What can we do to help those who struggle to develop effective social skills? Social Skills: Developing Effective Interpersonal Communication is a definitive guide to understanding and meeting the needs of those who have difficulty with social skills. Written in a clear and accessible manner, this book provides a theoretical framework to the teaching of social skills alongside a range of practical ideas for practitioners. The book offers a four-step plan that can be adapted for use with young people or adults who are struggling with any aspect of their social skills. A simple model for assessing social skills is provided, as well as ways to measure the impact of intervention. Full of interesting examples and case studies, it includes discussion of how to teach social skills, how social skills develop through childhood, why they sometimes might not, and why social skills difficulties can have an impact on self-esteem and friendships. It includes a breakdown of social skills into the following areas: * body language * eye contact * listening and paralanguage * starting and ending conversations * maintaining conversations * assertiveness Written by one of the most well-known speech and language therapists in this field and the creator of the internationally successful Talkabout resources, this book provides a key reference for the study of social skills. It will be essential reading for educators, therapists, parents and anyone supporting others in developing communication and social skills.

Provides students with an introduction to the fundamental theories and debates in the sociology of art, using extracts from the core foundational and most influential contemporary writers in the field.

The book is divided into five sections exploring key themes in the sociology and social history of art. These are:


- classical sociological theory and the sociology of art
- the social production of art
- the sociology of the artist
- museums and the social construction of high culture
- sociology aesthetic form and the specificity of art.

Part I of Volume 34 of "Studies in Symbolic Interaction" contains 12 outstanding contributions by leading activist scholars on Commodity Racism, Chief Illiniwek, and Native American Sport Mascots. Part II, New Interpretative Works, contain seven performance narratives - black womanhood, masculinity, whiteness, and gender, sexual violation, old civilization and democratic citizenship.

Set in the context of the processes and practices of human reproduction and reproductive health in Northern India, this book examines the institutional exercise of power by the state, caste and kin groups. Drawing on ethnographic research over the past eighteen years among poor Hindu and Muslim communities in Rajasthan and among development and health actors in the state, this book contributes to developing analytic perspectives on reproductive practice, agency and the body-self as particular and novel sites of a vital power and politic. Rajasthan has been among the poorest states in the country with high levels of maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. The author closely examines how social and economic inequalities are produced and sustained in discursive and on the ground contexts of family-making, how authoritative knowledge and power in the domain of childbirth is exercised across a landscape of development institutions, how maternal health becomes a category of citizenship, how health-seeking is socially and emotionally determined and political in nature, how the health sector operates as a biopolitical system, and how diverse moral claims over the fertile, infertile and reproductive body-self are asserted, contested and often realised. A compelling analysis, this book offers both new empirical data and new theoretical insights. It draws together the practices, experiences and discourse on fertility and reproduction (childbirth, infertility, loss) in Northern India into an overarching analytical framework on power and gender politics. It will be of interest to academics in the fields of medical anthropology, medical sociology, public health, gender studies, human rights and sociolegal studies, and South Asian studies.

This book explores psychological theories around the ways in which people present themselves online. The role of dispositional and situational factors along with the motivations that drive self-presentation across diverse Internet arenas are considered.

In Cooperation, A Philosophical Study, Tuomela offers the first comprehensive philosophical theory of cooperation. He builds on such notions a collective and joint goals, mutual beliefs, collective commitments, acting together and acting collectively. The book analyzes the varieties of cooperation, making use of the crucial distinction between group-mode and individual-mode cooperation. The former is based on collective goals and collective commitments, the latter on private goals and commitments. The book discusses the attitudes and the kinds of practical reasoning that cooperation requires and investigate some of the conditions under which cooperation is likely, rationally, to occur. It also shows some of the drawbacks of the standard game-theoretical treatments of cooperation and presents a survey of cooperation research in neighbouring fields. Readership: Essential reading for researchers and graduate students in philosophy. Also of interest to researchers int he social sciences and AI.

