Power in the 21st Century: Conversations with John Hall

by Michael Mann, John A. Hall

Michael Mann is one of the most influential sociologists writing today. His three-volume work The Sources of Social Power , the third volume of which has just been completed, has transformed our way of thinking about power and has rewritten the history of human societies. No one interested in understanding how the modern world was shaped, how we got to where we are today, and where we're likely to be heading can afford to ignore this modern classic. Michael Mann is, as John Hall aptly describes him, "a Max Weber for our times." In this new book Michael Mann reflects on the meaning of his project as a whole, both as a contribution to social theory and as a guide to the options and constraints that face the contemporary world now and in the near future. He gives sustained attention to the situation of the United States, the nature of the challenge that may come from China, the unrestrained and perhaps unrestrainable power of finance, and the looming crisis of environmental degradation. This concise and accessible book is the ideal introduction to the work and thought of one of the most original social scientists in the world today. Students and scholars will find the book invaluable, and general readers will find in this book a clear and masterful guide to the key challenges we face in the years and decades ahead.

180 pages, Hardcover

First published June 13, 2011

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Michael Mann is a British-born professor of Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Visiting Research Professor at Queen's University Belfast. Mann holds dual British and United States citizenships. He received his B.A. in Modern History from the University of Oxford in 1963 and his D.Phil. in Sociology from the same institution in 1971. Mann is currently visiting Professor at the University of Cambridge.

Mann has been a professor of Sociology at UCLA since 1987; he was reader in Sociology at the London School of Economics and Political Science from 1977 to 1987. Mann was also a member of the Advisory Editors Council of the Social Evolution & History Journal.

In 1984, Mann published The Autonomous Power of the State: its Origins, Mechanisms, and Results in the European Journal of Sociology. This work is the foundation for the study of the despotic and infrastructural power of the modern state.

Mann's most famous works include the monumental The Sources of Social Power and The Dark Side of Democracy, spanning the entire 20th century. He also published Incoherent Empire, where he attacks the United States' 'War on Terror' as a clumsy experiment of neo-imperialism.

Mann is currently working on The Sources of Social Power: Globalizations, the third volume in the series. [wikipedia]

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.

Reviews

[LUNDBIDS · Rating 4 out of 5]

A extensive examination on much debated issues of the current world with profound insights. Mann states that essentially only the Anglophone nations among the more advanced countries can be defined relatively neoliberal, and that ideologies re-emerge with crisis that appears unable to be solved in the existing institutions. He also plays a role of an outsider to contemplate on the American status in the current world capitalist system, pessimistically. It is good to know that Mann sits squarely in the classical tradition of Marx, Weber, and others, but defines himself as a social democrats and a pluralist. Besides, the accessible text of conversation also makes it a good introduction to Mann's thoughts, and John Hall seems to be a very good friend-like interviewer to add profound sources.

[Zhgr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy reading. Good points are made. Mann is all about statism, enviromentalism and antineoliberalism.