From the new celebrity culture that has emerged from reality television and the Internet, to the paparazzi-filled endgame of Princess Diana and the bizarre trials and tribulations of Michael Jackson, The Celebrity Culture Reader documents the significant role that celebrities occupy in contemporary culture. Combining classic essays and contemporary writings, The Celebrity Culture Reader investigates the cultural implications of this complex contemporary phenomenon.

One of America's leading anthropolgists offers solutions to the perplexing question of why people behave the way they do.

Why do Hindus worship cows? Why do Jews and Moslems refuse to eat pork? Why did so many people in post-medieval Europe believe in witches?

Marvin Harris answers these and other perplexing questions about human behavior, showing that no matter how bizarre a people's behavior may seem, it always stems from identifiable and intelligble sources.

The internet and the mobile phone have disrupted many of our conventional understandings of ourselves and our relationships, raising anxieties and hopes about their effects on our lives. In this second edition of her timely and vibrant book, Nancy Baym provides frameworks for thinking critically about the roles of digital media in personal relationships. Rather than providing exuberant accounts or cautionary tales, it offers a data-grounded primer on how to make sense of these important chang...

'A sophisticated and passionately written account of the classed and gendered identities of a small group of working-class white women who live in the north-west of England. It is ethnography at its best, having been built on long-term, thoughtful engagements in the field' - Gender and Education

Multiple regression is at the heart of social science data analysis, because it deals with explanations and correlations. This book is a complete introduction to this statistical method.

This volume of primary readings and overview essays provides a comprehensive introduction to the sociology of organizations. The readings represent a wide range of theoretical perspectives and substantive topics. Most readings are either classics in the field or works that are widely used and cited.

This theory-based introduction to peace studies provides coverage of theories relevant to peace studies: peace; conflict; development; civilizations; and economics. It provides an analogy between peace studies and health studies, and makes a strong case for a transdisciplinary approach.

The author of this study turns his attention to the everyday, less visible forms of nationalism that are deeply ingrained in contemporary consciousness. This form of nationalism, which is neither exotic nor remote, he describes as "banal nationalism".

Introducing the idea of 'granular ethnography', this interdisciplinary text shows readers how to take ethnography's theoretical foundations into account and clearly lays out the importance of doing so.

What is Putin’s ideology? is a key question for the contemporary world. This book analyses this ideology, which it terms “Putinism”.