Within the study of language and social interaction, the concept of 'accountability'-including related concepts, such as 'account' or 'motive,' 'accounting,' and 'being accountable'-has been of longstanding interest in terms of how interactants in both ordinary and organizational contexts manage their image or reputation, as well as how they achieve mutual understanding. However, these concepts are polysemous, with different senses being rather dramatic, such as accountability as 'moral responsibility' and accountability as 'intelligibility.' Even today this fact is not always remembered or fully recognized or appreciated by scholars, which has arguably slowed the development of these concepts. This volume brings together a collection of novel, conversation-analytic studies addressing accountability, with the goal of re-exposing its multiple senses, reiterating their interrelationships and, in doing so, breaking new conceptual ground and exposing new pathways for future research. The collection considers central theoretical issues, including turn taking, sequence and preference organization, repair, membership categorization, action formation and ascription, social solidarity and affiliation, and the relevance of context. Chapters range contextually, canvasing interactions between friends and family members, and during talk shows, broadcast news interviews, airline reservations, and medical visits. Chapters also range culturally, including English, Japanese, and Korean data.

This volume focuses on the contributions that social scientists can make to understanding emerging epidemics, their impact, the threats they pose, and their social and political contexts. While many of the international articles focus on infectious disease, some discussion is given to treating psychiatric epidemics and the analysis of the political and cultural meanings that epidemics have. A sociological volume on emerging epidemics, covering psychiatric or psychological diseases as well as infectious disease is long overdue and topics included here are as wide ranging as: bipolar disorder; obesity; malaria; HIV/AIDS; SARS; West Nile Virus; pandemic influenzas; deviance; depression; ADHD; Alzheimer's; and autism. This valuable reference tool empirically examines emerging epidemics themselves and offers a theoretical analysis of the use of epidemics and epidemiology as frameworks for understanding these phenomena. It will appeal to a broad audience of readers of researchers and practitioners in this field, ranging from those involved in public health policy, human security and community health to medical sociologists and other scientists working in health and medicine.

"Into the Red" explores the emergence of a credit card market in post-Soviet Russia during the formative period from 1988 to 2007. In her analysis, Alya Guseva locates the dynamics of market building in the social structure, specifically the creative use of social networks.
Until now, network scholars have overlooked the role that networks play in facilitating exchange in mass markets because they have exclusively focused on firm-to-firm or person-to-person ties. "Into the Red" demonstrates how networks that combine individuals and organizations help to build markets for mass consumption. The book is situated on the cutting edge of emerging interdisciplinary research, linking multiple layers of analysis with institutional evolution. Using an intricate framework, Guseva chronicles both the creation of a credit card market and the making of a mass consumer. These processes are placed in the context of the ongoing restructuring in postcommunist Russia and the expansion of Western markets and ideologies through the rest of the world.

Written by a renowned scholar of critical race theory, "The Threat of Race" explores how the concept of race has been historically produced and how it continues to be articulated, if often denied, in today's world. A major new study of race and racism by a renowned scholar of critical race theoryExplores how the concept of race has been historically produced and how it continues to be articulated - if often denied - in today's worldArgues that it is the neoliberal society that fuels new forms of racismSurveys race dynamics throughout various regions of the world - from Western and Northern Europe, South Africa and Latin America, and from Israel and Palestine to the United States

An indispensable resource for all levels, this handbook provides up-to-date, in-depth summaries of the most important theories in criminology. * Provides original, cutting-edge, and in-depth summaries of the most important theories in criminology * Covers the origins and assumptions behind each theory, explores current debates and research, points out knowledge gaps, and offers directions for future research * Encompasses theory, research, policy, and practice, with recommendations for further reading at the end of each essay * Features discussions of broad issues and topics related to the field, such as the correlates of crime, testing theory, policy, and prediction * Clearly and accessibly written by leading scholars in the field as well as up-and-coming scholars

Over the past two decades, national and supranational institutions and the mass media have played a central role in presenting the migrant struggle in a sensational way, spreading an unjustified moral panic and relegating migrants themselves to spaces of invisibility. Building on recent theoretical debates in migration studies around the so-called "autonomy of migration" - which sees people on the move as individuals with self-determination and agency - this book reframes migration in the Mediterranean, and specifically around the island of Lampedusa. In particular, the book explores how activist and art forms have become a platform for subverting the dominant narrative of migration and generating a vital form of political dissent, by revealing the contradictions and paradoxes of the securitarian regime that regulates immigration into Europe. The analysis focuses on works by, among others, Broomberg & Chanarin, Centre for Political Beauty, Forensic Architecture, Nikolaj Bendix Skyum Larsen, Isaac Julien, Tamara Kametani, Bouchra Khalili, Kalliopi Lemos, Zakaria Mohamed Ali, Maya Ramsay, Giacomo Sferlazzo, Aida Silvestri, Ai Weiwei, Lucy Woodand Dagmawi Yimer.

