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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > General
For the past three decades, Manuel Castells has been at the forefront of debates about contemporary social transformations. From his seminal book on urban change in the early 1970s to his more recent work on globalization, Castells has been widely read by all those striving to understand our increasingly interconnected world. Above all, it is his highly acclaimed trilogy, The Information Age, which constitutes the single most comprehensive attempt to integrate a vast range of subjects into a coherent theory of the present-day. It has earned him favourable comparisons to Marx and Weber. This book provides the first in-depth study of Castellsrsquo; entire body of work. Focusing on Castellsrsquo; theory of the network society, the book explores his core thesis - that a shift has occurred from hierarchies to networks as the dominant organizing principle of society - through his analysis of informational capitalism, social movements, and the crisis of democracy. Special emphasis is given to the theory of the lsquo; space of flowsrsquo; which Castells argues forms the material foundation of the new society. In this way, the book serves as both an introduction to Castellsrsquo; wide-ranging theories, and an original critique which contributes to ongoing debates in the field.
What happens to people, places and objects that do not fit the ordering regimes and progressive narratives of modernity? Conventional understandings imply that progress leaves such things behind, and excludes them as though they were valueless waste. This volume uses the concept of indeterminacy to explore how conditions of exclusion and abandonment may give rise to new values, as well as to states of despair and alienation. Drawing upon ethnographic research about a wide variety of contexts, the chapters here explore how indeterminacy is created and experienced in relationship to projects of classification and progress.
These lectures focus on twelve pioneers of economic, demographic and social statistics ranging from the seventeenth century to the end of the nineteenth century. The first lecture discusses the work of the political arithmeticians including William Petty, Founding Fellow of the Royal Society. The second lecture considers three steps in the development of quantitative economics in the form of Bishop Fleetwood, Arthur Young and Patrick Colquhoun. In the third lecture Stone turns to demography, and to John Graunt, Edmond Halley and William Farr. The fourth lecture deals with social statistics in the persons of Frederick Morton Eden, Florence Nightingale and Charles Booth.
Heritage science, a cross-disciplinary field of study that emphasizes research on cultural interpretation and management, has seen significant development in recent years. Modern technology has opened new innovations and possibilities for scientific cooperation that produces several benefits that affect multiple aspects of this scientific field. Applying Innovative Technologies in Heritage Science is a collection of progressive studies on the methods and applications of the technological implications and scientific advancements within heritage and cultural research to bridge the once unbridgeable gap between science and humanities. While highlighting topics including digital archives, cultural data, and chemical documentation, this book is ideally designed for archaeologists, museologists, conservationists, preservationists, librarians, researchers, educators, cultural heritage professionals, academicians, and students.
Every month, groups of people from all over the United Kingdom decide what kind of research should be carried out on patients within the NHS. These groups - Research Ethics Committees (RECs) - made up of doctors, nurses, researchers, and members of the general public - help shape the future of medicine, and play a crucial role in the regulation of a wide range of research from social science to epidemiology, vaccine and drugs trials to surgery. Based on extensive observations, interviews, and archival research, this book provides an in-depth insight into RECs, one of the most crucial forms of regulation around medical research. In providing one of the first empirical examinations of this kind of regulation, this book challenges the impersonal, de-socialised, and mechanical models of REC decision-making. -- .
This book presents important fields of research in public healthcare in India from an interdisciplinary and health systems perspectives. Discussing how the exchange of power between the health justice triad, viz., the State (judiciary as the arm of the State), legal and medical professions, and civil society, cumulatively shapes the outcomes of health justice for citizens, it provides insights into India's juridico-legal processes and of seeking justice in healthcare. It critically assesses civil society's counter-hegemonic role in bolstering justice in health care and examines the potential of transforming health care jurisprudence into health justice. Repositioning the social right to healthcare as integral to social citizenship and social justice, and opening avenues for inter-professional and interdisciplinary power discourse in public health policy research, the book is of interest to academics, practitioners, students, researchers, and the wide academic community working in public health care issues broadly.
