Emile Durkheim: His Life and Work. A Historical and Critical Study London: Allen Lane, The Penguin Press and New York: Harper and Row; Peregrine edition, 1975; republished with new preface Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1985 (Translated into Spanish)

Individualism Oxford: Blackwell, 1973 and New York: Harper and Row (Trans. into Spanish and Japanese). To be republished with new introduction 2006.

Power: a Radical View London: Macmillan, 1974 and New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1975 (Trans. into Spanish, Japanese, Polish and in part into French)

Essays in Social Theory London: Macmillan, 1977 and New York: Columbia University Press

Rationality and Relativism (edited with Martin Hollis) Oxford: Blackwell, 1982 Concluding chapter: ‘Relativism in its Place’

Emile Durkheim: The Rules of Sociological Method and Selected Texts on Sociology and its Method, edited with an Introduction by Steven Lukes, translated by W.D. Halls London: Macmillan, 1982 and New York: Free Press

Durkheim and the Law (edited with Andrew Scull) Oxford: Martin Roberson,1983

Marxism and Morality Oxford: Clarendon,1985

with Itzhak Galnoor: No Laughing Matter: A Collection of Political Jokes London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1985 and Penguin Paperbacks

Introduction to Vaclav Havel et al. The Power of the Powerless: Citizens against the State in Central-Eastern Europe Lonson: Hutchinson, 1985

The Category of the Person: Anthropology, Philosophy, History (co-edited with M. Carrithers and S. Collins), Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986, Concluding chapter. Japanese translation 1995, Italian translation, Corrado Lampe, Lanuvio, 1998

Power Oxford: Blackwell 1986 and New York: New York University Press. Edited volume of selected articles with introduction)

Moral Conflict and Politics, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991.

in Italian: Isaiah Berlin: Tra la filosofia e la storia delle idee. Una conversazione con Steven Lukes, Florence: Ponte alle Grazie, 1994

The Curious Enlightenment of Professor Caritat, London and New York: Verso, 1995 translated into German (Rotbuch Verlag), French (Salvy/Ballard), Brazilian Portuguese (Revan), Greek (Stachi), Korean (Review and Review), Japanese (Japan Broadcast Publishing), Portuguese (Gradiva), Thai (Kofbai), Dutch (De Geus), Danish (Forum/Spectrum), Norwegian (J. M. Stenersens Vorlag), Turkish (Bilim ve Sanat , Yayin Dagatim), Italy (Mondadori), Chinese (China Times), Polish (Musa) and Slovenian.

Ciudadania : justicia social, identitad y participacion (co-edited with an introduction with Soledad Garcia), Madrid: Siglo Ventiuno, Madrid, 1999

Multicultural Citizenship (co-edited with an introduction with Christian Joppke), Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999

Liberals and Cannibals: The Implications of Diversity, London: Verso, 2003

Power: A Radical View Second Edition. The Original Text with two major new chapters. London: Palgrave, Macmillan, 2005 Translated into Italian (Vita e Pensiero 2007)

Moral Relativism. New York, Picador, 2008 and London, Profile Books, 2009

“Moral Weakness”, Philosophical Quarterly, 1965, pp. 104-114. Reprinted in Mortimore, G. (ed.): Weakness of the Will (1971), Macmillan, London)

“On the History of Sociological Theory” (review article), British Journal of Sociology, 1966, XVII, 2, pp. 198-203

“Varieties of Political Philosophy” , (review article), Political Studies, 1967, XV 1, pp. 55-59

“Alienation and Anomie” in Laslett, P. & Runciman, W.G. (eds.); Philosophy, Politics and Society, Third Series (1967, Blackwell, Oxford). Reprinted in Finifter, A.W. (ed.): Alienation and the Social System (1972, Wiley, N.Y.) and in Connolly, W.E. & Gordon, Glen (eds.): Social Structure and Political Inquiry (1974, D.C. Heath, Boston)

“Some “Problems about Rationality”, Archives européennes de sociologie, 1967, VIII, 2, pp. 247-264. Reprinted in Wilson, B.R. (ed.): Rationality (1970, Blackwell, Oxford)

“Methodological Individualism Reconsidered”, British Journal of Sociology, 1968, XIX, 2, pp. 119-129. Reprinted in Emmet, D. & Macintyre, A. (eds.): Sociological Theory and Philosophical Analysis (1970,Macmillan, London) and Ryan, A. (ed.): The Philosophy of Social Explanation (1973, Clarendon, Oxford), (Trans. into Japanese)

“Marcel Mauss” in International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (1968, Collier Macmillan and Free Press, N.Y.), vol. 10, pp. 78-82

