Making Sense of Collectivity

The collapse of the Cold War, the development of new technologies and the globalisation of the world economy have all had a dramatic impact on societies across the globe. Migration, new types of wars and changing borders mean that even the stability and security of nation-states has become a thing of the past. New nationalisms, new social movements and the resurgence of identity politics all indicate that we are entering a new era where the very notion of collective identity, through nation states or through transnational identity culture, is challenged.This volume examines concepts of collective identity, how they are changing and what this means for our future. With contributions from distinguished sociologists including Jenkins, Eisenstadt, Rex, Bauman and Hall, it gives a radical new overview of collectivity theory - a topic that lies at the heart of sociology, anthropology and political science.

Sinisa Malesevic is Professor in the Department of Sociology, University College Dublin. He is author of Ideology, Legitimacy and the New State (Frank Cass, 2002), editor of Culture in Central and Eastern Europe: Institutional and Value Changes (IMO, 1997) and co-editor of Ideology after Poststructuralism (Pluto, 2002) and Making Sense of Collectivity (Pluto, 2002). Mark Haugaard is Professor in the Department of Political Science and Sociology at NUI, Galway and Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute Florence. He is co-editor of Making Sense of Collectivity (Pluto, 2002) and Power in Contemporary Politics (Sage 2000).