This book provides the first in-depth case study of 'Renew' - a pastoral programme of religious revitalization. The programme originated in the United States in 1976 and has been widely adopted throughout the Roman Catholic world. Initiated from the top down in a hierarchically-structured church, it can be seen as an example of clerical attempts to stimulate and control lay spirituality in an organizationally controlled manner (as opposed to grass-roots movements, such as those associated with liberation theology). The authors look at the history of religious organizations in the Roman Catholic Church and the affects of modernity on religious practice, and the decline in the latter which prompted the diocese to adopt 'Renew'. Their findings show that the effects of 'Renew' were limited and short-lived, an inevitable consequence of the ambiguous and often contradictory aims. In analysing these findings they suggest some ways in which the church might reform itself - by decentralization and a reform of the papacy, for example - to meet the challenges of the modern age.
Explains the key concepts, theories, and studies in the sociology of the arts--the fully updated new edition of the classic textbook Sociology of the Arts is a comprehensive yet accessible review of sociological approaches to studying the fine, popular, and folk arts. Integrating scholarly literature, theoretical models, and empirical studies, this authoritative textbook provides balanced coverage of a broad range of essential topics--enabling a deeper understanding of the field as a whole. Throughout the text, numerous real-world case studies reinforce key concepts, stimulate classroom discussion, and encourage students to contemplate abstract theoretical issues central to the relationship between art and society. Now in its second edition, this bestselling volume features fully revised content that reflects the most recent literature and research in the field. New discussion on the production and the consumption of culture are complemented by fresh perspectives on changes in the social world such as the rise of the internet and digital media. Updated chapters offer insights into social boundaries and embodiment in the arts, emplacement, materiality, the social construction of art and aesthetics, and more. Exploring how art is created, distributed, received, and consumed, this textbook: Explores both classic work and new approaches in the sociology of the arts Features case studies and discussion questions on art forms including popular music, film, romance novels, visual arts, and classical music Discusses the meaning of artistic objects and why interpretations of art vary Examines the ways art intersects with race, gender, sexuality, and class Includes photographs, tables and figures, and a comprehensive reference list Written by a leading scholar in the field, Sociology of the Arts: Exploring Fine and Popular Forms, Second Edition is an ideal textbook for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses on sociology of art and culture, media studies, anthropology of art, arts management, and the social history of art, and is a useful reference for established scholars studying any aspect of sociology of the arts.
Since its sovereign debt crisis in 2009, Greece has been living under austerity, with no apparent end in sight. This volume explores the effects of policies pursued by the Greek state since then (under the direction of the Troika), and how Greek society has responded. In addition to charting the actual effects of the Greek crisis on politics, health care, education, media, and other areas, the book both examines and challenges the "crisis" era as the context for changing attitudes and developments within Greek society.
The field of the medical humanities is developing rapidly, however, there has also been parallel concern from sceptics that the value of medical humanities educational interventions should be open to scrutiny and evidence. Just what is the impact of medical humanities provision upon the education of medical students? In an era of limited resources, is such provision worth the investment? This innovative text addresses these pressing questions, describes the contemporary territory comprising the medical humanities in medical education, and explains how this field may be developed as a key medical education component for the future. Bleakley, a driving force of the international movement to establish the medical humanities as a core and integrated provision in the medical curriculum, proposes a model that requires collaboration between patients, artists, humanities scholars, doctors and other health professionals, in developing medical students' sensibility (clinical acumen based on close noticing) and sensitivity (ethical, professional and humane practice). In particular, this text focuses upon how medical humanities input into the curriculum can help to shape the identities of medical students as future doctors who are humane, caring, expressive and creative - whose work will be technically sound but considerably enhanced by their abilities to communicate well with patients and colleagues, to empathise, to be adaptive and innovative, and to act as 'medical citizens' in shaping a future medical culture as a model democracy where social justice is a key aspect of medicine. Making sense of the new wave of medical humanities in medical education scholarship that calls for a 'critical medical humanities', Medical Humanities and Medical Education incorporates a range of case studies and illustrative and practical examples to aid integrating medical humanities into the medical curriculum. It will be important reading for medical educators and others working with the medical education community, and all those interested in the medical humanities.
