It is impossible to enter any foreign country for the first time, without experiencing some mental excitement; and it seems to me, that among all the countries of Europe, Spain is the most calculated to awaken interest and expectation: for even if it were possible to forget all that links the history of Spain with Carthagenian enterprise, and Roman ambition, and Moorish grandeur, the present condition of the country, and the desire of gratifying curiosity, respecting the manners, character...

Social theory is a crucial resource for the social sciences. It provides rich insights into how human beings think and act and how contemporary social life is constructed. But often the key ideas of social theorists are expressed in highly technical and difficult language that can hide more than it reveals.The new edition of this popular book continues to cut to the core of what social theory is about. Wide-ranging in scope and coverage, it is concise in presentation and free from ...

Culture is unquestionably a central topic in the contemporary social sciences. In order to understand how people think, feel, value, act and express themselves, it is necessary to examine the cultures they create, and are in turn created by. Here, David Inglis shows how the study of culture can be transformed by focusing in on how cultural forces shape, influence, structure - and occasionally disrupt - the day-to-day activities of individuals.Reconsidering different views on 'cultu...

How do fashions in drinks work, and how are drinks fashions related to changing trends in clothes and apparel? These twin questions are posed and answered by the book Drinks in Vogue.Taking a radically cross-disciplinary set of perspectives and ranging far and wide across time and space, the book considers beverages as varied as cocktails, wine, Champagne, craft beer, coffee, and mineral water. The contributors present rich case materials which illuminate key conceptual is...

The Globalization of Wine is a one-stop guide to understanding wine across the world today. Examining a broad range of developments in the wine world, it considers the social, cultural, economic, political and geographical dimensions of wine globalization. It investigates how large-scale changes in production, distribution and consumption are transforming the wine that we drink.Comprehensive background discussion is complemented by vivid case study chapters from a variety ...

Veils and veiling are controversial topics in social and political life, generating debates across the world. The veil is enmeshed within a complex web of relations encompassing politics, religion and gender, and conflicts over the nature of power, legitimacy, belief, freedom, agency and emancipation. In recent years, the veil has become both a potent and unsettling symbol and a rallying-point for discourse and rhetoric concerning women, Islam and the nature of politics.Early studi...

Cultural Sociology: An Introduction is the first dedicated student textbook to address cultural sociology as a legitimate model for sociological thinking and research. Highly renowned authors present a rich overview of major sociological themes and the various empirical applications of cultural sociology.A timely introductory overview to this increasingly significant field which provides invaluable summaries of key studies and approaches within cultural sociology

This textbook puts sport in the spotlight of cultural inquiry for the first time. The authors provide the essential resources for the study of sport within culture and popular culture. Sport is an important part of cultural life, yet until recently it has tended to remain on the margins of academic cultural studies.Beginning by considering sport in relation to the pre-cultural studies tradition of cultural commentary, The Uses of Sport then moves on to a critical engagemen...

Cultural sociology - or the sociology of culture - has grown from a minority interest in the 1970s to become one of the largest and most vibrant areas within sociology globally. In The SAGE Handbook of Cultural Sociology, a global range of experts explore the theory, methodology and innovations that make up this ever-expanding field.The Handbook′s 40 original chapters have been organised into five thematic sections:Theoretical ParadigmsMajor...

This second edition of Cultural Theory provides a concise introduction to cultural theory, placing major figures, traditional concepts, and contemporary themes within a sharp conceptual framework.Provides a student-friendly introduction to what can often be a complex field of studyUpdates the first edition in response to reader feedback and to the changing nature of the fieldIncludes additional coverage of theorists from the classical period to in...

WINNER of the 2015 ICA Outstanding Book AwardThis path-breaking book explores how solidarity towards vulnerable others is performed in our media environment. It argues that stories where famine is described through our own experience of dieting or or where solidarity with Africa translates into wearing a cool armband tell us about much more than the cause that they attempt to communicate. They tell us something about the ways in which we imagine the world outside o...

Introducing Sociological Theory offers a comprehensive, navigable and highly readable introduction to the main schools of thought in sociology, along with the philosophical ideas that underpin them. 8 broad theoretical traditions, or perspectives, are explained helping you to recognize the scope and range of sociological theory and to think sociologically and see the social world in different ways. The author skilfully and revealingly engages with each theoretical perspec...