"This book is a gift to students and colleagues who have a passion for theory. Craig Martin has infused his work with rare wit, wisdom, emotion, unique insight, and commitment." -- Naomi Goldenberg, Professor of Religious Studies, University of Ottawa, Canada "In this incredibly impressive work, Craig Martin shows the importance of doing your homework by methodically laying out the philosophical basis for a discursive theory of society. Martin provides a clear path through numerous debates that over-simplistically pit empirical realities against social construction, leading the reader to a far more nuanced and critically viable position. This is a must-read for anyone who considers themselves a scholar of culture." -- Leslie Dorrough Smith, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Women's and Gender Studies Program, Avila University, USA ""If to study religion is to study how people name and rank their worlds, then it actually studies how power and identity are claimed and contested-and Craig Martin numbers among the best representatives of such a field; Discourse and Ideology makes clear that a critical scholar of religion has much to say about how society works, and why it so often seems to work only for some of its members."" -- Russell T. McCutcheon, University Research Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, University of Alabama, USA "This book succeeds in providing a secure base and guide for scholars to apply a poststructuralist critique of culture, whether focused on religion, politics, gender, race or another category of analysis.

" -- Suzanne Owen, Reader in Religious Studies, Leeds Trinity University, UK.