Page 13 - Contemporary Political Sociology Globalization Politics and Power

Preface to the Second Edition xi

Durkheimian tradition of political sociology which I now see as a very
important contribution to contemporary sociological understandings
of culture.
This second edition retains the focus of the first on the advanced capi-

talist liberal - democracies of North America, Europe, and Australasia
(which I sometimes refer to in short - hand as “ the West ” ). It is not pos-
sible to write a book from nowhere. I am not well equipped to write a
book that would “ provincialize Europe ” by using theoretical frameworks
developed elsewhere, though I am certainly in favor of the intellectual and
political aims of the project (Chakrabarty 2007 ). It is important to avoid
over - generalization, and all sorts of issues and questions – perhaps
especially those of citizenship, but also the form and ideas of social move-
ments – develop in relation to particular states. The perspective I take in
the book is that of progressive global social movements: feminism, envi-
ronmentalism, and the global justice movement all share a sense of trans-
national responsibility, and build networks to address structures of social
life that connect and affect people across borders. In addition, I have tried
to consider the limits of the perspectives outlined here, and to be sensitive
to the geo - politics they imply; writing, reading, studying, and discussing
are, themselves, a kind of cultural politics. I have especially thought about
geo - politics in chapters 2 and 5 , which have been completely rewritten
for the second edition, and I have tried to pay attention to the intercon-
nections and interdependencies of movements, structures, actions and
events across wider geographical areas throughout the book. There may
be a growing sense of political responsibility for the way in which “ people
here participate in the production and reproduction of structural pro-
cesses that condition the lives of people far away ” (Young, 2004 : 371).
One of the tasks of political sociologists is surely to understand the dif-

ficulties of developing and acting on that sense.
I would like to thank the following people from whom I ’ ve learned
directly about the ideas in this book over the last ten years: Suki Ali,
Jeffrey Alexander, Les Back, Clive Barnett, Alice Bloch, Kirsten Campbell,
Lilie Chouliaraki, Nick Couldry, Nonica Datta, Marie Dembour, Natalie
Fenton, Elisa Fiaccadori, Anne - Marie Fortier, Nancy Fraser, Monica
Greco, David Hansen - Miller, Clare Hemmings, Madeleine Kennedy -
McFoy, George Lawson, Kevin McDonald, Jennie Munday, Lawrence
Pawley, Shanta Pillai, Unni Pillai, Noortje Marres, Manoranjan Mohanty,
Zee Nash, Anne Phillips, Alan Scott, Anna Marie Smith, Nick Stevenson,
John Street, Roberta Sassatelli, Alberto Toscano, Fran Tonkiss, and Neil
Washbourne.

Kate Nash