“Alienation”, Common Factor, spring, 1968, pp. 74-80

“Saint-Simon” in Raison T. (ed.): The Founding Fathers of Social Science (1969, Penguin, Harmondsworth, Middlesex), pp. 27-34

“Durkheim’s Individualism and the Intellectuals”, Political Studies, 1969, XVII, 1, pp. 14-19 (+translation: pp. 19-30)

“Social and Moral Tolerance”, Government and Opposition, 1971, VI, 2, pp. 224-8

“The Meanings of ‘Individualism’”, Journal of the History of Ideas, 1971, XXXII, 1, pp. 45-66

“Prolegomena to the Interpretation of Durkheim”, Archives européennes de sociologie , 1971, XII, 2, pp. 1-209

“On the Social Determination of Truth” in Horton, R. & Finnegan, R. (eds.): Modes of Thought: essays presented to E.E. Evans-Pritchard (1973, Faber, London)

“Individualism” in Wiener, P. (ed.): Dictionary of the History of Ideas (1973, Scribner’s, N.Y.)

Contributions to Dictionary of World History (1973, Nelson, London)

“Relativism: Cognitive and Moral”, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 1974, Supplementary Vol. XLVIII, pp. 165-189
“Socialism and Equality” in L. Kolakowski & S. Hampshire (eds.): The Socialist Idea: A Reappraisal (1974, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London), reprinted in Dissent, Spring 1975

“Political Ritual and Social Integration”, Sociology, 1975, 9, 2, pp. 289-308

Review Essay on B. Barnes, Scientific Knowledge and Sociological Theory, Social Studies of Science, 1975, 5, pp. 501-505
“Reply to Bradshaw” (reply to critique of Power: A Radical View), Sociology, 1976, 10, 1, pp. 129-132

“The Critical Theory Trip” (review article), Political Studies, 1977, XXV, 3, Sept. 1977, pp. 408-412

Review essay: “The Theoretical Polemics of Ideology”, American Journal of Sociology, 84, 1, July 1978, pp. 186-190

“The Underdetermination of Theory by Data”, Aristotelian Society Supplementary Volume LII, 1978, pp. 93-107

“Power and Authority” in T.B. Bottomore & R. Nisbet (eds.): A History of sociological Analysis (Basic Books, 1978)

“On the Relativity of Power” in S. Brown (ed.), Philosophical Disputes in the Social Sciences (Harvester, 1979)

“The Real and Ideal Worlds of Democracy” in A. Kontos (ed.), Powers, Possessions and Freedoms (McGill University Press, 1979)

(in discussion with Terry N. Clark) ‘Emile Durkheim Today,’ Research in Sociology of Knowledge, Sciences and Art, 2, pp. 123-53

“Elster on Counterfactuals”, Inquiry, 1980, 23, pp, 145-155

“Can a Marxist Believe in Human Rights?”, Praxis, 1, IV, Jan 1982, pp. 334-345

“Comments on David Bloor”, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 1982, 13, 4, pp. 313-318

“Marx, Morality and Justice” in G.H.R. Parkinson (ed.), Marx and Marxisms (1982, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press)

“Macht und Herrschaft bei Weber, Marx, Foucault” in Krise der Arbeitsgesellschaft Verhandlungen der 21. Deutschen Soziologentages in Bamberg 1982, Frankfurt and New York, Campus Verlag) Also reproduced in Kursbuch, 1982

“Of Gods and Demons: Habermas and Practical Reason” in J.B. Thompson and D. Held (eds.), Habermas: Critical Debates (1982, Macmillan, London)

“Can the Base be distinguished from the Superstructure?” in David Miller & Larry Siedentop (eds.), The Nature of Political Theory (1983, Oxford, Clarendon Press); shorter version printed in Analyse und Kritik, 2, 1982, pp. 211-222

Contributions to A Dictionary of Marxist Thought edited by Tom Bottomore et al. (1983, Oxford, Blackwell)

“The Future of British Socialism?” in Ben Pimlott (ed.), Fabian Essays in Socialist Thought (1984, London, Heinemann)

“Marxism and Utopianism” in Peter Alexander and Roger Gill (eds), Utopias (1984, London, Duckworth)

“The Contradictory Aims of Action Theory’ in G. Seebass and R. Tuomela (eds.), Social Action (1985, Dordrecht, Reidel)

“Taking Morality Seriously” in Ted Honderich (ed.) Morality and Objectivity (1985, London, Routledge and Kegan Paul)

“Marxism and Dirty Hands”, Social Philosophy and Policy, 1986, also reproduced in Ellen Frankel paul, Fred D. Miller Jr., Jeffrey Paul and John Ahrens (eds.), Marxism and LIberalism (1986, Oxford, Blackwell)