Cafes and coffee shops have become core venues in the urban landscape, places to be social, chat with friends or colleagues, take a break or relax, or work in companionable solitude. In this edited volume, researchers from a range of social sciences and countries examine the practices, histories, and meanings of cafes, thus contributing to a more comprehensive understanding of the contemporary cafe. The essays that make up this text are as heterogeneous as they are complementary; they are at once a synthesis of what we know and an invitation to investigate further the concept of a 'cafe society'.
A new collection in the IAU Issues in Higher Education Series that deals with the major tensions between education and science. Drawing on experiences from a range of countries and regions, the book demonstrates the need to find new avenues for the management of knowledge production to ensure that it can meet increasingly global goals and demands.
These essays by leading theorists and researchers in sociocultural, cognitive, developmental and educational psychology honour the memory of Sylvia Scribner, whose work is recognized by each of the authors as seminal to their own thinking. The themes include the relationship between history and culture, the importance of context to thinking, the place of literacy in human activity and thought, and cognition in school and in the workplace. The volume presents applications of activity theory to fundamental issues in human behaviour at work, in school, and in problem solving situations, and it analyses historical-societal processes in science and culture. Scribner's conviction that science holds a responsibility to human welfare and understanding is carried on in these chapters. Sociocultural Psychology is crucial reading for researchers and graduate students in sociocultural, cognitive, developmental and educational psychology.
Michael Kennedy develops a theoretical conception of Soviet-type societies by analyzing Solidarity's significance on three levels. First, he explains the background to and nature of the conflict between Solidarity and the authorities by examining the relation between the distribution of power and movement strategies. Second, he considers the implications of Solidarity's struggle for the theory of the Soviet-type system's reproduction and transformation by offering a critique and synthesis of relevant theories of class and civil society. Third, he examines the internal constitution of Solidarity in terms of gender and, in particular, cross-class alliances. He argues that because engineers and physicians were dependent on the self-organized working class in this conflict between civil society and state, professional projects had to be recast in visions suitable to the alliance. In a concluding chapter, he explores the implications of his analysis both for understanding perestroika in the Soviet Union and more generally for reformulating a critical sociology of Soviet-type societies.
This book examines the persistence of religious belief in an America that has become increasingly secular. A series of essays addresses specific aspects of the interaction between the sacred and the secular in modern U.S. history and offers a unique perspective on how the two have transformed each other as well as the nature of American religious culture. By bringing these varied articles together, the editors have provided a new framework for interpreting our culture from a religious perspective. What makes this book unique is the broad-ranging nature of its examination of religion and culture. The essays cover such diverse topics as religion and popular culture, ethnicity and race, religion and women, religion and medicine, and the endurance of evangelical traditions, while also placing American religion in a larger, historical framework. A brief introduction discusses the difficult task of understanding religious expression in modern American culture. Touching on so many different subjects, the book is relevant to both historians and a general public interested in American religious culture. It will be a vital addition to academic and public libraries and valuable for courses in American and religious history, sociology, and political science.
reviews a wide-range of genetically modified (GM) crops, to understand how they are produced, the impacts on the agricultural industry, and the potential for improving food security. examines how food security can be achieved through GM crops. provides an important synthesis of GM crops from their commercial value to the agricultural industry, as well as their potential for improving food security. will be of great interest to students and scholars of agricultural engineering, crop science, food biotechology, food security and those interested in food and agriculture and sustainable development more broadly.
This book examines the idea of a fundamental entitlement to health and healthcare from a human rights perspective. The volume is based on a particular conceptual reasoning that balances critical thinking and pragmatism in the context of a universal right to health. Thus, the primary focus of the book is the relationship or contrast between rights-based discourse/jurisprudential arguments and real-life healthcare contexts. The work sets out the constraints that are imposed on a universal right to health by practical realities such as economic hardship in countries, lack of appropriate governance, and lack of support for the implementation of this right through appropriate resource allocation. It queries the degree to which the existence of this legally enshrined right and its application in instruments such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) can be more than an ephemeral aspiration but can, actually, sustain, promote, and instil good practice. It further asks if social reality and the inequalities that present themselves therein impede the implementation of laudable human rights, particularly within marginalised communities and cadres of people. It deliberates on what states and global bodies do, or could do, in practical terms to ensure that such rights are moved beyond the aspirational and become attainable and implementable. Divided into three parts, the first analyses the notion of a universal inalienable right to health(care) from jurisprudential, anthropological, legal, and ethical perspectives. The second part considers the translation of international human rights norms into specific jurisdictional healthcare contexts. With a global perspective it includes countries with very different legal, economic, and social contexts. Finally, the third part summarises the lessons learnt and provides a pathway for future action. The book will be an invaluable resource for students, academics, and policymakers working in the areas of health law and policy, and international human rights law.
