Revisiting Social Theory by Kumar, D.V.;

Short description:

This book revisits social theory to highlight features of ‘good’ social theory. With particular attention to issues of nationalism, democracy, civil society, state, feminism, neoliberalism, minority rights, environment and Indian society, it considers whether new questions need to be asked.

Long description:

This book revisits social theory with a view to highlighting certain essential features of ‘good’ social theory: its ability to raise certain questions, its explanatory power, its critical and reflexive interrogation of concepts, its search for objectivity, its concern to make sense of empirical data and its aim of projecting some degree of generality and abstraction. With particular attention to issues of nationalism, democracy, civil society, state, feminism, neoliberalism, minority rights, environment and North-East Indian society, it considers whether new and more relevant theoretical questions need to be asked.

It will therefore appeal to scholars of social theory and political sociology with interests in new approaches to social theory and the development of local or ‘indigenous’ social thought.

“The book provides an excellent opportunity to rethink social theory inscribed in new and old challenges: the value of theory in the social sciences, the impact of ideological practices in a globalised world, and the urgent openings towards new plots of reproduction and indignation. Revisiting Social Theory: Challenges and Possibilities is a very good testimony to a social theory developed in the heat of the current conditions of intellectual production and serves as an outstanding framework of reference to engage with emerging social practices.”

Angelica De Sena, Professor of Sociology, University of Buenos Aires, Argentina

“Revisiting Social Theory: Challenges and Possibilities proposes a very challenging point of view, since it provokes us into reflecting on the rapid changes that are modifying contemporary society. The three thematic sections in the volume not only offer an in-depth and original insight into the new patterns of action pursued by the actors, but also into the novel political and cultural routes of contemporaneity. For this reason, it  offers a valuable tool for social scientists engaged in reflecting on the transformation of social theories, students of sociology courses, and policy-makers interested in  change of social reality.”

Gennaro Iorio, Professor of Sociology, University of Salerno, Italy

“This ably edited volume of essays is a timely and comprehensive addition to social theory discourse in contemporary sociology. Its wide-ranging sweep covers ecology, political economy and feminism besides current debates concerning nationalism and neoliberalism. Its concluding focus on the nexus of current theory in the Indian context heightens the volume's significance. A valuable inventory for advanced scholars and researchers in the social sciences.”

Ravindra K. Jain, formerly Professor of Sociology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

Table of Contents:

Introduction  Part I: New Currents in Social Theory  1. What is social theory?  2. Social theory today: Revisiting hope  3. Empathy between sociology and social neuroscience: New perspectives for an applied sociology  4. Applying Graeber’s extension of Mauss’ The Gift to the study of international relations  5. Towards a socio-phenomenological approach to empathy  6. Contemporary contributions to critiques of political economy and alternative planetary futures: Political economy, moral economy, moral sociology, spiritual ecology and beyond  Part II: Social Theory and the Context of Neo-liberalism  7. New media, popular culture and social theory  8. Social and political theory in the times of neo-liberalism  9. Revisiting Gellnerian theory of nation and Nationalism  10. Neoliberal environmentalism and social theory: Constructing myth over reality  11. Identity, values and consumption practices  12. Legitimizing menstrual leave at workplace: Documenting the sociological theories explanations  Part III: Issues and Challenges for Social Theory from India  13. Theorising Contemporary Vernacular politics in Northeast India and its Sociology  14. Eco-feminism in the context of tribal society  15. Theorizing better: A debate of theory and practice in the context of an Indigenous setting