Disability and Dissensus is a comprehensive collection of essays that reflects the interdisciplinary nature of critical cultural disability studies. The volume offers a selection of texts by numerous specialists in different areas of the humanities, both well-established scholars and young academics, as well as practitioners and activists from the USA, the UK, Poland, Ireland, and Greece. Taking inspiration from Critical Disability Studies and Jacques Ranciere's philosophy, the book critically engages with the changing modes of disability representation in contemporary cultures. It sheds light both on inspirations and continuities as well as tensions and conflicts within contemporary disability studies, fostering new understandings of human diversity and contributing to a dissensual ferment of thought in the academia, arts, and activism. Contributors are: Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, Dan Goodley, Marek Mackiewicz-Ziccardi, Malgorzata Sugiera, David T. Mitchell, Sharon L. Snyder, Maria Tsakiri, Murray K. Simpson, James Casey, Agnieszka Izdebska, Edyta Lorek-Jezinska, Dorota Krzeminska, Jolanta Rzeznicka-Krupa, Wiktoria Siedlecka-Dorosz, Katarzyna Ojrzynska, Christian O'Reilly, and Len Collin.

Jes s Maga a se ha lanzado a un metaf rico viaje hacia el centro del infinito, tratando de conocer simult neamente las verdades que definen al ser humano. En sus obras es f cil discernir que sabiamente, no acepta que exista diferencia alguna entre el hombre y la creaci n, entre el macrocosmos y el microcosmos, nos explica entre las l neas de sus pensamientos, que la mente humana y la mente divina es una; o como nos ense a el TOLTECAYOTL, que en el cosmos, en la creaci n, en el todo existe el secreto abierto de una evidente dualidad que a todo lo unifica y que a todo lo trasciende y que todos somos partes integrales del multiverso, en su obra comparte con nosotros tambi n la realidad de que en todas las edades, en todas las culturas, y en diversas escuelas filos ficas comparten estas ideas aunque se expresen de manera diferente. Siempre ha sido un anhelo de Jes s compartir estas mieles del conocimiento, aun sabiendo que mucho es de car cter especulativo, y como el sostiene para si: "es mejor especular en la b squeda de las verdades existenciales que mantenerse en ese c modo sill n de la ignorancia." En esta obra, Maga a nos conduce de manera objetiva por el camino hacia ese viaje a trav s de puertas metaf ricas dimensionales, para llegar de manera segura a ese punto central del infi nito en donde se acrisolan los pensamientos que nos ayudan a cumplir con la misi n para la que hemos sido tra dos a esta tercera dimensi n en que vivimos. Muchas veces se puede defi nir a un ser humano por su b squeda, por sus amistades, por sus obras, Jes s Maga a es f cil de defi nir es un hombre de mente gil y abierta que ama la creaci n a todos los seres humanos y sobre todo respeta y ama a Dios que para el es el mism simo universo, proclama en su obra que debemos respetar con ah nco a nuestra madre tierra que nos aloja en su seno. Para m es un honor que Jes s Maga a mi amigo, mi compatriota y colega, haya compartido sus escritos y como nos lo dice en uno de los cap tulos: Feliz viaje OSCAR LUIS GUZMAN Fundador de C.A.L.I (CIRCULO ARTISTICO Y LITERARIO LATINOAMERICANO) Dedico mi obra a: Un Gran ser Humano el cual ha sido brote de inspiraci n y respeto. Claudia Alderette, mi amiga, mi productora.

Ecuador's "Good Living": Crises, Discourse, and Law by Gallegos Anda, presents a critical approach towards the concept of Buen Vivir that was included in Ecuador's 2008 Constitution. Due to its apparent legal novelty, this normative formula received much praise from multiple civil society and academic circles by forging what some argued to be a new development paradigm based on Andean epistemologies. Gallegos Anda theorizes this important phenomenon through an inductive analysis of context and power relations. Through a masterful navigation through epistemological fields, the author offers a critical theory of Buen Vivir that focuses on changing citizenship regimes, a retreating state, politicised ethnic cleavages, discursive democracy and the emergence of an empty signifier. Gallegos-Anda is the first to situate Buen Vivir in a theoretical context grounded in international human rights law.

