New Paradigm for Understanding Today's World [Paperback]

• Touraine is one of the leading social thinkers in the world today and many of his books have been published in English.
• In this book Touraine presents a new theoretical framework for understanding the contemporary world. It is a broad theoretical work which seeks to make sense of everyday experience at the beginning of the 21st century.
• This is a major new theoretical work by one of the leading sociologists in the world today.
• A great reference book for those studying sociology and social theory at any level.

Introduction: A New Paradigm

Part One: When We Referred to Ourselves in Social Terms

1 The Break

9/11

Fear

A world in decline

Where is meaning to be found?

2 Globalization

From the post-war states to the globalization of the economy

An extreme capitalism

The rupturing of societies

Alter-globalism

From society to war

A globalized world

3 Europe: A State without a Nation

The decline of the national state

Is European unity possible?

The EU and the USA

The European state

European powerlessness

The absence of a European consciousness

4 The End of Societies

The social representation of societies

The European mode of modernization

Society and modernity

The crisis of representation

The three deaths of European society

The irruption of democracy

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