Research on procrastination has grown exponentially in recent years. Studies have revealed that procrastination is an issue of self-regulation failure, and specifically misregulation of emotional states-not simply a time management problem as often presumed. This maladaptive coping strategy is a risk factor not only for poor mental health, but also poor physical health and other aspects of well-being. Procrastination, Health, and Well-Being brings together new and established researchers and theorists who make important connections between procrastination and health. The first section of the book provides an overview of current conceptualizations and philosophical issues in understanding how procrastination relates to health and well-being including a critical discussion of the assumptions and rationalizations that are inherent to procrastination. The next section of the book focuses on current theory and research highlighting the issues and implications of procrastination for physical health and health behaviors, while the third section presents current perspectives on the interrelationships between procrastination and psychological well-being. The volume concludes with an overview of potential areas for future research in the growing field of procrastination, health, and well-being.
Who counts as a woman? This question lies at the heart of many public debates about sex and gender today. While we increasingly recognise the desire of some to eliminate the sex binary in law, a particular boiling point emerges through conflicting demands over women's spaces. Which should govern access to these - sex or gender identity? Karen Ingala Smith, a veteran campaigner for women's and girls' rights, opts for the former. In this trenchant critique of inclusivity politics, she argues that we cannot ignore the wealth of evidence which shows that people of the female sex have a unique set of needs which are often not met by mixed-sex spaces. Drawing on her 30 years of experience in researching and recording men's violence against women and girls, she outlines how certain spaces, including refuges, benefit from remaining single sex - and what they stand to lose. Written with sensitivity and respect for all concerned, this book nevertheless dismantles the idea that we have reached a post-sex utopia.
Interfaces are back, or perhaps they never left. The familiar Socratic conceit from the "Phaedrus," of communication as the process of writing directly on the soul of the other, has returned to center stage in today's discussions of culture and media. Indeed Western thought has long construed media as a grand choice between two kinds of interfaces. Following the optimistic path, media seamlessly interface self and other in a transparent and immediate connection. But, following the pessimistic path, media are the obstacles to direct communion, disintegrating self and other into misunderstanding and contradiction. In other words, media interfaces are either clear or complicated, either beautiful or deceptive, either already known or endlessly interpretable. Recognizing the limits of either path, Galloway charts an alternative course by considering the interface as an autonomous zone of aesthetic activity, guided by its own logic and its own ends: "the interface effect." Rather than praising user-friendly interfaces that work well, or castigating those that work poorly, this book considers the unworkable nature of all interfaces, from windows and doors to screens and keyboards. Considered allegorically, such thresholds do not so much tell the story of their own operations but beckon outward into the realm of social and political life, and in so doing ask a question to which the political interpretation of interfaces is the only coherent answer. Grounded in philosophy and cultural theory and driven by close readings of video games, software, television, painting, and other images, Galloway seeks to explain the logic of digital culture through an analysis of its most emblematic and ubiquitous manifestation - the interface.
