Homelessness has become a lasting issue of vital social concern. As the number of the homeless has grown, the complexity of the issue has become increasingly clear to researchers and private and public service providers. The plight of the homeless raises many ethical, anthropological, political, sociological, and public health questions. The most serious and perplexing of these questions is what steps private, charitable, and public organizations can take to alleviate and eventually solve the problem. The concept of homelessness is difficult to define and measure. Generally, persons are thought to be homeless if they have no permanent residence and seek security, rest, and protection from the elements. The homeless typically live in areas that are not designed to be shelters (e.g., parks, bus terminals, under bridges, in cars), occupy structures without permission (e.g., squatters), or are provided emergency shelter by a public or private agency. Some definitions of homelessness include persons living on a short-term basis in single-room-occupancy hotels or motels, or temporarily residing in social or health-service facilities without a permanent address. Housing the Homeless is a collection of case studies that bring together a variety of perspectives to help develop a clear understanding of the homelessness problem. The editors include information on the background and politics of the problem and descriptions of the current homeless population. The book concludes with a resource section, which highlights governmental policies and programs established to deal with the problem of homelessness.

American society has undergone a revolution within a revolution. Until the 1960s, America was a liberal country in the traditional sense of legislative and executive checks and balances. Since then, the Supreme Court has taken on the role of the protector of individual rights against the will of the majority by creating, in a series of decisions, new rights for criminal defendants, atheists, homosexuals, illegal aliens, and others. Repeatedly, on a variety of cases, the Court has overturned the actions of local police or state laws under which local officials are acting. The result, according to Quirk and Birdwell, is freedom for the lawless and oppression for the law abiding. 'Judicial Dictatorship' challenges the status quo, arguing that in many respects the Supreme Court has assumed authority far beyond the original intent of the Founding Fathers. In order to avoid abuse of power, the three branches of the American government were designed to operate under a system of checks and balances. However, this balance has been upset. The Supreme Court has become the ultimate arbiter in the legal system through exercise of the doctrine of judicial review, which allows the court to invalidate any state or federal law it considers inconsistent with the constitution. Supporters of judicial review believe that there has to be a final arbiter of constitutional interpretation, and the Judiciary is the most suitable choice. Opponents, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln among them, believed that judicial review assumes the judicial branch is above the other branches, a result the Constitution did not intend. The democratic paradox is that the majority in America agreed to limit its own power. Jefferson believed that the will of the majority must always prevail. His faith in the common man led him to advocate a weak national government, one that derived its power from the people. Alexander Hamilton, often Jefferson's adversary, lacking such faith, feared "the amazing violence and turbulence of the democratic spirit." This led him to believe in a strong national government, a social and economic aristocracy, and finally, judicial review. This conflict has yet to be resolved. 'Judicial Dictatorship' discusses the issue of who will decide if government has gone beyond its proper powers. That issue, in turn, depends on whether the Jeffersonian or Hamiltonian view of the nature of the person prevails. In challenging customary ideological alignments of conservative and liberal doctrine, 'Judicial Dictatorship' will be of interest to students and professionals in law, political scientists, and those interested in U.S. history.

"Mainstreaming Gender, Democratizing the State" reflects the commitment of the United Nations to promote mechanisms that aim to achieve equality between women and men. It identifies institutional mechanisms for the advancement of women including national machineries as one of twelve critical areas of concern. National machineries are the primary institutional mechanism entrusted with the implementation of the strategic objectives contained in the goals for equity set by the United Nations. The mandate of these national institutions has evolved from promoting women-specific projects to ensuring that equality concerns are integrated into all government legislation, policy, programs, and budgetary processes. National machineries face serious constraints in fulfilling their mandate including; inadequate financial and human resources, relatively powerless locations within government structures, and insufficient linkage with civil societies. This volume illustrates that the ability of UN-member states to subscribe to the agenda of equality between women and men has been significantly enhanced by the creation of these national-level institutions. National machineries for the advancement of women were initially conceived at the World Conference on the International Women's Year held in Mexico City in 1975 and since then have been considered systematically by world conferences on women in Copenhagen (1980), Nairobi (1985), and Beijing (1995), as well as the sessions of the Commission on the Status of Women. The twenty-third special session of the General Assembly in Beijing reiterated the significant role that national machineries play in promoting equality between women and men, gender mainstreaming, and monitoring of the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action as well as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. There has been a long-standing need for a volume to bring together discussions on theory and practice as well as comparative analysis and in-depth case studies of national machineries; this book responds to that need.

This book is intended primarily for serious students of geography but it will also appeal to the general reader. For this reason technical terms have been used as sparingly as is consistent with correct meaning. Wherever the subject matter permits, the author emphasizes geographical growth and shows the interaction of geographical environment and the human activity and institutions. When originally published in the 1960s China was beginning to change with breathtaking rapidity. These changes are presented here against geographical and historical background. Knowledge of the environmental facts is essential to an appreciation of the political, economic, and social problems that have faced the Chinese people.

In the last, rootless decade families, neighborhoods, and communities have disintegrated in the face of gripping social, economic, and technological changes. Th is process has had mixed results. On the positive side, it has produced a mobile, volatile, and dynamic society in the United States that is perhaps more open, just, and creative than ever before. On the negative side, it has dissolved the glue that bound our society together and has destroyed many of the myths, symbols, values, and beliefs that provided social direction and purpose. In A History of the Polish Americans, John J. Bukowczyk provides a thorough account of the Polish experience in America and how some cultural bonds loosened, as well as the ways in which others persisted.

