This book aims to rethink systemic intervention to enhance its relevance for supporting social change in the 21st century. It offers a new systems philosophy and methodology, focusing upon the fundamental importance of exploring value and boundary judgements as part of the intervention process. It includes four detailed examples of the practice of systemic intervention.

This volume brings together contributions that resemble spotlights thrown on the past twenty-five years of science and technology studies. It covers a broad range: history of science; science and politics; science and contemporary democracy; science and the public; science and the constitution; science and metaphors; and science and modernity and provides a critical overview of how the field of science and technology studies has emerged and developed.

This book develops a philosophical and logical interpretation of the concept of information within the formal structure of Constructive Type Theory (CTT), in a manner concurrent with a diverse range of contemporary perspectives on the philosophy of information. It presents a newly formulated and conceptually developed presentation of the Problem of Analyticity, and a new interesting perspective on the constructive interpretation of knowledge processes.

The concept of "environment" refers to the physical surroundings of human societies. However, the word "environment" is nearly always used in the context of problematic environmental problems and conditions. This book examines different ways in which social scientists study environmental change and environmental problems. History and geography of the relationship between environment and society is explored, as well as social dilemmas and cultural considerations faced when confronting environmental issues. Society's perception of, and response to, environment and risk are examined in detail. Causes of local and global environmental problems, together with the policies implemented to control them and how these affect, and are affected by, the interests of organizations, are also considered.
"Society and Its" "Environment: An Introduction" is the completely revised, expanded, and internationalized edition of Tellegen and Wolsinks's renowned Dutch textbook.

How does religion maintain or challenge discourses on national identity? What are the roles that religion plays on all sides - from Islamophobia of the radical right to the Christian alliances on both sides of the Atlantic, to the Islamic beliefs and practices of European citizens as well as migrant communities - in the constitution of Fortress Europe? Are there any alliances shaping between belief and unbelief on either side of the battle for the future of Europe? These questions and more motivate the chapters in this timely interdisciplinary collection, with contributions focusing on diverse contexts throughout Europe involving a broad range of religious identifications and actors.

He left school at fifteen to work as a reporter and wound up, just a few years later, as associate editor at Newsweek. He helped William F. Buckley Jr. found the National Review, worked closely with Joseph McCarthy, and became chief speechwriter for Barry Goldwater.

But true to a conscience that caused him to question the claims and authority of others, Hess eventually rejected conservatism and embraced the libertarian politics of the New Left. He dabbled with drugs, rode motorcycles, worked with the Black Panthers, got arrested while protesting the war in Viet Nam, and published an article in Playboy that defined libertarianism and ignited a national debate. As an anti-Communist he cooperated with the FBI, but as a libertarian he fought the IRS until he was nearly destitute. Whatever his political leanings, he always despised conceit, exploded intolerance, and embraced life to the fullest. He was a man who traveled in influential circles, often close to power, but, in his own words, "mostly on the edge."

Karl Hess participated in many of the defining events of 20th-century America, a self-taught boy who became a self-made journalist. Mostly on the Edge chronicles the life education of Hess, who became a defiant tester of the prevailing ideas of each decade. He lived by trial and error, and was always willing to acknowledge his mistakes.

Like Franklin and Thoreau, Hess hoped to wake up America by questioning the moral majority, fighting the Kafkaesque intrusions of government, and encouraging his family, friends, and highly influential colleagues to think for themselves. Hess provides eyewitness accounts, unique personal observations, startling and valuable insights on leadership and dissent, and, in the end, leaves behind a clear path to realizing the dream of freedom.

Volume 15 offers a series of critical articles and commentaries by some of the leading historically-oriented social scientists writing in academia today. Collectively, the articles examine issues ranging from the relations between class, power and history, to the role of states and culture in mediating those dynamics. Special attention is paid to race, gender, citizenship and civil society in the formation of such structures and processes. The countries or regions under study include the United States, Brazil, Chile, China, Mexico, Samoa and Southwest Africa.In keeping with the journal's commitment to inter-disciplinary, as well as historical inquiry, our nine contributors come from a variety of disciplines (sociology, political science, anthropology and history), all drawing on debates and themes that cut across the social sciences. The significance of the inter-disciplinary perspective is seen not only in the range of cases, literatures and methodologies brought to bear on the key issues under study; it also forms the substantive core of several contributions that call for a rethinking of conventional disciplinary boundaries and methodological frames.