Health geography makes critical contributions to contemporary and emerging interdisciplinary agendas of nature-based health and health-enabling places. Couched in theory and critical empirical work on nature and health, this book addresses questions on the relationships between water, health and wellbeing. Water and blue space is a key focus in current health geography research and a new hydrophilic turn has emerged with a particular focus on the aspects of water which are affective, life-enhancing and health-enabling. Research considers the benefits and risks associated with blue space, from access to safe and clean water in the Global South, to health promoting spaces found around urban waters, to the deeper implications of climate change for water-based livelihoods and indigenous cultures. This book reflects recent theoretical debates within health geography, drawing from research in the public health, anthropology and psychology sectors. Broad thematic sections focus on interdisciplinary, experiential and equity-based elements of blue space, with individual chapters that consider indigenous and global health, water's healing properties, leisure and blue yogic culture, coastal landscapes, surfing, swimming and sailing, along with more contested hydrophobic dimensions. The interdisciplinary lens means this book will be extremely valuable to human geographers and cultural geographers. It will also appeal to practitioners and researchers interested in environmental health, leisure and tourism, health inequalities and public health more broadly.

The magnetism of modernity has remained human being's passion since his earliest days. A born thinker, philosopher, scientist, and discoverer, he has cognized to define his identity by shaping it according to his contemporary period. Liberating himself from the deterministic modes of his existence and viewing to be no more at the mercy of biological and natural forces, he endeavors to weave the tapestry of his life with his own hands. This book epistemically reveals the mind of contemporary time, tools of cutting-edge technology, and ideas of socio-philosophy by the thinkers of modern age, who have revealed their experiences of diverse aspects of human being's existence and his identity in today's age of artificial intelligence.

It is widely recognized that visual processes modulate many social interactions. For example, the eye-gaze of another person is a powerful cue to guide attention to a particular part of the visual field. Conversely, a direct gaze may indicate potential threat or the opportunity for a sexual encounter. In addition, the social or affective significance of a stimulus, as well as the mood state of the observer, can have profound effects on basic attentional and perceptual processes. This special issue is aimed at elucidating the role of visual processes in social interactions by linking work on the basic cognitive mechanisms mediating vision with work on the social and emotional context in which the processing takes place.

In our individualized society we are all artists of life - whether we know it or not, will it or not and like it or not, by decree of society if not by our own choice. In this society we are all expected, rightly or wrongly, to give our lives purpose and form by using our own skills and resources, even if we lack the tools and materials with which artists' studios need to be equipped for the artist's work to be conceived and executed. And we are praised or censured for the results - for what we have managed or failed to accomplish and for what we have achieved and lost.
In our liquid modern society we are also taught to believe that the purpose of the art of life should be and can be happiness - though it's not clear what happiness is, the images of a happy state keep changing and the state of happiness remains most of the time something yet-to-be-reached.

This new book by Zygmunt Bauman - one of the most original and influential social thinkers writing today - is not a book of designs for the art of life nor a 'how to' book: the construction of a design for life and the way it is pursued is and cannot but be an individual responsibility and individual accomplishment. It is instead a brilliant account of conditions under which our designs-for-life are chosen, of the constraints that might be imposed on their choice and of the interplay of design, accident and character that shape their implementation. Last but not least, it is a study of the ways in which our society - the liquid modern, individualized society of consumers - influences (but does not determine) the way we construct and narrate our life trajectories.

