Popular culture is awash with discussions about the difficulties associated with being a man. Television talk shows, media articles and government press releases discuss not simply the problem of men, but have more recently focused on the problems of being a man. The Conundrum of Masculinity challenges highly advertised beliefs that men are in crisis and struggling to hold onto traditional masculine habits whilst the world around them changes. Indeed, whilst there is a range of valuable contributions to the field that examine how men live out their lives in different contexts, there are few accounts that examine in detail the building blocks of masculinity or how men are really 'put together'. Thus, this innovative and timely volume seeks to provide a systematic exploration of the different aspects of masculinity - in particular hegemony, homosociality, homophobia and heteronormativity. An original approach to the field of masculinity studies, this book ultimately presents a critical synthesis that brings together disparate approaches to provide a clear and concise discussion to address the true nature of masculinity. The Conundrum of Masculinity will appeal to undergraduate and postgraduate students interested in fields such as Gender Studies, Masculinity Studies and Sociology.

This book explores contemporary American true crime narratives across various media formats. It dissects the popularity of true crime and the effects, both positive and negative, this popularity has on perceptions of crime and the justice system in contemporary America. As a collection of new scholarship on the development, scope, and character of true crime in twenty-first century American media, analyses stretch across film, streaming/broadcast TV, podcasts and novels to explore the variety of ways true crime pervades modern culture. The reader is guided through a series of interconnected topics, starting with an examination of the contemporary success of true crime, the platforms involved, the narrative structures and engagement with audiences, moving on to debates on representation and the ethics involved in portraying both victims and perpetrators of crime within the genre. This collection provides new critical work on American true crime media for all interested readers, and especially scholars and students in the humanities and social sciences. It offers a significant area of research in social sciences, criminology, media and English Literature academic disciplines.

In this third decade of the 21st century, deep problems plague our world. Many people lack adequate nutrition, health care, and education, because-while there is enough wealth for everyone to meet these basic needs-most of it is tightly controlled by precious few. Global warming causes droughts, floods, rising sea levels, and soon the forced migrations of millions of people. In this book, philosopher Graham Priest explains why we find ourselves in this situation, defines the nature of the problems we face, and explains how we might solve and move beyond our current state. The first part of this book draws on Buddhist philosophy, Marx's analysis of capitalism, and their complementary role in explaining our present crisis and the events that led us here. In the second part of the book, Priest turns to the much harder question of how one might go about creating a more rational and humane world. Here, he draws again on Buddhist and Marxist ideas as well as some key aspects of anarchist thought. His discussion of the need for bottom-up control of production, power, ideology, and an emerging awareness of our interdependence is a must-read for anyone who cares about the future of the planet and our latent capacity to care for each other. Key Features Explains the necessary elements of Marxist, Buddhist, and anarchist thought-no background knowledge of political theory or Buddhism is necessary Shows how Buddhist and Marxist notions of persons are complementary Convincingly shows capitalism's role in creating current socio-economic problems Provides an analysis of the corrosiveness of top-down power structures and why they should be eliminated in a post-capitalist state Discusses capitalism's role in war, environmental degradation, and race and gender-based oppression

Drawing on psychological and sociological perspectives as well as quantitative and qualitative data, Identity and Interethnic Marriage in the United States considers the ways the self and social identity are linked to the dynamics of interethnic marriage. Bringing together the classic theoretical contributions of George Herbert Mead, Erving Goffman, and Erik Erikson with contemporary research on ethnic identity inspired by Jean Phinney, this book argues that the self and social identity-especially ethnic identity-are reflected in individuals' complex journey from singlehood to interethnic marriage within the United States.

1. This will be the first book to provide a true library, archival and museum (LAM) perspective, as every chapter will focus on all three types of institution and not just one of the three. 2. The book will provide a Scandinavian perspective on LAMs and convergence, but the challenges described are universal. The book will be valuable to students and academics around the world who are working in the Library and Information Science, Archival Science and Museum Studies fields. 3. The proposed book will be unique, as it will be the first to take a true LAM perspective and it will also be the first to provide a Scandinavian perspective on convergence. It will be written and edited by well-respected senior researchers working at institutions of higher education throughout Scandinavia and there is no other book out there that will compete directly with it, as a result.

