Practising Identities is a collection of papers about how identities - gender, bodily, racial, ethnic and national - are practised in the contemporary world. Identities are actively constructed, chosen, created and performed by people in their daily lives, and this book focuses on a variety of identity practices, in a range of different settings, from the gym and the piercing studio, to the further education college and the National Health Service. Drawing on detailed empirical studies and recent social and cultural theory about identity this book makes an important intervention in current debates about identity, reflexivity, and cultural difference.

Hardbound. Volume 5 covers many ethical problems in bioethics from the relevance of the law in making medical decisions, to genetics, and to assisted reproduction. Authors apply ethical theory, meta-ethical theory and valuational perspectives to a variety of ethical issues.

This work presents the thinking of thirteen distinguished foreign observers who examine and evaluate the imprint of America on their own lives and on their nation. It covers the whole spectrum of American political and cultural influences ranging from the material benefits of American influence to the violence which can be found in American life.

Organization Structures: Theory and Design, Analysis and Prescription describes how to organize people to achieve a desired outcome. This is accomplished by establishing sets of rules from "real world" organization contexts. Moreover, the development of these rules within "real world" contexts means that the rules must be true, general, operational, technically sound, and easy to use. With an understanding of rules and the processes of their use, organization structures can be identified, which in turn form the basis of a theoretical framework. This book discusses, examines, and demonstrates the interrelationship of the design rules, their theoretical use within these organization structures, along with their practical implications. Throughout the book, an extended example of the Masters Brewing Corporation (MBC) is used to illustrate the conceptual material and to make the implications of the organizational analysis explicitly concrete.

The author examines the relationships between the social problems of the mass age, developments in late 20th century capitalism, the growth of a mass media advertising system, and the operation and assumptions of liberal democracy.;The changing structure of capitalism, where production so easily outstrips consumption, demands that an increasing share of resources be absorbed, not in the creation of new wealth, but in supporting the marketing process. Advertising must sell, not only goods and services, but also definitions of life and of status, images, hopes and feelings. In turn, the very universality of advertising, and its acceptance as a mode of communication, have forced the political system into the same mould. The consequences, examined here, have on the whole been unfortunate, although not actually fatal. The institutional arrangements of modern liberal democracy and the selling of images demean democracy and obstruct the realizations of its own ideals.

Are bad girls casualties of patriarchy, a necessary evil, or visionary pioneers? The authors in this volume propose shifts in our perceptions of bad girls by providing new ways to understand them through the case of Japan. By tracing the concept of the bad girl as a product of specific cultural assumptions and historical settings, Bad Girls of Japan maps new roads and old detours in revealing a disorderly politics of gender. Bad Girls of Japan explores deviancy in richly diverse media: mountain witches, murderers, performance artists, cartoonists, schoolgirls and shoppers gone wild are all part of the terrain.

This wide-ranging handbook presents in-depth discussions on the array of subspecialties that comprise the field of sociological theory. Prominent theorists working in a variety of traditions discuss methodologies and strategies; the cultural turn in sociological theorizing; interaction processes; theorizing from the systemic and macro level; new directions in evolutionary theorizing; power, conflict, and change; and theorizing from assumptions of rationality.

Even though sub-Saharan Africa is the region most affected by HIV/AIDS in the world, no new theories have been discovered, and questions about life and death are ignored. This book uses certain selected communication practices to offer the foundations of an African theory of communication, applicable to the crisis of HIV/AIDS.

German Ordoliberalism and French Regulation theory, two institutionalist theories born in different national contexts, show striking convergences and complementarities. Based on an original comparison, Institutional Economics in France and Germany analyses the basic concepts, the development and the present relevance of both schools, the way they deal with the crucial methodological issue of complexity and with transformation in post-socialist Europe. It underlines the specificity and fruitfulness of these European approaches to institutional economics, often unfortunately ignored in the English-language literature. Written by leading scholars, this book is a clear presentation of both theories, with numerous illustrations and in-depth analysis of recent research developments. This theoretical, methodological and thematic comparison raises central issues in the growing field of socioeconomic and institutionalist theory.

