Power in the 21st century : conversations with John A. Hall / Michael Mann.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mann, Michael, 1942-

Contributor:

Hall, John A., 1949-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Power (Social sciences).

Physical Description:

179 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; Malden, MA : Polity Press, 2011.

Summary:

Michael Mann is one of the most influential sociologists writing today. His three volume work The Sources of Social Power, the third volume of which has just been completed, has transformed our way of thinking about power and has rewritten the history of human societies. No one interested in understanding how the modern world was shaped, how we got to where we are today, and where we're likely to be heading can afford to ignore this modern classic. Michael Mann is, as John Hall aptly describes him, "a Max Weber for our times."

In this new book Michael Mann reflects on the meaning of his project as a whole, both as a contribution to social theory and as a guide to the options and constraints that face the contemporary world now and in the near future. He gives sustained attention to the situation of the United States, the nature of the challenge that may come from China, the unrestrained and perhaps unrestrainable power of finance and the looming crisis of environmental degradation. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part 1 Powers in Motion 9

Chapter 1 Capitalism 11

Chapter 2 Militarism 27

Chapter 3 Political Power 41

Chapter 4 An End to Ideology? 64

Chapter 5 Patterns, Cages, Interstices, and a Dialectic 70

Part 2 The Nature of Social Change 79

Chapter 6 States, Strong and Weak 81

Chapter 7 Group Agency 107

Chapter 8 Outcomes 119

Chapter 9 Contingencies of Modernity 132

Chapter 10 Our Looming Crisis 151.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

0745653227

9780745653228

0745653235

9780745653235

OCLC:

682095524