Intellectuals in Action

Intellectuals in Action PDF Author: Kevin Mattson
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 9780271046709
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
Born in 1966‚ a generation removed from the counterculture‚ Kevin Mattson came of political age in the conservative Reagan era. In an effort to understand contemporary political ambivalence and the plight of radicalism today‚ Mattson looks back to the ideas that informed the protest‚ social movements‚ and activism of the 1960s. To accomplish its historical reconstruction‚ the book combines traditional intellectual biography—including thorough archival research—with social history to examine a group of intellectuals whose thinking was crucial in the formulation of New Left political theory. These include C. Wright Mills‚ the popular radical sociologist; Paul Goodman‚ a practicing Gestalt therapist and anarcho-pacifist; William Appleman Williams‚ the historian and famed critic of "American empire"; Arnold Kaufman‚ a "radical liberal" who deeply influenced the thinking of the SDS. The book discusses not only their ideas‚ but also their practices‚ from writing pamphlets and arranging television debates to forming left-leaning think tanks and organizing teach-ins protesting the Vietnam War. Mattson argues that it is this political engagement balanced with a commitment to truth-telling that is lacking in our own age of postmodern acquiescence. Challenging the standard interpretation of the New Left as inherently in conflict with liberalis‚ Mattson depicts their relationship as more complicated‚ pointing to possibilities for a radical liberalism today. Intellectual and social historians‚ as well as general readers either fascinated by the 1960s protest movements or actively seeking an alternative to our contemporary political malais‚ will embrace Mattson’s book and its promise to shed new light on a time period known for both its intriguing conflicts and its enduring consequences.

Intellectuals in Action

Intellectuals in Action PDF Author: Kevin Mattson
Publisher: Penn State Press
ISBN: 9780271046709
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 324

Get Book Here

Book Description
Born in 1966‚ a generation removed from the counterculture‚ Kevin Mattson came of political age in the conservative Reagan era. In an effort to understand contemporary political ambivalence and the plight of radicalism today‚ Mattson looks back to the ideas that informed the protest‚ social movements‚ and activism of the 1960s. To accomplish its historical reconstruction‚ the book combines traditional intellectual biography—including thorough archival research—with social history to examine a group of intellectuals whose thinking was crucial in the formulation of New Left political theory. These include C. Wright Mills‚ the popular radical sociologist; Paul Goodman‚ a practicing Gestalt therapist and anarcho-pacifist; William Appleman Williams‚ the historian and famed critic of "American empire"; Arnold Kaufman‚ a "radical liberal" who deeply influenced the thinking of the SDS. The book discusses not only their ideas‚ but also their practices‚ from writing pamphlets and arranging television debates to forming left-leaning think tanks and organizing teach-ins protesting the Vietnam War. Mattson argues that it is this political engagement balanced with a commitment to truth-telling that is lacking in our own age of postmodern acquiescence. Challenging the standard interpretation of the New Left as inherently in conflict with liberalis‚ Mattson depicts their relationship as more complicated‚ pointing to possibilities for a radical liberalism today. Intellectual and social historians‚ as well as general readers either fascinated by the 1960s protest movements or actively seeking an alternative to our contemporary political malais‚ will embrace Mattson’s book and its promise to shed new light on a time period known for both its intriguing conflicts and its enduring consequences.

C. Wright Mills

C. Wright Mills PDF Author: C. Wright Mills
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520232097
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
This collection of letters and writings, edited by his daughters, allows readers to see behind Mills's public persona for the first time.

Inventive Methods

Inventive Methods PDF Author: Celia Lury
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 0415574811
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Methods texts in social and cultural research have not kept pace with the increasing importance of interdisciplinary work, changing conceptions of the empirical, and the need to communicate with diverse users and audiences. This volume proposes a set of new approaches for the empirical investigation of the contemporary world. Building on the increasing importance of methodologies that cut across disciplines, authors explain the utility for social and cultural research of 'devices' including the list, the pattern, the event and the anecdote.

The Politics of Truth

The Politics of Truth PDF Author: Charles Wright Mills
Publisher: OUP USA
ISBN: 0195343050
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
C. Wright Mills was a radical public intellectual, a tough-talking, motorcycle-riding anarchist from Texas who taught sociology at Columbia University. Mills's three most influential books--The Power Elite, White Collar, and The Sociological Imagination--were originally published by OUP and are considered classics. The first collection of his writings to be published since 1963, The Politics of Truth contains 23 out-of-print and hard-to-find writings which show his growth from academic sociologist to an intellectual maestro in command of a mature style, a dissenter who sought to inspire the public to oppose the drift toward permanent war. Given the political deceptions of recent years, Mills's truth-telling is more relevant than ever. Seminal papers including "Letter to the New Left" appear alongside lesser known meditations such as "Are We Losing Our Sense of Belonging?" John Summers provides fresh insights in his introduction, which gives an overview of Mills's life and career. Summers has also written annotations that establish each piece's context and has drawn up a comprehensive bibliography of Mills's published and unpublished writings.