This book develops the rudiments of a sociological perspective on state law and legal theory. It outlines a distinctive approach to theoretical enquiry that offers an improved understanding of law as a social and institutional phenomenon. The book draws upon Max Weber's sociological and juristic writings as a context in which to explore themes arising or selectively developed from a critical reassessment of key aspects of H.L.A. Hart's theory of law. The discussion initially centres around three problematical areas or 'Gordian Knots': essentially weaknesses in the analytical nucleus of The Concept of Law,matters of misplaced emphasis and other elements that, it is argued, have obscured fundamental aspects of a perceived social reality. Using the critique as a point of departure the book explores key issues that Hart merely touched upon or seemingly passed over: the role of the (sociologically inclined) jurist, the defensibility of an 'institutional insider's' perspective, the institutional behavioural dimension of the legal world, and the relational and social power dynamics of law-affected human behaviour.

What do young people do with the novels they read, the films they see, the music they hear and sing? How do these cultural products act as 'symbolic resources' in the process of development? And what can we, as researchers, learn by studying people's uses of fiction? This monograph approaches development through the study of transitions and the processes of exploration that follow ruptures in people's lives. Specifically, it examines young people's symbolic responsibility as they have to choose among the wide range of cultural products societies exposes them to. The book thus examines the books, films and music that young people mobilize when they need to redefine their identity, learn informal know-how, or have to confer meaning to what happens to them in transitions. The book has a theoretical scope. It draws on cultural psychology and psychoanalysis to formulate the importance of semiotic mediation in thinking, feeling and acting. Its main contribution is to propose a model for analyzing uses of symbolic resources, such as books and films, in everyday life. It thus shows how uses of symbolic resources can enable new forms of experiences and conduct. It finally highlights social and personal conditions that might facilitate or hinder developmental uses of symbolic resources. The book, based on in-depth case studies, is addressed to scholars, professional and students in the fields of youth, culture and the media, cultural and developmental psychology, and life-long education.

This volume examines the concept of performance in ethnographic studies, with a special focus on the issues surrounding the performances of race, and cultural and environmental identities. A special partial section honours the contributions of David R. Maines to the field of communication studies. The concluding section considers new theoretical developments in interaction theory, including a re-examination of the spectatorial gaze in film and literary approaches to the imagined past.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE SOCIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE brings to students, researchers and practitioners in all of the social and language-related sciences carefully selected book-length publications dealing with sociolinguistic theory, methods, findings and applications. It approaches the study of language in society in its broadest sense, as a truly international and interdisciplinary field in which various approaches, theoretical and empirical, supplement and complement each other. The series invites the attention of linguists, language teachers of all interests, sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists, historians etc. to the development of the sociology of language.

Alan Rabinowitz provides the first comprehensive analysis of the nontraditional or social change philanthropists who help finance national campaigns and grassroots organizations that focus on improving American society and the environment, particularly for minority and low-income people. Written both for funders and grantees already in the field and those just beginning to fund nontraditional activities, "Social Change Philanthropy in America" examines the experience, operational practices, and future prospects of philanthropists who have been involved in such activities over the past thirty years. Rabinowitz offers new insights into who the funders are and how they think, how funders actually make decisions, what types of grants are made, and the tax, political, and historical aspects of social change funding and its role in America's philanthropic system.

Beginning with an introduction to the network of progressive social change funders and grantees and the philanthropic universe within which they operate, Rabinowitz goes on to analyze the flow of dollars through the nonprofit system. The next two sections present detailed portraits of social change funders and grantees. In part four, the author discusses whether grants for progressive social change are effective and worthwhile, whether grantees are sufficiently accountable, and whether funders and grantees are meeting each other's needs. He then explores progressive funding as an arena of controversy, conflicting ideologies, and, ultimately, electoral politics. The final chapter looks at challenges and prospects for the progressive social change community as strategies for organizing, campaigning, and fundraising are developed for the future. The appendix illustrates in more detail the range and substance of the field for readers with little previous knowledge of progressive social change philanthropy.

A distinguished roster of contributors considers the state of the art of the field at the turn of the 21st century and charts an ambitious agenda for the future. Following what the editors describe as an evolutionist' approach to the study of labor markets, the chapters address issues of continuity and discontinuity in a wide range of topics including: markets and institutional structures; employment relations and work structures; patterns of stratification in the United States; and public policies, opportunity structures, and economic outcomes.

This volume 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 the many ways citizens learn about law, law beyond the nation-state and the relationship of law and labour.

