Books in the Key Ideas series

With the increasing number of moral panics in recent years triggered by incidents such as the Bulger case and the spread of AIDS, this book examines their wider significance particularly in terms of the functioning of the mass media.

In this extensively revised and restructured new edition of 'Globalization', Malcolm Waters provides a user-friendly introduction to the main arguments about the globalisation process.

Drawing on resources in classical and contemporary social theory, and working through case studies of Britain, the United States and Japan, Woodiwiss provides a general sociological account of the development of human rights.

Most significant problems of contemporary life have their origins in nihilism and its paradoxical logic, which is simultaneously destructive to and constitutive of society. This book develops a systematic account of nihilism in its four main forms: escapism, radical nihilism, passive nihilism and 'perfect nihilism.'

Anthony Cohen explores the concept of community in social theory.

This book presents a clear and comprehensive overview of citizenship, exploring its historical and conceptual origins, its contemporary dilemmas and its emancipatory potential for the future.

Investigating the social factors that make up the knowledge of children and childhood, this book aims to promote a greater appreciation of this stage of life. Viewing childhood from a social constructionist perspective, it gives a framework through which to understand private attitudes and public policy in relation to the child.