Food is a contentious and emotive issue, subject to critiques from multiple perspectives. Alternative food movements - including the different articulations of local, food miles, seasonality, food justice, food knowledge and food sovereignty - consistently invoke themes around autonomy, sufficiency, cooperation, mutual aid, freedom, and responsibility. In this stimulating and provocative book the authors link these issues to utopias and intentional communities. Using a food utopias framework presented in the introduction, they examine food stories in three interrelated and complementary ways: utopias as critique of existing systems; utopias as engagement with experimentation of the novel, the forgotten, and the hopeful in the future of the food system; and utopias as process that recognizes the time and difficulty inherent in changing the status quo. The chapters address theoretical aspects of food utopias and also present case studies from a range of contexts and regions, including Argentina, Italy, Switzerland and USA. These focus on key issues in contemporary food studies including equity, locality, the sacred, citizenship, community and food sovereignty. Food utopias offers ways forward to imagine a creative and convivial food system.

An Introduction to Sociology is your essential guide to understanding the social forces that shape our lives and the world around us. This innovative textbook introduces you to the key theories, themes, and concepts in the discipline of sociology and helps you to develop as a sociologist by providing comprehensive coverage of all the main areas of study. Presenting you with the history, current debates and recent research developments for each topic, this book covers everything from classical sociologies and traditional subjects such as class, families, and religion, through to more progressive areas like digital society, social media, migration, and the interconnectedness of modern global society. The book's extensive coverage means it can be used throughout your studies, from first year to final year. Key features: Each chapter is written by an internationally renowned expert who uses specialist insight and the latest research to provide a reliable and up-to-date overview. Includes a selection of unique learning features such as "Hear from the Expert" boxes and "Key Cases" from around the world, as well as reflective activities and revision questions that will enhance your knowledge. Features a section titled "What is sociology useful for?" which includes chapters on the public value of sociology and the role of sociology in contemporary society. The book is supported by a wide-ranging collection of online teaching and learning resources including exclusive video content from SAGE Video, links to SAGE Journal Articles, sample essay questions, and a selection of multiple-choice questions. This definitive text is perfect for first-year sociology undergraduates and anyone studying sociology at university or college level.

Since the late 1970s, China has experienced an unprecedented pace of urbanization. In 1978, only 17.8% of the population resided in urban areas, but by 2013 the level of urbanization had reached 53.8%. During the same period, China also enjoyed spectacular economic growth. China had become the second largest economy in the world by 2012, just behind the United States. Despite China's highly acclaimed achievements in urbanization and its economic miracle, urban China confronts a set of significant challenges. This book provides theoretically informed and empirically rich analyses of some of the key challenges facing China's urbanization. The first part deals with new patterns of urbanization, focusing on comprehensive measures and environmental dimensions of urbanization. The second part of the book focuses on several aspects related to migrants in cities: migrant entrepreneurship, return migration, and local people's attitudes toward migrants. The final section examines two key issues important for migrants, urban local residents, and policy-makers that have become quite contentious in China today: housing and urban health care. This collection presents original, cutting-edge research on some of the most pressing challenges confronting contemporary urban China, conducted by researchers from multiple social science disciplines. It will appeal to scholars and advanced students of urban studies and China studies, as well as those in sociology, anthropology, geography, and political science.

Surveying the causes of the Arab Spring, and revealing the governing trends arising from it, this book examines various international relation theories through the lens of the experiences of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. It takes the events of the Arab Spring as an outcome of globalization's double movement whose integrative cultural, political and security frameworks devastated nationally controlled economies, undermining the nation-state system and propagating a decentralized and communitarian-based governance structure. The consequences for many plural, diverse societies were two-fold: autocratic nationalism was discarded while decentralized regimes representing communitarian-based politics came to the fore. The author reveals how the formulation of a new communitocratic order rests on the accommodation of this newly emerging communitarianism and explores the major drivers of political transformation, describing the emerging communities, forecasting their governing options and the possible repercussions for the post-Arab Spring states.

