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"Now in its third edition, Anthony Elliott's comprehensive, stylish and accessible introduction continues to be the indispensable guide to social theory. Fully revised and updated, the book examines the major theoretical traditions from the Frankfurt School to posthumanism, and from feminism and post-structuralism to globalization theory and beyond. Classical debates in social theory are given careful appraisal, as are the major contemporary theorists - including Jurgen Habermas, Judith Butler, Anthony Giddens, Pierre Bourdieu, Julia Kristeva, Slavoj Zizek, Manuel Castells, Ulrich Beck, Zygmunt Bauman, Shoshana Zuboff and Bernard Stiegler. This edition includes a new chapter on the digital revolution, with consideration of how digital technologies in general and artificial intelligence in particular are resahaping societies. Like its predecessors, the third edition of Contemporary Social Theory combines stylish exposition with reflective social critique and original insights. This volume will prove a superb textbook with which to navigate the twists and turns of contemporary social theory as taught in the disciplines of sociology, politics, cultural and media studies and many more"--

"If today students of social theory read Jurgen Habermas, Michael Foucault and Anthony Giddens, then proper regard to the question of culture means that they should also read Raymond Williams, Julia Kristeva and Slavoj Zizek. The second edition of the Routledge Handbook of Social and Cultural Theory is fully revised and updated to provide students, teachers and researchers with a comprehensive, critical guide to the major traditions of thought in social and cultural theory, as well as tracing the complex intellectual connections between these distinct but related approaches to understanding society and culture. The Handbook, edited by acclaimed sociologist Anthony Elliott, develops a powerful argument for bringing together social and cultural theory more systematically than ever before. Key social and cultural theories, ranging from classical approaches to postmodern, psychoanalytic and post-feminist approaches, are drawn together and critically appraised. There are also new chapters on mobilities and migrations, as well as posthumanism. The Handbook written in a clear and direct style will appeal to a wide audience of students and scholars. The extensive references and sources will direct students to areas of further study"--

Cover -- Half Title -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface to the third edition -- Preface to the second edition -- 1 The textures of society -- What is society? -- Society and social theory -- Coping with climate change: Anthony Giddens -- Key themes in contemporary social theory -- Living in the world after Covid-19: addressing the future -- Further questions -- Further reading -- Internet links -- 2 The contemporary relevance of the classics -- The contradictions of modernity: Marx -- Modernity as iron cage: Weber -- Modernity as moral bonds: Durkheim -- Trauma, tragedy and Thanatos: Freud -- Summary points -- Further questions -- Further reading -- Internet links -- 3 The Frankfurt School -- Horkheimer and Adorno: Dialectic of Enlightenment -- Freudian revolution: the uses of psychoanalysis -- Fromm: fear of freedom -- Adorno: The Authoritarian Personality, anti-Semitism and the psychodynmics of modernity -- Written in the stars: Adorno on astrology -- Marcuse: Eros, or one-dimensional futures? -- Utopia and social transformation: Marcuse on libidinal rationality -- Criticisms of Marcuse -- Summary points -- Further questions -- Further reading -- Internet links -- 4 Structuralism -- Saussure and structural linguistics -- Criticisms of Saussure -- The Raw and The Cooked: Lévi-Strauss and structural anthropology -- Roland Barthes: structuralist semiology and popular culture -- Foucault: knowledge, social order and power -- Society and disciplined bodies -- The limits of structuralism: Foucault's History of Sexuality -- Governmentality -- Criticisms of Foucault -- Summary points -- Further questions -- Further reading -- Internet links -- 5 Post-structuralism -- Lacan: the mirror stage and imaginary -- Lacan's reformulation of structuralism: language, symbolic order and the unconscious.

"If today students of social theory read Jurgen Habermas, Michael Foucault and Anthony Giddens, then proper regard to the question of culture means that they should also read Raymond Williams, Julia Kristeva and Slavoj Zizek. The second edition of the Routledge Handbook of Social and Cultural Theory is fully revised and updated to provide students, teachers and researchers with a comprehensive, critical guide to the major traditions of thought in social and cultural theory, as well as tracing the complex intellectual connections between these distinct but related approaches to understanding society and culture. The Handbook, edited by acclaimed sociologist Anthony Elliott, develops a powerful argument for bringing together social and cultural theory more systematically than ever before. Key social and cultural theories, ranging from classical approaches to postmodern, psychoanalytic and post-feminist approaches, are drawn together and critically appraised. There are also new chapters on mobilities and migrations, as well as posthumanism. The Handbook written in a clear and direct style will appeal to a wide audience of students and scholars. The extensive references and sources will direct students to areas of further study"--

