This book develops some of the most important themes of Sen's works over the last decade. He argues in a rich and subtle approach that we should be concerned with people's capabilities rather than their resources or welfare.

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Commodities and Capabilities presents a set of inter-related theses concerning the foundations of welfare economics, and in particular about the assessment of personal well-being and advantage. The argument presented focuses on the capability to function, i.e. what a person can do or can be, questioning in the process the more standard emphasis on opulence or on utility. In fact, a person's motivation behind choice is treated here as a parametric variable which may or may not coincide with the pursuit of (...) self-interest. Given the large number of practical problems arising from the roles and limitations of different concepts of interest and the judgement of advantage and well-being, this scholarly investigation is both of theoretical interest and practical import. (shrink)

The Protestant ethic — a moral code stressing hard work, rigorous self-discipline, and the organization of one's life in the service of God — was made famous by sociologist and political economist Max Weber. In this brilliant study (his best-known and most controversial), he opposes the Marxist concept of dialectical materialism and its view that change takes place through "the struggle of opposites." Instead, he relates the rise of a capitalist economy to the Puritan determination to work out anxiety over (...) salvation or damnation by performing good deeds — an effort that ultimately discouraged belief in predestination and encouraged capitalism. Weber's classic study has long been required reading in college and advanced high school social studies classrooms. (shrink)

In 100 essays, scholars from throughout the world introduce and analyze ancient, modern, and contemporary philosophers and philosophies. The first section explains 40 major western and non- western philosophies that underlie the major political theories. The second provides intellectual and biographical information on 26 philosophers and some of the schools surrounding them, such as Hobbesian and Machiavellian thought. The third explores philosophical ideas such as anarchy, women and democracy, and war and civil conflict. Each article provides a bibliography and identifies (...) related entries. c. Book News Inc. (shrink)

Building on the theoretical research of community psychology and cultural psychology, I focus in this paper on these two questions: What kind of religious coping is practiced by some members of the Lutheran tradition? What does an understanding of the relationship between the tradition and religious coping of these members indicate that may be distinctive or unexpected about their religious coping? I do this by: reviewing the background of my research in community psychology, cultural psychology, and tradition-specific research on religious (...) coping - particularly in the United States; outlining a method for a qualitative study of nine Lutheran co-researchers in the United States who had experienced a significant negative event; reporting some of the results of that study; using the results of the study to discuss the two questions above; concluding with some suggestions for future research of the specific religious traditions in which religious coping phenomena may occur, and of the phenomena of religious coping in specific religious traditions. (shrink)

Praise for the First Edition: `Totally reliable... the authors have produced a book urgently needed by all those charged with introducing students to the classics... quite indispensable' - Times Higher Education Supplement This is a fully updated and expanded new edition of the successful undergraduate text. Providing a lucid examination of the pivotal theories of Marx, Durkheim and Weber, the authors submit that these figures have decisively shaped the discipline. They show how the classical apparatus is in use, even though (...) it is being directed in new ways in response to the changing character of society. Written with the needs of undergraduates in mind, the text is essential reading for students in sociology and social theory. (shrink)

The writings of Sergei Bulgakov (1871–1944), like those of other major social thinkers of Russia’s Silver Age, were obliterated from public consciousness under Soviet rule. Discovered again after eighty years of silence, Bulgakov’s work speaks with remarkable directness to the postmodern listener. This outstanding translation of Philosophy of Economy brings to English-language speakers for the first time a major work of social theory written by a critical figure in the Russian tradition of liberal thought. What is unique about Bulgakov, Catherine (...) Evtuhov explains in her introduction to this book, is that he bridges two worlds. His social thought is firmly based in the Western tradition, yet some of his ideas reflect a specifically Russian way of thinking about society. Though arguing strenuously in favor of political and social liberty, Bulgakov repudiates the individualistic basis of Western liberalism in favor of a conception of human dignity that is compatible with collectivity. His economic theory stresses the spiritual content of life in the world and imagines national life as a kind of giant household. Bulgakov’s work, with its singularly postmodern balance between Western and non-Western, offers fascinating implications for those in the process of reevaluating ideologies in post-Soviet Russia and in America as well. (shrink)

This comprehensive, systematic survey of Luther's ethical thought and teaching clearly discusses all the major ethical issues that concerned Luther. Contemporary readers will be especially interested in what the Reformer has to say about the Christian's attitude toward secular society, toward the state, and toward war. The Ethics of Martin Luther offers scholars and nonspecialists alike a much-needed explanation of Luther's ideas. --.

This new Major Work from Routledge is a five-volume collection of the key critical assessments of Amartya Sen, probably best known for his work on famine, human development and welfare economics. Sen is one of the few modern academics who has commanded much respect and recognition from across the intellectual spectrum. His work—for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1998—simultaneously embraces social choice theory and economic development, thus breaking the barrier between mathematized ‘high theory’ and ‘real world’ economics. (...) With an introduction newly written by the editor that places the collected work in its intellectual and historical context, this collection is destined to be welcomed as an invaluable resource for both reference purposes and as a contribution to the study of Amartya Sen. (shrink)

Based on the 1972 Radcliffe Lectures, this book presents a systematic treatment of the conceptual framework as well as the practical problems of measurement of inequality.

To what extent are the ideas of Marx and Weber incompatible and contradictory? Is there no interplay between the theoretical systems of these acknowledged masters of social theory? The arguments which have raged for almost a century between Marxists and Weberians have stressed the opposition of their ideas at the expense of the convergence. This volume changes the emphasis: the contributors, drawn from both Marxist and Weberian schools of thought, explore areas of conceptual overlap. They consider important similarities in notions (...) of contradiction, revolution, the role of culture, the class-state relationship, and the self. (shrink)