Preface to Second Edition. 1. The Textures of Society 2. The Contemporary Relevance of the Classics 3. The Frankfurt School 4. Structuralism 5. Post-Structuralism 6. Theories of Structuration 7. Contemporary Critical Theory 8. Feminism and Post-Feminist Theory 9. Postmodernity 10. Networks, Risks, Liquids 11. Globalization. Afterword

The volumes in this set, originally published between 1999 and 2003, draw together early works in social theory by leading sociologist Anthony Elliott. The collection covers some of his major works in the field of social theory, with a paticular focus on psychoanalysis, and social theorists within the area of sociology. The works in this set make accessible previously unavailable works from the early stages of Anthony Elliott's ongoing and prolific career to date.

Social and cultural theorists have been at the forefront in the social sciences and humanities in responding to the Covid-19 global pandemic. Amid the threats, risks, dangers as well as new opportunities and options social and cultural theorists raised the vital question: what happens to human agency in a world of structured social differences when agents are, in effect, precluded from engagement directly in the public sphere, and are instead thrown back onto the private realm? This is a question rooted deeply in the histories of social and cultural theory. This chapter lays out the currents of social and cultural thought that have given shape to much of the intellectual terrain upon which debates around society and culture have played and continue to play themselves out. In so doing it introduces readers to many of the concepts and concerns animating contemporary social and cultural theory, as elaborated throughout the contributions that comprise The Routledge Handbook of Social and Cultural Theory.

Innovations in artificial intelligence (AI), advanced robotics and automatization, have already profoundly impacted the movement of people, information, ideas, communications and objects. How these technologies impact on future mobilities will depend on decisions made now, meaning that a sustained and creative engagement with AI and its applications by mobilities researchers is imperative. This chapter outlines an analytic approach to the emergent contours of complex automated mobilities systems, what we refer to as mobilities 3.0, and applies this to the case of AI military technology and weapons systems. Our conclusion identifies further challenges for the development and application of mobilities 3.0.

Autonomous vehicles are one of the most highly anticipated technological developments of our time, with potentially wide-ranging social implications. Where dominant popular discourses around autonomous vehicles have tended to espouse a crude form of technological determinism, social scientific engagements with autonomous vehicles have tended to focus on rather narrow utilitarian dimensions related to regulation, safety or efficiency. This article argues that what is therefore largely missing from current debates is a sensitivity to the broader social implications of autonomous vehicles. The article aims to remedy this absence. Through a speculative mode, it is shown how a mobilities approach provides an ideal conceptual lens through which the broader social impacts of autonomous vehicles might be identified and evaluated. The argument is organized across four dimensions: transformations to experiences, inequalities, labour and systems. The article develops an agenda for critical sociological work on automated vehicles; and it calls on sociologists to contribute much-needed critical voices to the institutional and public debates on the development of autonomous vehicles.

In Japan, technological advances in robotics are commonly thought to be integral to facing the challenges of an ageing population. While some research has critically examined this link by investigating the cultural views of care workers in Japan who are positioned to engage with robotic technologies, scholarship focusing on the cultural practices of Japanese gerontechnology developers has remained sparse. The sociological study presented in this article seeks to address this research lacuna. The study finds that there is a tendency for Japanese roboticists to frame ageing as a growing crisis, to justify expenditure on robotic technologies. Additionally, there is a tendency for technology developers to adopt paternalistic design approaches, which often lack substantial input from older persons. However, a key claim of this article is that technology developers should not be conceptualized as a homogenous social group. Gerontechnology developers were found in this study to hold divergent views about the effectiveness of designer-centric approaches. Understanding how technology developers are multifaceted in the views they express and in the environments they work in is beneficial because it challenges the advocacy of more inclusive technology design approaches to be more complex and nuanced.

Contemporary debates about posthumanism center on how developments in the fields of information technology, bioinformatics, and biotechnology are fundamentally transforming human minds, bodies, and identities. Engaging the influential accounts by Rose and Braidotti, this chapter critically examines the notion of posthuman identities and their personal, social, cultural, and political consequences. While the posthuman turn has impacted significantly on social practice and intellectual discourse to warrant serious attention from the social sciences, crucial conceptual limitations are identified with regard to key questions about human subjectivity, creativity, and identity in the light of these transformations. The psychoanalytically informed accounts of Bion and Bollas provide important resources for redressing these limitations.