Much ink has been spilled on poverty measurements and trends, at the expense of revealing causality. Assembling multi-disciplinary and international contributions, this book shows that a causal understanding of poverty in rich and poor countries is essential. That understanding must be based on a critical interrogation of the wider social relations which set up the mechanisms producing poverty as an outcome. Processes that widen/strengthen crisis-ridden market relations, that increase income/wealth inequality, and that 'enhance' the policy-biases of nation-states and international institutions toward the affluent-propertied strata cause global poverty and undermine poor people's political power. The processes concentrating wealth-creation are poverty-causing processes. Through theoretical and empirical analyses this volume offers important insights and political prescriptions to address global poverty. Contributors are:Raju J. Das, Deepak K. Mishra, Steven Pressman, Michael Roberts, Jamie Gough, Aram Eisenschitz, Anjan Chakravarty, Mizhar Mikati, Marcelo Milan, Tarique Niazi, John Marangos, Eirini Triarchi, Themis Anthrakidis, Macayla Kisten and Brij Maharaj, David Michael M. San Juan, and Thaddeus Hwong.

In Acquiring Modernity, Paul B. Paolucci, updating classical theory, examines the nature of modern society. Investigated from a sociological perspective but written in accessible everyday language, this book provides a multifaceted account of what makes modern society what it is, from its historical roots to its current conditions. Neither traditional classroom text nor a work of detailed erudition for the specialist few, Acquiring Modernity draws on material from known historical events, scholarly research, and recent global developments to tell modernity's story through topics such as the modern classes, religious practice, relations of gender and race, politics, environmental issues, and economic crises. Valuable reading for anyone interested in understanding contemporary life and society.

Sociology of Law: A Reader provides students with engaging literature that addresses law as both dependent and independent variables of the social conditions in which it operates. Through a collection of carefully selected readings, the text examines the themes of social roots and social consequences of the law, the legal profession, and the influence of gender and racial structures on legal inequality. The reader begins with a chapter regarding lawmaking and featuring articles that address gender rights, judicial elections, the morality of law, and executive orders. Additional chapters examine law enforcement, law as conflict resolution, and law as social change. Students read about contemporary issues regarding gender, race, and the law, including the reporting of sexual assault and harassment and the relationship between people of color and sentencing bias. The closing chapter includes readings on the legal profession, including discussion of the role and limitations of law in addressing racial bias and discrimination, criticism of the judiciary, and reflections from a female judge. Filling a gap in current literature in the discipline, Sociology of Law is an ideal resource for courses in sociology and the sociology of law.

The Rise of Western Civilization introduces students to the vibrancy of the past and illustrates the way in which early civilizations have influenced contemporary society. The text emphasizes art, literature, social history, and other cultural developments to help students learn about the people of a particular era and how their lives have shaped our history. Organized chronologically, themes within the text include the establishment of empires and the cause of their rise and fall, the formation and development of government, and significant social changes. Chapters explore the first civilizations, ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, Islam and Byzantium, medieval civilization, the Reformation Era, early modern Europe, and much more. Each chapter includes special sections-Historical Profiles, Historical Issues, and Historical Connections-to engage students and bring the subject matter to life. Historical Profiles examine the life of an historical figure who had an impact on the time in which he or she lived. Historical Issues highlight events, issues, or personalities that can be interpreted in a variety of different ways and are intended to inspire critical thinking and lively discussion. Historical Connections connect the dots between a past event or person and something relevant to modern society. The Rise of Western Civilization is part of the Cognella History of Europe Series, a collection of textbooks that help students discover the power, influence, and dynamic nature of European countries and their histories. It is an ideal text for survey courses in world and European history.

Growth and Change in Neoliberal Capitalism brings together selected essays written by Alfredo Saad-Filho, one of the most prominent Marxist political economists today. This book offers a rich analysis of long-term economic development in the current stage of capitalism, the new relations of dependence between countries, the prospects for poor countries, and the progressive alternatives to neoliberalism. The volume also provides a detailed set of studies of the political economy of Brazil, tracking its achievements, tragedies, contradictions and limitations.

"Reader in Religion and Popular Culture" is the classroom resource the field has been waiting for. It provides key readings as well as new approaches and cutting-edge work, encouraging a broader methodological and historical understanding. It is the first anthology to a trace broader themes of religion and popular culture across time and across very different types of media. With a combined teaching experience of over 30 years dedicated to teaching undergraduates, Lisle Dalton and Eric Mazur have ensured that the pedagogical features and structure of the volume are valuable to both students and their professors: - Divided into a number of units based on common semester syllabi- Provides a blend of materials focussed on method with materials focussed on subject- Each unit contains an introduction to the texts - Each unit is followed by questions designed to encourage or enhance post-reading reflection and classroom discussion- A glossary of terms from the unit's readings is provided, as well as suggestions for further reading and investigation- Online resource provides guidance on accessing some of the most useful interesting resources available onlineThe Reader is suitable as the foundational textbook for any undergraduate course on religion and popular culture.