"Countries that at different times in history were among the world's greatest powers, such as Sweden, the Netherlands, France, Britain, and Germany, have gradually shifted their sights either in the wake of defeat or after protracted periods of grappling with decline, from winning the great power sweepstakes to topping the lists of nations offering the best quality of life." David Rothkopf "One critical measure of the health of a modern democracy is it ability to legitimately extract taxes from its own elites. The most dysfunctional societies in the developing world are those whose elites succeed either in legally exempting themselves from taxation or in taking advantage of lax enforcement to evade them." Francis Fukuyama "Today, the United States has less equality of opportunity than almost any other advanced industrial country. Study after study has exposed the myth that America is a land of opportunity." Joseph E. Stiglitz "Tea Party constitutionalism and conservative originalism more generally are less interested in the Constitution's actual words (or the 'real' intentions of the Founders) than they are in rolling back democratic advances that have been made since 1787." E. J. Dionne

Learning About Sociology and the Sociological Imagination invites students to develop a sociological perspective by identifying and considering the links between individual experiences, the current social context, and the past. Through a collection of carefully curated readings, the text helps readers better understand cultural variations in social interaction, the development of self, the formation of families and communities, the processes that produce conformity or deviance, and the conditions that lead to conflict and social change. The anthology familiarizes students with theories and methods of sociology and then challenges them to apply what they've learned to explore the influence of race, class, gender, ethnicity, and age on the human experience. The book features a distinct focus on the social problems of our time, including racial inequality, the problematic nature of the gender binary, social violence, drug and substance abuse, issues related to punishment in society, and more. The text also explores the ways in which these challenges are perceived and dealt with in society. Learning About Sociology and the Sociological Imagination inspires students to critically examine contemporary issues and to better understand their individual place within society. The anthology is an excellent resource for foundational courses in sociology.

A Brief Introduction to Sociology from a Christian Perspective provides students with sociological tools to help them better understand social phenomena. The author integrates elements of faith throughout the texts and allows readers to supplement their biblical exegesis with social and cultural exegesis. Each chapter of the book is centered on a core theme and begins with excerpts from scripture and personal anecdotes to stimulate students' critical thought, highlight major concepts, and draw connections between elements of Christianity and sociology. The opening chapter illustrates how sociology and Christianity can be synergistic rather than mutually exclusive. Students learn why sociology is important and are introduced to early scholars who founded the discipline, as well as key sociological concepts, including the sociological imagination, conflict and integration, and more. Additional chapters explore various methods of inquiry and issues related to race and ethnicity, social class and inequality, sex and gender, and groups and institutions. The final chapter speaks to the future of sociology with an exploration into computational sociology and complexity science. Featuring an approachable and faith-based introduction to the discipline, A Brief Introduction to Sociology from a Christian Perspective is both an ideal and unique supplementary resource for foundational courses in sociology.

This book is about machines: those that have been actualized, fantastical imaginal machines, to those deployed as metaphorical devices to describe complex social processes. Machines argues that they transcend time and space to emerge through a variety of spaces and places, times and histories and representations. They are such an integral fabric of daily reality that their disappearance would have immediate and dire consequences for the survival of humanity. They are part and parcel to our contemporary social order. From labor to social theory, art or consciousness, literature or television, to the asylums of the 19th century, machines are a central figure; an outgrowth of affective desire that seeks to transcend organic limitations of bodies that whither, age and die. Machines takes the reader on an intellectual, artistic, and theoretical journey, weaving an interdisciplinary tale of their emergence across social, cultural and artistic boundaries. With the deep engagement of various texts, Machines offers the reader moments of escape, alternative ways to envision technology for a future yet to materialize. Machines rejects the notion that technological innovations are indeed neutral, propelling us to think differently about those "things" created under specific economic or historical paradigms. Rethinking machines provides a rupture to our current technocratic impetus, shining a critical light on possible alternatives to our current reality. Let us sit back and take a journey through Machines, holding mechanical parts as guides to possible alternative futures.