Memories of violence, suffering and atrocities in Cambodia are today being pulled in different directions. A range of transitional justice practices have been put to work in the name of redressing, restoring and renewing memory. At the centre of this stage is the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), a hybrid tribunal established to prosecute the leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime, under which 1.6 million Cambodians died of hunger or disease or were executed. This book unpicks the way memory is reconstructed through appeals to a national memory, the legal reframing and coding of memories as crimes, and bids to locate personal memories within collective biographies. Analysing the techniques and interventions of the ECCC, as well as exploring the role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), the book explores the relationships in which Cambodian communities navigate memories of political violence. This book is essential for understanding transitional justice in Cambodia in, and beyond, the courtroom. Transitional Justice and Memory in Cambodia shows that the governing logic of transitional justice interventions - that societies are unable to 'deal with' memories of atrocity and violence without some form of transitional justice mechanism - neglects the complexity of memory and remembering in post-atrocity contexts and the agency of the subjects to which such mechanisms are addressed. Drawing on documentary sources, legal transcripts, interviews and participant observation data, the book situates transitional justice processes in Cambodia within a wider context of social and cultural memory politics, examining (old and new) conflicts of memory that have emerged between the varied accounts and uses of the past that exist in Cambodia now. As such, it will appeal to students and scholars in sociology, human rights, law and criminology.

The past century witnessed dramatic changes in the lives of modern Chinese women and gender politics. Whilst some revolutionary actions to rectify the feudalist patriarchy, such as foot-binding and polygyny were first seen in the late Qing period; the termination of the Qing Dynasty and establishment of Republican China in 1911-1912 initiated truly nation-wide constitutional reform alongside increasing gender egalitarianism. This book traces the radical changes in gender politics in China, and the way in which the lives, roles and status of Chinese women have been transformed over the last one hundred years. In doing so, it highlights three distinctive areas of development for modern Chinese women and gender politics: first, women's equal rights, freedom, careers, and images about their modernized femininity; second, Chinese women's overseas experiences and accomplishments; and third, advances in Chinese gender politics of non-heterosexuality and same-sex concerns. This book takes a multi-disciplinary approach, drawing on film, history, literature, and personal experience. As such, it will be of huge interest to students and scholars of Chinese culture and society, women's studies, gender studies and gender politics.

Why does love matter? Love and Society discusses the meaning and importance of love for contemporary society. Love is not only an emotion that occurs in our intimate relationships; it is a special emotion that allows us to relate to each other in a lasting fashion, to create out of our individual pasts a shared past, which enables us to project a shared future. Bringing together the idea of Simmel's second order forms with theories of love, this insightful volume shows that the answer to why love is so central to society can be found in the social transformation of the last two centuries. It also explains how we can build our strongest social bonds on the fragility of an emotions thanks to the creation of "special moments" (love rituals) and "intimate stories" (love myths) that are central to the weaving of lasting social bonds. Going to the cinema, reading a book together or sharing songs are forms of weaving bonds of love and part of the cycle of love. But love is not only shared between two people; the desire and the search for love is something we share with almost all members of society. With rich empirical data, an analysis of love's transformation in modernity, and a critical engagement with classical and contemporary theorists, this book provides a lively discussion on the meaning and importance of love for today's society. It will be of interest to undergraduate and postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers who are interested in fields such as Sociology of Emotions, Sociological Theory and Sociology of Morality.

Memes work as rhetorical weapons and discursive arguments in political conflicts. Across digital platforms, they confirm, contest and challenge political power and hierarchies. They simultaneously create social distortion, hostility, and a sense of community. Memes thus not only reflect norms but also work as a tool for negotiating them. At the same time, memes meld symbolic and cultural elements with technological functionalities, allowing for replicability and remixing. This book studies how memes disrupt and reimagine politics in humorous ways. Memes create a playful activity that follows a shared set of rules and gives a (shared) voice, which may generate togetherness and political identities but also increase polarization. As their template travels, memes continue to appropriate new political contexts and to (re)negotiate frontiers in the political. The chapters in this book allow us to chart the playful politics of memes and how they establish or push frontiers in various political, cultural, and platform-specific contexts. Taken together, memes can challenge and regenerate populism, carve out spaces for new identity formations, and create togetherness in situations of crises. They can also, however, lead to the normalization of racist discourses. This book will be of interest to researchers and advanced students of Media and Communication Studies, Information Studies, Politics, Sociology, and Cultural Studies. It was originally published as a special issue of the journal, Information, Communication & Society.

This book offers a political analysis and sociological critique of the UK government's response to the novel coronavirus outbreak, interpreting the inadequacies of government policy with regard to COVID-19 as the results of neoliberal ideology, the protection of corporate interests, Brexit nationalism, and the peculiarities of a British model of capitalism based on international trade and labour market precarity. Arguing that institutionalised corporate-capitalist control of state and science generates new and growing public health risks, and that consumer-driven individualism has eroded community life and the protections this might offer against pandemics, it contends that the UK government's catastrophic response to the COVID-19 pandemic was the result of peculiarly British socioeconomic and political phenomena. The Pandemic in Britain will appeal to scholars of sociology, philosophy and politics with interests in the COVID-19 pandemic as well as neoliberal ideology and its manifestation in political life.