New Directions in Social Theory

New Directions in Social Theory PDF Author: Kate Reed
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1847877540
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
"This book contributes to the growing debates about social theory and its role through a discussion of the ways in which gender and race contributed to the exclusion of important thinkers from the sociological canon." - John Hughes, Lancaster University Who makes up the ′canon′ of sociology - and who doesn′t? Does sociology need a canon in the first place? Beyond Social Theory offers an innovative and passionate contribution to debates on the history and development of sociology and the exclusion of theorists - who are female, black, or both - from the mainstream of social theorizing. With compelling biographical sketches bringing the dynamics behind the ′canon′ to life, Kate Reed focuses sharp analysis on the exclusion of theorists on race and gender from important debates on inequality. An important contribution to the debate on non-exclusionary theory, this book critically examines existing accounts of the history of the discipline, situating the development of social theory within a wider social and political context.

C. Wright Mills and the Cuban Revolution

C. Wright Mills and the Cuban Revolution PDF Author: A. Javier Treviño
Publisher: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469633116
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
In C. Wright Mills and the Cuban Revolution, A. Javier Treviño reconsiders the opinions, perspectives, and insights of the Cubans that Mills interviewed during his visit to the island in 1960. On returning to the United States, the esteemed and controversial sociologist wrote a small paperback on much of what he had heard and seen, which he published as Listen, Yankee: The Revolution in Cuba. Those interviews — now transcribed and translated — are interwoven here with extensive annotations to explain and contextualize their content. Readers will be able to “hear” Mills as an expert interviewer and ascertain how he used what he learned from his informants. Treviño also recounts the experiences of four central figures whose lives became inextricably intertwined during that fateful summer of 1960: C. Wright Mills, Fidel Castro, Juan Arcocha, and Jean-Paul Sartre. The singular event that compelled their biographies to intersect at a decisive moment in the history of Cold War geopolitics — with its attendant animosities and intrigues — was the Cuban Revolution.

Other Diplomacies, Other Ties

Other Diplomacies, Other Ties PDF Author: Luis René Fernández Tabío
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 1442628316
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 374

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Book Description
Other Diplomacies, Other Ties explores Cuba-Canada relations following the revolution of 1959 and the major geopolitical and economic transformations that have occurred in recent years. Through the conceptual lens of "other diplomacies," which emphasizes interactions among non-state actors, the contributors challenge the conventional wisdom regarding the actions of diplomats, politicians, journalists, spies, and émigrés. Featuring both Cuban and Canadian contributors, the volume offers a diverse range of research methodologies including ethnography, archival work, and policy analysis to encourage critical examination about the problems, possibilities, and promise of the longstanding relationship between Canada and Cuba. All decades of the post-1959 relationship - from the dramatic early years during which the diplomatic and political relationship was negotiated through to contemporary education exchanges and the gradual formation of Cuban-Canadian diasporas, are critically reappraised. Other Diplomacies, Other Ties is a nuanced and unique volume that crucially gives voice to Cuban scholars' perspectives on the Canada-Cuba relationship.

Radical Ambition

Radical Ambition PDF Author: Dan Geary
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520943445
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Sociologist, social critic, and political radical C. Wright Mills (1916-1962) was one of the leading public intellectuals in twentieth century America. Offering an important new understanding of Mills and the times in which he lived, Radical Ambition challenges the captivating caricature that has prevailed of him as a lone rebel critic of 1950s complacency. Instead, it places Mills within broader trends in American politics, thought, and culture. Indeed, Daniel Geary reveals that Mills shared key assumptions about American society even with those liberal intellectuals who were his primary opponents. The book also sets Mills firmly within the history of American sociology and traces his political trajectory from committed supporter of the Old Left labor movement to influential herald of an international New Left. More than just a biography, Radical Ambition illuminates the career of a brilliant thinker whose life and works illustrate both the promise and the dilemmas of left-wing social thought in the United States.

Stalking Sociologists

Stalking Sociologists PDF Author: Renee C. Fox
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351488228
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 488

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Book Description
Until recent years, the Federal Bureau of Investigation enjoyed an exalted reputation as America's premier crime-fighting organization. However, it is now common knowledge that the FBI and its long-time director, J. Edgar Hoover, were responsible for the creation of a massive internal security apparatus that undermined the very principles of freedom and democracy they were sworn to protect. While no one was above suspicion, Hoover appears to have held a special disdain for sociologists and placed many of the profession's most prominent figures under surveillance. In Stalking Sociologists, Mike Forrest Keen offers a detailed account of the FBI's investigations within the context of an overview of the history of American sociology.This ground-breaking analysis history uses documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. Keen argues that Hoover and the FBI marginalized sociologists such as W. E. B. Du Bois and C. Wright Mills, tried to suppress the development of a Marxist tradition in American sociology, and likely pushed the mainstream of the discipline away from a critique of American society and towards a more quantitative and scientific direction. He documents thousands of man-hours and millions of dollars dedicated to this project. Faculty members of various departments of sociology were recruited to inform on the activities of their colleagues and the American Sociological Association was a target of FBI surveillance. Keen turns sociology back upon the FBI, using the writings and ideas of the very sociologists Hoover investigated to examine and explain the excesses of the Bureau and its boss. The result is a significant contribution to the collective memory of American society as well as the accurate history of the sociological discipline."This ground-breaking book documents in meticulous detail decades of harassment and surveillance of major American sociologists by the FBI. The misuse of power...will outrage all Americans a

The Emerald Guide to C. Wright Mills

The Emerald Guide to C. Wright Mills PDF Author: A. Javier Treviño
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing
ISBN: 1800715439
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 183

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Book Description
This book offers a comprehensive guide to reading and understanding the development of Mills's sociological ideas, placing them in the context of his life and his position in American sociology.