Hinds takes offers a fresh perspective on the social, political, and economic disturbances now affecting our world. This book looks at those disturbances not as separate problems, but rather as the coherent symptoms of a deep technological revolution that is changing the shape of society on the scale of the Industrial Revolution: the Connectivity Revolution, the basis of the New Economy. Analyzing the resistance to change that erupted violently in response to that last major economic upheaval, Hinds shows how Communism, Nazism, and fundamentalism owe their triumphs not to the prevalence of poverty or oppression but to the rigidity of societies threatened by profound social changes prompted by rapid technological progress. Demonstrating that their rigidity was caused by the same kind of state intervention in the economy that is now being proposed to stop globalization, he argues persuasively that only a horizontal, flexible society can smoothly manage change in such a way that the pain of transformation--and therefore, the risk of giving birth to new varieties of destructive regimes--is minimized.

The British Sociological Association held a conference on the theme "Sociology and History". In 1964, E.H. Carr had called for an open frontier between the disciplines. This book examines the traffic across this frontier and in particular, what might be called the sociological uses of history.

At the interface between culture and tourism lies a series of deep and challenging issues relating to how we deal with issues of political engagement, social justice, economic change, belonging, identity and meaning. This book introduces researchers, students and practitioners to a range of interesting and complex debates regarding the political and social implications of cultural tourism in a changing world. Concise and thematic theoretical sections provide the framework for a range of case studies, which contextualise and exemplify the issues raised. The book focuses on both traditional and popular culture, and explores some of the tensions between cultural preservation and social transformation. The book is divided into thematic sections - Politics and Policy; Community Participation and Empowerment; Authenticity and Commodification; and Interpretation and Representation - and will be of interest to all who wish to understand how cultural tourism continues to evolve as a focal point for understanding a changing world.

A sociological understanding of social problems. Social Problems: A Down to Earth Approach, 11/e is a theoretically balanced text that provides the latest research and a consistent structure to help students analyze critical social problems facing the United States. The author presents both sides of an argument with a neutral voice and uses a down-to-earth writing style. By using this text, not only do students gain a sociological understanding of social problems, but also they are able to explore and evaluate their own opinions about specific social problems. They will gain a greater awareness of the social forces that shape their orientations to social problems and their perspectives on social life. The ideas in this book penetrate students' thinking and help give shape to their views of the world. MySocLab for Social Problems features an engaging student experience including an interactive eText, the New Core Concepts Video Series, the New Social Explorer. Teaching & Learning Experience *Personalize Learning - MySocLab is an online homework, tutorial, and assessment program. It helps students prepare for class and instructor gauge individual and class performance.*Improve Critical Thinking - Thinking Critically About the Chapter - At the end of each chapter are several questions designed to help students evaluate what they have read. These questions also lend themselves well for stimulating class discussions. *Engage Students -Opening Vignette - Intended to arouse student interest in the social problem and to stimulate the desire to read more, this brief opening story presents essential elements of the social problem. *Explore Research -Spotlight on Research boxes - Major researchers in social problems share an insider's perspective of how they became interested in a social problem and how they did their research *Explore Theory - The three basic theories - Symbolic interaction theory, functional theory, and conflict theory- are introduced early in the text; giving students the opportunity t immediately grasp the differences of these theories. *Support Instructors - MySocLab, Instructor's eText, Instructor's Manual, Test Item File, Electronic MyTest Test Bank, PowerPoint Presentation Slides, and Pearson Custom course material are available.

"This is the first comprehensive text on social psychological approaches to communication, providing an excellent introduction to theoretical perspectives, special topics, and applied areas and practice in communication. Bringing together scholars of international reputation, this book provides a unique contribution to the field"--

Writing about sociocultural evolution is always a complicated enterprise, because the subject is not only difficult in a scientific way but also in a political one. In particular since the events of September 11, 2001 the debates about the differences between cultures and their evolutionary developments have left the fields of pure scientific research once and for all. However, there have probably never been scientific discourses that did not touch the realms of political discussions - Darwin, Marx, the atomic physicists and the recent debates about genetic engineering are just a few examples. The aim of this book is not to take part in these debates but it is written as a contribution to the foundations of evolutionary theories in the social sciences. The readers will have to judge if I have succeeded with it. Perhaps essays like this one will help to clarify the problems we all have to face just now in regard to intercultural discourses. Theoretically and mathematically grounded insights into cultural development as the source of many political problems will not solve to how to deal with them them immediately but may serve as signposts in the long run.

This 16th volume in the series discusses a variety of topics in the field of symbolic interaction; these topics include extending interaction theory and new empirical and theoretical inquiries.