What are the functions of optimism in modern societies? How is hope culturally transmitted? What values and attitudes does it reflect? This book explores how and why powerful institutions propagate 'cultures of optimism' in different domains, such as politics, work, the family, religion and psychotherapy.

The Reformation has traditionally been explained in terms of theology, the corruption of the church and the role of princes. R.W. Scribner, while not denying the importance of these, shifts the context of study of the German Reformation to an examination of popular beliefs and behaviour, and of the reactions of local authorities to the problems and opportunities for social as well as religious reform. This book brings together a coherent body of work that has appeared since 1975, including two entirely new essays and two previously published only in German.

This book focuses on one of the main issues of our time in the Humanities and Social Sciences as it analyzes the impact of current global migrations on new forms of living together and the formation of identities and homes. Using a transdisciplinary and transcultural approach the contributions shed fresh light upon key concepts such as 'hybrid-performative diaspora', 'transidentities',' hospitality', 'belonging', 'emotion', 'body,' and 'desire'. Those concepts are discussed in the context of Cuban, US-American, Maghrebian, Moroccan, Spanish, Catalan, French, Turkish, Jewish, Argentinian, Indian, and Italian literatures, cultures and religions.

The closing years of the 20th century will be remembered as a time of tumultuous change. The various essays are attempts to understand the changes and ground them in the context of the logic of the contemporary world-system. The essays are divided into two main themes: structural transformations and regional ramifications of global transformations. East Asia, the Pacific Rim, European periphery, and the Middle East are all examined to determine if fundamental changes are occuring. Scholars and upper level and graduate students of economic history, developmental economics, regional economics, international economics, and political economy will find provocative contrasts and insights in this collection of essays, presented at the 18th annual Political Economy of the World-System Conference.

This volume explores the concept of the honest merchant, taking a broad perspective and covering a wide range of aspects. It looks at the different types of "honest merchant" conceptions originating from different cultures and literary traditions. The book covers Japanese, Islamic, Scandinavian, Russian, German, Spanish, as well as other aspects, and studies different disciplinary backgrounds of the honest merchant, such as philosophical, economic, neuroethical, sociological and literary ones. The concept of the honest merchant has a long tradition in business ethics. In the Hanseatic League and in medieval Italy, the ideal of the honest businessman was taught since the late Middle Ages. It originated during a time when travelling merchants were often regarded with a sceptical eye. The honest merchants of their time however held clear principles in their business and took responsibility for their community. In later times, the religious notions of the concept lost their pivotal place to reason and morality. This book goes beyond the tradition of discussing business ethics in association with concepts from the Hanseatic League and medieval Italy, and puts the central concept of business ethics in a much greater perspective.

The Miseducation of the West examines the ways in which educational institutions such as media and schools have shaped Western views of Islam. The nature of these messages tells readers as much, if not more, about Western self-images as they do about Islam and Islamic peoples. Quickly emerging is a Western perspective on the "other." Westerners found easy justification for the colonial conquest of many Islamic lands. In the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries England, France, and to a lesser extent Russia colonized much of the Mulsim world with the United States entering the picture after World War II. Economic colonialization, the oil business, interference with various governments, and the way these events and people are represented in the formal curriculum of schools and the informal curriculum of the media are central dimensions of this work. The contemporary expression of these stories involve the Bush administration's and its conservative allies' efforts to teach the nation about the true meaning of 9/11 and Islamic terrorism. In various reports, conservative organizations with close ties to the Bush White House, present forceful views of what historical concepts should be taught in U.S. schools. As Joe L. Kincheloe states in his thoughtful introduction, these efforts "represent a return to a 1954 view of America as the bearer of the democratic torch to the anti-democratic forces of the world. A critical education must counter such tendencies and work to conceptualize 9/11 in a variety of contexts." The essayists in this book write with different voices from diverse viewpoints, contributing to a discussion that will not end for years to come.

This book offers a broad-based critical examination of the consequences--moral, psychological, sociological, educational, and economic--of increasing specialization in today's world. According to the author, we have now reached a stage where the education and professional work of both elite and non-elite groups are so narrowly focused as to diminish both the individual and society. The development of the complete individual has given way to the development of a complete collective, made up of narrowly focused, fragmented individuals. And educators--the very people who should be able to lead us out of this path of increasing specalization--have themselves fallen victim, unable to function outside their own specialized areas of expertise. This controversial work will be of interest to scholars and students in social psychology, philosophy, educational foundations, economics, Third World development, and business--in short, to all thinking members of modern society.

