Concepts of the Self (Key Concepts) - Hardcover

Elliott, Anthony

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0745623670 ISBN 13: 9780745623672

Publisher: Polity Press, 2001

Synopsis

• New edition of a successful key concepts book.
• Clearly written introductory text by an internationally renowned author.
• Has been fully revised and updated in the light of adopter feedback.
• The book is updated throughout, with new material in particular on emergent trends in the area such as Zizek and globalization.
• Adopted at levels 1 and 2 on courses on identity, the self and social theory.

About this title

Review:

This great little book contains everything you wished but did not dare to ask about the meaning of the self one of the thorniest, most contentious, exciting and enraging issues of our times and our lives in these times. To the questions you might have asked or are likely to ask yet, Elliott offers answers that are carefully weighted, balanced and realistic drawing from the vast treasury of sociological insights and moving freely between the variety of complementary even if ostensibly adversary perspectives. Elliott′s book is good to read, to learn and to think with. It helps to understand what it means to have a self and to be oneself an understanding that itself is a foremost condition of both. –– Zygmunt Bauman, Universities of Leeds and Warsaw

‘Anthony Elliott has done it again! No one writing today has quite the range and depth of understanding of self–theory. Elliott writes with confidence, clarity, and great care of all the prominent concepts of self. And no one I know can write so reliably of the classic theorists in the same concise book as the newest queer and postmodern ones. No reader, whether student or scholar, will want to be without this brilliant book.’ – Professor Charles Lemert, Wesleyan University (USA)

‘This is an engaging book. In it Anthony Elliott reassures us that the self is not only alive and well but full of imagination creativity too.’ – Professor Janet Sayers, University of Kent, Canterbury

Synopsis:

This new and updated edition of "Concepts of the Self" remains the most lively, lucid and compelling introduction to contemporary controversies over the self and self-identity in the social sciences. Written by an author of international reputation, the book concentrates mainly on the work of social theorists and cultural analysts who have attempted to place the self in relation to psychological processes, social contexts and historical perspectives. Mead, Freud, Goffman, Foucault, Chodorow, Kristeva and Baudrillard are among the figures covered; the new edition also introduces material on iek. Elliott also connects debates about the self directly to identity politics, the sociology of personal relationships and intimacy, and the politics of sexuality. The book focuses upon cultural and political issues, and breaks new ground in integrating interdisciplinary perspectives. In analysing debates about the self, Elliott draws extensively on contemporary social and cultural theory.Among the traditions of thought discussed are symbolic interactionism, modern sociology, post-structuralist thought, feminist and queer theory, psychoanalysis, and postmodernism.

Elliott reviews core concepts of the self through an analysis of several connected themes: the complex relation between self and society, the importance of the interpreting self in social life, the reshaping of processes of self-formation and the changing character of identity politics. The new edition continues to break new ground by introducing compelling, contemporary material on the globalization of the self. "Concepts of the Self" is an accessible and invaluable introductory text for students in the areas of social and political theory, sociology, social psychology, cultural studies and gender studies.

About this edition

• Publisher: Polity Press
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0745623670
• ISBN 13: 9780745623672
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 184