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This book argues that the foundations of sociology - key concepts which are necessary to all sociology, from whatever perspective - have become taken-for-granted and require re-assessment. Focusing on society, culture, the individual, and collectivity, the author builds a powerful case for an overhaul of these basic concepts, offering a unified model of the subject matter of sociology as 'the human world' - understood as individual, interactional and institutional orders - which is part of the 'natural world'. Written in a straightforward and accessible style, this is a powerful restatement of the value of sociological sense as a necessary critique of common sense, and its relevance to an audience far beyond academia

Using as its centre piece a Royal Visit, this article draws upon ethnography from a small town in Jutland, Denmark, to examine the role of the monarchy in Danish society. By focussing upon performance, and upon the management of the local cultural contradictions of equality and hierarchy, and modernity and tradition, the delicate balance between the sacred and the profane in the legitimation of monarchy in social democratic Denmark is explored. Comparisons are drawn with the United Kingdom monarchy, arguing that there are no transferrable lessons for the House of Windsor from the relatively successful adaptation to modernity of the House of Glucksborg.

Clarifies current conceptualizations of forms of ethnicity & race, drawing on a discussion by several scholars. It is suggested that thinking about race, ethnicity, & the relation between them would benefit from three theoretical moves: (1) reconciliation of the situationist view of ethnicity put forward by Frederik Barth (1969) with the primordialist view of culture offered by Clifford Geertz (1973) to produce an understanding of ethnicity as a primary or first order dimension of human experience that is ubiquitous, yet compelling & immediate; (2) differentiation between internal processes of group identification & external processes of social categorization; & (3) differentiation between social identities & their attendant ideologies of identification. It is argued that the third theoretical move opens a neglected area of inquiry -- ethnic ideologies -- which are neither racist nor nationalist in their primary orientation. D. M. Smith

Abstract.Starting from the proposition that nationalism is bound up with ethnicity, Barth's view that ethnicity is defined by actors and that ethnicities are situationally variable is drawn upon to argue that narrow definitions of nationalism – as a specifically modem political ideology which is bound up with the nation‐state – overstate their case. Instead of nationalism we should be talking about nationalisms, which can only be understood in their local and historical contexts. An open definition of nationalism is offered, which permits abstraction and generalisation while accommodating empirical heterogeneity. Material from Wales, Northern Ireland and Denmark is presented to illustrate some of the differences between local nationalisms.