Conspicuous Consumption: Our Desire for Social Status
Learn about the 19th century economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen and his analysis of the social forces that drive our consumerist culture today.
Sociology
The Muqaddimah: The Rise and Fall of Civilisations
Learn about the 14th century historian Ibn Khaldun and his extraordinary book The Muqaddimah which describes the social forces that drive the rise and fall of civilisations.
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
Learn about Max Weber – one of the founding fathers of sociology – and his theories on the role of religion and culture in the development of Western capitalist society.
Class Identity and the Reproduction of Social Class
Learn about the three thinking tools – habitus, field and capital – which Pierre Bourdieu used to analyse the social world and the reproduction of social class.
The Art of Cooperation
The 2016 referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union has exposed some deep-running divisions within UK society. It is now two years since the historic vote and the […]