This book critically reviews existing digital divide research and challenges its core thesis, which posits unequal Internet access as a newly formed source of social disadvantage. The author begins by introducing the building blocks of the information society theory. The book goes on to present a systematic overview of digital divide research - its development, arguments attesting to the social gravity of the digital divide, and current findings on the uneven diffusion and use of the Internet. It evaluates the validity of the theories and concepts associated with digital divide research. The author offers an overview and re-examination of six presumptions and biases found in the prevailing approach to the digital divide. Given that Internet use has, in certain contexts, become an absolute necessity, an alternative approach is proposed, recognizing the indispensability of Internet use as context dependent. The book concludes with a consideration of the implications that this new perspective has for the information society theory and policies as well as for the role of social science in the informatization process.

This volume offers an understanding of institutional reforms, gender-related policy dynamics, the role of different actors in the policy process, and the impact of a particular policy on the state of women's political participation in Bangladesh. The discussion is set against the background of the Fourth World Conference on Women, 1995, in Beijing, in which a Platform for Action signed by heads of governments expressed their countries' commitment to achieve 'gender equality and empowerment of women' through ensuring integration of the gender perspective at all levels. In Bangladesh, notable among the initiatives undertaken was the enactment of the Local Government (Union Parishads) (Second Amendment) of 1997, through which one-third of seats were reserved for women in the Union Parishad (UP) and the system of direct election was introduced to elect women members in reserved seats. The Act of 1997 is considered to be a milestone, since it has enhanced women's participation in the local government politics significantly. Against this background, the specific research questions that have been addressed in this volume include: the necessity of reform for enhancing women's participation in politics; the context against which the Government of Bangladesh enacted the Act and the reasons such an initiative was not taken earlier; the actors behind the reforms and their role in the reform process; and the impact of the reform on the state of women's participation at the local level in Bangladesh.

Jessica Keebler, director of the Los Angeles County Bureau of Adoptions in 1955, faces an almost insurmountable crisis. There's a logjam of unadoptable babies and a severe lack of adequate foster homes for these children. The crux of this issues rests with a statute in California's adoption law stating ..". an interracial child is a non-white and may be given only to a Negro family."Since Negro family applications to adopt are as rare as rain in the Mojave desert, the backlog of interracial babies threatens the structure of Keebler's department and her mental health. When Paul and Anne Barlin, a white family, say they will adopt a child "of any color, any national origin," Keebler believes she may have found a way to resolve this backlog of babies.To make this unusual adoption a reality, she must have the courage to flaunt the law or stand up to the state legislature and ask them to repeal the law. Her actions will determine if one at-risk child will be placed in a loving home. This one case has the potential to change the landscape of adoption forever.

Postcolonial Challenges in Education traces the palimpsest histories of imperialism and colonialism, and puts to work the catachrestic interventions of anti-imperialist and decolonizing projects. This book functions as a set of theoretical, empirical, and pedagogical challenges to two fields of scholarship. It points out the inadequate attention to issues of education in studies of imperialism and colonialism as well as the relative absence of empire as a relevant category of analysis in studies of education. It brings together many of the world's leading and emerging scholars who engage with the key debates and dilemmas in postcolonial and educational studies, and ushers in a collective of dissident voices that unabashedly aim to contest and reconfigure the current local-global order.

All in the mix: Race, class and school choice considers how parents choose secondary schools for their children and makes an important intervention into debates on school choice and education. The book examines how parents talk about race, religion and class in the process of choosing. It also explores how parents' own racialised and classed positions, as well as their experience of education, can shape the way they approach choosing schools. Based on in-depth interviews with parents from different class and racialised backgrounds in three areas in and around Manchester, the book shows how discussions about school choice are shaped by the places in which the choices are made. It argues that careful consideration of choosing schools opens up a moment to explore the ways in which people imagine themselves, their children and others in social, relational space. -- .

Responding to a need for a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the consequences of climate change, this book brings experts in climate science, engineering, urban planning, and conservation biology into conversation with scholars in law, geography, anthropology and ethics. It provides insights into how climate change is conceptualized in different fields. The book also aims to contribute to developing successful and multifaceted strategies that promote global, intergenerational and environmental justice. Among the topics addressed are the effects of climate change on the likelihood and magnitude of natural hazards, an assessment of civil infrastructure vulnerabilities, resilience assessment for coastal communities, an ethical framework to evaluate behavior that contributes to climate change, as well as policies and cultural shifts that might help humanity to respond adequately to climate change.

This book is a study of Dutch mosque designs, objects of heated public debate. Until now, studies of diaspora mosque designs have largely consisted of normative architectural critiques that reject the ubiquitous 'domes and minarets' as hampering further Islamic-architectural evolution. The Architectural Representation of Islam: Muslim-Commissioned Mosque Design in The Netherlands represents a clear break with the architectural critical narrative, and meticulously analyzes twelve design processes for Dutch mosques. It shows that patrons, by consciously selecting, steering and replacing their architects, have much more influence on their mosques than has been generally assumed. Through the careful transformation of specific building elements from Islamic architectural history to a new context, they literally aim to 'construct' the ultimate Islam. Their designs thus evolve not in opposition to Dutch society, but to those versions of Islam that they hold to be false.

