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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social issues > Ethical issues & debates
Since the original publication of Playing God? in 1996, three developments in genetic technology have moved to the center of public discussion about the ethics of bioengineering. Cloning, the completion of the human genome project, and the controversy over stem cell research have all sparked lively debates among religious thinkers and the makers of public policy. In this updated edition, Ted Peters illuminates key issues in these debates and makes deft connections between our questions about God and our efforts to manage technological innovations.
This title was first published in 2000: This anthology of essays
focuses on the human rights of children in the area of sexuality.
Looking at the theoretical aspects, essays examine the history and
construction of concepts of childhood and child sexuality, while
other essays take an interdisciplinary approach, examining
anthropological, sociological, psychological and economic
perspectives on law and childhood sexuality. Specific problems that
arise in litigation and judicial practice are looked at in more
detail, and in some cases, comparative and international approaches
are taken to the examination of law reform and initiatives in
selected countries and in international organizations.
Surveillance happens to all of us, everyday, as we walk beneath street cameras, swipe cards, surf the net. Agencies are using increasingly sophisticated computer systems - especially searchable databases - to keep tabs on us at home, work and play. Once the word surveillance was reserved for police activities and intelligence gathering, now it is an unavoidable feature of everyday life.
Surveillance as Social Sorting proposes that surveillance is not simply a contemporary threat to individual freedom, but that, more insidiously, it is a powerful means of creating and reinforcing long-term social differences. As practiced today, it is actually a form of social sorting - a means of verifying identities but also of assessing risks and assigning worth. Questions of how categories are constructed therefore become significant ethical and political questions.
Bringing together contributions from North America and Europe, Surveillance as Social Sorting offers an innovative approach to the interaction between societies and their technologies. It looks at a number of examples in depth and will be an appropriate source of reference for a wide variety of courses.
Tobacco control leaders were extremely proud of the movement's
achievements in the state of Minnesota. In sharing their
perspectives and experiences with Mark Wolfson, they found a way of
making sure that the story would get told. His training in social
movements had given him an appreciation of the importance of
understanding the social infrastructure on which movements are
built, and Minnesota had built heavily on the infrastructure of
health care and public health. What became apparent is that the
struggle against the tobacco industry in Minnesota involved a
close, collaborative relationship between government (or "state")
actors and the leaders of the tobacco control movement.
Wolfson develops both of these themes: building on the
infrastructure of health, and state-movement interpenetration, to
understand the emergence, growth, and outcomes of the tobacco
control movement in Minnesota. He focuses on the advantages and
constraints associated with these two related themes. He goes
beyond the case study method to assess the generalizability of the
pattern, and whether the same sort of movement can be used by other
states in North America, and even in other countries and their
social movements.
How has the tobacco control movement become such a significant and
successful force in shaping public policy, social norms, and the
habits of millions of Americans? In this first such detailed study
by a sociologist, Wolfson documents how the movement has grown over
nearly three decades by building an infrastructure of health
organizations and health professionals, and by fostering
relationships with government. Rich in survey data, extensive
interviews, and archival sources, this text is essential reading
for courses in social problems, social movements, and public
health. The general reader will also find it engaging, given the
issues of tobacco use as an addiction and a social problem.
"Mark Wolfson" is associate professor and director for community
Research, Department of Public Health Science, Wake Forest
University School of Medicine. His research has been funded by both
governmental and private research grants.
This book explicitly addresses ethical dilemmas and issues that
post-secondary ESL faculty commonly encounter and examines them in
the framework of social justice concerns. Ethics is defined
broadly, to include responsibilities and obligations to students
inside and outside the classroom, as well to colleagues,
educational institutions, the TESL profession, and society as a
whole.
Scenarios in each chapter provide realistic and compelling
situations for reflection and discussion. The authors then set out
the issues raised, relate them to the classroom environment, and
offer opportunities to examine them in a variety of contexts and to
consider possible solutions to the dilemmas. Issues include
testing, plagiarism, technology, social and political issues
affecting students and the classroom, gift-giving, curriculum
decisions, disruptive students, institutional constraints, academic
freedom, gender, class, and power.
Busy classroom instructors will find this book accessible,
thought-provoking, and relevant to their daily work situations. It
is not intended as a theoretical treatment of ethics and social
justice in ESL, nor does it propose that ESL faculty teach morals
or ethics to students. Rather, it is designed as a concise,
practical introduction to ethical practice for both new and
experienced ESL faculty in post-secondary teaching situations in
the United States, for others interested in the ESL classroom, and
as a text for TESL classes and seminars.
