One of the central observations of the social sciences has been that the modern age is an age of constant change. This change has resulted in the emergence of new moral and ethical claims and understanding, which author Brian Lowe refers to as "moral vocabularies." Lowe skillfully seeks to explain under what conditions certain moral vocabularies are more likely to gain acceptance in the wider host society. By focusing on the animal rights and tobacco control movements, this absorbing work explores the process of moralization and the fragmentary nature of the emergence of new forms of moral and ethical meanings within the wider host society. Emerging Moral Vocabularies challenges the broad assertion that Western post-industrial societies are inevitably becoming more individualistic and self-centered, and instead encourages scholars to examine emerging forms for moral and ethical meaning, which form new moral boundaries.

"The book does a good job in advancing a model for describing and explaining the process of why and how animal rights and tobacco control prove to be successful social movements at the present..." - American Journal of Sociology, November 2007