State, Culture and Life-Modes

'Thomas Hojrup has been the most distinctive voice in Danish social science since the publication of The Forgotten People some twenty years ago. He has developed the concept of "life modes" from the work of Anders Boserup and this book is a powerful example of such analysis. This is a body of work that has been neglected in English and with which Anglophone social scientists ought to make the effort to become acquainted.' Paul Hirst, Birkbeck College, University of London, UK 'Thomas Højrup's synthesis of the traditions of historical materialism with a specifically Danish model of life-mode analysis is innovative and exciting. It promises to make an important contribution to rescuing Marxist social theory from the exile to which it has been condemned by post-1989 intellectual fashion. He is never less than challenging.' Richard Jenkins, University of Sheffield, UK ’State, Culture and Life-Modes offers an extremely ambitious and exciting new approach to social sciences and humanities. It is a fascinating and highly original book. It challenges all dominant controversies in social theory by redefining social theory as a critical practice based upon continental theory in particular Hegel, Clausewitz, Marx and Althusser. It shows how the antinomies of agent-structure, subjectivism-objectivism and state-society are unsustainable. It deserves to be read widely.’ Lars Bo Kaspersen, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

• Contents: Introduction; Life-mode analysis; Conceptual development; Transformation analysis; Fission theory; Notes; Key terms; Bibliography.