"Ethical Issues for ESL Faculty: " *maps new territory in the
field--ethical issues in TESL, particularly as encountered by
post-secondary classroom teachers, are not often discussed in ESL
publications;
*makes the complex issues of ethics in the context of social
justice accessible to TESL practitioners; and
*includes useful resources, such as additional scenarios for
discussion, an extensive reference list, and selected
ethics-related Web sites.
Throughout the world, vulnerable people are being deceived into
entering abusive journeys. Whether in the organ trade, exploitative
labour businesses or forced criminality, their lives will never be
the same. This book traces the journey of victims/survivors of
modern slavery and human trafficking into and within the UK, from
recruitment to representation to (re)integration. Using global
comparative case studies, it discusses recruitment tactics and
demand, prevention in supply chains, issues with effective legal
protection and care services and vulnerability to re-trafficking.
It also examines the ideological misrepresentation of vulnerable
migrants and victims/survivors in media, the film industry,
legislation and more. Rooted in diverse practitioner experience,
disciplines and empirical research, this book bridges the
experience-research-practice-policy gap by bringing to the fore
survivors' voices. In doing so, it offers crucial suggestions for
better public awareness, policies and practices that will impact
interventions in the UK and beyond.
This book explicitly addresses ethical dilemmas and issues that
post-secondary ESL faculty commonly encounter and examines them in
the framework of social justice concerns. Ethics is defined
broadly, to include responsibilities and obligations to students
inside and outside the classroom, as well to colleagues,
educational institutions, the TESL profession, and society as a
whole.
Scenarios in each chapter provide realistic and compelling
situations for reflection and discussion. The authors then set out
the issues raised, relate them to the classroom environment, and
offer opportunities to examine them in a variety of contexts and to
consider possible solutions to the dilemmas. Issues include
testing, plagiarism, technology, social and political issues
affecting students and the classroom, gift-giving, curriculum
decisions, disruptive students, institutional constraints, academic
freedom, gender, class, and power.
Busy classroom instructors will find this book accessible,
thought-provoking, and relevant to their daily work situations. It
is not intended as a theoretical treatment of ethics and social
justice in ESL, nor does it propose that ESL faculty teach morals
or ethics to students. Rather, it is designed as a concise,
practical introduction to ethical practice for both new and
experienced ESL faculty in post-secondary teaching situations in
the United States, for others interested in the ESL classroom, and
as a text for TESL classes and seminars.
"Ethical Issues for ESL Faculty: " *maps new territory in the
field--ethical issues in TESL, particularly as encountered by
post-secondary classroom teachers, are not often discussed in ESL
publications;
*makes the complex issues of ethics in the context of social
justice accessible to TESL practitioners; and
*includes useful resources, such as additional scenarios for
discussion, an extensive reference list, and selected
ethics-related Web sites.
From advertising to health education campaigns, sex and sexual imagery now permeate every aspect of culture. Striptease Culture explores the 'sexualization' of contemporary life, relating it to wider changes in post-war society. Divided into three sections, Striptease Culture first traces the development of pornography, following its movement from elite to mass culture and the contemporary fascination with 'porno-chic'. In part two McNair considers popular cultural forms of sexual representation in the media. Moving from backlash elements in straight male culture and changing images of women to the representation of gays in contemporary film and television shows such as Ellen or Queer as Folk, McNair argues that the high profile of sexuality in contemporary culture, rather than evidence of moral decline, is a positive expression of post-war liberalism and the advance of feminism and gay rights, as well as a key contributor to public health education in the era of HIV and AIDS. In part three, McNair turns to the uses of sexuality in contemporary art, examining the artistic 'striptease' of Jeff Koons and others, who have used their own naked bodies in their work. McNair also considers how feminist and gay artists have employed sexuality in the critique and transformation of patriarchy. In a concluding chapter, McNair considers the implications of the rise of striptease culture for the future of sexual politics.
First published in 1988. This book shows how censorship as a set of
institutions, practices and discourses was involved in the struggle
over the nature of cinema in the early twentieth century. It also
reveals the part played in this struggle by other institutions,
practices and discourses - for example 'new' knowledge about
sexuality and organisations devoted to the promotion of public
morality. Instead of censorship simply being an act of prohibition
by a special institution, this work reveals the issues at work were
far more complex and contradictory - opening up critical scrutiny
and challenging assumptions. This title will be of interest to
students of media and film studies.
