This major new textbook will equip students with a complete understanding of contemporary politics, state and society in the United Kingdom today.

Key underlying themes include:
- the differences between traditional and alternative `sites of power' and what we mean by `political'
- the relationships between politics, society and how individuals become and remain engaged with politics
- the rapid transformations in contemporary social structures and their impact on social and political life
- the role of human agency and its significance to social and political action and movements
- contemporary cultural and social dislocations and their impact on some of the major contested areas of political life today.

Key features include:
- key concepts and issues
- key theorists and writers
- discussion questions

Comprehensive and accessible, An Introduction to Politics, State & Society is an essential text for all undergraduate students of politics, the contemporary state, power and political sociology.

James W McAuley is Professor of Political Sociology and Irish Studies in the School of Human and Health Sciences at the University of Huddersfield