This open access book presents a nuanced and accessible synthesis of the relationship between land tenure security and sustainable development. Contributing authors have collectively worked for decades on land tenure as connected with conservation and development across all major regions of the globe. The first section of this volume is intended as a standalone primer on land tenure security and its connections with sustainable development. The book then explores key thematic challenges that interact directly with land tenure security, followed by a section on strategies for addressing tenure insecurity. The book concludes with a section on new frontiers in research, policy, and action. An invaluable reference for researchers in the field and for practitioners looking for a comprehensive overview of this important topic. This is an open access book.

The second edition of Mildred Blaxter's successful and highly respected book offers a comprehensive and engaging introduction to the key debates surrounding the concept of health today. It discusses how health is defined, constructed, experienced and acted out in contemporary developed societies, drawing on a range of empirical data from the USA, Britain, France, and many other countries.

The new edition has been thoroughly revised and updated, with new material added on health and identity, the "new genetics," the sociology of the body, and the formation of health capital throughout the life course. The topic is the concept of health, rather than the more usual emphasis on illness and health-care systems. Special emphasis is given to the lay perspective to show how people themselves think about and experience health. Blaxter guides students through all the relevant conceptual models of the relationship of health to the structure of society, from inequality in health to the ideas of the risk society, the 'socio-biological translation' and the contribution of health to social capital. The book concludes with a comprehensively revised and thought-provoking discussion of the impact of new technology, the boundaries between life and death, modern commodification of health, technological transformations of the body and theories of evolutionary biology.

"Health" is an invaluable textbook for students of medicine and other health professions as well as those studying sociology, health sciences and health promotion.

One out of every ten prisoners in the United States is serving a life sentence-roughly 130,000 people. While some have been sentenced to life in prison without parole, the majority of prisoners serving 'life' will be released back into society. But what becomes of those people who reenter the everyday world after serving life in prison? In After Life Imprisonment, Marieke Liem carefully examines the experiences of "lifers" upon release. Through interviews with over sixty homicide offenders sentenced to life but granted parole, Liem tracks those able to build a new life on the outside and those who were re-incarcerated. The interviews reveal prisoners' reflections on being sentenced to life, as well as the challenges of employment, housing, and interpersonal relationships upon release. Liem explores the increase in handing out of life sentences, and specifically provides a basis for discussions of the goals, costs, and effects of long-term imprisonment, ultimately unpacking public policy and discourse surrounding long-term incarceration. A profound criminological examination, After Life Imprisonment reveals the untold, lived experiences of prisoners before and after their life sentences.

Social Studies of Gender: A Next Wave Reader invites students to critically examine the use of and assumptions about sex and gender while studying the various areas in which gender analysis is conducted. The reader features a collection of diverse articles that approach the study of gender, sex, and gender discrimination from a variety of perspectives. These various approaches underscore the richness in the field as well as diverging theories about the basis of gender difference. The opening chapter introduces readers to the variety of ways social and behavioral scientists have studied and understood sex and gender in recent decades. Additional chapters are divided into two distinct sections. Part I is dedicated to theorizing gender and sexuality as fields of inquiry. Students read about gender regulations, gender as research, contemporary sexuality, and the politics of sexuality. In Part II, inequalities related to gender and sex are explored. The readings cover gender within the family and workplace, the gendered nature of science and technology, intimacy and violence, views of masculinity, sex education, and more. Enlightening and timely, Social Studies of Gender is an ideal textbook for courses in gender and sexuality studies, social research, and sociology.

The Accademia Pontaniana: A Model of a Humanist Network is an exploration of the vast intellectual networks which developed around the fifteenth century humanist Pontano. It includes the densely knit network which emerged in Naples, the Accademia Pontaniana, as well as the loosely knit networks which developed between the members of this academy and other humanists and academies outside of Naples. Shulamit Furstenberg-Levi points to the links between the Accademia Pontaniana and other sodalities in Southern Italy, and to the lineage between fifteenth century informal academies and sixteenth century institutional Academies. In this study recent sociological theory is applied to understand Renaissance academies and the vertical and horizontal links between them.

