Society and Culture
Scarcity and Solidarity
- Bryan S Turner - City University of New York, USA
- Chris Rojek - City, University of London, UK
Sociologists have objected to the rise of cultural studies on the grounds that it produces cultural relativism and lacks a stable research agenda. This book looks at these criticisms and illustrates the relevance of a sociological perspective in the analysis of human practice. The book argues that the classical tradition must be treated as a living tradition, rather than a period piece. It analyzes the fundamental principles of belonging and conflict in society and provides a detailed critical survey of the principal social theories that offer solutions to the challenges of modernism.
`Focusing on the ineradicable vulnerability of embodied and mortal human beings as the main spring of institution-building, and on the condition of scarcity as the postulate of solidarity and the main parameters of human responses to that condition, Turner and Rojek draw a new horizon for sociological inquiry, calling for a radical re-orientation of sociological strategy; by the same token they posit a challenge which no member of the sociological profession may leave unattended - Zygmunt Bauman
`An important and timely contribution. Society and Culture engages crucial debates that are reshaping the core identity and future agenda of sociology. Turner and Rojek start with an insightful reconsideration of Parsons' theory of action, identify the strengths and limits of contemporary projects like those of Giddens and Beck, and offer a valuable new direction for future development' - Craig Calhoun, New York University
