As the first decade of the 21st century comes to a close, the world has entered a sustained period of crisis. In order to understand the forces that created our current social world, we need the tools provided by a critical sociology. This volume draws upon the work of contemporary critical sociologists searching for the roots of our present social and economic problems. Both prominent figures and emerging voices in sociology come together to offer insights into our present dilemmas from a critical perspective. The questions they ask and attempt to answer include: What is critical sociology? What is the significance of the new Obama administration? What tools do post-structuralism, postmodernism, feminism, and new forms of social theory offer critical discourse?

In this reassessment of New Deal policymaking, Rhonda Levine argues that the major constraints upon and catalysts for FDR's policies were rooted in class conflict. Countering neo-Marxist and state-centred theories, which focus on administrative and bureaucratic structures, she contends that too little attention has been paid to the effect of class struggle.

CSA Sociological Abstracts abstracts and indexes the international literature in sociology and related disciplines in the social and behavioral sciences. The database provides abstracts of journal articles and citations to book reviews drawn from over 1,800+ serials publications, and also provides abstracts of books, book chapters, dissertations, and conference papers.

The papers in this volume provide a wide-ranging sample of the issues debated, the methodologies used, and the analytical orientations adopted by Canadian political sociologists. Drawing upon some of the top Canadian political sociologists, the book is organized into five parts: political beliefs and political culture; the state; social movements; political movements; and, politics and social class, each beginning with an introductory overview of the area by the volume's editor, Douglas Baer.

Twelve essays examine aspects of medical care viewed as science and as social interaction, arguing that health care systems in advanced capitalistic societies function as instruments of domination and indoctrination.