Although the period of student protests of the 1960s and 1970s has long passed, Alain Touraine argues, in this wide-ranging and vigorous essay, that the period's problems remain with us. Higher degrees have become less and less valuable on the labor market and the demand for academic reform has become more intense. Community colleges still try to provide equal educational opportunities for the poor and the minorities, without much success. And the university has not yet resolved the conflict between being the home of impartial inquiry and research and serving constituent interests.Touraine views American higher education as a system within a definite, though changing, social context. He compares U.S. student movements with those of other countries. He is skeptical about the way Americans view the relationships between the university and what he regards as the ruling forces of the society, between knowledge and power, between production and education. He offers no facile solutions, but he presents an exciting, nontraditional analysis of the social and political forces that have shaped the modern history of higher education.In the new introduction, Clark Kerr contrasts his own views as an American observer to those of Touraine as a French intellectual. He asserts that the family, not higher education, is the most important "school" in the process of reproducing society. Kerr places more emphasis than does Touraine on the labor market, on the production functions (training of skills and advancing technology) of the vast nonelite segments of American higher education, on the long-term impacts of science in changing society, and on scholarly criticism in affecting transformations, and places less emphasis on sporadic political protests by faculty and students.He agrees with Touraine however, in his two great themes: (1) that you cannot understand the academic system unless you first understand society; and (2) that the rise of the university must be understood to understand modern society, where "knowledge is power." This volume will be important to all those interested in higher education, whether as participants or observers.

The academic system in American society

Medical Books

TOURAINE, ALAIN

Basic Sciences

McGraw=Hill

The research presented in volume 34 of Crime and Justice is essential reading for scholars, policy makers, and criminal justice practitioners who need an authoritative review of current developments on crime, its causes, and its consequences. Through an international and interdisciplinary approach to core issues in criminology, the essays analyze important developments in the criminal justice system to enhance the work of sociologists, psychologists, criminal lawyers, justice scholars, and political scientists.

The Self Production of Society

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Univ of Chicago Pr

In this sequel to A Critique of Modernity, Alain Touraine questions the social and cultural content of democracy today. At a time when state power is being increasingly eroded by the economic might of transnational capital, what possible value can we ascribe to a democratic idea that is defined merely as a set of guarantees against the totalitarian

What Is Democracy?

Macey, David

Politics & Government

Routledge

A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. First American edition. Cloth. 8vo. 373 pp.

The May Movement: Revolt and Reform. May 1968 -the Student Rebellion and Worker's Strikes- the Birth of a Social Movement.

History

Europe

Random House (1971)

This 1983 book records a fascinating analysis of the Solidarity movement in Poland. Alain Touraine here proposes an understanding of the place of social movements in contemporary society, and a fresh means of analysing them through 'sociological intervention'. In 1981 he and a team of researchers applied these research methods to the Solidarity movements. Groups of Solidarity activists were involved in a discourse over the nature and aims of their political and economic struggle. What emerges is a record of exceptional value in understanding the movement which transformed Polish society, placed firmly in the terms of the Solidarity activists' own understanding of their role, but equally relating this role to a broad analysis of the social structures of eastern Europe. This reflection on forty years of Communist regimes in Europe will appeal to a wide readership interested in Solidarity and Poland.

Solidarity: The Analysis of a Social Movement: Poland 1980–1981

Wieviorka, Michel

Dubet, François

Strzelecki, Jan

Cambridge University Press

This 1983 book records a fascinating analysis of the Solidarity movement in Poland. Alain Touraine here proposes an understanding of the place of social movements in contemporary society, and a fresh means of analysing them through 'sociological intervention'. In 1981 he and a team of researchers applied these research methods to the Solidarity movements. Groups of Solidarity activists were involved in a discourse over the nature and aims of their political and economic struggle. What emerges is a record of exceptional value in understanding the movement which transformed Polish society, placed firmly in the terms of the Solidarity activists' own understanding of their role, but equally relating this role to a broad analysis of the social structures of eastern Europe. This reflection on forty years of Communist regimes in Europe will appeal to a wide readership interested in Solidarity and Poland.