"Revolutionary Social Transformation" focuses on the visions and analysis culled from the writings of Karl Marx, Paulo Freire, and Antonio Gramsci. Marx's theory of critical praxis and his dialectical conceptualization of capitalism are discussed together with Freire's and Gramsci's ideas. The author suggests that these are necessary ingredients for authentic social transformation as well as a basis for rekindling hope for a veritable democratic future.

The author employs both a language of critique and a language of possibility to argue that the process of social transformation must be inherently educational. Social transformation begins in prefigurative, preparatory projects and continues even after the creation of a new social formation. She also argues that Marx's materialist theory of consciousness--his theory of critical praxis--informs the thinking of both Freire and Gramsci. The ideas of Freire and Gramsci together with Marx's dialectical conceptualization of capitalism provide essential ingredients for the type of critical theory of educational praxis necessary for authentic social transformation. These ingredients also indicate how local transformative efforts can be linked to the global project for social transformation and ultimately the ending of all oppression.

This legal and intellectual history shows how the education of American lawyers between 1779 and 1829 manifested a unique and distinct process of legal thought into the United States. This new American legal thought, based upon ideas imported from the works of European natural law writers, had a significant impact on the creation of a distinctly American legal system and was, and continues to be, instrumental in shaping American society.

The second edition of Consumer Culture brings this successful introductory textbook right up-to-date for students who are interested in the nature and role of consumption in modern societies. It introduces the importance of new object-based studies for consumer culture, as well as adding new chapters on branding and the rise of ethical consumption. Drawing on a wide range of studies, and using contemporary illustrations from the media and popular culture, the author examines the rise of consumer culture and the changing relations between the production and consumption of cultural goods. She argues that consumer culture has become increasingly stylized and now provides an important context for everyday creativity. The author explores the way an individual s position in social groups structured by class, gender, race and age affects the nature of his or her participation in consumer culture. She also argues that this has contributed to changes in the way in which individuals belong to these social groups. The powerful role consumption plays in our lives is thus revealed as consumer culture is seen to provide new ways of creating social and political identities.

For all that has been written about Renaissance Florence we know relatively little about its musical life, its religious life, and the aspirations of its average citizens. This book contributes significantly to all understanding of all of these by documenting and interpreting the corporate patronage of an important Florentine musical repertory over a period of some 200 years. From the late thirteenth to the early sixteenth centuries at least twelve lay confraternities sponsored a widespread musical activity involving a specialized network of singers and instrumentalists. The meticulous records kept by these companies reveal a wealth of information about the musicians' conditions and patterns of activity, the central role of music in the companies' vernacular liturgy (especially as conditioned by bequests), and vital performance practice issues such as the role of instruments in vocal performance, the shift from monophonic to polyphonic practice, and the interaction of written and unwritten musical traditions. Because the companies were, in many respects, both a microcosm and characteristic manifestation of this remarkable Renaissance city, the author also seeks to explain how mendicant spirituality, guild society, and devotional images and imagination provide the essential context for understanding the function and significance of laudesi practice and repertoire. This book well be welcomed not only by musicologists, but by Italianists and late medieval and early modern scholars in general.

The belief in telepathy is still widely held and yet it remains much disputed by scientists. Roger Luckhurst explores the origins of the term in the late nineteenth century. Telepathy mixed physical and mental sciences, new technologies and old superstitions, and it fascinated many famous people in the late Victorian era: Sigmund Freud, Thomas Huxley, Henry James, Robert Louis Stevenson, and Oscar Wilde. This is an exciting and accessible study, written for general readers as much as scholars and students.

This book illuminates our understanding of what happens when different cultures meet. Twelve cultural historians explore the mechanism and inner dynamic of such encounters, and demonstrate that while they often occur on the wave of global forces and influences, they only acquire meaning locally, where culture inherently resides.

