Professional Affiliation

Professor of Sociology, Roehampton Institute, London, UK

Wilson Center Project

Renewing the Concept of Society for Policy Use in Response to Globalization

Project Summary

Globalization has brought society back into centerframe as an issue for policy-makers. This project seeks to appraise and update appropriate theory. It compares the experiences of the United States and Britain both in the use of theory and in the response to globalization. It explores the relations between policy practitioners and sociologists and looks for their critical evalutation of the potential of new European theory of society, especially as developed by Anthony Giddens, Ulrich Beck and this writer. The outcome wills the reformulation of theory to bring it closer to policy requirements, a prime demand on sociology today.