This book proposes a historical-conceptual journey into the cluttered social formations that have remained outside of mainstream sociology. In particular, it reviews urban crowds, mediated publics, global masses, population, the sovereign people and the multitude and addresses the question: 'What is the building block of the social?'.

Andrea Mubi Brighenti is Aggregate Professor of Social Theory at the University of Trento, Italy. His main research threads include space and society, visibility, ethnography and social theory. His recent publications include Visibility in Social Theory and Social Research.