Bøger af Stuart Sim

Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year has taken on a new relevance with the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic. Through an exploration of two chronologically distant societies in crisis, this study compares the attitudes, beliefs, and conduct of the public portrayed in the book and those in our own embattled Covid era. There are interesting similarities to note, with equivalents to the Covid-deniers and the anti-vaxxers to be found in Defoe's bleak vision of London in the 1660s as it descends into a state of chaos. JPY offers us some uncomfortable truths about human nature that resonate strongly in our own times, revealing how responding to a pandemic can bring out both the best and the worst in our character as we face up to a world where the old certainties no longer seem to apply. Pandemics expose the fault-lines in ideology, putting the social contract at risk - the question they pose is whether we can continue to rely on our current socio-political set-up or whether it requires a radical rethink. There is a pressing need for more debate on this issue, and this project is designed to make a case for that.

This book examines the concept of post-truth and the impact it is having on contemporary life, bringing out both its philosophical and political dimensions. The affinity between post-truth and conspiracy theory is emphasised, and the extent to which post-truth plays a role in religious doctrine is also considered.

The detective figure in contemporary American crime fiction increasingly relies on revenge to bring about justice in a society where there has been a sharp decline in moral values. This study demonstrates how the notion of the detective as a moral exemplar or heroic ideal breaks down in the works of writers such as James Ellroy and Sara Paretsky.

This is the first source-book for the cross-disciplinary area of post-marxism. It takes students through a wide range of readings from philosophy, politics, and sociology, to human geography, international relations, and feminist studies.

Will our addiction to profit destroy the world we live in?The profit motive now exercises an effective tyranny over our lives: in the private as well as the public sector, nowhere seems immune from its reach. International tycoons, economists and politicians are obsessed with economic growth. Yet, as Stuart Sim shows, the pursuit of excessive profit brought the world to the brink of economic chaos in the recent credit crisis and threatens us with environmental disaster as well. Despite this, neoliberalism still sets the agenda for economic policy in the West. Sim suggests various act up strategies so that we might resist becoming slaves to personal gain and, in doing so, he demonstrates that life neednt be all about profit.Key Features:* Analyses the psychology behind our fetishization of profit* Demonstrates the threat that neoliberalism poses to our public services - healthcare and education in particular* Explores the debate of altruism versus self-interest through the neuroscientific literature* Argues the case for a return to a more socialistic consciousness to combat neoliberalism

In this study the authors examine a range of theories about the state of nature in 17th- and 18th-century England, considering the contribution they made to the period's discourse on sovereignty and their impact on literary activity.

How the current paradigm of technologically driven economic progress could destroy the planet and its socio-economic systems

The Carbon Footprint Wars challenges current policies about how to deal with global warming, outlining their potentially disastrous side-effects on society and the environment and offers some radical solutions for dealing with climate change.

This study introduces readers to the eighteenth-century novel through a consideration of contemporary social issues.

This book mounts a strong argument for silence, arguing that we need more rather than less of it in our lives.

This book traces the crystallization of post-Marxism as a specific theoretical position in its own right. It examines the history of the development of the Marxist tradition as well as considering the school's future prospects.

Stuart Sim outlines the history of scepticism in both the Western and Islamic cultural traditions, and from the Enlightenment to postmodernism.