Bøker av Shaun Best

Education is considered central to social mobility and, following a drive to raise learners' aspirations, an 'aspiration industry' has emerged. However, the desire to leave school early should not be regarded as evidence of students lacking ambition. This book traces the emergence of the aspiration industry and argues that to have ambitions that do not require qualifications is different, but not wrong. Reviewing the performance of six schools in England, their Ofsted reports and responses, it evaluates underpinning assumptions of what makes an effective school. This book critically examines neo-liberal education policy developments, including the 1988 Education Reform Act, and the political discourse around changing explanations of education 'failure' with the rise in the marketisation of education.

Talcott Parsons (1902-1979) was the foremost sociological theorist of the decades spanning the middle of the 20th century. This collection includes articles by major interpreters of and contributors to the theory of action.

In this ground-breaking book, Shaun Best analyses the intellectual knowledge production of Zygmunt Bauman and his rise to academic stardom in the English speaking world by evaluating the relation between his biography, the contexts in which he found himself and why his intellectual creativity is admired by so many people.

A critical evaluation of the central debates within leisure studies, looking at both management theories and leisure management, as well as historical debates on key issues such as rational recreation, public service broadcasting and tourism.

Intended for students who need to get a fast grasp on a range of social and political issues, this introductory text is a comprehensive guide to politics in the contemporary world. The book draws on examples from popular political culture to convey how politics operates in the contemporary world.

The study of social divisions has dominated research within the social sciences since the nineteenth century. Understanding Social Divisions addresses the full range of social divisions in one volume while also considering the nature of social division in itself, in a comprehensive and accessible overview.

Best offers a comprehensive overview of social theory from classical sociology to the present day. The reader is guided through the work of Durkheim, Marx and Weber and contemporary thinkers like Anthony Giddens, Michel Foucault, Jurgen Habermas, Judith Butler, Gilles Deluze, Manuel Castells, Luce Irigary, Naomi Woolf and Camille Paglia.