Solidarity: The Analysis of a Social Movement: Poland 1980–1981 (Msh)

Sociology

In this provocative and timely new book, Alain Touraine explores the question of how we might live together in a truly globalized world society. Rejecting the seductive metaphor of a global melting pot, Touraine mounts a powerful attack on the idea that we now live together as equals, sharing the same social and cultural values. If anything, he argues, our differences are being heightened, as communities increasingly define their identities against the encroaching forces of globalization. 
 Touraine argues that the twin processes of globalization and particularization are pushing us further and further apart. On the one hand, traditional values and forms of cultural expression are being eroded by homogenized mass culture. On the other, communities are becoming more introverted as they fight to defend themselves from outside influences. Even the cities where our global networks originate and are controlled are made up of communities which are foreign to one another, as they defend their identities from the tokens of mass culture. How do we avoid a global conflict between those who control the international networks of information, and those who feel threatened by them? The first part of Touraine's book asserts that the only way to prevent the destruction of identity is for individuals to develop a personal life-project, which he calls the 'Subject'. To become a subject, the individual constructs itself as an actor, forming a stable point of reference in a world of permanent and uncontrollable change. In the second part of the book, Touraine examines how this apparently non-social principle might be used to reconstruct social life. The first step is to recognize that others are also subjects, striving for a sense of personal freedom. Touraine then argues for a replacement of the old idea of democracy, defined as participation in the general will, with the new idea of institutions that safeguard the freedom of the subject and permit communication between subjects. This is the only approach that will allow us to live together, equal and different. This book will be of great interest to second- and third-year undergraduates and graduate students of sociology and politics.

Can We Live Together?: Equality and Difference

Reference

Polity

Beyond Neoliberalism

Today neoliberals argue that we should let ourselves be guided by market forces and that there is little we can do to stem the flow of economic globalization. On the other hand, thinkers on the left continue to denounce domination and claim to speak in the name of victims who are powerless to change the circumstances of their lives. Despite the differences between these two political positions, they suffer from a common weakness: they underestimate the role of autonomous social actors who are capable of influencing political decision-making. 
In this important new book Alain Touraine – the leading sociologist and social theorist – attacks the positions of the neoliberals and certain thinkers on the left and develops an alternative view of the tasks for political thought and action today. He argues that the globalization of the economy has not dissolved our capacity for political action, and that the actions of the most underprivileged sections of society are not restricted to rebellion against domination: they can also demand rights (in particular, cultural rights), and can therefore put forward an innovative and not merely critical conception of society and its future. Beyond Neoliberalism is an original and timely contribution to current debates about the changing nature and goals of politics in our contemporary, globalized age. It will be of great interest to students of politics and sociology and will also appeal to a broader readership interested in contemporary politics and current affairs.

Business & Money

Economics

New Paradigm for Understanding Today's World

Touraine is one of the leading social thinkers in the world today and many of his books have been published in English.In this book Touraine presents a new theoretical framework for understanding the contemporary world. It is a broad theoretical work which seeks to make sense of everyday experience at the beginning of the 21st century.This is a major new theoretical work by one of the leading sociologists in the world today.A great reference book for those studying sociology and social theory at any level.

A New Paradigm for Understanding Today's World

Polity Pr

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

Books by TOURAINE, ALAIN

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

The academic system in American society

The Self Production of Society

What Is Democracy?

The May Movement: Revolt and Reform. May 1968 -the Student Rebellion and Worker's Strikes- the Birth of a Social Movement.

Solidarity: The Analysis of a Social Movement: Poland 1980–1981

Solidarity: The Analysis of a Social Movement: Poland 1980–1981 (Msh)

Can We Live Together?: Equality and Difference

Beyond Neoliberalism

Beyond Neoliberalism

A New Paradigm for Understanding Today's World