Jeffrey C. Alexander

In the aftermath of the Cold War, many societies seemed firmly set on a pathway to cultural re-integration, progressive reform, and democratic government. This didn’t happen. Instead, they have become increasingly polarized, and far-right antidemocratic forces are gaining power. In his new work, Jeffrey Alexander explains why, developing an approach to social change that challenges the faith in progress that...

In this book Jeffrey Alexander develops a new sociological theory of social crisis and applies it to a wide range of cases, from the church paedophilia crisis to the #MeToo movement. He argues that crises are triggered not by objective social strains but by the discourse and institutions of the civil sphere. When strains become subject to the utopian aspirations...

This book challenges the pessimism that has so marked and impoverished social theorising about modern life. Modernity has often been dark and debilitating, but it has also generated hope for a better life and extraordinary reforms and liberations, from the creation of hopeful democracies in the face of dangerous dictatorships to feminist transformations of patriarchy, struggles against imperialism and racial...

What is the source of Obama’s power? How is it that, after suffering a humiliating defeat in the 2010 mid-term elections, Obama was able to turn the situation around, deftly outmanoeuvring his opponent and achieving a decisive victory in the November 2012 presidential election? In this short and brilliant book, Jeffrey Alexander and Bernadette Jaworsky argue that neither money nor...

In this book, Jeffrey Alexander develops the view that cultural sociology and "cultural pragmatics" are vital for understanding the structural turbulence and political possibilities of contemporary social life. Central to Alexander’s approach is a new model of social performance that combines elements from both the theatrical avant-garde and modern social theory. He uses this model to shed new light on...