A textual introduction to social and political theory

by Richard Bellamy

Overview

This book offers a stimulating new approach to studying social and political theory. It combines specially selected extracts from the political classics with original and insightful essays offering a commentary upon them. The reader is drawn into a dialogue with the Western political tradition's principal thinkers, whose ideas provide a common currency in which to debate the problems facing modern societies. Each of the twelve chapters combines extracts from two (or in one case three) political philosophers on a key political concept with a commentary essay. Each chapter does more than just introduce the reader to the classics; it also explains, via the commentary essay, the key concepts of political debate, and the historical contexts which led the thinkers to their different understandings of the nature of society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780719046391
Publisher:	Manchester University Press
Publication date:	05/09/1996
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.74(d)

About the Author

Richard Bellamy is Professor of Government at the University of Essex

Table of Contents

Introduction - Richard Bellamy and Angus Ross
1. Socrates and Locke on political obligation - Richard Bellamy
2. Aristotle and Aquinas on community and natural law - Timothy O’Hagan
3. Machiavelli, Milton and Hobbes on liberty - Martin Hollis
4. Locke and Aristotle on property - John Zvesper
5. Rousseau and Wollstonecroft on sexual equality - Timothy O’Hagan
6. Kant and Hegel on the state and civil society - Howard Caygill
7. Burke and de Tocqueville on conservatism - John Greenaway
8. James Mill and Rousseau on democracy - John Street
9. Marx and Lenin on communism - David Houghton
10. Bakunin and Kropotkin on anarchism - Tony Kemp-Welch
11. J.S. Mill and Durkheim on individualism - Angus Ross
12. Weber and Michels on bureaucracy - Alan Scott

Editorial Reviews

Combines extracts from political classics with original essays and commentary, creating a dialogue with the Western political tradition's principal thinkers. Chapters offer selections by two or three political philosophers on concepts such as political obligation, liberty, sexual equality, the state and civil society, and conservatism. Contains material by authors including Socrates, Wollstonecraft, Kant, and de Tocqueville. Useful for undergraduates studying Western political thought. Distributed by St. Martin's Press. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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