The book is a work of political archaeology: it focuses on the people and events at a particular colonial farm in Germantown, Pennsylvania. The peoples' and farm's stories provide a micro and macro view of economic, social, demographic, and agro-ecological change. Cresheim Farm shows how one mostly unknown but strategically placed piece of land - home to an extraordinary array of people, including anti-slavery and anti-Nazi activists, the first woman editor of the Saturday Evening Post and a robber baron - can tell, affect and reflect the history of a nation. The writing is historically grounded and academic, future-oriented, deeply researched, and immediate. Cresheim Farm serves as a lens through which to observe and magnify social forces, such as the launching point of freedom and democracy movements, white privilege, slavery, and genocidal westward expansion. The past lives on in all of us.

The Kurdish people and the Kurdish Regional Government faced huge challenges rebuilding their nation and identity after the atrocities and human rights abuses committed by Saddam Hussein and his regime. In 2005 a new Iraqi constitution recognized as genocide the persecution of Faylee Kurds, the disappearance of 8,000 males belonging to the Barzanis and the chemical attacks of Anfal and Halabja paving the way to the investigations and claim by Kurdish people. This book provides in-depth analysis of the tensions caused by the Kurdish experience, the claim for the independence of a united Kurdistan and the wider tendency towards political and social fragmentation in Iraqi society.

Anthropologist practitioners work outside the confines of the university, putting their knowledge and skills to work on significant problems in a wide variety of different contexts. The demand for anthropologist practitioners is strong and growing; practice is in many ways the leading edge of anthropology today, and one of the most exciting aspects of the discipline. How can anthropology students prepare themselves to become practitioners? Specifically designed to help students, including those in more traditional training programs, prepare for a career in putting anthropology to work in the world, the book: - provides an introduction to the discipline of anthropology and an exploration of its role and contribution in today's world; - outlines the shape of anthropological practice - what it is, how it developed historically, and what it looks like today; - describes how students of anthropology can prepare for a career in practice, with emphasis on the relationship between theory, method, and application; - includes short contributions from practitioners, writing on specific aspects of training, practice, and career planning; - sets out a framework for career planning, with specific and detailed discussions of finding and securing employment; - reviews some of the more salient challenges arising in the course of a practitioner career; and - concludes with a discussion of what the future of anthropological practice is likely to be. Using Anthropology in the World is essential reading for students interested in preparing themselves for the challenges and rewards of practice and application.

This book explores the circulation and reception of popular discourses of achieving girlhood, and the ways in which girls themselves participate in such circulation. It examines the figure of the achieving girl within wider discourses of neoliberal self-management and post-feminist possibility, considering the tensions involved in being both successful and successfully feminine and the strategies and negotiations girls undertake to manage these tensions. The work is grounded in an understanding of media, educational, and peer contexts for the production of the successful girl. It traces narratives across school, television and online in texts produced for and by girls, drawing on interviews with girls in schools, online forum participation (within the purpose-built site www.smartgirls.tv), and girls' discussions of a range of teen dramas.

In his reflections on decolonization and post-development, Gustavo Esteva forged a unique synthesis of critical theory and political economy. This book presents more than half a century of "reflection in action" in the form of essays, books, and interventions in national and international forums and newspaper articles-most published here for the very first time. It showcases Esteva's evolving thought on economic theory, social change, revolutionary subjectivity, transition, development, the challenges of a new era and personal and communal autonomy, all associated with the challenges and advances in the construction of a new society. Through this translation, Esteva's writings engage with many of the important cultural and political debates of the present day and retain their power both to provoke and move the reader. Readers will see a thinker at work, formulating local, grassroots alternatives as they are emerging in Mexico and Latin America, with a keen sensibility to what happens in other regions of the world. Gustavo Esteva: A Critique of Development and Other Essays offers a lucid insight into the climatic and sociopolitical collapses we face and will be of interest to students and scholars of critical theory, post-colonial and de-colonial studies, and post-development studies.

