Karl Emil Maximilian "Max" Weber (21 April 1864 – 14 June 1920) was a German sociologist and political economist who profoundly influenced social theory, social research and the discipline of sociology itself. A key proponent of methodological antipositivism, which presents sociology as a non-empiricist field which must study social action through interpretive means based upon understanding the meaning and purpose that individuals attach to their own actions, Weber is often cited, with Émile Durkheim and Karl Marx, as one of the three principal architects of modern social science.  Weber was also highly influential with his thesis in economic sociology, elaborated in his book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, that ascetic Protestantism was one of the major "elective affinities" associated with the rise of capitalism, bureaucracy and the rational-legal nation-state in the Western world. Against Marx's "historical materialism," Weber emphasised the importance, for understanding the development of capitalism, of cultural influences embedded in religion.   The Protestant Ethic formed the earliest part in Weber's broader investigation into the sociology of religion. Begun as a series of essays, the original German text was composed in 1904.It is considered a founding text in economic sociology and sociology in general.

The studies which comprise this book are essentially organized around a critical encounter with European social theory in its 'classical period' – i.e. from the middle years of the nineteenth century until the First World War – and have the aim of working out some of the implications of that encounter for the position and prospects of the social sciences today. The issues involved relate to the following series of problems: method and epistemology; social development and transformation; the origins of 'sociology' in nineteenth-century social theory; and the status of social science as critique. In each of these areas, Giddens develops views that challenge existing orthodoxies, and connects these ideas to a reconstruction of social theory in the contemporary era.

Product Description: Winner of the 2014 European Book Prize. A "United States of Europe", Winston Churchill proposed in 1946, could "as if by a miracle transform" that "turbulent and mighty continent". "In this way only", he continued, "will hundreds of millions of toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make life worth living"...read more

Product Description: This book provides an interpretation of one of the key aspects of Max Weber’s work: the relationship between his political and sociological writings. Weber’s sociological studies have often been treated as if they were completely separate from his political attitudes and interests, and in general his political writings have remained less well-known than his sociological work...read more

Product Description: Brand New. Ship worldwide

A comprehensive, yet challenging, set of readings for students studying sociology for the first time. A strong emphasis has been placed on readability and liveliness, and the book includes contibutions from newspapers and weekly periodicals as well as academic journals and books.

Product Description: La escritura ha jugado un papel central en el desarrollo de distintas disciplinas científicas, pero quizá sea en la lingüística donde mayor impacto ha tenido. Es imposible negar el lugar de la escritura en el análisis que se realiza en este campo...read more

Product Description: The sixth edition of Anthony Giddens' Sociology is the best yet.   Revised and updated throughout, it provides an authoritative overview of recent global developments and new ideas in sociology. Classic debates are also given careful coverage, with even the most complex ideas explained in an engaging way...read more

Product Description: Introduction to Sociology, Sixth Edition, organizes the core concepts of modern sociology around the unifying theme of globalization. Taking a comparative approach, the authors examine American society in a global and historical context, underscoring the wide diversity of social forms and social change...read more

Product Description: La crisis de la sociología contemporánea exige planteamientos creativos e innovadores pero también una reflexión crítica previa de los enfoques clásicos sobre la gran transformación que destruyó la sociedad tradicional y dio nacimiento al orden moderno...read more

Product Description: Rare book: Price in USD

Maps out a future for Labour party politics as they face a change of leadership. This work outlines how Labour policies should change if they are to win the next election and confront public disaffection. It serves as a key source for journalists and other political commentators.

Product Description: Europe's social model – its system of welfare and social protection – is regarded by many as the jewel in the crown. It is what helps to give the European societies their distinctive qualities of social cohesion and care for the vulnerable...read more

This book makes an essential contribution to the debate now opening up over the future of Europe in the wake of the demise of the Constitution. Since 1989 much about the European Union has changed, including the very definition of 'Europe' itself. The EU has enlarged to 25 countries and the division between Western and Eastern Europe has disappeared. The EU has responded positively to these changes, not only by making a success of enlargement, but by pushing ahead with the Single Market and the Single Currency. These very successes, however, have led to a reaction. Those who voted 'no' in the referenda in France and the Netherlands registered worries about Europe's future, especially on a social and economic level. For many, 'social Europe' - the welfare states that offer protection from the buffetings of the global marketplace - are under threat. Unemployment and low growth are seemingly becoming endemic across much of the EU. How should pro-Europeans respond? What future is there for Europe's cherished social model? How will the EU deal with the competitive pressures coming from India, China and other industrialising countries? In this volume, leading contributors from a range of countries offer answers to these questions.

Product Description: This book tackles one of the most pressing issues currently facing centre-left governments: social inequality. At a time when the traditional mechanisms of social cohesion have been undermined by greater individualism, the globalization of production, and the fragmentation of social life, the challenges posed by inequality are more pronounced than ever before...read more

Product Description: This book seeks to develop a new agenda for the centre-left. During the 1990's, left of centre governments or coalitions came into power in the US, many of the European Union countries, and in societies elsewhere too. The modernisation of social democracy was crucial to these successes - all centre-left parties that came to power revised and updated their traditional doctrines...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

(view table of contents)

Product Description: New product. Never used!

(view table of contents)

Product Description: El dinamismo y la capacidad de innovación que son el santo y seña del capitalismo, y que han permitido su triunfo, generan sin cesar nuevas estructuras empresariales, nuevas divisiones sociales, nuevos modelos económicos y cambios por doquier...read more