Part one of volume 33 of "Studies on Symbolic Interaction" contains seven outstanding contributions by leading symbolic interactionists in the 'Annual Blue Ribbon Papers Series' under the editorial leadership of Lonnie Athens. Part two, under the special issue editorship of Richard King, examines commodity racism: representation, racialization and resistance. Part three presents papers in the 'Annual Peter M. Hall Lecture Series' and Part four presents new interpretive works in the interactionist tradition. International in scope, the series draws upon the work of urban ethnographers, interpretive, constructionist, ethnomethodological, critical race, postcolonial, feminist, queer, and cultural studies traditions. The emphasis is on new thought and research. Essays which interrogate the intersections between biography, media, history, politics and culture are encouraged.

Participatory Visual Methodologies in Global Public Health focuses on the use of participatory visual methodologies such as photovoice, participatory video (including cellphilming or the use of cell phones to make videos), drawing and mapping in public health research. These approaches are modes of inquiry that can engage participants and communities, eliciting evidence about their own health and well-being, as well as modes of representation and modes of production in the co-creation of knowledge, and modes of dissemination in relation to knowledge translation and mobilization. Thus, the production by a group of girls or young women of a set of photos or videos from their own visual perspective can offer new evidence on how, for example, they see sexual violence. Unlike other data such as those collected through surveys or even conventional interviews, the images they have produced not only inform the empirical evidence, but also do not need to remain in a laboratory or the office of a researcher. They can, through exhibitions and screenings, reach various audiences: school or health personnel, parents and community members, and perhaps also policy-makers. This collection offers a critical overview for students, practitioners, researchers and policy-makers working in or concerned with the use of participatory methodologies in public health around the globe. This book was originally published as a special issue of Global Public Health.

Third party conception is a growing phenomenon and provokes a burgeoning range of ethical, legal and social questions. What are the rights of donors, recipients and donor conceived children? How are these reproductive technologies regulated? How is kinship understood within these new family forms? Written by specialists from three different continents, Transnationalising Reproduction examines a broad range of issues concerning kinship and identity, citizenship and regulation, and global markets of reproductive labour; including gamete donation and gestational surrogacy. Indeed, this book seeks to highlight how reproductive technologies not only makes possible new forms of kinship and family formations, but also how these give rise to new, ethical, political and legal dilemmas about parenthood as well as new modes of discrimination and a re-distribution of medical risks. It also thoroughly investigates the ways in which a commodification of reproductive tissue and labour affects the practices, representations and gendered self-understandings of gamete donors, fertility patients and intended parents in different parts of the world. With a broad geographical scope, Transnationalising Reproduction offers new empirical and theoretical perspectives on third-party conception and demonstrates the need for more transnational approaches to third-party reproduction. This volume will appeal to postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers interested in fields such as Gender Studies, Health Care Sciences, Reproductive Technology and Medical Sociology.

Energy: We want it affordable, we want it available in ample quantities and from reliable sources, and we want it to be produced and used in ways that are safe and environmentally benign. In other words, we want plenty of energy too cheap to meter and with no impact on the environment. Ha! With a refreshing lack of bias, this book dissects all major sources of energy, from oil and coal to renewables like solar and wind power. In an easy, understandable style, energy expert Joseph Dukert explains how each fits into the overall global energy mix that powers everything from automobiles and appliances to assembly lines and space stations. As Dukert details, all energy sources have pluses and minuses. Those who champion any single energy source (or even energy efficiency by itself) as the sole answer to our energy problems are off track, he argues, as are the cynics who condemn one source or another or pooh-pooh the threat of global warming. In short, we need every significant source of energy we have today, while also making greater efforts to improve the efficiency of energy production and energy consumption. Chapters in Energy cover: -The supply of energy sources and the demand for each. -The reliability of each source--and those who control it. -The economics behind the cost of energy. -The environmental impact of supplying and using energy. -The often-overlooked factor of timing. -How energy policy is made, from legislation to lobbying to leadership. Dukert also explores the choices made by individuals, businesses, and society as each group juggles conflicting, interconnected factors: affordability, reliability, adequacy of supply, environmental concerns, and time. In explaining whythere's no magic bullet solution to the energy crisis, the author blends simple technical descriptions, economics, and real-world politics. Besides providing a cogent overview of a huge--and hugely important--industry, this short, comprehensive volume helps readers decide for themselves which choices are in their best interest. As Dukert suggests, energy independence is probably not a realistic goal for any country, but the search for a dynamic, practical energy balance can nonetheless result in a wiser national energy policy.

