconstruction of the Jewish mass murder as it evolved in the popular imagination of Western peoples, as well as an examination of its consequences. Alexander's inquiry points to a broad cultural transition that took place in Western societies after World War II: from confidence in moving past the most terrible of Nazi wartime atrocities to pessimism about the possibility for overcoming violence, ethnic conflict, and war. The Holocaust has become the central tragedy of modern times, an event which can no longer be overcome, but one that offers possibilities to extend its moral lessons beyond Jews to victims of other types of secular and religious strife. Following Alexander's controversial thesis is a series of responses by distinguished scholars in the humanities and social sciences--Martin Jay, Bernhard Giesen, Michael Rothberg, Robert Manne, Nathan Glazer, and Elihu & Ruth Katz--considering the implications of the universal moral relevance of the Holocaust. A final response from Alexander in a postscript focusing on the repercussions of the Holocaust in Israel concludes this forthright and engaging discussion. Remembering the Holocaust is an all-too-rare debate on our conception of the Holocaust, how it has evolved over the years, and the profound effects it will have on the way we envision the future.

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224

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0199716943

ISBN 13

9780199716944

American Society

Toward a Theory of Societal Community

By: Talcott Parsons,Giuseppe Sciortino,Jeffrey C. Alexander

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American Society

Toward a Theory of Societal Community

By: Talcott Parsons,Giuseppe Sciortino,Jeffrey C. Alexander

Never before published, American Society is the product of Talcott Parsons' last major theoretical project. Completed just a few weeks before his death, this is Parsons' promised 'general book on American society'. It offers a systematic presentation and revision of Parson's landmark theoretical positions on modernity and the possibility of objective sociological knowledge. Even after the passage of many years, American Society imparts a remarkably provocative interpretation of US society and a creative approach to social theory.

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541

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317263766

ISBN 13

9781317263760

The Civil Sphere

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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The Civil Sphere

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

What binds societies together and how can these social orders be structured in a fair way? Jeffrey C. Alexander's masterful work, The Civil Sphere, addresses this central paradox of modern life. Feelings for others--the solidarity that is ignored or underplayed by theories of power or self-interest--are at the heart of this novel inquiry into the meeting place between normative theories of what we think we should do and empirical studies of who we actually are. Solidarity, Alexander demonstrates, creates inclusive and exclusive social structures and shows how they can be repaired. It is not perfect, it is not absolute, and the horrors which occur in its lapses have been seen all too frequently in the forms of discrimination, genocide, and war. Despite its worldly flaws and contradictions, however, solidarity and the project of civil society remain our best hope: the antidote to every divisive institution, every unfair distribution, every abusive and dominating hierarchy. This grand, sweeping statement and rigorous empirical investigation is a major contribution to our thinking about the real but ideal world in which we all reside.

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814

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0199708959

ISBN 13

9780199708956

Contemporary Introduction to Sociology

Culture and Society in Transition

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander,Kenneth Thompson,Laura Desfor Edles

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Contemporary Introduction to Sociology

Culture and Society in Transition

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander,Kenneth Thompson,Laura Desfor Edles

The first edition of A Contemporary Introduction to Sociology was the first truly new introductory sociology textbook in decades. Written by two leading sociologists at the cutting edge of theory and research, the text reflected the idioms and interests of contemporary American life and global social issues. The second edition continues to invite students to reflect upon their lives within the context of the combustible leap from modern to postmodern life. The authors show how culture is central to understanding many world problems as they challenge readers to confront the risks and potentialities of a postmodern era in which the futures of both the physical and social environment seem uncertain. As culture rapidly changes in the 21st century, the authors have broadened their analysis to cover developments in social media and new data on gender and transgender issues.

