Ernest Gellner and Contemporary Social Thought

Erscheinungsjahr 2007
ISBN: 978-0-521-70941-5
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 288 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 424 g

Ernest Gellner was a unique scholar whose work covered areas as diverse as social anthropology, analytical philosophy, the sociology of the Islamic world, nationalism, psychoanalysis, East European transformations and kinship structures. Despite this diversity, there is an exceptional degree of unity and coherence in Gellner's work with his distinctly modernist, rationalist and liberal world-view evident in everything he wrote. His central problematic remains constant: understanding how the modern world came into being and to what extent it is unique relative to all other social forms. Ten years after his death, this book brings together leading social theorists to evaluate the significance of Gellner's legacy and to re-examine his central concerns. It corrects many misunderstandings and critically engages with Gellner's legacy to provide a cutting edge contribution to understanding our contemporary post-9/11, global, late modern, social condition.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Male¿evi¿, Sini¿a

Malesevic, Sinisa

Haugaard, Mark

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein Gesellschaftstheorie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: an intellectual rebel with a cause Mark Haugaard and Siniša Maleševic; Part I. Civil Society, Coercion and Liberty: 1. Ernest Gellner on liberty and modernity Alan Macfarlane; 2. Predation and production in European imperialism Michael Mann; 3. Power, modernity and liberal democracy Mark Haugaard; 4. Gellner versus Marxism: a major concern or a fleeting affair? Peter Skalnik; Part II. Ideology, Nationalism and Modernity: 5. Nationalism: restructuring Gellner's theory Nicos Mouzelis; 6. Between the book and the new sword: Gellner, violence and ideology Siniša Maleševic; 7. Ernest Gellner and the multicultural mess Thomas Hylland Eriksen; Part III. Islam, Postmodernism and Gellner's Metaphysic: 8. Islam, Modernity and Science Michael Lessnoff; 9. Truth, reason and the spectre of contingency Kevin Ryan; 10. Gellner's metaphysic John A. Hall.

Über Autor(innen)

Malesevic, Sinisa
Siniša Maleševic is a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science and Sociology at the National University of Ireland, Galway. His recent publications include Identity as Ideology: Understanding Ethnicity and Nationalism (2006), The Sociology of Ethnicity (2004), Ideology, Legitimacy and the New State (2002) and Making Sense of Collectivities (co-edited with Mark Haugaard, 2002).

Haugaard, Mark
Mark Haugaard is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Political Science and Sociology at the National University of Ireland, Galway and was Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence. His recent publications include Power and Ideology (2006), Power: A Reader (2002), and Making Sense of Collectivities (co-edited with Siniša Maleševic, 2002).