Books by Jeffrey C. Alexander

A collection of papers which were written for a conference on the topic of "Social progress and sociological theory: movements, forces and ideas at the end of the 20th century".

Theorist Clifford Geertz's influence extends far beyond Anthropology. This volume reflects the breadth of his influence, looking at Geertz as a theorist rather than as an anthropologist. To date there has been no impartial, comprehensive, and authoritative work published on this critical figure.

In this collaboratively authored work, five distinguished sociologists develop an ambitious theoretical model of "e;cultural trauma"e;-and on this basis build a new understanding of how social groups interact with emotion to create new and binding understandings of social responsibility. Looking at the "e;meaning making process"e; as an open-ended social dialogue in which strikingly different social narratives vie for influence, they outline a strongly constructivist approach to trauma and apply this theoretical model in a series of extensive case studies, including the Nazi Holocaust, slavery in the United States, and September 11, 2001.