Free PDF Understanding Society: A Survey of Modern Social Theory, by Douglas Mann
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Understanding Society: A Survey of Modern Social Theory, by Douglas Mann
Free PDF Understanding Society: A Survey of Modern Social Theory, by Douglas Mann
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Understanding Society: A Survey of Modern Social Theory, Second Edition, introduces the major streams of contemporary social theory and traces their evolution to the present day. This edition features an entirely new chapter on three recent schools of thought centering on the somatic (bodily) aspects of personal identity--race, gender, and queer theory. In addition, a series of fictional vignettes and "flashbacks" throughout illuminate the topics in each chapter and help students make connections between social theory and real-world issues. Using a contemporary and accessible writing style that will engage readers, the book features current debates on such topics as communication, popular culture, the global village, corporatism, and globalization.
- Sales Rank: #1747717 in Books
- Published on: 2011-01-05
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 6.80" h x .80" w x 8.80" l, 1.45 pounds
- Binding: Paperback
- 536 pages
Review
"[Understanding Society] addresses a vast range of thought without simplifying. The author's active engagement with the various thinkers, traditions, and historical shifts is evident on every page. . . an outstanding resource and, as far as I am aware, by far the best book of its kind available." --Kimberly Mair, University of Lethbridge
"The author takes seriously the need to engage students and make theory meaningful in the context of their everyday lives. . . Written in a language that is very accessible, demonstrating that theory need not be dry and humourless." --Susan Robertson, University of Saskatchewan
About the Author
Douglas Mann is Assistant Professor in the faculty of information and media studies at the University of Western Ontario. In addition to authoring two editions of Understanding Society, Mann has published Structural Idealism: A Theory of Social and Historical Explanation (WLU Press, 2002), Philosophy: a New Introduction (Nelson, 2005), and dozens of academic and newspaper articles. His main research and teaching areas include social and political theory, pop culture, music, and science fiction.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful.
Understanding Society: A Review
By Douglas Mann
I'm the author of the above book. Since it wouldn't be right for me to toot my own horn, I'll let someone else do it for me: what follows is a verbatim report from an reviewer sent to Oxford University Press in late 2008 - I've cut only a single paragraph that refers to suggested revisions for the second edition (due to be published in 2011). The reviewer has given OUP permission to reprint this.
"Understanding Society. A Survey of Modern Social Theory by Douglas Mann achieves both breadth and depth in unpacking the foundations and conflations of social theory from the 1920s to present, while still effectively situating these within theoretical paradigms and concerns set out in the classics. From individual sections that follow major historical tensions within functionalism and materialism through to sections such as Structuralism, Semiotics and Post-structuralism; Postmodernism: Time, Space, and Culture, to sections that address contemporary social issues, such as the section on Globalization, McDonaldization, and Corporatism, this textbook is thorough, timely, and relevant.
What is more is that Mann's logic for inclusion in this text makes it a strikingly original resource, as it offers surprising yet accurate twists on some of the sections. For instance, the section on critical theory gives attention to the vital role of situationist practices intrinsic to the development of the theory addressed within the section. The whole of the book is foregrounded with an introduction to social theory that acquaints students with the necessary historical conceptual frameworks, debates, concerns, and conditions relevant to the emergence of modernity and the discipline itself. This introductory section deals with questions such as: "What is modernity?"; "What is society?"; and it outlines different forms of explanatory emphasis with respect to the agency-structure tension as a way of initially mapping out some of the theories that follow in the textbook. The substantive depth that Mann is able to establish and maintain in such a vast project is quite a remarkable achievement.
In the construction of Understanding Society, Mann makes a self-conscious effort to exceed the state of the discipline and to propose something more for the classroom and for the student of social theory. One of the things that I find exciting about this text is that it concretely acknowledges that the discipline is indebted to many theorists not belonging to the discipline in the strict sense. A major strength of this textbook is that it consistently refuses to be confined by territorial boundaries. The theorists covered reflect well the significant influences on theoretical scholarship today. Through the selections for this textbook, Mann responds to the historical conditions specific to our time and with particular attention to the demands and implications brought about by the rapid changes in technology and communications and the face of global politics in a post-Cold War context. The inclusiveness of this text is reflected in Mann's emphasis on social theory rather than on sociological theory. While abstractly, this description of the textbook risks giving the implicit suggestion that the range of thought may lend to a surface treatment of the theories covered, however, engagement with the text will demonstrate that this is not the case. In fact, the sections and sub-sections are diligent, comprehensive, and challenging.
One of the ways in which Mann manages the ambitious scope of Understanding Society is to give more detailed attention to one or two of a theorist's key works. This approach in the text's construction is exceedingly successful and the discussions are still well situated to take up central themes and concepts not necessarily associated directly with the emphasized texts. Further, in terms of the potential for incorporating this textbook in a course with primary source reading materials, the emphasis on key works would facilitate a course design that includes key works in the reading schedule. In taking this approach to its overall organization, Mann's textbook may look different from other textbooks but, by giving attention to the conceptual frameworks that are actually being drawn from within the discipline, it better prepares students to read and to understand current and historical scholarship.
Throughout the text, Mann often addresses the historical mutual articulations between art and culture and social thought; these are relationships that are quite important, they are arguably inextricable to the development of social thought. The significance of acknowledging such interrelationships cannot be overstated for instructors who are concerned with, on the one hand, the study of social theory not as a completed object but as something living, active, and intertwined with social practices and, on the other hand, not just the content of theories but the forms that they can take, which is a distinction that enables students' own emerging practice of theorizing.
Understanding Society strikes a balance between being both readable and challenging. Vital terminology is introduced and deployed throughout the textbook in a way that is understandable but still demands some effort from students. Unlike many textbooks, Understanding Society does not level down the language or the degree of challenge intrinsic to the concrete examples it uses to illustrate complex ideas. The textbook appropriately anticipates intellectually interested and dynamic students of social theory. Each section concludes with a short bibliography that can operate as a point of departure that may effectively facilitate student research in conjunction with instructor-provided written assignments requiring further research. The bibliographies will also serve the interested and motivated student's independent study beyond the confines of the course structure. There is a set of approximately twenty study questions at the conclusion of each section. The questions get at the key ideas and their interrelationships, while encouraging students to think about concepts through external and concrete examples from the sphere or everyday life. The questions are clear and well composed for exam preparation but many of them could also be used to prompt reflective writing assignments. Another useful set of features in this textbook is the images, tables, and figures that spatially and visually represent complex interrelationships expressed in some of the theoretical works covered.
Understanding Society is an outstanding teaching and learning resource that represents an extraordinary amount of work, synthesis, and insight. It is a comprehensive and dynamic textbook that will engage students in the study of contemporary social theory and allow instructors much flexibility in their course design."
By the way, some of the information listed above is wrong: the title is Understanding Society: A Survey of Modern Social Theory; and it contains 12 chapters, not 10.
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