Traditionally, suicide was thought to be a matter of purely individual despair, but Durkheim recognized that the phenomenon had a social dimension. He believed that if anything can explain how individuals relate to society, then it is suicide. This work was the result of his research.

Takes a look at the quirks, habits and foibles of the English people. This work puts the English national character under the anthropological microscope, and finds a strange culture, governed by complex sets of unspoken rules and byzantine codes of behaviour. It also discovers what these unwritten behaviour codes tell us about Englishness.

Intrigued by reports of poverty and despair within America's white-collar corporate workforce, the author decided to infiltrate their world as an undercover reporter, and learn about the problems facing middle-class executives. Her story is funny, and delivers a warning about the future that faces corporate employees everywhere.

Foucault shows the development of the Western system of prisons, police organizations, administrative and legal hierarchies for social control - and the growth of disciplinary society as a whole.

A study of 20th-century American society. Its now-classic analysis of the new middle class in terms of inner-directed and other-directed social character opened new dimensions in our understanding of the psychological, political and economic problems that confront the individual in society.

In this guide to the strategies of pretension in contemporary France, Bourdieu describes how class segments separate from each other by their contrasting attitudes towards art and beauty.

Presents an analysis of the position of women in Western society.

Describes the author's time living with the gangs on the Southside of Chicago. This book tells how in the Robert Taylor Homes projects on Chicago's South Side, he befriends JT, a gang leader for the Black Kings. It also tells how he gains JT's trust, and in order to convince the author of his CEO-like qualities, JT makes him leader of the gang.

The dwarf, the disfigured, the blind man, the homosexual, the ex-mental patient and the member of a racial or religious minority all share one characteristic: they are all socially abnormal . This a study of of the ways in which a stigmatized person can develop a more positive social identity.

Offers an interpretation of American society. This book features a preface relating the arguments of the book both to the realities of American society and to the debate about the country's future.

In the struggle for women's equality, there is one subject still shrouded in silence - women's compulsive pursuit of beauty. The author citing examples confronts the beauty industry and its advertising and uncovers the reasons why women are consumed by this destructive obsession.

Deals with total institutions in general and, mental hospitals, in particular. This book focuses on the world of the inmate. It includes essays that focus on the same issue - the inmate's situation in an institutional context. Its chapters approach the central issue from different vantage points, drawing upon different sources in sociology.

Explores three prominent and little understood features of globalisation: drugs, pornography and migrant labour. This work traces the history of the contemporary war on drugs from its origins in Reagan's social conservatism to its profound impact on civil society. It features tales such as An Empire of the Obscene and In the Strawberry Fields .

Richard Florida traces the fundamental theme that runs through a host of seemingly unrelated changes in American society: the growing role of creativity in the economy. He describes a society in which the creative ethos is increasingly dominant.

Presents interviews with important contributors to the understanding of McDonaldization. This book uses a wide array of sources, from journal articles to essays, from edited books to newspaper and magazine articles. Edited to limit repetition, it includes discussion questions and 'thinking critically' sections to aid in reviewing the material.

Explores both the benefits and disadvantages of the developments in global communication. The author discusses the annoyance and dangers of BlackBerrys in meeting rooms, hands-free kits in conversation, and using a phone or iPod whilst driving.

For the first time, Alain de Botton gives a name to this universal condition and sets out to investigate both its origins and possible solutions. He looks at history, philosophy, economics, art and politics and reveals the many ingenious ways that great minds have overcome their worries.