The Spirit of Creativity is a systemic study of human creativity. It offers a fascinating visual model of the creative process consisting of four major stages: stage I, the interplay of chaos and order; stage II, creative production; stage III, cultural selection; stage IV, morpho-evolution and morpho-elimination of created products and forms. The author analyzes the seven phases (germination, inspiration, preparation, incubation, illumination, elaboration and evaluation) of stage II, leading from a vague hunch to a product meeting the criteria of creativity. A vast number of examples, taken from all continents and various cultures as well as from art, technology and science and other fields of human endeavor, illustrate how cultural recognition and rejection influence the creative processes of individuals and teams. The author demonstrates the tremendous impact of the Mongol Empire, the Silk Road, and the medieval Muslim golden age on the origin of the European Renaissance.

This book documents the primary role of acute hunger (semi- and frank starvation) in the 'fulminant' malaria epidemics that repeatedly afflicted the northwest plains of British India through the first half of colonial rule. Using Punjab vital registration data and regression analysis it also tracks the marked decline in annual malaria mortality after 1908 with the control of famine, despite continuing post-monsoonal malaria transmission across the province. The study establishes a time-series of annual malaria mortality estimates for each of the 23 plains districts of colonial Punjab province between 1868 and 1947 and for the early post-Independence years (1948-60) in (East) Punjab State. It goes on to investigate the political imperatives motivating malaria policy shifts on the part of the British Raj. This work reclaims the role of hunger in Punjab malaria mortality history and, in turn, raises larger epistemic questions regarding the adequacy of modern concepts of nutrition and epidemic causation in historical and demographic analysis. Part of The Social History of Health and Medicine in South Asia series, this book will be useful to scholars and researchers of colonial history, modern history, social medicine, social anthropology and public health.

This lively study explores how social and economic changes to Chinese society create new cultural values and forms of inequality. Amy Hanser examines changes to a particular set of jobs--service work, in this case salesclerk work--and the nature of the social interactions involved. It argues that a new "structure of entitlement," which makes elite groups feel more entitled to public forms of respect and social esteem, is constructed in settings like new, luxury department stores. The book not only shows how this change involves increasingly unequal relations between clerks and customers, but also demonstrates how marketplaces have become sites where social differences--and inequalities--are recognized and justified. The study's importance lies in its attention to ethnographic detail, its application of cultural theories of inequality to China, and its contribution to our understanding of contemporary China. Unlike other studies of inequality in urban China, this book takes a unique setting--the marketplace and the interactions between customers and salespeople--and a unique approach--the author herself worked as a salesclerk in three settings.

What is 'digital health'? And what are its implications for medicine and healthcare, and for individual citizens and society? Digital health is of growing interest to policymakers, clinicians and businesses. It is underpinned by promise and optimism, with predictions that digital technologies and related innovations will soon 'transform' medicine and healthcare, and enable individuals to better manage their own health and risk and to receive a more 'personalized' treatment and care. Offering a sociological perspective, this book critically examines the dimensions and implications of digital health, a term that is often ill defined, but signifies the promise of technology to 'empower' individuals and improve their lives as well as generating efficiencies and wealth. The chapters explore relevant sociological concepts and theories; changing conceptions of the self, evident in citizens' growing use of wearables, online behaviours and patient activism; changes in medical practices, especially precision (or personalized) medicine and growing reliance on big data and algorithm-driven decisions; the character of the digital healthcare economy; and the perils of digital health. It is argued that, for various reasons, including the way digital technologies are designed and operate, and the influence of big technology companies and other interests seeking to monetize citizens' data, digital health is unlikely to deliver much of what is promised. Citizens' use of digital technologies is likened to a Faustian bargain: citizens are likely to surrender something of far greater value (their personal data) than what they obtain from its use. However, growing data activism and calls for 'algorithmic accountability' highlight the potential for citizens to create alternative futures-ones oriented to fulfilling human needs rather than techno-utopian visions. This ground-breaking book will provide an invaluable resource for those seeking to understand the socio-cultural and politico-economic implications of digital health.