{"title":"Jeffrey C. Alexander","description":"\u003cp\u003eJeffrey C. Alexander’s works offer insightful explorations of social and political dynamics, delving into the complexities of public power, social crises, and reparative justice. His writing bridges the worlds of politics and education, presenting nuanced analyses that enrich understanding of contemporary societal challenges.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReaders can expect thought-provoking reflections on the interplay between society and structures of authority, illuminated by a keen sociological perspective. These books engage with the drama of social life, inviting critical thought about how communities navigate conflict and change.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"frontlashbacklash-by-jeffrey-c-alexander-9781509563760","title":"Frontlash\/Backlash","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the aftermath of the Cold War, many societies seemed firmly set on a pathway to cultural re-integration, progressive reform, and democratic government. This didn’t happen. Instead, they have become increasingly polarized, and far-right antidemocratic forces are gaining power. In his new work, Jeffrey Alexander explains why, developing an approach to social change that challenges the faith in progress that underpins much contemporary thinking.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFar from being a smooth movement forward, progressive social change is like a car crash where cars pile up. The greater the movement forward, the greater the reaction to it. Reform movements – like antiracism, feminism, and open immigration – should be understood as \u003ci\u003efrontlash\u003c\/i\u003e movements creating extraordinary tensions. They challenge not only material interests but ideal ones – the taken-for-granted meanings that have made life worth living for those on the traditional side. Angry backlash movements slam on the brakes. They aim not only to halt forward progress, but to move backward, to how things were in the good old days.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe tensions between frontlash and backlash are explosive and destabilizing, challenging the broadly civil solidarity upon which democracy depends. Today we are witnessing a surge of powerful backlash movements in many parts of the world – in the US, in Europe, in India, and elsewhere. Against these onslaughts, the universalizing culture and institutions of democratic civil spheres have so far managed to retain their resilience, but how long can they continue to hold?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46790898942188,"sku":"9781509563760","price":42.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12659853482725.jpg?v=1756977088"},{"product_id":"what-makes-a-social-crisis-by-jeffrey-c-alexander-9781509538256","title":"What Makes a Social Crisis?","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this book \u003cem\u003eJeffrey Alexander\u003c\/em\u003e develops a new sociological theory of social crisis and applies it to a wide range of cases, from the church paedophilia crisis to the #MeToo movement. He argues that crises are triggered not by objective social strains but by the discourse and institutions of the civil sphere.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen strains become subject to the utopian aspirations of the civil sphere, there emerges widespread anguish about social justice and the future of democratic life. Once admired institutional elites come to be represented as perpetrators and the civil sphere becomes legally and organizationally intrusive, demanding repairs in the name of civil purification.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eResisting such repair, institutional elites foment backlash, and a war of the spheres ensues.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis major new work by one of the world’s leading social theorists will be of great interest to students and scholars in sociology, politics, and the social sciences generally.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47455876677868,"sku":"9781509538256","price":37.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781509538256.jpg?v=1774863112"},{"product_id":"civil-repair-by-jeffrey-c-alexander-9781509506453","title":"Civil Repair","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis book challenges the pessimism that has so marked and impoverished social theorising about modern life. Modernity has often been dark and debilitating, but it has also generated hope for a better life and extraordinary reforms and liberations, from the creation of hopeful democracies in the face of dangerous dictatorships to feminist transformations of patriarchy, struggles against imperialism and racial domination, and the stubborn but persistent reconstruction of pivotal institutions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJeffrey Alexander theorises these radical reforms as \u003cem\u003ecivil repairs\u003c\/em\u003e – as efforts to make real the utopian promises of the civil sphere. Ideal civil spheres make stirring commitments to social solidarity, equality, and individual autonomy. Real civil spheres are rent by anti-civil hierarchies of class, gender, race, and religion. Contradictions between real and ideal civil spheres generate social movements for justice, which are not only about challenging power but making new and more solidarising meanings. Civil repair is at once symbolic and institutional. It offers a new way to conceptualise progressive social change.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47460534059244,"sku":"9781509506453","price":42.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781509506453-civil-repair.jpg?v=1774948839"},{"product_id":"obama-power-by-jeffrey-c-alexander-9780745696621","title":"Obama Power","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat is the source of Obama’s power? How is it that, after suffering a humiliating defeat in the 2010 mid-term elections, Obama was able to turn the situation around, deftly outmanoeuvring his opponent and achieving a decisive victory in the November 2012 presidential election?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this short and brilliant book, Jeffrey Alexander and Bernadette Jaworsky argue that neither money nor demography can explain this dramatic turnaround. What made it possible, they show, was cultural reconstruction. Realising he had failed to provide a compelling narrative of his power, the President began forging a new salvation story. It portrayed the Republican austerity budget as a sop to the wealthy, and Obama as a courageous hero fighting for plain folks against the rich. The reinvigorated cultural performance pushed the Tea Party off the political stage in 2011, and Mitt Romney became fodder for the script in 2012. Democrats painted their Republican opponent as a backward-looking elitist, a “Bain-capitalist” whose election would threaten the civil solidarity upon which democracy depends.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eReal-world events can spoil even the most effective script. Obama faced monthly unemployment numbers, the daunting Bin Laden raid, three live debates, and Hurricane Sandy. The clumsiness of his opponent and his own good fortune helped the President, but it was the poise and felicity of his improvisations that allowed him to succeed a second time. Converting events into plot points, the President demonstrated the flair for the dramatic that has made him one of the most effective politicians of modern times.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhile persuasively explaining Obama’s success, \u003cem\u003eObama Power\u003c\/em\u003e also demonstrates a fundamental but rarely appreciated truth about political power in modern democratic societies: namely, that winning power and holding on to it have as much to do with the ability to use symbols effectively and tell good stories as anything else.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47461214159084,"sku":"9780745696621","price":23.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9780745696621-obama-power.jpg?v=1774962189"},{"product_id":"the-drama-of-social-life-by-jeffrey-c-alexander-9781509518135","title":"The Drama of Social Life","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this book, Jeffrey Alexander develops the view that cultural sociology and \"cultural pragmatics\" are vital for understanding the structural turbulence and political possibilities of contemporary social life.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCentral to Alexander’s approach is a new model of social performance that combines elements from both the theatrical avant-garde and modern social theory. He uses this model to shed new light on a wide range of social actors, movements, and events, demonstrating through striking empirical examples the drama of social life. Producing successful dramas determines the outcome of social movements and provides the keys to political power. Modernity has neither eliminated aura nor suppressed authenticity; on the contrary, they are available to social actors who can perform them in compelling ways.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Drama of Social Life\u003c\/em\u003e further consolidates Alexander’s reputation as one of the most original social thinkers of our time. It will be of great interest to students and scholars in sociology and cultural studies as well as throughout the social sciences and humanities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Unknown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47464314700012,"sku":"9781509518135","price":37.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781509518135-the-drama-of-social-life.jpg?v=1775046711"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/jeffrey-c-alexander.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}