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Polity is one of the world's leading publishers in sociology and social theory. We publish many of the key scholars in the field and our list has earned a reputation for innovative, cutting-edge publications. We also have a strong list of textbooks in sociology which are widely adopted at colleges and universities around the world.
Our authors include internationally renowned sociologists and social thinkers such as Pierre Bourdieu, Anthony Giddens, Ulrich Beck, Jürgen Habermas, Theodor W. Adorno, Zygmunt Bauman, Walter Benjamin, Norbert Elias, Jacques Derrida, Cornelius Castoriadis, André Gorz, Stuart Hall, Raewyn Connell, Jeffrey Weeks, Ann Oakley, Michèle Barrett, Lynne Segal, Nancy Fraser, Seyla Benhabib, Michael Mann, Anthony Smith, Claus Offe, Gøsta Esping-Andersen, Immanuel Wallerstein, Stan Cohen, Ray Pahl, Harold Garfinkel and Clifford Geertz.
Visit our highlights page for more information on our new and forthcoming general interest titles.
Giddens: Sociology 6th Edition
Praise for previous editions
“Giddens's book is composed with verve and panache, yet it is extraordinarily learned and reliable. It really is fun to read ... We need to applaud Giddens for a superb text as well as his singular contribution to the standing of sociology today.”
Frank Webster, Times Higher Education Supplement
Buy Sociology and Sociology: Introductory Readings in a discounted bundle
Giddens and Sutton: Sociology: Introductory Readings 3rd edition
The third edition of this introductory reader in sociology has been thoroughly restructured, and fully revised and updated to offer a stimulating and wide-ranging set of readings for students approaching sociology for the first time. It will be an essential resource for anyone who wishes to engage with the scope of sociological thought today.
Jones, Bradbury & Le Boutillier: Introducing Social Theory 2ndEdition
"An excellent primer for both undergraduate and postgraduate students interested in the theoretical and philosophical dimensions of the discipline. The work provides a clear and comprehensive account of the main positions and controversies in social theory. It will be required reading on university courses."
Anthony King, University of Exeter
Platt: Understanding Inequalities
"With razor sharp intellect, Platt explodes the myth of a classless, affluent, equitable British society by deconstructing the politically charged realities of decreasing social mobility, child poverty, and the growing divide between rich and poor. No politician, journalist, policy maker, academic or student who cares about social justice should be without this authoritative book."
Heidi Safia Mirza, Institute of Education, University of London
Martell: The Sociology of Globalization
"Globalization has become a central concept for understanding contemporary social processes and global crises. Martell has written an extremely lucid and comprehensive sociology of globalization that offers a welcome focus on political and economic issues whilst encompassing its cultural dimension. This book enriches our critical understanding of globalization."
Larry Ray, University of Kent
Brown & Schafft: Rural People and Communities in the 21st Century
Rural people continue to play important social, economic and environmental roles at a time in which societies are rapidly urbanizing. This book examines major changes affecting rural communities at the start of the twenty-first century, and explores policies developed to ameliorate problems or enhance opportunities.
Lune: Understanding Organizations
"The most comprehensive, historical, and accessible treatment of the social science of organizations available now. It asks insightful questions, provides theoretically informed answers, will inspire students to study organizations and lay readers to critically evaluate the organizations surrounding us."
Kevin T. Leicht, University of Iowa
Steven Vallas: Work
"A leading sociologist in the fields of work, organizations, economy, and social theory, Vallas provides an innovative, erudite, exhaustive, and lucidly written synthesis and depiction of the evolution of research in the sociology of work. Linking the discipline to important economic and political developments of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the book illumines pathways in this dynamic and central field of sociology for students, scholars and practitioners who are researching, teaching, and humanizing the world of work."
Daniel B. Cornfield, Vanderbilt University
Frederick Wherry : The Culture of Markets
"Fred Wherry elegantly introduces students to the cultural approach in economic sociology. Wearing his theoretical sophistication lightly, Wherry provides dozens of pithy illustrations from cutting-edge empirical research. This classy essay is deceptively simple. It provides the first synthetic construction of the cultural-economic field."
Jeffrey C. Alexander, Yale University
Erickson, Bradley, Stephenson and Williams: Business in Society
"This vibrant, thought-provoking book brings the insights of social science to business studies. With accessible language and illustrations, it introduces classical and contemporary theories and topical issues such as the environment, neoliberal policy, changing technologies and global interdependencies. It is one of the most comprehensive and imaginative contributions to the study of work, employment and society that I have read."
Anna Pollert, Bristol Business School
Rahman and Jackson: Gender and Sexuality
"The book offers a thorough overview both of long-standing debates around gender and sexuality, and of current issues. Not the least of its merits is its international focus, and it will prove invaluable for students exploring the diverse pattern of sexuality and gender in an age of globalization. The authors are at the cutting edge of their subject, and so is the book."
Jeffrey Weeks, London South Bank University
Yang: Asian Immigration to the United States
This comprehensive book offers a unique and much-needed examination of Asian immigration to the United States, focusing on three central questions: What causes Asian immigration to the United States? How do post-1965 Asian immigrants impact American society? How do new Asian immigrants and their children adapt to American life?
Ronald Mize and Grace Peña Delgado: Latino Immigrants in the United States
"In this clear and dramatic account of the challenges and triumph of Latino immigration in the US, Mize and Delgado reveal the dramatic and fascinating dialectic between politics and identity, the national and the local, and an indiscriminate Nativism and the 'Latinidad' it ironically helped to engender."