The ability to preserve electronic evidence is critical to presenting a solid case for civil litigation, as well as in criminal and regulatory investigations. Preserving Electronic Evidence for Trial provides everyone connected with digital forensics investigation and litigation with a clear and practical hands-on guide to the best practices in preserving electronic evidence. Corporate management personnel (legal & IT) and outside counsel need reliable processes for the litigation hold - identifying, locating, and preserving electronic evidence. Preserving Electronic Evidence for Trial provides the road map, showing you how to organize the digital evidence team before the crisis, not in the middle of litigation. This practice handbook by an internationally known digital forensics expert and an experienced litigator focuses on what corporate and litigation counsel as well as IT managers and forensic consultants need to know to communicate effectively about electronic evidence. You will find tips on how all your team members can get up to speed on each other's areas of specialization before a crisis arises. The result is a plan to effectively identify and pre-train the critical electronic-evidence team members. You will be ready to lead the team to success when a triggering event indicates that litigation is likely, by knowing what to ask in coordinating effectively with litigation counsel and forensic consultants throughout the litigation progress. Your team can also be ready for action in various business strategies, such as merger evaluation and non-litigation conflict resolution.
The Pathogenesis of Fear gathers together diverse conversations about cultural constructions of the monstrous. Interdisciplinary essays map the margins of monstrosity as follows: the cannibalistic paradox in Kleist's late-Romantic Penthesilea; intersections of the monstrous-feminine and the new Victorian psycho-physiology of consciousness in George Eliot's early novels; the monster-formed citizens of Dickensian and later dystopias; the killing of African Americans targeted as monstrous entities in US cities; the post-human anguish of a television zombie-world; the monstrous mutilations of a Spanish horror film; psychosocial aberration in Martin Millar's werewolf fiction; the demonization of the Other on the war-torn streets of Ireland; Derridean devouring sovereignty. Discursively correlated with different categories of body and mind, monstrosity, these essays argue, persists in taking many forms. Contributors are Elizabeth Hollis Berry, Niculae Gheran, Sarah Harris, Fiona Harris-Ramsby and Mubarak Muhammad, Michaela Markova, Kimberley McMahon Coleman, Judith Rahn, Cindy Smith and Marita Vyrgioti.
Based on the study of a police organization in England, this book explores the role of social relations in the ways that people construct, mobilize, consume, and reconstruct meaning about wellbeing. Wellbeing is a powerful, institutionalized concept in police organizations across England and Wales. With the emergence of numerous policies, strategies, and practices that both explicitly and implicitly address wellbeing in the workplace, the concept has come to feature prominently. Wellbeing is addressed as an issue that needs to be understood intersubjectively by attending to the underlying social issues that shape how it is promoted or denied. After a theoretical exploration of police culture and wellbeing, the book traverses ethnographic data and captures insights from individuals across the organization's hierarchy. It explores what individuals perceive wellbeing to mean and how they make sense of the concept. The book reveals discernible ideological-laden tensions across the hierarchy in terms of wellbeing constructions. By exploring these tensions, there is a potential to understand the constructions of wellbeing and the resultant implications for practice. This book will be of interest to academics, researchers, and students in policing, criminology, criminal justice, leadership/management, organizational behaviour, and wellbeing. Given its empirical focus and applicability to practitioners, it will also be of interest to a range of non-academics, including police officers and leaders, public servants, private organizations, policymakers, and human resources professionals.
This open access book examines the various ways that shame, shaming and stigma became an integral part of the United Kingdom's public health response to COVID-19 during 2020. As the Covid-19 pandemic unfolded in 2020, it quickly became clear that experiences of shame, shaming and stigma dominated personal and public life. From healthcare workers insulted in the streets to anti-Asian racism, the online shaming of "Covidiots" to the identification of the "lepers of Leicester", public animus about the pandemic found scapegoats for its frustrations. Interventions by the UK government maximised rather than minimized these phenomena. Instead of developing robust strategies to address shame, the government's healthcare policies and rhetoric seemed to exacerbate experiences of shame, shaming and stigma, relying on a language and logic that intensified oppositional, antagonistic thinking, while dissimulating about its own responsibilities. Through a series of six case studies taken from the events of 2020, this thought-provoking book identifies a systemic failure to manage shame-producing circumstances in the UK. Ultimately, it addresses the experience of shame as a crucial, if often overlooked, consequence of pandemic politics, and advocates for a "shame sensitive" approach to public health responses. The open access edition of this book is available under a CC BY NC ND 4.0 licence on www.bloomsburycollections.com Open access was funded by The Wellcome Trust. |
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