After the end of America's longest (20-year) war in Afghanistan and Iraq that cost more than $6 trillion and nearly half a million lives, what does the future hold for America and the American people in the 21st century? In this timely and important book, Berch Berberoglu provides an eye-opening account of the history of the American Empire from its inception to the present, with prospects for its future. Examining the worldwide expansion of the American Empire over the course of its turbulent history in great detail, Berberoglu assesses America's imperial legacy in a sober way, highlighting its failure to come to terms with the enormous cost of this adventure in imperial overreach. But Berberoglu sees light at the end of the long, dark tunnel, when the American people will awaken and lead the way to a new America after empire in the coming decades of the 21st century.

National majorities and their governments often demand that immigrants and other minorities must be "good": they should work hard, contribute to society, and adapt to dominant cultural norms. Such stereotypical labels for national outsiders, ranging from "good immigrants" to "good Muslims" and "model minorities", imply that their inclusion and recognition becomes conditional on fulfilling certain standards of behaviour and identity that are predetermined by the national majority. The affected minorities respond in diverse ways, at times striving to be recognised as "good" and at times rejecting these regimes of conditional inclusion and citizenship openly. This book offers ground-breaking insights on how these dynamics of conditional inclusion and "good" citizenship play out today, with a focus on migrant and immigrant-origin minorities in Europe and the Americas. This book shows that conditional inclusion is a globally widespread tool for controlling and rank-ordering minorities. As immigrants respond through diverse struggles for inclusion and recognition, these struggles reveal a hidden battleground of citizenship on which minorities negotiate who can be included and accepted in a given state or society. Their experience shows that conditionality is not an outlier of citizenship, but rather one of its universal core principles. This book was originally published as a special issue of Ethnic and Racial Studies.

--Vital reading for the public and students who wish to get at the core issues behind lagging US health care. --The Covid-19 basis of the book is timely for classroom discussion and points to new and continuing issues. --Details solutions for US society and health care policy.

Embodied Social Justice introduces an embodied approach to working with oppression. Grounded in current research, the book integrates key findings from education, psychology, sociology, and somatic studies while addressing critical gaps in how these fields have addressed pervasive patterns of social injustice. At the heart of the book, a series of embodied narratives bring to life everyday experiences of oppression through evocative descriptions of how power implicitly shapes body image, interpersonal space, eye contact, gestures, and the use of touch. This second edition includes two new "body stories" from research participants living and working in the global South. Supplemental guidelines for practice, updated references, and new community resources have also been added. Designed for social workers, counselors, educators, and other human service professionals working with members of disenfranchised and marginalized communities, Embodied Social Justice offers a conceptual framework and model of practice to assist in identifying, unpacking, and transforming embodied experiences of oppression from the inside out.

From refugees fleeing wars or natural disasters to economic migrants pursuing better paid jobs abroad, international migration is an inescapable part of the modern world. Migration Between Nations: A Global Introduction provides a succinct and accessible overview of the varied types of migrants who cross national boundaries. Drawing upon a wide-ranging selection of case studies and the latest research findings, migration patterns and recent trends throughout the world are surveyed and summarized, with particular attention to movement from the global south to the global north. In a highly inter-disciplinary analysis, the social, cultural and economic integration of migrants and of their offspring in their new homelands are also explored. Employing approaches from a number of disciplines, the methods and techniques that researchers use to study various aspects of migration and integration are also explained. Migration Between Nations: A Global Introduction will be essential reading for students in a wide range of disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, including sociology, anthropology, ethnic studies, geography, global studies, history, and political science.

Although the world is saturated with extraordinary methods, innovation, and technology, the Caribbean seems to have been left behind in the sustainable growth of global development. While the majority of the world defines the Caribbean as "paradise," the reality of life for Afro-Caribbean culture is defined by an unrelenting hardship. This book comprehensively analyzes this phenomenon from a unique and intimate perspective in order to offer a viable pathway to sustainable growth. By examining the historic progression of the Caribbean region and the African culture within, the author explores the relationship between creative practice and socioeconomic crisis and questions whether limited access to environments that facilitate original and conceptual ideas correlates with socioeconomic crisis. The outcomes and methods of analysis developed in this book are a useful tool for other cultures or organizations seeking to diffuse socioeconomic crisis and implement a pathway of sustainable growth. This innovative book will be of great interest to students and scholars of cultural and sustainability studies, Caribbean and African Studies, as well as Development and Sustainable Development