Lawrence Taylor, Author of Tunnel Kids
and Vice-President for International Affairs at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth
Wells: Childhood in Global Perspective
"In this ambitious but accessible text, Karen Wells analyses the social forces that contribute to the construction of childhood in today's global world. This book deserves a wide audience; it is smart and places the sociology of childhood at the centre of contemporary global politics and analysis."
Steven Seidman, State University of New York at Albany
Blaikie: Designing Social Research 2nd Edition
"The revised edition of this valuable guide to designing research in the social sciences maintains its hallmark qualities: it is clearly organized yet broad ranging, and identifies the key issues which all robust social science research must confront while sharpening its approach to some of the most intractable and perennial research design questions. Above all, it is readable, versatile and intuitively applicable."
Randall Germain, Carleton University
A series of innovative and lively short introductions to the main areas of the social sciences and humanities.
Connell: Gender 2nd edition
"Presenting the leading edge of gender theory and research, the second edition of Gender is the smartest and most compelling introduction to critical gender studies that is currently available. Connell remains a steady and reliable guide for the student of gender and society."
Steven Seidman, State University of New York at Albany
Henry: Social Deviance
"Stuart Henry has done a remarkable job of introducing the student to what is perhaps the most intriguing subject in the undergraduate curriculum – the sociology of deviance. Pick up this book and read it. It is a brisk, engaging, and informative account of normative violations and their aftermath."
Erich Goode, SUNY, Stony Brook
Polity’s new series of short volumes in the Economy and Society series provide sophisticated and engaging insight into key topics in economic sociology.
Duina: Institutions and the Economy
"I have been waiting a long time for a book like this. It's a fantastic overview of the institutionalist approach to economic sociology - the best discussion yet about how institutions affect the economy at the individual, organizational, national, and international levels. It is beautifully written and loaded with great examples. Who would have thought that paying a toll on a highway or buying a shirt could shed so much light on how institutions affect economic behavior? This is a wonderful book for any course in economic sociology. But I hope that organizational theorists, political scientists, and economists read it too. There is much to learn here for everyone".
John L. Campbell, Dartmouth College and Copenhagen Business School
Aspers: Markets
Our lives have gradually become dominated by markets. This insightful book brings together existing knowledge on markets from sociology, economics and anthropology, and cuts to the core of understanding what markets are, how they function, and the role they play in social life.
Bandelj and Sowers: Economy and State
"Bandelj and Sowers’ sweeping overview shows how governments structure all aspects of the economy, large and small. Everyone interested in understanding economic behavior should read this book."
Frank Dobbin, Harvard University
Carruthers and Ariovich: Money and Credit
"Few books succeed in being both scholarly studies and textbooks at one and the same time, but Money and Credit is an exception. It is likely to become the standard work in the sociology of money and credit."
Richard Swedberg, Cornell University
Centeno and Cohen: Global Capitalism
"With deep insight and sparkling illustrations, Centeno and Cohen offer a comprehensive overview of how global capitalism works: both its promise and threats. Read it to understand our past, present, and future economic worlds."
Viviana A. Zelizer, Princeton University
Polity’s new series of short volumes in the Political Sociology series provide sophisticated and engaging insight into key topics at the intersection of sociology and political science.
Johnston: States and Social Movements
"This book is an outstanding synthesis of a diverse and difficult body of work. It is unique among surveys of social movements in balancing coverage of protests in both democratic and authoritarian societies, in its even-handed treatment of the relations between globalization and protest, and in giving substantial and well-thought out space to revolutions."
Jack A. Goldstone, George Mason University
Béland: What is Social Policy?
From housing, pensions and family benefits, to health care, unemployment insurance and social assistance, the welfare state is a key aspect of our lives. This book provides a concise political and sociological introduction to social policy, helping readers to grasp the nature of social programs and the political struggles surrounding them.
Lachmann: States and Power
States over the past 500 years have become the dominant institutions on Earth, exercising vast authority over the economic well-being, health and welfare of citizens. This concise and engaging book explains how power became centralized in states and traces the contested struggles by which subjects began to see themselves as citizens of nations.
Urry: Climate Change and Society
"A tour de force! Urry shows the centrality of the social - both to comprehend the meaning of the carbon catastrophe that besets us and, thereby, to discover the possibility of a post-carbon society. Essential reading for all"
Michael Burawoy, University of California, Berkeley
Browne: Introduction to Sociology 4th Edition
"Ken Browne's text is an excellent introduction to sociology for students of all ages and aptitudes - clearly structured, well-organized and written in a way that is both informative and accessible. With the 4th edition, the best GCSE Sociology text just got even better..."
Chris Livesey, Sociology Central
Browne: Sociology for A2 AQA
"This is an excellent textbook which marries new and classic sociological theories and research in a very clear way, saving teachers time and making it interesting for students to understand - just what you would expect from the well-respected Ken Browne."
Christine Garnock-Jones, Silverdale School
Browne: Sociology for AS AQA 3rd Edition
"This latest edition contains all the magical ingredients of its predecessors. The text simultaneously stimulates and enthuses students with thought-provoking and accessible material, and is a welcome arrival in light of the recent specification changes."
Gerry Czerniawski, University of East London