Archaeological sites opened to the public, and especially those highly photogenic sites that have achieved iconic status, are often major tourist attractions. By opening an archaeological site to tourism, threats and opportunities will emerge.The threats are to the archaeological record, the pre-historic or historic materials in context at the site that can provide facts about human history and the human relationship to the environment. The opportunities are to share what can be learned at archaeological sites and how it can be learned. The latter is important because doing so can build a public constituency for archaeology that appreciates and will support the potential of archaeology to contribute to conversations about contemporary issues, such as the root causes and possible solutions to conflict among humans and the social implications of environmental degradation. In this volume we will consider factors that render effective management of archaeological sites open to the public feasible, and therefore sustainable. We approach this in two ways: The first is by presenting some promising ways to assess and enhance the feasibility of establishing effective management. Assessing feasibility involves examining tourism potential, which must consider the demographic sectors from which visitors to the site are drawn or might be in the future, identifying preservation issues associated with hosting visitors from the various demographic sectors, and the possibility and means by which local communities might be engaged in identifying issues and generating long-term support for effective management. The second part of the book will provide brief case studies of places and ways in which the feasibility of sustainable management has been improved.

This text examines religion as a form of collective memory. This is a memory held in place by Europe's institutional churches, educational systems, and the mass media - all of which are themselves responding to rapid social and economic change Europe's religious memory is approached in the following ways: as vicarious; as a particularly European characteristic; as precarious, especially among young people; and as it is portrayed by the media. The memory may fragment, be disputed, and in extreme cases, disappear. Alternatives may emerge. The challenge for European societies is to affirm healthy mutations in religious memory and discourage others. The book also examines the increasing diversity of Europe's religious life This book is intended for scholars and students of Sociology, Religion, Politics, European Studies, and Philosophy.

This book brings together the perspectives of eminent and emerging scholars on contemporary issues relevant to the practice, pedagogy and institutionalization of the humanities in the three Chinese contexts of Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China. It addresses the need to investigate how humanities discussions, often exclusively drawn from, and grounded in, western contexts, are today being played out in these three places. The humanities in contemporary Chinese contexts may have different social and pedagogical roles, and a consideration of them will enable people to moderate, and perhaps even refute, claims made in the recent (re)readings of the humanities. As Asian universities rise in the global rankings and as east-west university collaborations and partnerships become more common, it is important that the nature, practice and institutionalization of the humanities in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China are explored and described for English readers. Exploring new perspectives arising from an examination of the humanities in these places, this volume aims neither to establish a position of polarity, which would pit western sites against Chinese ones, nor to argue for universal sameness. Rather, the goal is to find nuanced correspondences and differences between these various backgrounds, so that there is a greater understanding of the specificities of Chinese contexts. This will help shed light not only on the contexts in question, but also potentially on how to rearticulate the importance of the humanities in general, creating an intercultural dialogue focused on the humanities. As the global university strives to move the different traditions of learning closer together through international rankings, rubrics, and shared research agendas, it is important that we explore these locations of potential cultural exchange.

The book contains a selection of papers focusing on the idea of crossing boundaries in literary and cultural texts composed in English. The authors come from different methodological schools and analyse texts coming from different periods and cultures, trying to find common ground (the theme of the volume) between the apparently generically and temporarily varied works and phenomena. In this way, a plethora of perspectives is offered, perspectives which represent a high standard both in terms of theoretical reflection and in-depth analysis of selected texts. Consequently, the volume is addressed to a wide scope of both scholars and students working in the field of English and American literary and cultural studies; furthermore, it will be of interest also to students interested in theoretical issues linked with investigations into literature and culture.

The Central Asian Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan won their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Now they are emerging from the shadow of dominance and are subjects of intense interest from the West. The modern culture and customs of the various peoples in these geopolitical hotspots, straddling the far reaches of Europe into Asia, are revealed to a general audience for the first time. This will be the must-have volume for a broad, authoritative overview of these traditional civilizations as they cope with globalization.

This work is an examination of borderless markets where national boundaries are no longer the only relevant criteria in making international marketing, economic planning, and business decisions. Understanding political and nonpolitical borders is especially important for products and industries that are culture bound and those that require local adaptation. National culture is one critical factor that affects economic development, demographic behavior, and general business policies around the world. Over 75,000 statistics are provided for over 230 national groups covering a number of social, economic, and business variables. A significant review of literature is also included.