This book explores mobile representations in government policy, literature, visual arts, music, and research and examines the methodological potential of these representations and the ways in which representations co-produce mobilities.

When it comes to humor, Americans are said to hold nothing sacred. "Deadly Mistakes: Real Obituaries Gone Amusingly Wrong" is an example of that sentiment.Given our near obsession with fame and celebrity, it should come as no surprise that "ordinary people" would go to extraordinary lengths to be considered noteworthy. "Deadly Mistakes "provides the evidence in the obituaries of the "unfamous." Average folks are remembered by family and friends in send-offs that unintentionally go off the rails in amusing and bizarre ways.What's to be said of someone whose family wants him to be remembered for inventing an electric pickle...that stinks?Of someone who, "not wanting to give up his love of uniforms, became a campus police officer?"Or of someone who achieved the mysterious title of "Puissant Sovereign of the Red Cross of Constantine"?Plenty.All this and more is included in "Deadly Mistakes: Real Obituaries Gone Amusingly Wrong."These obituaries have not been edited (except for length and to remove last names). They stand on their own as commentary on the human need to find meaning in it all... somehow, some way."Deadly Mistakes" should remind readers of one thing: it's best to go out laughing. Just ask the guy whose memorial service was held at Hammerhead's Bar, just east of The Strip, in Vegas.

Making Sense of Self-Harm provides an alternative approach to understanding nonsuicidal self-injury; using Cultural Sociology to analyse it more as a practice than an illness and exploring it as a powerful cultural idiom of personal distress and social estrangement that is peculiarly resonant with the symbolic life of late-modern society.

This book examines the key aging processes in seven countries (United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Japan, China, Nepal, and South Africa) and the main policies that have been, and are being, developed to deal with this rapid change in the demographic profile. It addresses the problems that are identified as well as the positive aspects of aging within each of these contrasting societies. Thus it makes a significant contribution to the major debates about growing old across the globe.

Virtual worlds are most often three dimensional locales, where people create virtual personae (called avatars) who come to play, socialize, and work. This edited collection of groundbreaking research on virtual worlds offers a wide-ranging look at the sociology, politics, and communication practices in virtual worlds from a group of scholars in the United States and abroad.

From the first vague idea to use Konrad Hagedorn's 60th birthday as an inspi- tion for taking stock of his vibrant academic contributions, this joint book project has been a great pleasure for us in many ways. Pursuing Hagedorn's intellectual development, we have tried to reflect on the core questions of humanity according to Ernst Bloch "Who are we?," "Where do we come from?" and "Where are we heading?" In this way, and without knowing it, Konrad Hagedorn initiated a c- lective action process he would have very much enjoyed ... if he had been allowed to take part in it. But it was our aim and constant motivation to surprise him with this collection of essays in his honour. Konrad Hagedorn was reared as the youngest child of a peasant family on a small farm in the remote moorland of East Frisia, Germany. During his childhood in the poverty-ridden years after the Second World War, he faced a life where humans were heavily dependent on using nature around them for their livelihoods; meanwhile, he learned about the fragility of the environment. As a boy, he - tended a one-room schoolhouse, where his great intellectual talents were first r- ognised and used for co-teaching his schoolmates. These early teaching expe- ences might have laid the foundations for his later becoming a dedicated lecturer and mentor.

This book explores the dimensions and characteristics of social vulnerability in Western Europe. It provides a broad empirical foundation for recent theories on the emergence of new social risks in post-industrial societies, revealing to what extent social risks are compromising the 'normal' functioning of the European population.

This study unravels the real dynamics at stake within the Lebanese Madame/Sri Lankan housemaid relationship. Unraveled in this book are the real dynamics at stake in the Madame/housemaid relationship. While cases of extreme physical abuse by the Lebanese women who hire housemaids - Madames - are an exception, what has become normalised are more insidious patterns of domination used to control each and every aspect of their employees' lives. For their part, Sri Lankan housemaids are not merely passive victims. Away from direct provocation and first-hand repercussions, they try to deflect what Pierre Bourdieu has called 'symbolic violence'. These attempts at 'everyday forms of resistance', as defined by James Scott, can help loosen their employers' grip. Yet, as this unprecedented study shows, the Madame/housemaid relationship and the rules that govern it remain under the managerial hold of the Madame.

This book was first published in 1943.

Van der Graaf researches the emotional ties of residents to their deprived neighbourhood. In transforming deprived areas into great places to live much attention has been given to the physical, social and economical aspects of deprivation. However, little is known about the relationship between deprivation and emotional ties: What makes residents in deprived areas feel at home in their neighbourhood?
In this PhD thesis Peter van der Graaf focused on the emotional ties of residents to their neighbourhood and researched how these ties are affected by urban renewal. He also compares practices between the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, where the emotions of residents are considered more in urban renewal.