“Perspectives on Authority”J.R. Pennock, J.W. Chapman (eds.), Authority Revisited Nomos XXIX, 1987, New York, New York University Press

“The Morality of Sanctions against South Africa”, Philosophical Forum, 18, 2-3, 1986-7

Contributions to The Encyclopedia of Political Thought (Oxford, Blackwell, 1988)

“Making Sense of Moral Conflict” in Nancy Rosenblum (ed.), Liberalism and the Moral Life (1989, Cambridge, Mass., Harvard University Press)

“Incommensurability in Science and Ethics” (trans. into Italian and published in Iride: Filosofia e Discussione Pubblica, Florence, 3, 1990)

“The Use of Ethnocentricity” – (translated into French and published in Singularités: Les Voies d’émergence individuelle. Textes pour E. de Dampierre (1989, Paris, Plon))

Reviews on Havel: Letters to Olga, Temptation, Vaclav Havel or Living in Truth Jan Vladislav (ed.) TLS in March 1989

“Marxism and Morality: Reflections on the Revolutions of 1989″, Ethics and International Affairs, 1990, Vol 4, pp. 19-31 (translated into German and published in the Frankfurter Hefte)

“Equality and Liberty: Must they Conflict?” in D. Held (ed.), Modern Political Theory (1990, Cambridge, Polity Press)

Articles on Durkheim, Individualism and Power to L. Becker (ed.): Encyclopedia of Ethics New York, 1990

“Left and Right, Socialism and Capitalism”, Social Research, Autumn 1990

“Teorie della Giustizia: Am, ico e Nemico”, Iride, n. 6-7, January-December 1991

“What is Left?”, Times Literary Supplement, March 1992

“On Trade-Offs between Values”, EUI SPS Working Papers n. 92/24

Articles on Anomie, the Durkheim School, Political Ritual, Power in the Basil Blackwell 20th Centry Dictionary of Political Thought, Oxford, Basil Blackwell, 1992

‘The Limits of Intelligibility,’ Ratio Juris, 1993

‘The Essential and the Local’, in Italian in Ossimori`, 2, 1993

‘Five Fables about Human Rights’, Oxford Amnesty Lecture in February 1993, published in Dissent, Autumn 1993, and in S. Shute and S. Hurley (eds.), On Human Rights. The Oxford Amnesty Lectures 1993, (1993, New York, Basic Books) and in Acta Philosophica, 2/1994, published in translation in Italian, Spanish and German

‘Il Concetto di Progresso’, Iride, 7, 12, 1994

‘Igualdad y liberdad: deben estar en conflicto?’Interview in C. Cansino and V. A. Olguin (eds.) La Filosofia Politica, Triana editores, Mexico, 1994

‘Quale Socialismo? Quale Liberalismo? Quale Capitalismo?’ in M. Bovero, V. Mura, F. Sbarberi (a cura di), I Dilemmi del Liberalsocialismo, La Nuova Italia Scientifica, Roma, 1994

‘Multiculturalismus und Gerechtigkeit: “Politik der gleicher Wurde” und “Politik der Anerkennung” Überlegungen in Anschluss an Charles Taylor’ in C. Demmeling and T. Reutsch (eds.), Die Gegenwart der Gerechigkeit. Diskurse zwischen Recht, praktischer Philosophie und Politik, Akademie Verlag, Berlin, 1995

‘Moral Diversity and Relativism’, Journal of Philosophy of Education, 29, 2, 1995

‘Reply to Van Parijs’ Ratio Juris, 8, March 1995

Prospettive su marxismo e liberalismo’ in Claudia Natoli e Francesco Saverio Trincia (a cura di), Marxismo e Liberalismo. Una riflessione critica di fine secolo, Franco Angeli, Milan, 1995

‘Diritti e obbligazione politica nella ricostruzione della cittadinanza’ in Solidarietà e Cittadinanza, presentazione F. Gentile, Cultura Nuova editrice, Firenze, 1995

‘Principles of 1989: Reflections on Revolution’ in Kenneth E. Thompson (ed.), Revolutions in Europe and the USSR, University Press of America and the Miller Center, University of Virginia, 1995

‘Disaggregating the Dangers of Anti-liberalism’, Contention, 5, 1, 1995, pp. 167-175

‘L’Attachement social et ses mythes: sur la querelle entre liberalisme e communitarisme’, Le Banquet, Paris, 2, 7, 1995

‘Qu’est-ce que la Gauche?’ in Marc Lazar (ed.), La Gauche en Europe depuis 1945, Presses Universitaires de France, Paris 1996

