Society, Regulation and Governance : New Modes of Shaping Social Change?

Society, Regulation and Governance critically appraises the issue of intentional social change through the lens of regulation and governance studies. A twofold understanding of regulation and governance underpins the conceptual and empirical engagement throughout the book. On the one hand, regulation and governance are understood to be innovatively minded. On the other hand the book argues that, at their respective cores, regulation and governance are continuously concerned with how intentional social change can be fostered and what results can be yielded in terms of shaping society. This book brings together sociologists, political scientists, legal scholars and historians to produce an interdisciplinary critical evaluation of alleged 'new modes' of social change, specifically: risk, publics and participation. It makes three key contributions by: * offering a consolidation and re-appraisal of a debate that has become increasingly vague with its academic and political proliferation * identifying a uniting conceptual-analytical core between regulation and governance which explains the adaptability and innovation-mindedness of processes of 'shaping society' * re-focusing on the 'essence' of regulation and governance approaches - intentional modes of social change. Society, Regulation and Governance will give significant insight into the potential and limits of new methods of social change, suiting a wide range of social science and legal academics due to its collaborative nature.