When organ transplantation is discussed, the focus is overwhelmingly placed on the life saving aspect of the operation. However, organ transplantation 'is never just about life; it is also about death.' The vast majority of transplanted organs come from individuals who have been declared, by legal and medical definitions, to be brain dead. Loved ones of these newly deceased are faced with unique problems and choices. Based on fifteen years of experience working with organ procurement organizations and donor families, Wrapped in Mourning addresses the heretofore unexplored subject of organ donor family trauma. This book covers the issues surrounding organ donation, including the history of organ transplantation, how organs are procured for transplantation, as well as the medical procedure itself. Each issue is explored with regards to its impact upon donor families. Ways to reduce grief, prevent problems, and increase the benefits of donating organs for the donating family are discussed. Holtkamp demonstrates a rich understanding of donor family trauma, and Wrapped in Mourning is peppered with case studies and real-life scenarios that shed light on both sides of the 'life-giving, death-ridden phenomenon of organ donation.'
Related link: Free Email Alerting
As first responders to public problems, administrators must survey
situations, identify solutions, and occasionally make executive
decisions that are binding upon the government as a whole. The
ability for administrators to assert claims that orient the
government in a particular direction is not only powerful, but it
can also be problematic and even dangerous. For administrators, the
tension between moving in a spirited way, and remaining sensible,
is a problem of how to exercise one's discretion, especially in the
U.S. context, which demands that both be considered and actualized.
In dealing with these competing expectations, Chad B. Newswander
analyzes how administrators can incorporate executive, legislative,
and judicial tendencies to help them handle the problem of
discretion. Expanding the thinking of the constitutional school of
public administration thought, Administrative Ethics and Executive
Decisions is a theoretically grounded and empirically rich study of
how administrators incorporate a constitutional ethos to handle the
problem of discretion.
Dying Right is the first work to provide a comprehensive and first-hand account of the Death with Dignity movement in the USA and around the world. The book also provides an in-depth look at Oregon, the first place to legalize physician-assisted suicide. Engaging the question of how to balance a patient's sense about the right way to die, a physician's role as a healer, and the state's interest in preventing killing, Dying Right captures the ethical, legal, moral and medical complexities involved in this ongoing debate.
In his treatment of the issues raised by the movements of women
for equal rights a century ago, Michels anticipated controversies
and conflicts about which people care deeply today. He took a clear
position in support of the desirability of equality between the
sexes. In consequence, it remains relevant to current debates
within feminism over equality and difference and the corresponding
challenge to, and feminist critique of, social science arising from
the (re) emergence of "difference" feminism.
Sexual Ethics constitutes both an analysis of the "woman
problem" and a document describing the wars between the sexes
during this period and an important and overlooked piece of history
of the classic sociological tradition. Michels observed that the
national and economic conflicts in modern Europe were vast in scale
and revealed sharply sensed injustices, and also that sex
antagonisms are becoming more acute. He presented an argument,
consistent with his theoretical position, about the seriousness of
women's rights. Michels' discussions of sexuality, sexual morality,
and the relations of the sexes had as its stimulus "the new sexual
ethic" advocated by feminists. He pointed out that true equality
required equality of rights to sexual liberty for women or chastity
prior to marriage for men.
Michels supported premarital chastity for men as an ideal, but
he doubted that very many would practice it. Michels was virtually
alone in the sociological tradition in seeking to illuminate the
"struggle for love" between men and women by reference to the
"erotic coquetry" in the sexual behavior of "lower animals."
Despite his stand for equality of men and women in sexual matters,
a recurrent theme in Sexual Ethics is that men are sexually more
aggressive than women, at least in part due to social structures
and cultural traditions. Michels advocated family planning (but
opposed abortion) in the interests of marital and family happiness
and economic well-being, especially for the poor.
In his new introduction, Terry R. Kandal discusses Robert
Michels' life. He explores, among other topics, Michels' treatment
of the woman question and the reactions of Michels' contemporaries
to the same question. He also discusses the feminist critique of
social science, and the place of Michels in and the gender
questions of our times. The book will be of particular interest to
those interested in the history of relations between men and women
as well as those interested in questions of biological
determinism.
Sex Tourism examines the issues which emerge from sex worker-client interactions and from tourists visiting 'sex destinations'. It is a comprehensive summary of past research by academics and original primary and secondary research by the authors and has examples from Asia, Australasia and the USA.
The authors have generated new models to show different dimensions of sex tourism, which normalise at least some components of the sex industry, and represent a new way of looking at sex tourism by challenging the preconceived perceptions that some people have of sex tourism or confirm the impression of others. Sex Tourism looks at issues of importance to those working in tourism, women's studies, gender studies and social change.