‘On Trade-Offs between Values’ in F. Farina, F. Hahn and S. Vannucci (eds.), Ethics, Rationality and Economic Behaviour, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1996

‘Quelques Reflexions sur le Mauss de Fournier’, Revue europeenee des sciences sociales, 34, 195, 1996

‘On Genocide,’ Dissent, 3, 1996

‘Toleration and Recognition’, Ratio Juris, 10, 2, 1997

‘Social Justice: The Hayekian Challenge,’ Social Research, 1997

‘On Comparing the Incomparable: Trade-Offs and Sacrifices’ in Ruth Chang (ed.), Incommensurability, Incomparability and Practical Reason, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., 1997

‘Potere’ in Enciclopedia delle scienze sociali, Treccani, Rome, 1997, vol VI, pp. 722-745

‘The Singular and the Plural: On the Distinctive Liberalism of Isaiah Berlin,’ Social Research, 1997

‘Equality’ in German in W. Haug (ed.), Historisch-kritisches Woerterbuch des Marxismus, vol. 3, Argument, Hamburg, 1997

’Power and Complicity: Rescuers and Executioners during the Third Reich’ in Italian in M. Flores (ed.), Nazismo, Fascismo Comunismo: Totalitarismi a confronto, Mondadori, Milan, 1998

‘Humiliation and the Politics of Identity,’ Social Research, 31, 1998

Introduction to Ernest Gellner, Language and Solitude. Wittgenstein, Malinowski and the Habsburg Dilemma, Cmbridge University Press, Cambridge, 1998

‘Isaiah Berlin’s Dilemma: Must Pluralists be Relativists?’, Times Literary Supplement, March 1998

‘The Responsive Community: Rights and Responsibilities,’ Dissent, Summer 1999

‘The Last Word on the Third Way,’ Social Market Foundation Review, March 1999

‘Solidarity and Citizenship’ in K. Bayertz (ed.), Solidarity, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 1999

‘Entwurdigung und Identitatpolitik’, Deutsche Zeitschrift fur Philosophie, 47, 2, 1999, pp. 313-324

’Il saluto incoraggiante di Martin Hollis,’ Iride, 12, 26, Jan-April 1999, pp. 197-200

‘Different Cultures, Different Rationalities’, Journal of the History of the Human Sciences, 13, 1. February 2000, pp. 5-18

‘On the Moral Blindness of Communism’, Human Rights Review,, 2, 2, Jan-March 2001

‘An Unfashionable Fox’ in R. Dworkin, M. Lilla and R. B. Silvers (eds.), The Legacy of Isaiah Berlin New York Review Books, New York,`2001

‘Liberalism for the liberals, cannibalism for the cannibals,’ Critical Review of Social and Political Philosophy, 4,4 Winter 2001

‘Emile Durkheim’, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Sciences, Elsevier, 2002

‘Power’, Oxford Companion to Politics of the World, Oxford University Press, new edition, 2002

‘Ernest Gellner’, New Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2002

‘Epilogue: The Grand Dichotomy of the Twentieth Century’: concluding chapter to The Cambridge History of Twentieth Century Political Thought, Cambridgfe, Cambridge University Press, 2003

Chapter on the British tradition of Liberal Socialism in Monique Canto-Sperber avec Nadia Urbinati (eds.), Le Socialisme liberal, Paris, Editions Esprit, 2003

Obituary of Martin Hollis in the Proceedings of the British Academy, 115, 2003

‘Individualism’, Encyclopedia Britannica, 2003

‘Le pouvoir dans l’oeuvre de Coleman’, Revue française de Sociologie, 2003

‘Rethinking social criticism : some puzzles,’ History of the Human Sciences, 16, 4, 2003, pp. 85-89

‘The Question of Power: Europe versus America’, Constellations, 10, 3, Sept 2003, pp. 352-7

‘On the Moral Blindness of Communism’ in Helmut Dubiel and Gabirel Motzkin (eds.), The Lesser Evil: Moral Approaches to Genocide Practices, London and New York: Routledge, pp. 154-165

‘Ernest Gellner’, Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Philosophers. Thoemmes Press, 2005

Foreword to Sor-hoon Tan (ed. ), Globalization and Citizenship, Aldershot: Ashgate, 2005

‘Invasions of the Market’ in M. Miller (ed.), Worlds of Capitalism: Institutions, Governance and Economic Change in the Era of Globalization, London: Routledge, 2005

‘Power and the Battle for Hearts and Minds’, Millennium, 33, 3, 2005, PP. 477-493

(with LaDawn Haglund) ‘Power and Luck’, European Journal of Sociology, XLVI, 1, 2005, pp. 45-66

