E-scape

'E-scape' is a pun with purpose! With an extensive
literature review, this book examines: 1. the need to escape from reification and state-centric
approaches within political sociology; 2. the
important role of e technologies and mediascapes to
the understanding of contemporary cultural politics;
and, 3. the schematic use of Appadurai s (1996)
dynamic scapes approach which highlights
disjunctures and global cultural flows . This book
outlines disciplinary disjunctures (e.g. the
much-debated postmodernist turn in political
sociology), material disjunctures (e.g. social,
technological,and economic inequalities), and
conceptual disjunctures (e.g. varied discursive
conceptions of civil society , surveillance , power and democracy in political sociology). The postmodern turn or cultural turn within
contemporary political sociology is explored. The
concept of 'scapes' allows for a useful theoretical
tool to explore both structure and disjuncture while
furthering an understanding of flows, texts, and
institutions. This book reviews a broad sampling of
literature in political sociology and provides an
innovative exegetical account upon which future
research may build.