The State of State Theory: State Projects, Repression, and Multi-Sites of Power

Davita Silfen Glasberg · Abbey S. Willis · Deric Shannon

Dec 2017 · Lexington Books

About this ebook

The State of State Theory: State Projects, Repression, and Multi-Sites of Power, Glasberg, Willis, and Shannon argue that state theories should be amended to account both for theoretical developments broadly in the contemporary period as well as the multiple sites of power along which the state governs. Using state projects and policies around political economy, sexuality and family, food, welfare policy, racial formation, and social movements as narrative accounts in how the state operates, the authors argue for a complex and intersectional approach to state theory. In doing so, they expand outside of the canon to engage with perspectives within critical race theory, queer theory, and beyond to build theoretical tools for a contemporary and critical state theory capable of providing the foundations for understanding how the state governs, what is at stake in its governance, and, importantly, how people resist and engage with state power./span

About the author

Davita Silfen Glasberg is interim dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut.

Abbey S. Willis is PhD candidate in sociology at the University of Connecticut.

Deric Shannon is associate professor of sociology at Emory University’s Oxford College.