Sociology in Post-Normal Times

(Hardback)

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Description

The Covid-19 pandemic and the disruptions of climate change are features of post-normal times. In Sociology in Post-Normal Times, Charles Thorpe contends that the modern project of creating normalcy within the nation state has broken down. Integral to this is sociology, which is the science of social reform. Drawing from the work of seminal theorists such as Zygmunt Baumann and Anthony Giddens, Thorpe contends that sociology's society is no longer viable because globalization has put an end to social reform, thus the assumptions and goals of sociology must be left behind in order to create a new global humanity. In the face of the pandemic and climate change, Sociology in Post-Normal Times demands no less than the birth of a global humanity beyond nation states as the precondition for human survival.

Reviews

Charles Thorpe has woven together Marxist critiques of neoliberal society and radical critiques of sociology to account for the failure of American sociology since Gouldner to deal with emerging issues, such as social and policy confusion, the rise of the predatory state, elite disengagement in favor of globalization, and the disempowerment of the middle and working class. Instead, sociology has chosen to contribute to the internal Balkanization of American society that facilitates these trends. This book is an intense engagement with issues which sociology has turned away from and the issue of what sociology should be.

Author Bio

Charles Thorpe is professor of sociology at the University of California, San Diego.