Read more
Informationen zum Autor Jeffrey Alexander is Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles Klappentext In recent social and political theory the term `civil society' has achieved renewed currency. Traditionally used in a normative or `ideal-type' sense, the term describes a form of social organization - that is simply neither economic nor political - where democracy, liberty and widespread solidarity are essential regulatory concepts. Written from an empirical social-science perspective by some of the world's most important social theorists, this volume is a critical examination of the normative sense of `civil society'. It includes analyses of civil society and democracy, citizenship, race and ethnicity, and post-communism. Zusammenfassung In recent social and political theory the term 'civil society' has achieved renewed currency. This volume offers a critical examination of the normative sense of 'civil society'. It includes analyses of civil society and democracy! citizenship! race and ethnicity! and post-communism. Inhaltsverzeichnis Introduction - Jeffrey C Alexander Civil Society I, II, III: Constructing an Empirical Concept from Normative Controversies and Historical Transformations PART ONE: UNCIVIL HIERARCHIES Banfield¿s Amoral Familism Revisited - Elisa P Reis Implications of High Inequality Structures for Civil Society Between Economic Dissolution and the Return of the Social - Michael Pusey The Contest for Civil Society in Australia Civil Society, Patronage, and Democracy - Luis Roniger Civil Society and Uncivil Organizations - G[um]oran Ahrne PART TWO: BIFURCATING DISCOURSES Citizen and Enemy as Symbolic Classification - Jeffrey C Alexander On the Polarizing Discourse of Civil Society Barbarism and Civility in the Discourses of Fascism, Communism and Democracy - Philip Smith Variations on a Set of Themes The Racial Discourse of Civil Society - Ronald N Jacobs The Rodney King Affair and the City of Los Angeles PART THREE: ARBITRARY FOUNDINGS Neither Faith nor Commerce - David Zaret Printing and the Unintended Origins of English Public Opinion Mistrusting Civility - Piotr Sztompka Predicament of Post-Communist Society The Public Sphere and a European Civil Society - V[ac]ictor P[ac]erez-D[ac]iaz ...
