Göran Therborn

In his new book, Göran Therborn - author of the now standard comparative work on classical sociology and historical materialism, Science, Class and Society - looks at successive state structures in an arrestingly fresh perspective. Therborn uses the formal categories of modern system analysis - input mechanisms, processes of transformation, output flows - to advance a substantive Marxist analysis of state power and state apparatuses. His account of these is comparative in the most far-reaching historical sense: its object is nothing less than the construction of systematic typology of the differences between the feudal state, the capitalist state and the socialist state. Therborn ranges from the monarchies of mediaeval Europe through the bourgeois democracies of the west in the 20th century to the contemporary regimes in Russia, Eastern Europe and China. The book ends with a major analytic survey of the strategies of working class parties for socialism, from the Second International to the Comintern to Eurocommunism, that applies the structural findings of Therborn's enquiry in the 'Future as History'. Written with lucidity and economy, What Does the Ruling Class Do when it Rules? represents a remarkable sociological and political synthesis.

The institution of the family changed hugely during the course of the twentieth century. In this major new work, Göran Therborn provides a global history and sociology of the family as an institution and of politics within the family, focusing on three dimensions of family relations: on the rights and powers of fathers and husbands; on marriage, cohabitation and extra-marital sexuality; and on population policy. Therborn's empirical analysis uses a multi-disciplinary approach to show how the major family systems of the world have been formed and developed. Therborn concludes by assessing what changes the family might see during the next century. This book will be essential reading for anybody with an interest in either the sociology or the history of the family.

The institution of the family changed hugely during the course of the twentieth century. In this major new work, Göran Therborn provides a global history and sociology of the family as an institution and of politics within the family, focusing on three dimensions of family relations: on the rights and powers of fathers and husbands; on marriage, cohabitation and extra-marital sexuality; and on population policy. Therborn's empirical analysis uses a multi-disciplinary approach to show how the major family systems of the world have been formed and developed. Therborn concludes by assessing what changes the family might see during the next century. This book will be essential reading for anybody with an interest in either the sociology or the history of the family.

Few concepts have been so intensively discussed or so widely sponsored as that of "ideology." Whether read as the expression of social classes or attributed a material independence and efficacy, whether devalued as false and non-scientific or asserted as the necessary element of social practice, "ideology" has become an ineluctable conceptual reference across a range of works dealing with subjects as varied as science and politics, gender and cultural production. In this book, Göran Therborn makes a decisive contribution to the contemporary debate. Beginning with some critical reflections on Louis Althusser's influential writings in the late sixties, Therborn develops a theory of the formation of human subjects. He then goes on to consider the material matrix of ideologies and the problem of ideological change, the ideological constitution of classes and the characteristics of the discursive order that regulates it. Turning to questions of state power and political struggle, Therborn provides a remarkable account of ideological domination that displaces traditional categories, and a fascinating analysis of the process of political mobilization. Brief yet wide ranging, probing yet succinct, The Ideology of Power and the Power of Ideology is a work of theoretical exploration that establishes new bearings for the current discussion of ideology.

In this book one of Europe's foremost sociologists offers a profound and accessible overview of the trajectory of European societies, East and West, since the end of World War II. Combining theoretical depth with factual analysis, Göran Therborn addresses the questions that underpin an understanding of the nature of European modernity, including: To what extent is the period 1945-2000 producing fundamental change and what are the areas of continuity? Have the societies of Europe become more similar to others on the globe or more distinctively European? What are the prospects of Europe after decades of postwar change and the end of the Cold War? Issues covered include the division of paid and unpaid labour, patterns of rights in different social spheres, the development of mass consumption, the evolution of risks, the spatial range of economic and cultural change, collective memory and identities, the geography of happiness, and modes of collective action. The author relates these issues to the two great social steering projects of the period - socialism in the East and the European Union in the West.

In this book one of Europe's foremost sociologists offers a profound and accessible overview of the trajectory of European societies, East and West, since the end of World War II. Combining theoretical depth with factual analysis, Göran Therborn addresses the questions that underpin an understanding of the nature of European modernity, including: To what extent is the period 1945-2000 producing fundamental change and what are the areas of continuity? Have the societies of Europe become more similar to others on the globe or more distinctively European? What are the prospects of Europe after decades of postwar change and the end of the Cold War? Issues covered include the division of paid and unpaid labour, patterns of rights in different social spheres, the development of mass consumption, the evolution of risks, the spatial range of economic and cultural change, collective memory and identities, the geography of happiness, and modes of collective action. The author relates these issues to the two great social steering projects of the period - socialism in the East and the European Union in the West.

Den svenska borgarklassen är ekonomiskt en av världens mest framgångsrika men har politiskt och kulturellt aldrig förmått skapa en egen nationell hegemoni. Byråkratin å sin sida åtnjuter unik styrka och självständighet. I denna bok linjerar Göran Therborn upp de ekonomisk-politiska konjunkturerna för borgarklassens och byråkratins uppkomst och utveckling och lämnar en rad djupt originella förklaringar till de svenska särdragen.

En omfattande analys av arbetslöshetens utveckling i de 16 viktigaste kapitalistiska länderna. Therborn gör rent hus med mängder av populära vanföreställningar om arbetslöshetens orsaker. Han visar i stället att den är följden av medvetna politiska åtgärder och alltid kan bekämpas med politiska medel.

Vad gör härskarna -- de mäktiga i samhället -- när de härskar? Vart leder ledarna de ledda? Det är frågor som Göran Therborn här försöker besvara, bland annat i en jämförande historisk studie av maktens organisation under feodalismen, kapitalismen och socialismen. Boken innehåller också en diskussion om olika definitioner av begrepp som klass, makt och stat samt om 1800- och 1900-talens politiska representationsformer. Vad gör den härskande klassen när den härskar? är samtidigt ett viktigt inlägg i debatten om socialism och demokrati, om eurokommunism, stalinism och socialdemokrati -- helt enkelt om det framtida samhällets organisation.

Hur kommer det sig att i de mest utvecklade länderna en liten minoritet -- borgarklassen -- kan utöva sin makt med demokratiska medel? Den frågan försöker Göran Therborn besvara utifrån en systematisk historisk analys av den borgerliga demokratins uppkomst i de mest betydelsefulla kapitalistiska länderna.

En kritisk genomgång av Frankfurtskolan. Skolans uppkomst ses som en förtunning av de materialistiska och klasskampsbetonade dragen i marxismen. I stället uppfattar den kritiska teorin sig själv som ett väsentligt samhällsomdanande element. Politikens materiella grundval skjuts på så sätt i bakgrunden. Denna karaktär belyser och belägger Therborn från 30-talets heroiska epok till 60-talets studentrevolt.