Concepts in the Social Sciences
1 total work
Having constructed a historical and analytical context within which to view contemporary developments in pluralism, this book concentrates on areas such as feminism and postmodernism. The analysis ranges from relativism and identity to political questions of democracy. The book contains a number of arguments: that "pluralism" summarizes what is most important about postmodernism; that there is as much continuity as there is divergence between radical pluralism and liberal pluralism; and that pluralism can most usefully be seen as generating a series of challenging dilemmas. Understood in this way, McLennan argues, pluralism expresses the situation of "stimulating confusion" in contemporary social analysis without resolving it. The book is intended for students of sociology, politics, philosophy, women's studies and cultural studies.