The Dynamics Of Modern Society

Reprint. Originally published by Atherton Press in 1966.

Social research efforts are often more concerned with basic social processes or patterns than with the dynamic relationship between social processes and social institutions. In this classic collection, contributors posit generalizations drawn from contemporary sociology. Their analyses go beyond elementary principles - they interpret them, qualify them, or state them more precisely. Each of the contributors focuses on the modern American social structure, and they are either explicitly comparative or have made observations that clearly are meant to apply to many countries.This volume both embodies and draws attention to newer developments in sociology. Like most steps forward in an advancing science, this orientation does not reject the older knowledge accumulated during earlier generations, but incorporates and expands upon it. The differences are in emphasis rather than any denial of the main body of accepted theory. On the other hand, the collection may be said to represent a response to the many criticisms, by humanists and sociologists alike, of the mainstream of contemporary sociology as it existed at the time of original publication in the late 1960s.Inquiries into social changes, like sociological studies of historical phenomena, may be viewed as modes of a comparative sociology: They permit us to test more fully sociological generalizations. The emphasis in this volume on historical and comparative studies and on social change parallels the growing attention of sociology to these problems. During the 1960s, social science turned from a nearly exclusive preoccupation with middle-class populations to a concern with social relations in other societies, past as well as present. In addition to enriching our knowledge, this broader view has increased both the precision and generalizing power of sociological principles.

In modern world politics, there exists a dynamic of change, and an observable pattern of phenomena. These phenomena consist of driving forces, of new paradigms that their exigencies induce, of new epochs that such exigencies provoke, of adjustments made by states (who may be initiators, new comers, late comers, or inactive), and of shifts in the hierarchy of world powers that the differentiated rate of their adjustment success produces, causing what power shift theory refers to as hegemonic transition. This book examines the conditions under which such change occurs, the recurrence of such change in various epochs of the modern era, and the pattern that such recurrence displays in order to explain the recurrent shift in the hierarchy of wealth, status and power among peer states.

Everyday life is defined and characterised by the rise, transformation and fall of social practices. Using terminology that is both accessible and sophisticated, this essential book guides the reader through a multi-level analysis of this dynamic. In working through core propositions about social practices and how they change the book is clear and accessible; real world examples, including the history of car driving, the emergence of frozen food, and the fate of hula hooping, bring abstract concepts to life and firmly ground them in empirical case-studies and new research. Demonstrating the relevance of social theory for public policy problems, the authors show that the everyday is the basis of social transformation addressing questions such as: how do practices emerge, exist and die? what are the elements from which practices are made? how do practices recruit practitioners? how are elements, practices and the links between them generated, renewed and reproduced? Precise, relevant and persuasive this book will inspire students and researchers from across the social sciences. Elizabeth Shove is Professor of Sociology at Lancaster University. Mika Pantzar is Research Professor at the National Consumer Research Centre, Helsinki. Matt Watson is Lecturer in Social and Cultural Geography at University of Sheffield.

Dynamics of Islam in the Modern World scrutinizes and analyzes Islam in context. It posits Muslims not as independent and autonomous, but as relational and interactive agents of change and continuity who interplay with Islamic(ate) sources of self and society as well as with resources from other traditions. Representing multiple disciplinary approaches, the contributors to this volume discuss a broad range of issues, such as secularization, colonialism, globalization, radicalism, human rights, migration, hermeneutics, mysticism, religious normativity and pluralism, while paying special attention to three geographical settings of South Asia, the Middle East and Euro-America.

Emphasis is placed in Continental European social theory, and on the importance of political analyses to theorizing modern societies. This title focuses on dynamic processes that gave way to illuminate structural features of modern social life.

In this provocative and broad-ranging work, the authors argue that the ways in which knowledge - scientific, social and cultural - is produced are undergoing fundamental changes at the end of the twentieth century. They claim that these changes mark a distinct shift into a new mode of knowledge production which is replacing or reforming established institutions, disciplines, practices and policies. Identifying features of the new mode of knowledge production - reflexivity, transdisciplinarity, heterogeneity - the authors show how these features connect with the changing role of knowledge in social relations. While the knowledge produced by research and development in science and technology is accorded central concern, the