The Cultural Politics of Food, Taste, and Identity examines the social, cultural, and political processes that shape the experience of taste. The book positions flavor as involving all the senses, and describes the multiple ways in which taste becomes tied to local, translocal, glocal, and cosmopolitan politics of identity. Global case studies are included from Japan, China, India, Belize, Chile, Guatemala, the United States, France, Italy, Poland and Spain. Chapters examine local responses to industrialized food and the heritage industry, and look at how professional culinary practice has become foundational for local identities. The book also discusses the unfolding construction of "local taste" in the context of sociocultural developments, and addresses how cultural political divides are created between meat consumption and vegetarianism, innovation and tradition, heritage and social class, popular food and authenticity, and street and restaurant food. In addition, contributors discuss how different food products-such as kimchi, quinoa, and Soylent-have entered the international market of industrial and heritage foods, connecting different places and shaping taste and political identities.

Volume II of Africa's Radicalisms and Conservatisms continues the broad themes of radicalisms and conservatisms that were examined in volume I. Like volume I, the essays examine why the two "isms" of radicalisms and conservatisms should not be viewed as mere irreconcilable conceptual tools with which to categorize or structure knowledge. The volume demonstrates that these concepts are intertwined, have multiple and diverse meanings as perceived and understood from different disciplinary vantage points, hence, the deliberate pluralization of the terms. The twenty-two essays in the volume show what happens when one juxtaposes the two concepts and when different peoples' lived experiences of politics, pop culture, democracy, liberalism, the environment, colonialism, migration, identities, and knowledge, etc. across the length and breadth of Africa are brought to bear on our understandings of these two particularisms. Contributors are: Adesoji Oni, Admire M. Nyamwanza, Akin Tella, Akinpelu Ayokunnu Oyekunle, Bamidele Omotunde Alabi, Charles Nkem Okolie, Craig Calhoun, Diana Ekor Ofana, Edwin Etieyibo, Folusho Ayodeji, Gabriel Akinbode, Godwin Oboh, Joseph C. A. Agbakoba, Julius Niringiyimana, Lucky Uchenna Ogbonnaya, Maxwell Mudhara, Muchaparara Musemwa, Nathan Osareme Odiase, Obvious Katsaura, Okpowhoavotu Dan Ekere, Olaniran Olakunle Lateef, Omolara V. Akinyemi, Owen Mafongoya, Paramu Mafongoya, Philip Onyekachukwu Egbule, Rutanga Murindwa, Sandra Bhatasara, Takesure Taringana, Tunde A. Abioro, Victor Clement Nweke, William Muhumuza, and Zainab M. Olaitan.

Thorstein Veblen's groundbreaking treatise upon the evolution of the affluent classes of society traces the development of conspicuous consumption from the feudal Middle Ages to the end of the 19th century. Beginning with the end of the Dark Ages, Veblen examines the evolution of the hierarchical social structures. How they incrementally evolved and influenced the overall picture of human society is discussed. Veblen believed that the human social order was immensely unequal and stratified, to the point where vast amounts of merit are consequently ignored and wasted. Veblen draws comparisons between industrialization and the advancement of production and the exploitation and domination of labor, which he considered analogous to a barbarian conquest happening from within society. The heavier and harder labor falls to the lower members of the order, while the light work is accomplished by the owners of capital: the leisure class.

This book draws together classic and contemporary texts on the "Horizontal Metropolis" concept. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, it explores various theoretical, methodological and political implications of the Horizontal Metropolis hypothesis. Assembling a series of textual and cartographic interventions, this book explores those that supersede inherited spatial ontologies (urban/rural, town/country, city/non-city, society/nature). It investigates the emergence of a new type of extended urbanity across regions, territories and continents up to the global scale through the reconstruction of a fundamental but neglected tradition. This book responds to the radical nature of the changes underway today, calling for a rethinking of the Western Metropolis idea and form along with the emergence of new urban paradigms. The Horizontal Metropolis concept represents an ambitious attempt to offer new instruction to take on this challenge at the global scale. The book is intended for a wide audience interested in the emergence and development of new approaches in urbanism, architecture, cultural theory, urban and design education, landscape urbanism and geography.