This major new textbook will equip students with a complete understanding of contemporary politics, state and society in the United Kingdom today. Key underlying themes include: The differences between traditional and alternative ′sites of power′ and what we mean by ′political′ the relationships between politics, society and how individuals become and remain engaged with politics the rapid transformations in contemporary social structures and their impact on social and political life the role of human agency and its significance to social and political action and movements contemporary cultural and social dislocations and their impact on some of the major contested areas of political life today. Key features include: Key concepts and issues Key theorists and writers Discussion questions Comprehensive and accessible, An Introduction to Politics, State & Society is an essential text for all undergraduate students of politics, the contemporary state, power and political sociology.

Product Description: This book focuses on the politics and ideology of Belfast's Protestant working class. It begins by considering the dominant conceptual typologies of that social grouping as constructed by the left in Ireland. It then looks in detail at the social structure and politics of the Protestant working class community 'Ballymac'...read more

Product Description: Challenging traditional narrow views, this unique work proposes to rethink and reinterpret Ulster loyalism from the beginning of the "Troubles" to the present day, by tracing its religious, paramilitary, political, and community influences...read more