Political Power and Social Theory

As economic stagnation freezes the globe; capitalism is increasingly questioned; war, revolution and political instability unsettles the Middle East; and President Obamas campaign for the Presidency looms, Volume 23 of Political Power and Social Theory reflects on these and related issues. Chapters in this volume discuss the meaning of revolution, the origins of neoliberalism in India, identity formation in a Chicago social movement, the Palestinian National Question, and the Black middle-class in the US. Additionally, in the Scholarly Controversy section, Fred Block questions whether the concept of "capitalism" should be problematized entirely.

This volume of Political Power and Social Theory will be among the first to critically assess the meanings of race and religion in America under the Obama administration, and features controversial chapters by Phil Gorksi of Yale University and Eduardo Bonilla-Silva of Duke University, among others

Political Power and Social Theory is an annual review, committed to advancing our interdisciplinary, critical understanding of the linkages between social relations, political power, and historical development. Alongside peer-reviewed chapters dealing with a diversity of topics, this volume contains a special section on the politics of the new middle class in the global south and post-socialist societies. Over the past few decades, globalization and urbanization have contributed to the development of a newly educated urban middle class around the world, but this new class has been rarely studied. Filling this void, the chapters in this section examine the middle classes in the developing world in areas as diverse as the Middle East, India, South Africa, the former Soviet Union, and Latin America. This is one of the only volumes examining the new urban middle classes in emerging economies. Exploring identity-formation, social change, urbanization and politics among the new middle class, the chapters together offer new insights on this understudied social group and raise provocative questions about politics and social change in the early 21st century around the globe.

Exploring identity-formation, social change, urbanization and politics among the "new middle class" in the global south and post-socialist societies this volume offers new insights on this understudied social group and raises provocative questions about politics and social change in the early 21st century around the globe