These six essays form a stimulating and lucid investigation of the meaning of evil in the light of postmodern thought, and of the cultural and social changes of the modern age. They consider subjects such as the war in Bosnia, AIDS and the Holocaust.
Author Biography: Jennifer Geddes is the Hannah Arendt Fellow at the Institute for Advance Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia, USA.
Winner of the British Society of Criminology Annual Book Prize
2022. As the labour market continues to exploit workers by offering
precarious, low-paid and temporary jobs, for some duality offers
much-needed flexibility and staves off poverty. Based on extensive
empirical work, this book illustrates contemporary accounts of
individuals taking extraordinary risks to hold jobs in both sex
industries and non-sex work employment. It also opens a dialogue
about how sex industries are stratified in the UK in terms of race
and culture against the backdrop of Brexit. Debunking stereotypes
of sex workers and challenging our stigmatisation of them, this
book makes an invaluable contribution to discourses about work,
society and future policy.
This volume assembles hundreds of cases and studies to provide the
most accurate and comprehensive picture of the status of
pornography in the criminal justice system. Presenting high-level
research in an accessible and organized manner, it explores a range
of topics, including investigating and prosecuting a case,
arguments favoring and opposing decriminalization of pornography,
and relationships between pornography, mental disorders, and crime.
It also examines criminal justice responses and international laws,
policies, attitudes, and definitions of pornography in comparison
to those of the United States.
This study of Edgewood Academy--a private, elite college
preparatory high school--examines what moral choices look like when
they are made by the participants in an exceptionally wealthy
school, and what the very existence of a privileged school
indicates about American society. It extends Peshkin's ongoing
exploration of U.S. high schools and their communities, each
focused in a different sociocultural setting. In this particular
inquiry, he began with two central questions:
* What is a school like whose students enter with a determined
disposition to attend college, and all of whom are selected on the
promise they display for college success?
* What can be learned from studying Edgewood Academy that
transcends the particular case of this school?
The volume opens with a description of how moral choices look when
they are made by the participants in an exceedingly wealthy school.
There is a general picture of the Academy, a discussion of the
processes the school uses to insure the quality of its students and
educators, and an overview of teachers and students that reveals
what is commendable about each group. These chapters clarify what a
school of ample financial means and wise leadership can do. Peshkin
goes on to reflect briefly on privilege and concludes with a
discussion of what the very existence of a privileged school
indicates about American society. Schools, he suggests, are about
much more than what goes on inside them--they mirror what is and is
not at stake for their particular constituents--and function
similarly for the nation.
Edgewood Academy's host community is not a village, town, church,
or tribe, as in Peshkin's previous studies. It is a community
created by shared aspirations for high-level academic attainment
and its associated benefits. Affluence and towering academic
achievement are the two most relevant factors. In this book,
advantage occupies center stage. The school's excellence is
documented not to extol its success, but, rather, to call attention
to what is available for its students that is not available for
most American children. The focus, ultimately, is on educational
justice as illuminated by the advantage of Academy students--that
is, on justice denied, not because anyone or any group or agency
consciously, planfully sets out to do injustice to other children,
but because injustice happens as the artifact of imagined
limitations of resources and means. Peshkin's purpose is not to
detail the particulars of how educational justice is denied to the
many, but to portray and examine the meaning of a privileged school
where educational justice prevails for the few.
The exponential growth of the Internet in recent years has given individuals immediate and virtually anonymous access to all types of information, including explicit sexual content. While many celebrate the personal freedoms made possible by the Internet, others consider unfettered access to online sexual material to be an unhealthy, if not dangerous phenomenon. Expanding this debate, Cybersex: The Dark Side of the Force presents for the first time an empirical foundation for the discussion of cybersex compulsivity and its effect on the mental health of individuals, couples, teens, and young children. While pornographic material has long been available to the consumer in print and video form, these purchases are inherently limited by the individual's degree of comfort with the public exposure (however minimal) that they they require. In contrast, the Internet provides a forum where children can access unsuitable material without parental supervision, and where individuals with existing sexual compulsions can acces material that can exacerbate their struggle to maintain control over their desire. Even among individuals who are not as susceptible to such material, cybersex can create distorted associations or compound negative or unrealistic expectations about sexuality. This groundbreaking examination of cybersex was originally published as a special issue of the journal Sexual Addiction and Compulsivity. It is a crucial resource for sex therapists, who until now had no rigorous study of the effect of online pornography on the patients they treat. It will also be of great interest to general marriage and family therapists who find themselves dealing with this issue with their clients, as well as others who are interested in the Internet as a social phenomenon.
