David Beer

Nicholas Gane

Digital media are rapidly changing the world in which we live. This book addresses six key concepts that are pivotal for understanding the impact of new media on contemporary society and culture: information, network, interface, interactivity, archive and simulation. Each concept is considered through a range of examples.

The Key Concepts

New Media

The basic concept of society has come under attack - political acts, critical theory, new media and even history itself have undermined what we think of as the social. The Future of Social Theory brings together new interviews with the world's leading social theorists on what society means today: Zygmunt Bauman, John Urry, Saska Sassen, Bruno Latour, Scott Lash, Nikolas Rose, Judith Butler and Francoise Verges. The topics covered include: liquid modernization and the individualization of the society; the shift towards global forms of chaos and complexity; the displacement of the social into global city networks; the shift away from a theory of the social to a theory of space; the transformation of society with the rise of new technology; the continuing influence of historical forms of political power; society as a gendered idea; and society as a product of Empire.

The Future of Social Theory

Mike Gane

Umberto Eco is arguably best known for his novel The Name of the Rose yet there is much more to him than simply being an exemplary novelist. Semiotician, literary and media critic, philosopher and historian, Umberto Eco is one of the greatest and most original thinkers working today. He has contributed to many fields and is one of a handful of writers who can claim to be a key public intellectual in Europe. This has made it extraordinarily difficult for commentators to place him in the Western tradition of social thought. This is especially so, because there is a playful quality in his work, exemplified above all by his use of skills and techniques from semiotics, the philosophy of language, medieval life and thought and aesthetics and techniques that he employed to great affect in The Name of the Rose. He has also made seminal contributions in thinking on postmodern developments in culture and epistemology. This collection provides an unrivalled overview of his writings and includes a selection from considerations of his contribution to semiotics, literary theory, philosophy of language, the analysis of fiction and narratives, his novels, his critiques of mass culture and communication and his contributions to the theory of laughter, politics and ethics. The result is the most complete assessment of Eco's contribution and its impact on social, cultural and critical thought. Mike Gane is Professor of Sociology at the University of Loughborough; Nicholas Gane is Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Communications at Brunel University, London.

Umberto Eco

Roland Barthes (1915-80) was one of the leading post-structuralist authors of his day as well as making many important contributions to semiotics. These three volumes provide a complete overview of his achievement. They provide an unparalleled critical assessment of his work in semiotics, structuralism and post-structuralism. The development and contradictions in Barthes' thought are addressed and elucidated. His role in 'the cultural turn' is pinpointed. What emerges most powerfully, is a picture of a culturally engaged critic of contemporary life, who was prepared to make radical innovations in theory and method in order to illuminate his quest for truth. These volumes provide a high water mark in Barthes' studies and are indispensable for any serious scholar interested in the sociology of culture and the cultural turn.

Nicholas Gane

About

Books

Join the club