From the blaming of Princess Diana's death on news photographers to the public apology by CNN over its erroneous Vietnam-nerve-gas story, journalism and the American media in general are being placed under the microscope. The media-now more powerful than ever before due to computer advances, cable television, and the internet-controls our opinions, tastes, and, as some would have us believe, our actions.
But has the media shed its ethics and gotten completely out of control? Has the quest to get the big scoop crippled the news media into believing "first" is better than factual? To whom is the media responsible-the public, the stockholders, the advertisers? Who decides what may "harm" an audience or what is unsuitable for children? Who, if anyone, should regulate the media? How do political agendas play into censorship (the FCC) and funding of the media?
These questions and more are probed in The Media and Morality, a wide-ranging selection of important essays that explores relationships between the media and its diverse audiences, its sponsors, stockholders, governments, and others. The authors attempt to define the obligations of the media in these relationships as well as the risks, benefits, and limits.
In addition to providing up-to-date commentary and opinion on the latest controversial and precedent-setting journalistic developments, this book will help readers toward an ethical analysis of the media in the Information Age.

We are in a race against time to save urban children from educational failure and to reform urban school systems before people give up on them. The authors examine the effectiveness of three reform approaches: systems reform, mayoral influence, and external state or federal intervention, using case studies from seven large cities, as well as state and national trends.

The social and economic transformation of large American cities after World War II laid the seeds for the crisis in urban education that has festered and grown since the 1950s. Decades of appalling test scores and failure rates, and of unsuccessful piecemeal efforts to improve urban education, have led the public and policymakers to embrace radical solutions to reform.

Three approaches to the reform of urban school governance are discussed and analyzed, using data from seven large cities (Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and New York), national trends, and a statewide analysis of Maryland's school accountability system. The first approach, systems reform, focuses on improving the governance of urban education by overcoming policy fragmentation through standards for student performance, student assessments, and accountability, among other things. Strong mayoral roles offer a second reform approach that largely reverses the Progressive-era reforms of the last century separating schools from city politics. Its supporters believe urban mayors can restore accountability, stability, and political support for urban schools. The third reform approach assumes that external intervention by federal or state authorities is needed to restore accountability and improve system performance.

A number of historical events of the twentieth century gave rise to migration, immigration, and exile to and within the European continent. This collection represents an effort to raise consciousness about the marginalization of exiled women - artists, writers, political figures, as well as members of ethnic and religious minorities.

This book represents a major advance in examining the problem of how to reduce inequalities in the educational and occupational attainment of students from different socio-economic, ethnic and race group backgrounds. It integrates qualitative and quantitative research orientations and methodologies. A set of family and school measures is included that might be used by researchers and students as they examine the context theory, and by educators involved in school reform programs.

The important theories of Pierre Bourdieu and Alain Touraine, discussed in this book, seek to explain and resolve the "crisis of democracy." They start from a critique of structural inequality in political, economic and social fields - so much in contrast to democratic principles. But their theoretical perspectives and social conclusions diverge. Bourdieu insists on the radical overthrow of dominant institutions and their control of knowledge ("symbolic power"). Touraine advocates reformist cooperation as well as contestation between social movements and political institutions. Their different approaches provide compelling insights into the "democratic deficit" of modern society, that is, inability to overcome the widespread discrimination affecting women, the weaknesses of the environmental movement, persisting educational inequalities and the precarious nature of work in a global economy.

This volume makes a valuable contribution to debates on the nature of civil society in post-communist countries by providing detailed case-studies of the relationship between education and civic culture. A team of specialists provide a comprehensive examination of everyday patterns of civic culture; the linkage between education and national identity, ethnicity; gender and religion; the experience and attitudes of youth; and attempts to render education systems better suited to the demands of post-communist society.