Ramen, Japan's noodle soup, is a microcosm of Japan and its historical relations with China. The long evolution of ramen helps us enter the history of cuisine in Japan, charting how food and politics combined as a force within Sino-Japan relations. Cuisine in East Asia plays a significant political role, at times also philosophical, economic, and social. Ramen is a symbol of the relationship between the two major forces in East Asia - what started as a Chinese food product ended up almost 1,000 years later as the emblem of modern Japanese cuisine. This book explains that history - from myths about food in ancient East Asia to the transfer of medieval food technology to Japan, to today's ramen "popular culture."

Evangelicalism appeared as a new pattern of Christian devotion at a moment in history when the foundations of Anglo-American society were shifting. The Spirit of Early Evangelicalism sheds new light on the nature of evangelical religion by locating its rise with reference to major movements of the 18th century, including Modernity, the Scientific Revolution, and the Enlightenment. Hindmarsh draws on a wide range of sources to make meaningful connections between the evangelical awakening and the history of science, law, art, and literature. Each of these fields placed a profound emphasis on nature and the authority of natural knowledge, and democratic debate was encouraged in the public sphere. In this context, evangelicals forcefully pressed their agenda for "true religion," believing it was still possible to experience "the life of God in the soul of man." The results were dramatic and disruptive. This book presents a fresh perspective and new research on the religious thought of leading evangelical figures such as John and Charles Wesley, George Whitefield, and Jonathan Edwards. It also traces the significance of evangelical spirituality for non-elites across multiple genres. From the scribbled marginalia of lay Methodists and the poetry of an African-American laywoman to the visual culture of grand manner portraits, lunar drawings, and satirical prints, Hindmarsh traces the meaning of evangelical devotion in a rich variety of contexts. By presenting devotion, culture, and ideas together, The Spirit of Early Evangelicalism shows the advent of evangelicalism to be a significant new episode in the history of Christian spirituality.

Mediating Memory in the Museum is a contribution to an emerging field of research which is situated at the interface between memory studies and museum studies. It highlights the role of museums in the proliferation of the so-called memory boom as well as the influence of memory discourses on international trends in museum cultures. By looking at a range of museums in Germany, Britain, France and Belgium, which address a diverse spectrum of topics such as migration, difficult and dark heritage, war, slavery and the GDR, Arnold-de Simine outlines the paradigm shifts in exhibiting practices associated with the transformation of traditional history museums and heritage sites into 'spaces of memory' over the past thirty years. She probes the political and ethical claims of new museums and maps the relevance of key concepts such as 'vicarious trauma', 'secondary witnessing', 'empathic unsettlement', 'prosthetic memory' and 'reflective nostalgia' in the museum landscape.

Why does Christianity feel the need to impose its customs and beliefs on the rest of the world? And why has an impulse driven at least partially by sincere concern for the "salvation" of others so often played into the hands of ruthless colonizers with more cynical aims?

Bringing together scholars in literature, history, and religion, Christian Encounters with the Other Approaches these questions by analyzing literary accounts of historically famous sites of conversion. Covering the Renaissance through to the present and spanning much of the globe, the volume discusses a range of authors and their works--from Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe and Stephen Riggs's ethnographic representations of the Sioux, to Salvation Army pamphleteers and Victorian missionaries, to China, to the works of Cameroonian novelist Mongo Beti, Guatemalan Nobel laureate Rigoberta Menchu, and Japanese novelist Shusaku Endo.

Using a cultural studies approach, each account discusses the missionaries' intentions, how these were perceived, and what social forces helped to shape the messages that were preached, as well as fascinating accounts of counter-conversions, in which "the other" is not only exoticized but valorized and empowered."

Paul Newland's illuminating study explores the ways in which London's East End has been constituted in a wide variety of texts - films, novels, poetry, television shows, newspapers and journals. Newland argues that an idea or image of the East End, which developed during the late nineteenth century, continues to function in the twenty-first century as an imaginative space in which continuing anxieties continue to be worked through concerning material progress and modernity, rationality and irrationality, ethnicity and 'Otherness', class and its related systems of behaviour. "The Cultural Construction of London's East End" offers detailed examinations of the ways in which the East End has been constructed in a range of texts including BBC Television's "EastEnders," Monica Ali's "Brick Lane," Walter Besant's "All Sorts and Conditions of Men," Thomas Burke's "Limehouse Nights," Peter Ackroyd's "Hawksmoor," films such as "Piccadilly, Sparrows Can't Sing, The Long Good Friday, From Hell, The Elephant Man, and Spider," and in the work of Iain Sinclair.