John Jervis has taught extensively in the areas of Sociology, Social Anthropology, and Cultural Studies, at the University of Kent at Canterbury. His previous book, Exploring the Modern (1999) is also published by Blackwell Publishers.

"Transgressing the Modern is what should be impossible: 'a carnival of representation' which subverts controversial boundaries between social theory, the humanities and the arts. It excavates the richest veins in modern western societies' endless struggles to marginalize, exclude and repress whatever makes them uncomfortable. John Jervis has written a wonderful synthesizing book - creative, imaginative and deeply suggestive of a better way forward." Rob Stones, University of Essex

• List of Plates. Acknowledgements.Introduction.Part I: The Civilising Imperative.1. Carnival Pleasures and The Spectre of Misrule.2. Manners and Morals: The Civilisation of Culture.Part II: Modernity and its Others.3. Exotic Encounters: Savagery, Civilisation and the Imperial Other.4. The Alienated Mind: Reason and The Exile of Madness.5. Modernity's Sphinx: Woman as Nature and Culture.6. The Rape and Romance of 'Nature'.7. Forbidden Desires: Taboo, Transgression and Sexuality.Part III: Continuities, Challenges, Transformations.8. Blacks, Whites and Hybrids.9. Postmodern Possibilities: Alienating The Modern.Key Terms.Guide to Further Reading.Index.