The trajectories of social and cultural theory / Anthony Elliott -- Critical theory of the Frankfurt School / Jordan McKenzie -- Structuralism and post-structuralism / Sam Han -- Structuration theories : Giddens and Bourdieu / Anthony Elliott -- Feminist and post-feminist theories / Ann Branaman -- Zygmunt Bauman and social theory / Keith Tester -- Ideology and social and cultural theory / John Cash -- Psychoanalytic social theory / Anthony Elliott -- Social theories of risk / Patrick Brown -- Networks / Thomas Birtchnell -- Globalization theory / Eric L. Hsu -- Cultural and social things : is there a difference? / Charles Lemert -- British cultural theory / Nick Stevenson -- American cultural theory / Sam Han -- Queer theory / Max Kirsch -- The new mobilities paradigm and social theory / Louis Everuss -- Race/ethnicity and social and cultural theory / Anthony Moran -- Media and cultural identity / Nick Stevenson -- The place of space in social and cultural theory / Simon Susen -- Posthumanism / Anthony Elliott.

Cover -- Half Title -- Series -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Preface -- Introduction -- The Turing test and after -- From self-driving cars to space robots: disruptive technology and the digital universe -- The arguments of this book -- 1 The digital universe -- Complex digital systems -- Digital life: theoretical perspectives -- 2 The rise of robotics -- Technology and automation -- The fourth industrial revolution: the sceptics and their critics -- Globalization and offshoring -- Robotics and jobs: where we stand -- 3 Digital life and the self -- The self as information system -- Turkle: narcissism and the new solitude -- Critical remarks -- Containment, storage and digital keys -- 4 Digital technologies and social interaction -- The institutional organization of social interaction: face- to-face and digitally mediated action frameworks -- Bots, talk and co-presence -- Dimensions of the digital revolution: portals, desynchronization, instantaneity -- Digital noise: silence is golden? -- 5 Modern societies, mobility and artificial intelligence -- Automated automobility: the Google car -- New wars, drones and killer robots -- 6 AI and social futures -- Robot intimacy -- Healthcare after AI -- Democracy beyond AI -- AI futures and public policy -- Notes -- Index

In this ground-breaking book, Cambridge-trained sociologist Anthony Elliott argues that much of what passes for conventional wisdom about artificial intelligence is either ill-considered or plain wrong. The reason? The AI revolution is not so much about cyborgs and super-robots in the future, but rather massive changes in the here-and-now of everyday life. In The Culture of AI, Elliott explores how intelligent machines, advanced robotics, accelerating automation, big data and the Internet of Everything impact upon day-to-day life and contemporary societies. With remarkable clarity and insight, Elliott's examination of the reordering of everyday life highlights the centrality of AI to everything we do - from receiving Amazon recommendations to requesting Uber, and from getting information from virtual personal assistants to talking with chatbots. The rise of intelligent machines transforms the global economy and threatens jobs, but equally there are other major challenges to contemporary societies - although these challenges are unfolding in complex and uneven ways across the globe. The Culture of AI explores technological innovations from industrial robots to softbots, and from self-driving cars to military drones - and along the way provides detailed treatments of: The history of AI and the advent of the digital universe; automated technology, jobs and employment; the self and private life in times of accelerating machine intelligence; AI and new forms of social interaction; automated vehicles and new warfare; and, the future of AI. Written by one of the world's foremost social theorists, The Culture of AI is a major contribution to the field and a provocative reflection on one of the most urgent issues of our time. It will be essential reading to those working in a wide variety of disciplines including sociology, science and technology studies, politics, and cultural studies

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of contents -- Contributors -- Acknowledgements -- Part I Theories and Concepts of Celebrity -- 1 Celebrity and contemporary culture: A critical analysis of some theoretical accounts -- Situating celebrity and the rise of celebrity studies -- Celebrity in the frame of globalization, or the cultural logics of fame -- Celebrity culture, self-identity and reinvention -- References -- 2 Celebrity's histories -- Introduction -- The Graphic Revolution: the nineteenth and twentieth centuries -- The Enlightenment and Romanticism: 1750–1850 -- Eighteenth-century print and visual culture -- The theatricalization of society -- A new kind of self -- The feminization of fame -- Early modernity, after the printing press and the Reformation -- Early modern print and visual culture -- Subjectivity, authenticity and the performance of the self -- Theatre, power, market -- If celebrities are like saints, saints are like celebrities -- Conclusion -- References -- 3 Celebrity in the contemporary era -- Some major themes in contemporary celebrity studies -- Emerging themes in the twenty-first century -- Concluding comments: new frontiers -- References -- 4 Postmodern theories of celebrity -- Introduction: classic ideas, contemporary celebrity culture -- Revisiting postmodernism -- Postmodernism, fame and media -- Postmodern celebrity identities revisited -- Brand Kardashian and postmodern commodified celebrity -- Conclusion: postmodernism on E! -- References -- 5 Cultural studies and the politics of celebrity: From powerless elite to celebristardom -- Historical and intellectual development of the field -- Contemporary views on the powerless elite -- Ideology recalibrated -- Enter reflexivity as legitimation -- Hollywood and reflexivity