The idea of citizenship and conceptions of what it means to be a good citizen have evolved over time. On the one hand, good citizenship entails the ability to live with others in diverse societies and to promote a common set of values of acceptance, human rights, and democracy. On the other hand, in order to compete in the global economy, nations require a more innovative, autonomous, and reflective workforce, meaning good citizens are also those who successfully participate in the economic development of themselves and their country. These competing conceptions of good citizenship can result in people's participation in activities, such as profit-driven labor exploitation, that contradict human rights and democratic tenants. Thus, global citizenship education is fundamental to teaching, learning, and redressing sociopolitical, economic, and environmental exploitation around the world. Detailing the historical development of this field of study to achieve recognition, Global Citizenship Education: Challenges and Successes provides a critical discourse on global citizenship education (GCE). Authors in this collection discuss the underpinnings of global citizenship education via contemporary theories and methodologies, as well as specific case studies that illustrate the application of GCE initiatives. Editors Eva Aboagye and S. Nombuso Dlamini aim to motivate learners and educators in post-secondary institutions not only to understand the issues of social and economic inequality and political and civil unrest facing us, but also to take action that will lead to equitable change in both local and global spaces.

OG Kush. Sour Diesel. Wax, shatter, and vapes. Marijuana has come a long way since its seedy days in the back parking lots of our culture. So has Howard S. Becker, the eminent sociologist, jazz musician, expert on "deviant" culture, and founding NORML board member. When he published Becoming a Marihuana User more than sixty years ago, hardly anyone paid attention-because few people smoked pot. Decades of Cheech and Chong films, Grateful Dead shows, and Cannabis Cups later, and it's clear-marijuana isn't just an established commodity, it's an entire culture. And that's just the thing-Becker totally called it: pot has everything to do with culture. It's not a blight on culture, but a culture itself-in fact, you'll see in this book the first use of the term "users," rather than "abusers" or "addicts." Come along on this short little study-now a famous timestamp in weed studies-and you will be astonished at how relevant it is to us today. Becker doesn't judge, but neither does he holler for legalization, tell you how to grow it in a hollowed-out dresser, or anything else like that for which there are plenty of other books you can buy. Instead, he looks at marijuana with a clear sociological lens-as a substance that some people enjoy, and that some others have decided none of us should. From there he asks: so how do people decide to get high, and what kind of experience do they have as a result of being part of the marijuana world? What he discovers will bother some, especially those who proselytize the irrefutably stunning effects of the latest strain: chemistry isn't everything-the important thing about pot is how we interact with it. We learn to be high. We learn to like it. And from there, we teach others, passing the pipe in a circle that begins to resemble a bona fide community, defined by shared norms, values, and definitions just like any other community. All throughout this book, you'll see the intimate moments when this transformation takes place. You'll see people doing it for the first time and those with considerable experience. You'll see the early signs of the truths that have come to define the marijuana experience: that you probably won't get high at first, that you have to hold the hit in, and that there are other people here who are going to smoke that, too.

Minority religions that differ from the mainstream are often perceived as controversial and as a threat to the individual and to society. During the 1970s and 80s, there were intense discussions about whether conversion to these groups was voluntary or an effect of brainwashing or manipulation. In recent years, however, the situation of children in these groups has taken over the public debate regarding minority religions. Many believe that childhoods in cults involve physical and psychological abuse, and that severe punishment, starvation, sexual abuse, manipulation, forced obedience, lack of medical care and demonization of the outside world is part of everyday life. This book presents four years of research. Its purpose is to highlight children's upbringing in certain minority religions with a high degree of "sectarian" criteria in a sociological sense including high tension with society/world, unique legitimacy and high level of commitment. The study examines mainly, but not exclusively, seven minority religious communities: The Hare Krishna movement, The Family International (formerly Children of God), The Church of Scientology, The Family Federation (formerly The Unification Church), Knutby Filadelfia (a Pentecostal group), The Exclusive Brethren, and Jehovah's Witnesses. The fieldwork was conducted in Sweden, but the situation of the children and the findings are relevant to other countries. Most of the minority groups discussed have an international character with a presence in many countries, with only minor differences depending on local circumstances. The study is based on literature from the religions and observations of children and parents in religious rituals and daily life. However, the most important material for the book are eighteen in-depth interviews with children between the ages of 8 and 17 living in these groups and seventy-five in-depth interviews with adults who grew up in minority religions and who are still involved, who grew up in minority religions, but are not now engaged, and who raised children in the minority religions.

With a few exceptions, critical theorists have been late to provide a comprehensive diagnosis of neoliberalism comparable in scope to their extensive analyses of advanced welfare state capitalism. Instead, the main lines of critical theory have focused on questions of international justice which, while no doubt significant, restrict the scope of critical theory by deemphasizing linkages to larger political and economic conditions. Providing a critique of the Frankfurt School, Brian Caterino and Phillip Hansen move beyond its foundations, and call for a rethinking of the bases of critical theory as a practical, freedom-creating project. Outlining a resurgence of neoliberalism, the authors encourage a fresh, nuanced analysis that elucidates its political and economic structures and demonstrates the threats to freedom and democracy that neoliberalism poses. They propose the reformulation of a radical democratic alternative to neoliberalism, one that critically addresses its limitations while promoting an enhancement of communicative and social freedom.

This book throws fresh light on the experiences of Gypsies in Surrey and South London at the dawn of the modern era. It uses a wide range of records to paint a detailed picture of people who left few written records themselves. It shows how external forces including enclosure, urban expansion, changing economic circumstances and ever-intrusive legislation, increasingly challenged their way of life. The parallel struggles of local communities and institutions to respond effectively and the development of perceptions and prejudices have a contemporary resonance that should interest the general reader as well as academics and local and family historians.

Research skills are as critical to social work practitioners as skills in individual and group counselling, policy analysis, and community development. Adopting strategies similar to those used in direct practice courses, this book integrates research with social work practice, and in so doing promotes an understanding and appreciation of the research process. This second edition of Practising Social Work Research comprises twenty-three case studies that illustrate different research approaches, including quantitative, qualitative, single-subject, and mixed methods. Six are new to this edition, and examine research with First Nations, organizing qualitative data, and statistics. Through these real-life examples, the authors demonstrate the processes of conceptualization, operationalization, sampling, data collection and processing, and implementation. Designed to help the student and practitioner become more comfortable with research procedures, Practising Social Work Research capitalizes on the strengths that social work students bring to assessment and problem solving.

The Chameleon's Last Dance - Join the revellers in a bawdy 'world of men', between Christmas and New Year, as a somnambulist chameleon, a dancing bear and ten lords-a-leaping prance into a bag of glees and good tidings at the retro-Hustler's Ball. Swirling through music, memories of childhood, places, teenage years, TV characters, and friends, past and present, can the chameleon trance-dance through fire and attain the state of 'Mok'sha'?