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689

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317264991

ISBN 13

9781317264996

Action and Its Environments

Toward a New Synthesis

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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Action and Its Environments

Toward a New Synthesis

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

Jeffrey Alexander, known for his work in sociological theory, breaks new ground in Action and Its Environments. The book aims to bring action theory and structure theory back together by focussing on three central questions. First, how can the normative and material properties of social structures be interlinked? Second, can the conventional, creative and strategic dimensions of individual action be related to social structures? Third, what are conditions and limits of modern social and cultural differentiation?In answering these questions Alexander portrays the complex relationship between social movements, public opinion formation, social solidarity, and social change. A new model of the structure and dynamics of cultural systems is presented as well.

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382

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231062087

ISBN 13

9780231062084

Civil Repair

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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Civil Repair

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

This book challenges the pessimism that has so marked, and impoverished, social theorizing about modern life. Modernity has often been dark and debilitating, but it has also generated hope for a better life and extraordinary reforms and liberations, from the creation of hopeful democracies in the face of dangerous dictatorships to feminist transformations of patriarchy, struggles against imperialism and racial domination, and the stubborn but persistent reconstruction of pivotal institutions. Jeffrey Alexander theorizes these radical reforms as "civil repairs" – as efforts to make real the utopian promises of the civil sphere. Ideal civil spheres make stirring commitments to social solidarity, equality, and individual autonomy. Real civil spheres are rent by anti-civil hierarchies of class, gender, race, and religion. Contradictions between real and ideal civil spheres generate social movements for justice, which are not only about challenging power but making new and more solidarizing meanings. Civil repair is at once symbolic and institutional. It offers a new way to conceptualize progressive social change.

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180

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John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1509506489

ISBN 13

9781509506484

Performance and Power

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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Performance and Power

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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402

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John Wiley & Sons

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ISBN 10

0745655661

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9780745655666

Interpreting Clifford Geertz

Cultural Investigation in the Social Sciences

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander,Philip Smith

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Interpreting Clifford Geertz

Cultural Investigation in the Social Sciences

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander,Philip Smith

Theorist Clifford Geertz's influence extends far beyond Anthropology. This volume reflects the breadth of his influence, looking at Geertz as a theorist rather than as an anthropologist. To date there has been no impartial, comprehensive, and authoritative work published on this critical figure.

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432

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Springer

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ISBN 10

0230118984

ISBN 13

9780230118980

The Drama of Social Life

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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The Drama of Social Life

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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180

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John Wiley & Sons

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1509518142

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9781509518142

Trauma

A Social Theory

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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Trauma

A Social Theory

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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209

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John Wiley & Sons

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0745661351

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9780745661353

Positivism, Presupposition and Current Controversies (Theoretical Logic in Sociology)

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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Positivism, Presupposition and Current Controversies (Theoretical Logic in Sociology)

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

This volume begins by challenging the bases of the recent scientization of sociology. Then it challenges some of the ambitious claims of recent theoretical debate. The author not only reinterprets the most important classical and modern sociological theories but extracts from the debates the elements of a more satisfactory, inclusive approach to these general theoretical points.

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256

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317808827

ISBN 13

9781317808824

The Dark Side of Modernity

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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The Dark Side of Modernity

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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184

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John Wiley & Sons

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ISBN 10

0745665063

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9780745665061

Obama Power

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander,Bernadette N. Jaworsky

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Obama Power

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander,Bernadette N. Jaworsky

