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"In this book Jeffrey Alexander develops the view that cultural sociology and ?cultural pragmatics? are vital for understanding the structural turbulence and political possibilities of contemporary social life. Central to his approach is a new model of social performance that combines elements from both the theatrical avant-garde and modern social theory. Alexander uses this model to shed new light on a wide range of social actors, movements and events: from Mao, Martin Luther King and Fanon to the Arab Spring and Black Lives Matter; from Marx and Keynes to the Great Recession; from Ayn Rand and Jean-Paul Sartre to Obama?s re-election in 2012. These and other examples show that social life is strikingly dramatic. Producing successful dramas determines the outcome of social movements and provides the keys to political power. Modernity has neither eliminated aura nor suppressed authenticity: on the contrary, they are available to social actors who can perform them in compelling ways. This volume further consolidates Alexander?s reputation as one of the most original social thinkers of our time. It will be of great interest to students and scholars in sociology, cultural studies and throughout the social sciences and humanities"--

The limits of one-dimensional theory are strikingly revealed in the schools that the founders of the major sociological traditions established. In this volume Max Weber is presented as the theorist who laid out new starting points and the author considers his work as a response, in part, to the idealist tradition which (in Volume 2), he maintains that Durkheim represents. As Weber was less able to avoid ambiguity, the author examines the weaknesses and efforts at 'paradigm revision'.

In this volume the author maintains that sociology must learn to combine the insights of both Durkheim and Marx and that it can only do so on the presuppositional ground that Weber set forth. Alexander maintains that the idealist and materialist traditions must be transformed into analytic dimensions of multidimensional and synthetic theory. This volume focusses on the writing of Talcott Parsons, the only modern thinker who can be considered a true peer of the classical founders, and examines his own profoundly ambivalent attempt to carry out this analytic transformation.

This volume challenges prevailing understanding of the two great founders of sociological thought. In a detailed and systematic way the author demonstrates how Marx and Durkheim gradually developed the fundamental frameworks for sociological materialism and idealism. While most recent interpreters of Marx have placed alienation and subjectivity at the centre of his work, Professor Alexander suggests that it was the later Marx's very emphasis on alienation that allowed him to avoid conceptualizing subjectivity altogether. In Durkheim's case, by contrast, the author argues that such objectivist

Cover -- Title Page -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Beer's Evolution into a Japanese Commodity -- 1 Foreign Influences: The Origins of Japan's Beer Brewing Industry, 1868-1906 -- 2 Keeping Up Appearances: Maintaining Beer's German Authenticity, 1906-36 -- 3 Brewing Self-Sufficiency: Beer, Empire, and the Wartime Command Economy, 1937-45 -- 4 "The Taste of Home": Beer as Postwar Japanese Commodity, 1945-72 -- 5 Learning from Japan: "Orion Beer" and Okinawan Consumer Identity, 1945-72 -- 6 Indigenous Brews: Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Beer's Continuing Evolution since the 1970s -- Conclusion: Biiru no Nihonka - The "Japanization" of Beer -- Appendix: Data on Japan's Beer Brands and Their Manufacturers, 1869-1949 -- Glossary -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index.

A collection of original articles that explore social aspects of the phenomenon of icon. Having experienced the benefits and realized the limitations of so called 'linguistic turn', sociology has recently acknowledged a need to further expand its horizons

"Jeffrey C. Alexander examines what was new about Egypt's Spring revolution. Why was it so compelling to watch, and what made it so effective and does it have implications for democratic movements internationally. Using international news reports and translations of the social media pages that brought Egyptians flocking onto Tahrir Square, Alexander uncovers the narrative of a revolution that was scripted by its organizers, as both a moral statement and a media and digital statement. He sees it as a theatrical performance, designed to reveal to the key protagonists what a civil, egalitarian society might look like, by showing it in microcosm on the Square. Ultimately, he argues, it was the sight of the protestor's behaviour that swayed the army, and brought about regime change. From the author of the widely acclaimed 2010 book: The Performance of Politics: Obama's Victory and the Democratic Struggle for Power, this powerful intervention into the debate on the Arab Spring is a must-read for those curious about how social media are fundamentally changing global politics."--Bloomsbury Publishing

This book is available as open access through the Bloomsbury Open Access programme and is available on www.bloomsburycollections.com. Jeffrey C. Alexander examines what was new about Egypt's Spring revolution. Why was it so compelling to watch, and what made it so effective and does it have implications for democratic movements internationally. Using international news reports and translations of the social media pages that brought Egyptians flocking onto Tahrir Square, Alexander uncovers the narrative of a revolution that was scripted by its organizers, as both a moral statement and a media and digital statement. He sees it as a theatrical performance, designed to reveal to the key protagonists what a civil, egalitarian society might look like, by showing it in microcosm on the Square. Ultimately, he argues, it was the sight of the protestor's behaviour that swayed the army, and brought about regime change. From the author of the widely acclaimed 2010 book: The Performance of Politics: Obama's Victory and the Democratic Struggle for Power, this powerful intervention into the debate on the Arab Spring is a must-read for those curious about how social media are fundamentally changing global politics.

Jeffrey Alexander, a preeminent figure in social theory, offers here a new way of looking at democratic struggles for political power, discussing what happened, and why, during Barack Obama's remarkable run for president. Illustrated with vivid examples drawn from a range of media coverage, participant observation at a Camp Obama, and interviews with leading political journalists, Alexander argues that images, emotion, and performance are the central features of the battle for power. Winning depends on creating images so that candidates can become heroes. Demography, strategy, money, and issue