Making Sense of Social Movements

"...effectively demonstrates the enduring importance of 'classical' social movement theory...and provides a cutting edge critical review of recent theoretical developments. This is one of the most important general theoretical texts on social movements for some years." - Paul Bagguley, University of Leeds <ul>
<li> Why and how do social movements emerge? </li> <li> In which ways are social movements analysed? </li> <li> Can our understanding be enhanced by new perspectives?</li>
</ul>
Making Sense of Social Movements offers a clear and comprehensive overview of the key sociological approaches to the study of social movements. The author argues that each of these approaches makes an important contribution to our understanding of social movements but that none is adequate on its own. In response he argues for a new approach which draws together key insights within the solid foundations of Pierre Bourdieu's social theory of practice. This new approach transcends the barriers which still often divide European and North American perspectives of social movements, and also those which divide recent approaches from the older 'collective behaviour' approach. The result is a theoretical framework which is uniquely equipped for the demands of modern social movement analysis. 
 The clear and concise style of the text, as well as its neat summaries of key concepts and approaches, will make this book invaluable for undergraduate courses. It will also be an essential reference for researchers.

Making Sense Of Social Movements

Politics & Social Sciences

Crossley, Nick

Social Sciences

Open University Press

"...effectively demonstrates the enduring importance of 'classical' social movement theory...and provides a cutting edge critical review of recent theoretical developments. This is one of the most important general theoretical texts on social movements for some years." - Paul Bagguley, University of Leeds* Why and how do social movements emerge?* In which ways are social movements analysed?* Can our understanding be enhanced by new perspectives?Making Sense of Social Movements offers a clear and comprehensive overview of the key sociological approaches to the study of social movements. The author argues that each of these approaches makes an important contribution to our understanding of social movements but that none is adequate on its own. In response he argues for a new approach which draws together key insights within the solid foundations of Pierre Bourdieu's social theory of practice. This new approach transcends the barriers which still often divide European and North American perspectives of social movements, and also those which divide recent approaches from the older 'collective behaviour' approach. The result is a theoretical framework which is uniquely equipped for the demands of modern social movement analysis. The clear and concise style of the text, as well as its neat summaries of key concepts and approaches, will make this book invaluable for undergraduate courses. It will also be an essential reference for researchers.

In this book, Nick Crossley explores the concept of reflexive embodiment – how we, as embodied beings, reflect upon our own embodiment. He considers the ways in which we modify and maintain our bodies, from brushing our teeth and washing our faces through to tattooing and bodybuilding. Some forms of ‘body work’ are demanded by social conventions; others represent legitimate choices, and others still deviate from or resist the norm. He argues that a proper understanding of reflexive embodiment must be alert to these differences, and that we must appreciate that our bodies are not passive or inert substances that we can mould as we like. They change in ways that we do not intend and of which we are not aware, and they may prove difficult to change in the ways we do intend.  Many theorists in sociology offer perspectives on the link between society and body modification, mostly focused in one way or another upon ‘modernity’. Reflexive Embodiment in Contemporary Society reviews this literature, evaluates competing claims and suggests an alternative approach. Nick Crossley contends that existing perspectives are very selective in the range of modification practices they focus upon and in their conception of both modernity and its effects upon the body. While various theories identify clusters of modification practices and link them to aspects of modernity, there has been no systematic attempt to combine these partial accounts into a coherent vision. This book provides such a vision and offers a major contribution to the sociology of the body.

Reflexive Embodiment in Contemporary Society

Contesting Psychiatry (Critical Studies in Health and Society)

Resistance and social movements in mental health have been important in shaping current practice in both mental health and psychiatry. Contesting Psychiatry, focusing largely on the UK, examines the history of resistance to psychiatry between 1950 and 2000. Building on the author’s extensive research, the book provides an empirical account and exploration of the key features including: <ul>
<li>an account of the key social movements and organizations who have contested psychiatry over the last fifty years</li> <li>the theorization of resistance to psychiatry which might apply to other national contexts and to social movement formation and protest in other medical arenas</li> <li>the exploration of theories of power in psychiatry.</li>
</ul>
Original and provocative in its approach, this book offers a new sociological perspective on psychiatry.

Contesting Psychiatry: Social Movements in Mental Health (Critical Studies in Health and Society)

History

Routledge

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Mental Health

Towards Relational Sociology argues that social worlds comprise networks of interaction and relations. Crossley asserts that relations are lived trajectories of iterated interaction, built up through a history of interaction, but also entailing anticipation of future interaction. In addition, he demonstrates how networks comprise multiple dyadic relations which are mutually transformed through their combination. On this conceptual basis he builds a relational foundation for sociology. Over the course of the book, three central sociological dichotomies are addressed - individualism/holism, structure/agency and micro/macro – and utilised as a foil against which to construct the case for relational sociology. Through this, Crossley is able to argue that neither individuals nor ‘wholes’ - in the traditional sociological sense - should take precedence in sociology. Rather sociologists should focus upon evolving and dynamic networks of interaction and relations. The book covers many of the key concepts and concerns of contemporary sociology, including identity, power, exchange and meaning. As such it is an invaluable reference tool for postgraduate students and researchers alike.

Towards Relational Sociology (International Library of Sociology)

Networks of sound, style and subversion: The punk and post–punk worlds of Manchester, London, Liverpool and Sheffield, 1975–80 (Music and Society)

This book examines the birth of punk in the UK and its transformation, within a short period of time, into post-punk. Deploying innovative concepts of ‘critical mass’, ‘social networks’ and ‘music worlds’, and using sophisticated techniques of ‘social network analysis’, it teases out the events and mechanisms involved in punk’s ‘micro-mobilisation’, its diffusion across the UK and its transformation in certain city-based strongholds into a variety of interlocking post-punk forms. Nick Crossley offers a detailed review of prior work in this area, a rich exploration of new empirical data and a highly innovative and robust approach to the study of ‘music worlds’. Written in an accessible style, this book is essential reading for anybody with an interest in either UK punk and post-punk or the impact of social networks on cultural life and the potential of social network analysis to explore this impact.

Arts & Photography

Music

Manchester University Press

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Crossley, Nick. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Crossley, Nick

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Crossley, Nick. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Making Sense Of Social Movements

Making Sense of Social Movements

Reflexive Embodiment in Contemporary Society

Reflexive Embodiment in Contemporary Society

Contesting Psychiatry: Social Movements in Mental Health (Critical Studies in Health and Society)

Contesting Psychiatry (Critical Studies in Health and Society)

Towards Relational Sociology (International Library of Sociology)

Towards Relational Sociology (International Library of Sociology)

Networks of sound, style and subversion: The punk and post–punk worlds of Manchester, London, Liverpool and Sheffield, 1975–80 (Music and Society)

Networks of sound, style and subversion: The punk and post–punk worlds of Manchester, London, Liverpool and Sheffield, 1975–80 (Music and Society)