Once known for his historically significant landmark decisions on civil rights, free speech, the right-to-die, and for banning discrimination, New York Chief Judge Sol Wachtler rose to the top of his profession and was a high roller in state politics a potential candidate for governor. But in a matter of months, this rising judicial star exploded in a whirlwind of scandal over an affair with socialite Joy Silverman.
Award-winning Albany Times Union legal reporter John M. Caher has followed Wachtler's career, the stalking scandal that led to his ignominious fall, and the former judge's efforts to redeem his reputation. Despite the media's feeding frenzy over Wachtler's infamous arrest, prosecution, and imprisonment, the judge's amazing life deserves a biography. With Wachtler's full cooperation, Caher offers an objective look at the life and mind of the most powerful judge on the New York State bench. Without excuses he closely examines and explains the dark side that doomed Wachtler, toppling him from the mountain where he had once reigned supreme.
King of the Mountain is a forthright picture of Wachtler's persecuted boyhood in North Carolina, his early years in law, his rise to the top of New York political circles, and his appointment as chief judge by Gov. Mario Cuomo. Caher chronicles Wachtler's impact on the national scene, through his judicial and administrative decisions, and his role in shaping the court and influencing other judges to follow his ground-breaking lead, the steamy affair, and his efforts to rise from the ashes of disgrace and shame.

What role does justice play in the formation of public opinion and the scholarly debates about social problems? Does the perception of injustice force problems to appear on the political agenda? Does the perception of an injustice give momentum to social change? Or are violations of self-interest or threats to one's material welfare the more important factors? Or are empathy-driven concerns for the needy and the disadvan taged motivations to solve societal problems? What is known about the role justice concerns play in leadership? In several chapters of this volume, justice concerns and justice motives are viewed in relation to other concerns and motivations; welfare, self-interest, altruism. It is argued that the consensus of political theorists converges on mutual advantage as the main criterion of acceptable solutions to solving socie tal problems. In economics, self-interest is considered the driving force and provides the criterion of acceptable solutions. Sociological and social psychological exchange theories share these basic assumptions. Thus, questions are raised and answered concerning how justice and these other important motives appear in the analyses of societal prob lems and the search for solutions. Moreover, in addition to the issue of conflicting motives-self interest, altruism, justice-it is commonly recognized that the definition of what is just and what is unjust is open to question. In public as well as in scientific dialogues, diverging views about justice have to be integrated or decided upon."

As entertainers, corporations, and even the government pander to the lowest common denominator, American life becomes increasingly vicarious, prefabricated, and bereft of meaning. This book examines contemporary American consciousness, considering the factors that have driven society toward gossip and sensationalism at the cost of substance and depth. Celebrity news, video games, cookie-cutter schools, and shopping, shopping, shopping. As entertainers, corporations, and even the government pander to the lowest common denominator, American life becomes increasingly vicarious, prefabricated, and bereft of meaning. This book examines contemporary American consciousness, considering the factors that have driven society toward gossip and sensationalism at the cost of substance and depth. Arden discusses the growing epidemic of acrimony, superficiality, attention deficit disorder, and complaints of ennui. He targets the reasons why American children have expressed their confused rage with deadly weapons, why a president boasts that he earned Cs in college, and why society has drifted into craving entertainment laced with violence and cheap thrills. The book is provocative reading for concerned citizens, as well as for scholars and researchers involved with contemporary American culture and society.

Sport has long held a special place in the affections of western industrial societies. This status has protected sport from critical scrutiny and meant that social inequalities and other problems, such as sexual harassment and abuse, have all-too-often been ignored or tacitly condoned. Further, general research on institutional sex offending has been much slower to develop than individual, pathological analyses. There is reason to believe that sport research could contribute to a wider understanding of institutional abuse. But for that to happen there needs to be a concerted effort by both sport and non-sport researchers to share their work more often and more openly. The sport-based researchers whose work is reported here bring many different approaches to this work. It is their hope that this book will take this work to a wider audience, both to increase awareness of sexual abuse in extra-familial settings and to attract critical interest in the sharing of research perspectives between those working inside and outside sport. CONTENTS: Sexual harassment and abuse in sport: The research context Celia Brackenridge and Kari Fasting . Prevalence of sexual abuse in organised competitive sport in Australia Trisha Leahy, Grace Pretty and Gershon Tenenbaum . coping with sexual harassment in sport: Experiences of elite female athletes Kari Fasting, Celia Brackenridge and Kristin Walseth . Running the gauntlet: An examination of initiation/hazing and sexual abuse in sport Sandra Kirby and Glen Wintrup . Sexual harassment of women in athletics vs academia Karin Volkwein, Frauke Schnell, Shannon Devlin, Michele Mitchell and Jennifer Sutera . Defining appropriateness in coach-athlete sexual relationships: The voice of coaches Joy Bringer, Celia Brackenridge and Lynne Johnston . The Child Protection in Sport Unit Steve Boocock . Reflections on the special issue on sport: implications for education and professional practice Carole Oglesby . Review essay: Three books on sexual harassment and abuse in sport Keith Lyons (plus extensive bibliography, list of websites and other resources)

The purpose of this volume is to bring together a set of chapters that investigate the communication practices through which Chinese societies are creating their civil foundations for the next millennium. Civic Discourse, Civil Society, and Chinese Communities, reflects both the emphasis on analyzing specific discursive practices in particular Chinese societies and on understanding the role that discursive practices play in the development of civil society more generally.

