Contemporary society

About: Contemporary society is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 3991 publications have been published within this topic receiving 91755 citations.

Terrorism, Risk and International Security: The Perils of Asking 'What If?':

Abstract: In this article, we explore the ways in which cross-disciplinary theories of risk can enable us to grasp salient issues that arise out of the construction, assessment and regulation of terrorism in contemporary society. First, we demonstrate how risk society theory can be utilized to unpack the changing nature of terrorism. Second, deploying Furedi's work on the culture of fear, we show how the discourse of terrorism nestles into a broader politics of risk that is disproportionately directing economic and political policies and encouraging a climate of public anxiety. Third, utilizing the tools of the governmentality perspective, the linkages between measures designed to combat the terrorist threat and authoritarian domestic law and order policies are elucidated. We go on to analyse the contents and practices of the `war on terror', arguing that the offensive and pre-emptive strategies that it legitimates are wedded to a creeping shift in risk assessment from retrospective estimations of harm to an outloo...

Transnational civil society

Abstract: In this chapter, I argue that the concept of transnational civil society is less a descriptive or analytical term and more a political project. Indeed, I go further and suggest that, in the post-Cold War period, the fundamental political cleavage, which could define the way in which we view contemporary society and the way in which we address a whole range of problems, is likely to be less the traditional left/right divide but rather the division between those who stand for internationalist, Europeanist, democratic values, including human rights, and those who remain wedded to national or exclusivist thinking. The terms ‘civil society’ or ‘civic values’ have become forms of political shorthand that characterise the first group. It is generally assumed that the term ‘civil society’ has been reclaimed from an earlier period, that its meaning is drawn from debates about the origins of liberal democracy in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In fact, the historically specific circumstances in which the term re-emerged in the 1980s and 1990s changed the way it is used and vested the concept with new content. In particular, the early modern conception of civil society was socially and territorially bounded. What is new about the contemporary use of civil society is both its transnational character and its emphasis on participation. In effect, it represents a demand for a radical extension of democracy across national and social boundaries. In developing this argument, I will schematically trace the evolution of the concept of civil society in Europe, especially during the 1980s and 1990s, and finally try to relate the concept to the growing debate about globalisation.

Cultural Policy: Management, Value and Modernity in the Creative Industries

Abstract: Contemporary society is complex; governed and administered by a range of contradictory policies, practices and techniques. Nowhere are these contradictions more keenly felt than in cultural policy. This book uses insights from a range of disciplines to aid the reader in understanding contemporary cultural policy. Drawing on a range of case studies, including analysis of the reality of work in the creative industries, urban regeneration and current government cultural policy in the UK, the book discusses the idea of value in the cultural sector, showing how value plays out in cultural organizations. Uniquely, the book crosses disciplinary boundaries to present a thorough introduction to the subject. As a result, the book will be of interest to a range of scholars across arts management, public and nonprofit management, cultural studies, sociology and political science. It will also be essential reading for those working in the arts, culture and public policy.

Bereavement Narratives: Continuing bonds in the twenty-first century

Abstract: Introduction Part 1: Preserving and Affirming Personhood 1. Humanising a loved one's dying 2. Constructing a good death 3. Dying moments Part 2: Absence and Presence 4. Defining loss 5. Materialising loss 6. Rediscovering presence 7. Locating and sustaining presence 8. Continuing bonds in contemporary society

Media and society

Abstract: Media and Society examines the role of the media in contemporary society and analyses representations of the world found in advertisements, film, television, photographs and language. It clearly presents theoretical approaches and includes many examples, definitions, issues questions and explanations to aid students’ understanding.