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When people encounter consumer goods-sugar, clothes, phones-they
find little to no information about their origins. The goods will
thus remain anonymous, and the labor that went into making them,
the supply chain through which they traveled, will remain obscured.
In this book, Tad Skotnicki argues that this encounter is an
endemic feature of capitalist societies, and one with which
consumers have struggled for centuries in the form of activist
movements constructed around what he calls The Sympathetic
Consumer. This book documents the uncanny similarities shared by
such movements over the course of three centuries: the
transatlantic abolitionist movement, US and English consumer
movements around the turn of the twentieth century, and
contemporary Fair Trade activism. Offering a comparative historical
study of consumer activism the book shows, in vivid detail, how
activists wrestled with the broader implications of commodity
exchange. These activists arrived at a common understanding of the
relationship between consumers, producers, and commodities, and
concluded that consumers were responsible for sympathizing with
invisible laborers. Ultimately, Skotnicki provides a framework to
identify a capitalist culture by examining how people interpret
everyday phenomena essential to it.
Durkeim's book on suicide, first published in 1897 is widely regarded as a classic text, and is essential reading for any student of Durkheim's thought and sociological method. This book examines the continuing importance of Durkheim's methodology. The wide-ranging chapters cover such issues as the use of statistics, explanation of suicide, anomie and religion and the morality of suicide. This book will be of vital interest to any serious scholar of Durkheim's thought and to the sociologist looking for a fresh methodological perspective. eBook available with sample pages: 020345927X
This study of Edgewood Academy--a private, elite college
preparatory high school--examines what moral choices look like when
they are made by the participants in an exceptionally wealthy
school, and what the very existence of a privileged school
indicates about American society. It extends Peshkin's ongoing
exploration of U.S. high schools and their communities, each
focused in a different sociocultural setting. In this particular
inquiry, he began with two central questions:
* What is a school like whose students enter with a determined
disposition to attend college, and all of whom are selected on the
promise they display for college success?
* What can be learned from studying Edgewood Academy that
transcends the particular case of this school?
The volume opens with a description of how moral choices look when
they are made by the participants in an exceedingly wealthy school.
There is a general picture of the Academy, a discussion of the
processes the school uses to insure the quality of its students and
educators, and an overview of teachers and students that reveals
what is commendable about each group. These chapters clarify what a
school of ample financial means and wise leadership can do. Peshkin
goes on to reflect briefly on privilege and concludes with a
discussion of what the very existence of a privileged school
indicates about American society. Schools, he suggests, are about
much more than what goes on inside them--they mirror what is and is
not at stake for their particular constituents--and function
similarly for the nation.
Edgewood Academy's host community is not a village, town, church,
or tribe, as in Peshkin's previous studies. It is a community
created by shared aspirations for high-level academic attainment
and its associated benefits. Affluence and towering academic
achievement are the two most relevant factors. In this book,
advantage occupies center stage. The school's excellence is
documented not to extol its success, but, rather, to call attention
to what is available for its students that is not available for
most American children. The focus, ultimately, is on educational
justice as illuminated by the advantage of Academy students--that
is, on justice denied, not because anyone or any group or agency
consciously, planfully sets out to do injustice to other children,
but because injustice happens as the artifact of imagined
limitations of resources and means. Peshkin's purpose is not to
detail the particulars of how educational justice is denied to the
many, but to portray and examine the meaning of a privileged school
where educational justice prevails for the few.
Prostitution Scandals in China presents an examination of media
coverage of prostitution-related scandals in contemporary China. It
demonstrates that the subject of prostitution is not only widely
debated, but also that these public discussions have ramifications
for some of the key social, legal and political issues affecting
citizens of the PRC. Further, this book shows how these public
discussions impact on issues as diverse as sexual exploitation,
civil rights, government corruption, child and youth protection,
policing abuses, and public health. In this book Elaine Jeffreys
highlights China's changing sexual behaviours in the context of
rapid social and economic change. Her work points to changes in the
nature of the PRC's prostitution controls flowing from media
exposure of policing and other abuses. It also illustrates the
emergence of new and legally based conceptions of rightful
citizenship in China today, such as children's rights, the right to
privacy, work, sex, and health, and the rights of citizens to claim
legal redress for losses and injuries experienced as the result of
unlawful acts by state personnel. Prostitution Scandals in China
will be of great interest to students and scholars across a range
of diverse fields including Chinese culture and society, gender
studies and media and communication studies.
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