This book focuses not only on economic and political transformation since the demise of communism in Eastern and Central Europe, but also on the relationships between economic organization, social patterns and institutional change. The changes in political structure and policies of economic reform have in turn resulted in changes in social institutions and patterns of social relations. The authors look at social relations under the old regimes to understand the current social transformation. They consider economic restructuring both in the context of social change and in terms of its consequences for society, using case studies from the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. The impact of economic changes on new forms of institutional arrangements, social patterns and organization are also discussed taking into account privatization, employment, social welfare, property and industrial relations. This new book will be welcomed by economists, political scientists and sociologists working in the area of transition.

The articles here are not only about time, they are investigations from a specific temporal perspective: the calendrical event of the millennium. This arbitrary marker has provided a challenge and focus to the International Society for the Study of Time and to thinkers in all disciplines to take stock of what has gone before and what lies ahead, approaching the event of the millennium from the standpoint of time itself, and asking critical questions about the nature and experience of time.

Divided into six areas, including literature and language, music, psychology, sociology, history, and marking time, the collection is specific in content and broad in implication. Each article makes a contribution to scholarship within an individual discipline, and yet each transcends the bounds of discipline in its approach to broader issues involving the study of time. There is no other source like The Study of Time series that focuses so intensely on the nature and experience of time from diverse perspectives in all academic disciplines. This volume reveals the range and magnitude of intellectual endeavor in interdisciplinary research inspired by the enduring human fascination with time.

There has been increasing concern during the last decade to improve the quality of working life in Europe. Many industries are seeking to improve both working conditions and job satisfaction for their employees. The Quality of Working Life examines the issues raised by quality-of-working-life experiments, explores pioneer work done in Europe, and highlights specific developments in both Western and Eastern European countries.

DESCRIPTION: This volume of Studies in Law, Politics, and Society presents a diverse array of articles by an interdisciplinary and international group of scholars. Their work spans the social sciences, humanities, and law. It examines new perspectives on the relationship of law and values and race and the law. The articles published here exemplify the exciting and innovative work now being done in interdisciplinary legal scholarship. TABLE OF CONTENTS: List of contributors; Law and Values: Interpretive freedom and divine law: early rabbinic renderings of divine justice (C. Halberstam); Rawls' law of peoples: an expansion of the prioritization of political over religious values (E. Carpenter); Post modernity and the fading of individual responsibility (J. Krapp); Race in Law; Passing phantasms/sanctioning perfomativities: (re)reading white masculinity in Rhinelander v. Rhine lander (N. Hers); Tortious race, race torts: hate speech, intentional infliction, and the problem of harm (P.L. Rivers); Before or against the law? Citizens' legal beliefs and experiences as death penalty jurors (B. Steiner).

The book develops a practical approach to public policy issues that have continued to be intractable because of a lack of emphasis on transcultural understanding. Sustained examples help to increase the readability and the accessibility of theory and methodology.
The key themes address the issue that:
-Management needs to be more systemic. Critical Systemic Praxis is the process whereby we find ways to work across discipline areas and sectoral areas, in order to address complex social, political, economic and environmental problems.
-The way we define and address problems depends on an ability to work with, rather than within knowledge areas.
-By introducing the notion of governance we can extend traditional management from an organisational context to an inter-organisational context and locate governance as the goal for sustainable social and environmental justice.

The core aspects of praxis are:
-Respectful listening and dialogue to set up appropriate contexts for participatory design.
-Participatory designs based on participatory action research to map tacit and explicit knowledge of participants (professional and ordinary citizens).
-Strategic decision making across discipline areas, cultural contexts and knowledge areas.
-Action learning to transfer the policy and practice learnings.
-Mainstreaming the approach to governance in the social, political, economic and environmental sectors. The book develops a systemic approach to public policy issues. Examples are used throughout to exemplify theory. The integrated approach to policy and practice is ideally suited to addressing the socio-economic and environmental issues.