Designed for hassle-free, independent study and priced to meet your budget, this combined Revision Guide and Workbook is the smart choice for those revising for AQA AS level Sociology and includes: A FREE online edition One-topic-per-page format 'Now Try This' practice questions on topic pages Exam skills pages including Worked examples with exemplar answers Exam-style practice pages with practice questions in the style of the exams Guided support and hints providing additional scaffolding, to help avoid common pitfalls Full set of practice papers written to match the specification exactly

While there is much discussion on Africa-China relations, the focus tends to lean more on the Chinese presence in Africa than on the African presence in China. There are numerous studies on the former but, with the exception of a few articles on the presence of African traders and students in China, little is known of the latter, even though an increasing number of Africans are visiting and settling in China and forming migrant communities there. This is a phenomenon that has never happened before the turn of the century and has thus led to what is often termed Africa's newest Diaspora. This book focuses on analyzing this new Diaspora, addressing the crucial question: What is it like to be an African in China? Africans in China is the first book-length study of the process of Africans travelling to China and forming communities there. Based on innovative intermingling of qualitative and quantitative research methods involving prolonged interaction with approximately 800 Africans across six main Chinese cities--Guangzhou, Yiwu, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and Macau--sociolinguistic and sociocultural profiles are constructed to depict the everyday life of Africans in China. The study provides insights into understanding issues such as why Africans go to China, what they do there, how they communicate with their Chinese hosts, what opportunities and problems they encounter in their China sojourn, and how they are received by the Chinese state. Beyond these methodological and empirical contributions, the book also makes a theoretical contribution by proposing a crosscultural bridge theory of migrant-indigene relations, arguing that Africans in China act as sociopolitical, socioeconomic, and sociocultural bridges linking Africa to China. This approach to the analysis of Diaspora communities has consequences for crosscultural and crosslinguistic studies in an era of globalization. Africans in China is an important book for African Studies, Asian Studies, Africa-China relations studies, linguistics, anthropology, sociology, international studies, and migration and Diaspora studies in an era of globalization.

After a 35 year-long career on worldwide TV screens, Lieutenant Columbo has become one of the most famous fictional detectives. Lilian Mathieu shows that the Columbo series owes its success to its implicit but formidable political dimension, as each episode is structured as a class struggle between a rich, famous, cultured or powerful criminal and an apparently humble and blunderer police officer dressed in a crumpled raincoat and driving an antique car. Highlighting the contentious context that gave birth to the series in 1968, he shows that the sociology of culture offers intellectual tools to understand how a TV detective story can be appreciated as a joyful class revenge.

In 'THE GREAT AMERICAN GUN CONTROL DEBATE (Not )," Mr. Wuest puts gun control under the microscope. He ferrets out the truth, separating fact from fiction. He presents not a "balanced picture," but scientific objectivity. What is important is not popular opinion, or "conventional wisdom," but the TRUTH. What works and what doesn't? What have we already done, and what should we do or do not? We have had some gun control for as much as a hundred years. Has it done any good? Has it worked to prevent crime? Has gun control become a "free ride"? Or does it cost us dearly? An engineer by profession, Mr. Wuest examines this and more using rigorous testing. Frustrated by the lack of honest debate regarding gun control, Mr. Wuest provides both sides of the arguments. The gun control side is well known; no end of print and air time have been devoted to supporting it. What is the other side, the one we never hear? Is there a downside to gun control? Find out the answers to these and other questions in "THE GREAT AMERICAN GUN CONTROL DEBATE (Not ): . Mr. Wuest provides a breath of fresh air to a stale debate. We have been stuck in a "gun control rut" for so long that it is questionable if the "truth will prevail"? Let us all hope so

The most controversial perspective on our nations obesity epidemic that you will ever read! In this book you will: Forgo "Political Correctness." Learn how obesity can be controlled with accountability and self-discipline. Learn how "Fat Sympathizers" are contributing to our great nations obesity epidemic by practically condoning the condition of obesity. Discover the dangers with respect to rationalization and obesity. Realize how an individual's obesity is a direct reflection of their character/personality. So if you are mentally strong enough to read and process information that is not "Politically Correct," then you will enjoy this book. And this book, if taken to heart by the populace, will destroy the enemy of fat and rid our nation of the life destroying and visually disgusting condition of being overweight. Read on...if you have the GUTS!