Built upon the understanding that the digital age has created demands for new knowledge, skills, and abilities, Sociology for the New Tribe of the Digital Age: An Introduction supports students' learning about scientific reasoning, the role of theorizing in science, and how to explain diverse social realities through the application of scientific theories, concepts, models, and methods. Through a sociological lens, students develop greater knowledge regarding critical thinking, the humanistic perspective, ethical and moral knowledge, global understanding, and more. They explore the social, political, and economic challenges that have accompanied the growth of the digital age and what those challenges mean for future leaders. Dedicated chapters introduce readers to the sociological perspective, the science of sociology, key theories and research, the structural-functional paradigm of society, social conflicts, and society as meanings and symbols. Developed to provide students with a thoroughly modern and well-researched introduction to the discipline, Sociology for the New Tribe of the Digital Age is an exemplary textbook for courses and programs in sociology.

Through the themes of intersectionality, technology and media, and social change, Media, Intersectionality, and Social Change: An Introduction to Sociology Concepts through Contemporary Issues familiarizes students with timely and applicable concepts and theories in sociology. This unique, hybrid text provides students with a classic textbook chapter, followed by carefully selected readings that complements the themes of the book and shows students sociological concepts applied in real-world instances. The book is broken into four units. The first unit features material on nature and nurture, culture, media, and socialization to examine what makes us human. The second unit examines the concept of society and explores complex forms of organization, group identity, conformity, crime and deviance, and loyalty. The third unit shows the ways in which culture and social organization differ based on variables like class, gender, race, and age, and how those factors can manifest in inequality for specific populations. In the final unit, students learn how to work toward social change through behavioral, social, political, and digital movements. Cross-disciplinary in nature, Media, Intersectionality, and Social Change is suitable for foundational courses in sociology, social science, public policy, social work, ethnic studies, gender studies, and social psychology.

Catholicism is generally over-institutionalized and over-centralized in comparison to other religions. However, it finds itself in an increasingly interrelated and globalized world and is therefore immersed in a great plurality of social realities. The Changing Faces of Catholicism assembles an international cast of contributors to explore the consequent decline of powerful Catholic organisations as well as to address the responses and resistance efforts that specific countries have taken to counteract the secularization crisis in both Europe and the Americas. It reveals some of the strategies of the Catholic Church as a whole, and of the Vatican centre in particular, to address problems of the global era through the dissemination of spiritually progressive writing, World Youth Days, and the transformation of Catholic education to become a forum for intercultural and interreligious dialogue. The volume also reflects on the adaptation of Catholic institutions and missions as sponsored by religious communities and monastic orders.

In The Politics of Public Debt Daniel Bin analyzes how fiscal and monetary policies and the administration of public debt related to class, labor, and democracy during the period of neoliberal financialization in Brazil. Sustained by state action, the politico-economic context allowed the establishment of a macroeconomic framework that favored finance capital. It was characterized by the expropriation of workers' incomes through a system involving public debt and taxation, capable of deepening labor exploitation. Decisions about public debt and related policies are analyzed in terms of their implications for economic democracy. The book raises the hypothesis that the 2016 coup within the Brazilian capitalist state sought to overthrow the political forces that were no longer able to administer this model.

Fallen Heroes shares fourteen unique stories of elite athletes who struggled with significant forms of emotional disorders and mental illness within the public eye. The book includes accounts of athletes who succumbed to their mental afflictions as well as stories of those who demonstrated incredible determination and courage to either manage or overcome their personal challenges. Readers explore the unique intersection of extraordinary performance and the emotional struggles that often inform and shape the achievements of famous athletes. They learn about the imaginable pressure athletes endure physically and emotionally to perform on the public stage and how this lifestyle is generally counterproductive to emotional stability and consistent self-care. This textbook includes stories of baseball pitcher Dock Ellis, gymnast Christy Henrich, middle distance runner Suzy Favor Hamilton, cyclist Marco Pantani, hockey player Theoren Fleury, surfer Michael Peterson, football player Lionel Aldridge, and others that range from heart-wrenching to inspirational. Written with respect and reverence to elite athletes and informed by the author's decades of experience in counseling and psychotherapy, Fallen Heroes is an ideal supplemental textbook for courses in kinesiology and health science, physical education, abnormal psychology, counseling, sociology of sport, physical education, and mental health.