What is the source of Obama’s power? How is it that, after suffering a humiliating defeat in the 2010 mid-term elections, Obama was able to turn the situation around, deftly outmaneuvering his opponent and achieving a decisive victory in the November 2012 presidential election? In this short and brilliant book, Jeffrey Alexander and Bernadette Jaworsky argue that neither money nor demography can explain this dramatic turnaround. What made it possible, they show, was cultural reconstruction. Realizing he had failed to provide a compelling narrative of his power, the President began forging a new salvation story. It portrayed the Republican austerity budget as a sop to the wealthy, and Obama as a courageous hero fighting for plain folks against the rich. The reinvigorated cultural performance pushed the Tea Party off the political stage in 2011, and Mitt Romney became fodder for the script in 2012. Democrats painted their Republican opponent as a backward-looking elitist, a “Bain-capitalist” whose election would threaten the civil solidarity upon which democracy depends. Real world events can spoil even the most effective script. Obama faced monthly unemployment numbers, the daunting Bin Laden raid, three live debates, and Hurricane Sandy. The clumsiness of his opponent and his own good fortune helped the President, but it was the poise and felicity of his improvisations that allowed him to succeed a second time. Converting events into plot points, the President demonstrated the flair for the dramatic that has made him one of the most effective politicians of modern times. While persuasively explaining Obama’s success, this book also demonstrates a fundamental but rarely appreciated truth about political power in modern democratic societies namely, that winning power and holding on to it have as much to do with the ability to use symbols effectively and tell good stories as anything else.

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159

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John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

0745684211

ISBN 13

9780745684215

Rethinking Progress

Movements, Forces, and Ideas at the End of the Twentieth Century

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander,Piotr Sztompka

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Rethinking Progress

Movements, Forces, and Ideas at the End of the Twentieth Century

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander,Piotr Sztompka

Rethinking Progress provides a challenging reevaluation of one of the crucial ideas of Western civilization; the notion of progress. Progress often seems to have become self-defeating, producing ecological deserts, overpopulated cities, exhausted resources, decaying cultures, and widespread feelings of alienation. The contributors, from all over the world, present their diversified perspectives on the fate of progress.

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271

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1134997892

ISBN 13

9781134997893

Meaning and Method

The Cultural Approach to Sociology

By: Isaac Reed,Jeffrey C. Alexander

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Meaning and Method

The Cultural Approach to Sociology

By: Isaac Reed,Jeffrey C. Alexander

Culture is increasingly important to American social science, but in what way? This book addresses the core issues of the sociology of culture-questions about the social role of meaning, along with those about the methods sociologists use to study culture and society-in a manner that makes clear their relevance to sociology as a whole. Part I consists of essays by leading cultural sociologists on how the turn to culture has changed the sociological study of organizations, economic action, and television, and concludes with Georgina Born's methodological statement on the sociology of art and cultural production. Part II contains a highly original, and at times heated, debate between Richard Biernacki and John H. Evans on the appropriateness of abstract and quantifiable coding schemes for the sociological study of culture. Ranging from the philosophy of science to the concrete, practical problems of interpreting masses of cultural data, the debate raises the controversy over the interpretation of culture and the explanation of social action to a new level of sophistication.

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297

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317256239

ISBN 13

9781317256236

Neofunctionalism and After

Collected Readings

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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Neofunctionalism and After

Collected Readings

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

One of America's leading sociological theorists, Alexander coined the term "neofunctionalism" a decade ago.

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Page Count

256

Publisher

Wiley-Blackwell

Published Date

ISBN 10

1557866295

ISBN 13

9781557866295

A Contemporary Introduction to Sociology

Culture and Society in Transition

By: Jeffrey Alexander,Jeffrey C. Alexander,Kenneth Thompson,Laura Desfor Edles,Moshoula Capous-Desyllas

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A Contemporary Introduction to Sociology

Culture and Society in Transition

By: Jeffrey Alexander,Jeffrey C. Alexander,Kenneth Thompson,Laura Desfor Edles,Moshoula Capous-Desyllas

