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  • © 2018

Human Rights as Political Imaginary

Palgrave Macmillan
  • Presents theoretically sophisticated and thoughtful analysis of the sociology of human rights
  • Questions rather than reproduces mainstream sociological conceptions of human rights
  • Conceptualizes human rights as a political imaginary rather than as a moral ideal, a global ethic, or an emerging international legal standard

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Table of contents (7 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-ix
  2. Introduction

    • José Julián López
    Pages 1-13
  3. Human Rights as Political Imaginary

    • José Julián López
    Pages 15-79
  4. Sociological Foundationalism for Human Rights?

    • José Julián López
    Pages 81-151
  5. Practising Human Rights

    • José Julián López
    Pages 153-229
  6. Humanizing the Citizen

    • José Julián López
    Pages 231-317
  7. Beyond Human Rights Law Naïveté

    • José Julián López
    Pages 319-402
  8. Conclusion

    • José Julián López
    Pages 403-417
  9. Back Matter

    Pages 419-475

About this book

In this book, López proposes the ‘political imaginary’ model as a tool to better understand what human rights are in practice, and what they might, or might not, be able to achieve. Human rights are conceptualised as assemblages of relatively stable, but not unchanging, historically situated, and socially embedded practices.  Drawing on an emerging iconoclastic historiography of human rights, the author provides a sympathetic yet critical overview of the field of the sociology of human rights. The book addresses debates regarding sociology’s relationships to human rights, the strengths and limits of the notion of practice, human rights’ affinity to postnational citizenship and cosmopolitism, and human rights’ curious, yet fateful, entanglement with the law.

Human Rights as Political Imaginary will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines, including sociology, politics, international relations and criminology.

Reviews

Human Rights as Political Imaginary is a brave, bold, and highly creative book. Its sustained engagement with highly diverse literatures makes it a genuine landmark study in the establishment of the sociology of human rights.” (Anthony Woodiwiss, author of Human Rights, and Making Human Rights Work Globally)

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    José Julián López

About the author

José Julián López is Professor at the School of Sociological and Anthropological Studies, University of Ottawa, Canada.

Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 109.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 139.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access