‘Verita’ e potere’ in Silvana Borutti and Luca Fonnesu (eds.), La Verita’: Scienza, filosofia, societa’ Il Mulino, Bologna, 2005

‘’Questions about Power: Lessons from the Lousiiana Hurricane,’ Posted on Social Science Research Council Website: http://umderstandingkatrina.soc.org

‘Liberal-democratic Torture’, British Journal of Political Science, 36, 1, 2006, pp. 1-16

‘Searle and his Critics’ Anthropological Theory, 6, 2006, pp. 5-11

‘Reply to Comments’ in Symposium on Power: A Radical View Second Edition. Political Studies Review, 4, 2006, pp. 164-73

‘In Conversation with Steven Lukes.’ Public Policy Research, 13, 4, December 2006-February 2007, 271-5.

‘Apparently Irrational Beliefs’ in Stephen Turner and Mark Risjord (eds.) Handbook of Philosophy, Anthropology and Sociology.Amerstedam: Elsevier, 2007, pp. 591-606

‘Torture and Liberal Democracy: Response to Levey,’ British Journal of Political Science, 27, 3, 2007, pp. 571-2

‘Power and the Battle for Hearts and Minds: On the Bluntness of Soft Power’ (revised version of article in Millennium) in Felix Berenskoetter and M. J. Williams (eds.), Power in World Politics London: Routledge, 2007, pp. 83-97

‘Pathologies of States and Markets’ in D. Downes, P. Rock, C. Chinkin and C. Gearty (eds.), Crime, Social Control and Human Rights: from Moral Panics to States of Denial. Essays in Honour of Stanley Cohen. London, Wilan, 2007, pp. 157-173

‘États, marchés et pratiques locales’ in Bertrand Badie and Yves Deloye (eds.), Les Temps de l’État: Mélanges en l’honneur de Pierre Birnbaum. Paris, Fayard, 2007, 345-359

‘Die Politik gleicher Würde und die Politik der Anerkennung’ in Jürgen Mackert and Hans-Peter Müller (eds.), Moderne (Staats)Bürgerschaft. Nationale Staatsbürgerschaft unde die Debatten der Citizenship Studies. Wiesbaden, VS Verlag für Sozisalwissehnschaften, 2007, pp. 311-322

‘The Elusiveness of Power,’ O Pder das Narrativas as Narrativas do Poder.Collόquios di Outono 2005-2006. orgsanized by Anna Gabriela Macedo and Maria Eduarda Keating. Universidade do Minho, Braga, Portugal, pp. 109-114

‘Searle versus Durkheim’ in savas. L. Tsohatzidis (ed.), Intentional Acts and Institutional Facts: Essays on John Searle’s Social Ontology. Dorderecht, Springer, 2007, pp. 191-202

‘Marxism and the Enlightenment’ in Michel Seymour and Mitthias Fritsch (eds), Reason and Emancipation. Essays on the Philosophy of Kai Neilsen. Amherst, Humanity Books, Prometheus., 2007, pp. 214-224

His first major work was a full-length study of the life and ideas of Emile Durkheim and he retains a keen interest in the Durkheimian tradition in sociology and anthropology. He then published a study of the history and diverse meanings of the concept of ‘individualism.’ His interests include political sociology, focusing on the study of power; political theory and philosophy; Marxism and other socialist traditions; philosophy of the social sciences; the history of ideas, in particular the political thought of Condorcet; political humour and satire; and, most recently, the sociology of morals, his current preoccupation.

Lukes’s best-known, still controversial academic theory is his so-called ‘radical’ view of power. It can be simply stated. It claims there are three dimensions of power. The first is overt power, typically exhibited in the presence of conflict in decision-making situations, where power consists in winning, that is prevailing over another or others. The second is covert power, consisting in control over what gets decided, by ignoring or deflecting existing grievances. And the third is the power to shape desires and beliefs, thereby averting both conflict and grievances. The first is the most public of the three and is how the powerful usually want to be seen: for instance, the power of political leaders to make policy decisions after widespread consultation with opposition parties and the wider public. The second is the power to control agendas. It has been called the ‘mobilization of bias,’ reinforcing the powerful by excluding threatening issues from discussion in public forums. The third kind of power can be the most insidious. It is the most hidden from view—the least accessible to observation by social actors and observers alike. It can be at work, despite apparent consensus between the powerful and the powerless. It is the power to influence people’s wishes and thoughts, inducing them to want things opposed to what would benefit them and to fail to want what they would, but for such power, recognize to be in their real interests.

He is a member of the editorial board of the European Journal of Sociology and a fellow of the British Academy.