The field of high technology focuses on new, rapidly developing technologies, which include electronic technology, new material technology, new energy technology, bioengineering technology, and communication technology. Social Development and High Technology Industries: Strategies and Applications highlights the relationships between contemporary high technology and social development, the development and application of high technology, high technology competition, and economic development as it pertains to high technology. This book addresses society s growing need to adopt emerging technologies for all aspects of business and economic activity and develop innovative solutions to research problems, which will result in the creation of high performance systems.

The digitalization of society is constructed as a necessary leap that governments and citizens need to take. However, with many older people lacking adequate digital competences to support their full participation in today's digitalized society, how is the marginalisation of older people in digital society socially constructed? How can we promote older people's digital inclusion and agency? Presenting case studies from Finland, one of the top performers in the supply and demand of digital public services, Older People in a Digitalized Society outlines internationally relevant implications for promoting the social construction of older people's agency. Delving into their digital competences, and use and non-use of Internet and eHealth technologies, Rasi-Heikkinen showcases the potential exclusionary effects of digitalization, and highlights the implications for digital inclusion practice and policy. Contesting the dominant discourses which suggest digital technologies and media play central roles in the learning, well-being, everyday life, and participation in society for individuals throughout their lifespan, Older People in a Digitalized Society addresses the digital gap faced by older generations that do not welcome digitalization, or even see it as a positive marginality: a choice that they have consciously made. Paying attention to how digitalization is a contested issue constructed with various, ambivalent, and paradoxical representations, Rasi-Heikkinen shines an important light on how older people are constructed as being on the margins of digitalization by researchers and the media.

Research has shown the important role of religious social networks in fostering benevolence, but some questions have remained: Why are people who frequently pray or attend church more generous with their time and money? Why does one religious group rather than another get involved in certain forms of outreach? Drawing on an extensive survey of 1,200 Christian men and women across the United States, as well as 120 in-depth interviews, Matthew T. Lee, Margaret M. Poloma, and Stephen G. Post offer a deeper and more nuanced study of religion and benevolence, finding that it is the experience of God as loving that activates religious networks and moves people to do good for others. Lee, Poloma and Post show that, for many Americans, love underlies both authoritative and benevolent images of God. The authors discover that encounters with God's love are frequent-eight out of ten respondents to the survey said that that they had felt God's love increasing their compassion for others-and that such experiences take on very different meanings depending on social context. These encounters can be intensely transformative, both for individuals and their communities. The book provides countless examples of how receiving God's love, loving God, and expressing this love impacted the lives of the Christians they interviewed. Some began to provide community service, others to strive for social justice, still others to seek to redefine religion and the meaning of "church " in America. Many of the interviewees discarded the judgmental image of God they knew as children in favor of a loving and accepting representation of God that is more consistent with their direct, personal, and affectively intense experiences. The Heart of Religion will be an invaluable resource for anyone interested in how perceptions of God affect communities in America.

Gender and Pop Culture provides a foundation for the study of gender, pop culture, and media. This newly updated edition is comprehensive and interdisciplinary, providing both text-book style introductory and concluding chapters written by the editor. The text includes eight original contributor chapters on key topics and written in a variety of writing styles, discussion questions, additional resources, and more. Coverage includes: - Foundations for studying gender and pop culture (history, theory, methods, key concepts). - Contributor chapters on social media, technology, advertising, music, television, film, and sports. - Ideas for activism and putting this book to use beyond the classroom. - Pedagogical features. - Suggestions for further readings on topics covered and international studies of gender and pop culture. Gender and Pop Culture was designed with students in mind, to promote reflection and lively discussion. With features found in both textbooks and anthologies, this sleek book can serve as a primary or supplemental reading in courses across disciplines.