The influential authors significantly update their popular introductory text that invites students to reflect on their lives in the context of the combustible leap from modern to postmodern life. The authors show how culture is central to understanding many world problems as they challenge readers to confront the problems and possibilities of an era in which the futures of the physical and social environments seem uncertain. As culture rapidly changes in the 21st century, the authors have successfully incorporated these nuances with many important updates on race and racism, Black Lives Matter, the rise of populist politics, ISIS, new social media, feminist perspectives on sex work, trans and non-gender conforming identities, and more. New to this edition: New data, text box examples, photos, exercises, study questions, and glossary terms appear throughout. New discussions added of arts-based and participatory approaches to research, historical changes in the perception of deviance, legalization of marijuana; Islam vs. secularism in France, new forms of socialization, heteronormative and essentialist language related to sex and gender, intersections of social class and other identities, the prison industrial complex, informal sharing economies, atheism, and more. New text boxes include: Young Saudis Find Freedom in their Phones; How One Stupid Tweet Blew Up Justine Sacco’s Life; School-to-Prison Pipeline; India’s Reproductive Assembly Line; Workers Feel Pain of Layoffs; Like Prohibition, the fight over guns is about something else; and Micro-aggression and Changing Moral Cultures.

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Page Count

1029

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Published Date

ISBN 10

1000938867

ISBN 13

9781000938869

Action and Its Environments

Toward a New Synthesis

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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Action and Its Environments

Toward a New Synthesis

By: Jeffrey C. Alexander

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382

Publisher

Columbia University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0231062087

ISBN 13

9780231062084

Sociological Theory

By: George Ritzer,Jeffrey Stepnisky

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Sociological Theory

By: George Ritzer,Jeffrey Stepnisky

The authors are proud sponsors of the 2020 SAGE Keith Roberts Teaching Innovations Award—enabling graduate students and early career faculty to attend the annual ASA pre-conference teaching and learning workshop. Now with SAGE Publishing, and co-authored by one of the foremost authorities on sociological theory, the Tenth Edition of Sociological Theory by George Ritzer and Jeffrey Stepnisky gives readers a comprehensive overview of the major theorists and schools of sociological thought, from sociology′s origins through the early 21st century. Key theories are integrated with biographical sketches of theorists, and are placed in their historical and intellectual context. This text helps students better understand the original works of classical and contemporary theorists, and enables them to compare and contrast the latest substantive concepts.

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751

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Published Date

ISBN 10

1506337724

ISBN 13

9781506337722

Modern Sociological Theory

By: George Ritzer,Jeffrey Stepnisky

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Modern Sociological Theory

By: George Ritzer,Jeffrey Stepnisky

The authors are proud sponsors of the 2020 SAGE Keith Roberts Teaching Innovations Award—enabling graduate students and early career faculty to attend the annual ASA pre-conference teaching and learning workshop. Now with SAGE Publishing, and co-authored by one of the foremost authorities on sociological theory, the Eighth Edition of Modern Sociological Theory by George Ritzer and Jeffrey Stepnisky provides a comprehensive overview of the major theorists and theoretical schools, from the Structural Functionalism of early 20th century through the cutting-edge theories of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The integration of key theories with biographical sketches of theorists and the requisite historical and intellectual context helps students to better understand the original works of contemporary thinkers.

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Page Count

598

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Published Date

ISBN 10

1506325637

ISBN 13

9781506325637

Staging Solidarity

Truth and Reconciliation in a New South Africa

By: Tanya Goodman,Ronald Eyerman,Jeffrey C. Alexander

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Staging Solidarity

Truth and Reconciliation in a New South Africa

By: Tanya Goodman,Ronald Eyerman,Jeffrey C. Alexander

The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is a modern social drama that enabled the nation's apartheid past to be constructed as a cultural trauma, and by doing so created a new collective narrative of diversity and inclusion. The TRC relied primarily on testimonies from victims and perpetrators of apartheid violence who came forward to tell their stories in a public forum. Rather than simply serving as data for setting the historical record straight, this book shows that it was not only the content of these testimonies but also how these stories were told and what values were attached to them that became significant. Goodman argues that the performative nature of the TRC process effectively designated the past as profane and simultaneously imagined a sacred future community based on democratic idealism and universal solidarity.

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Page Count

209

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317251482

ISBN 13

9781317251484

Book's by Jeffrey C. Alexander

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