Libraries are experiencing a technological revolution that goes well beyond anything that has existed since the invention of printing. Not surprisingly, the digital library, with all that it portends for the future of the book and the periodical, but also with all that it implies for the kinds of information that will be collected and disseminated, will necessarily preoccupy those responsible for libraries in the new century. Everything from copyright, access, and cost to the nature of the reading public itself is now up for re-examination.'Books, Bricks, and Bytes' brings together an extraordinary array of authors at the cutting edge of these concerns, not only within the United States, but experts drawn from Germany, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and India. James H. Billington discusses the Library of Congress in the information age; Ann S. Okerson outlines two models for securing scholarly information; Donald S. Lamm discusses the shaky partnership of publishers and librarians hi this new environment; Klaus-Dieter Lehmann provides a framework for maintaining the intellectual heritage of the past in a digitized future. Each contributor shows hi concrete detail and vivid illustration that the library as a world of holdings is increasingly valued as an incomparable place to access information. In his preface to the book, Stephen Graubard reminds us that whether or not one believes in the reality of the information revolution that is said to be overtaking the world, it is obvious that the libraries being built today do not resemble those marble sanctuaries constructed hi the Victorian age or in the early twentieth entury. This is a work that shows how libraries have been transformed from "refuges" from the external world, to places that reflect the social and intellectual values of specific societies. The idea that the library is a public trust and public resource is at the center of this unusually fine collection at the cutting edge of professional and public life.

Candor, breadth, judiciousness-all these are attributes Irving Louis Horowitz possesses as a scholar. Under his leadership there is no academic publication from which I have learned as much as Transaction-Society."David Riesman, Harvard University "We are all happy benefi ciaries of Horowitz's acutely perceptive and (often) devas-tatingly plain-spoken self as sociologist and sage, broad-gauged scholar, dedicated teacher, tough-minded editor and publisher with an ingrained sense of fairness."Robert K. Merton, Columbia University.

Madame Germaine de Stael is often regarded as the "mistress to an age", or (like England and Russia) one of the three great European "powers" of the 19th century. She was in some sense both, but she was also an important and influential writer whose works, astonishingly, have not, until this volume, been translated into English since the early 19th century. She absorbed the leading ideas of the Enlightenment on literature, politics, science and the social order; turned many of them to her own uses and then bequeathed them to the 19th century, which adopted much of the Enlightenment through her works. She had two related aims: by her writings on politics, to guide Europe as it entered the republican era and to help it maintain its cultural legacy and liberty; and to explain all literature by its relation to social institutions (which has had a profound effect on all subsequent studies of comparative literature). Here, in clear and flowing English prose that conveys both the personality and the style of the original - and that corrects the errors of earlier translations - are selections from Madame Germaine de Stael's major works, including "Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution", "Literature Considered in its Relation to Social Institutions", "Essay on Fiction", "On Germany" and her reflections on Russian and English as well as German national character. They make plain both her amazing modern approach to such subjects as politics, literature, science, education and women, and the tremendous repercussions her work has had.

Cash transfers are but one form of income supplementation, and a fuller presentation of antipoverty proposals would include both transfers in-kind (such as food, housing, and medical care) and human investment programs aimed at increasing the earning capacity of individuals. Much discussion has centered on how to reduce poverty by getting more cash income in the hands of poor people. This collection brings together in one accessible volume the most widely discussed plans for reducing financial poverty in the United States through cash transfers.

To love and be loved is arguably one of the most powerful and fundamental driving forces sustaining self-esteem and self-identity throughout the life course. Need for reciprocal loving does not change as we grow older, despite failures of health, loss of a partner, late divorce, and alterations of personality due to the aging process. However, most studies of human sexuality have ignored the problems and developing patterns of older adults entering into new partnerships. To fill this gap, Intimacy in Later Life brings together a wide range of distinguished international scholars to address this neglected research area.

The goal of sustainable development is to meet the socio-economic and environmental objectives without comprising the needs of future generations. Since the Rio Summit of 1992, the concept of sustainability has captured our imaginations and aspirations and efforts to develop its indicators have increased. A range of sustainability indicators have been developed within various socio-economic, environmental and cultural contexts- including biodiversity, economy, energy, water, land use and transport. Sustainability indicators are widespread in international development arena. They have become popularized among governments, non-governmental organizations, private sector and the wider public. Based on multiple cases across the world, this book explores opportunities and challenges associated with the practical application of sustainability indicators. The book reflects diversity of professionals of inter-disciplinary backgrounds covering contemporary issues within different socio-economic and environmental contexts. Each chapter presents practical examples of the merits and challenges of using sustainability indicators and draws conclusions and lessons learned. The book targets a range of audience from students, academics to development practitioners and policy-makers. The two editors of this book: Dr. Agnieszka Ewa Latawiec and Dr. Dorice Agol are inter-disciplinary scientists who both have experience in research at the environmental conservation and development nexus.

This Open Access book examines the implications of welfare policy for energy poverty and engages with key conceptual debates at the forefront of energy demand research. Academic work on energy poverty has rarely been brought into conversation with practice-theory-based approaches to energy use and sustainability. This book reveals how novel insights can be made visible through combining these different ways of thinking about energy demand issues. It presents a distinctive approach to energy poverty that places inequalities at the heart of debates about the advancing energy intensity of contemporary societies.

American communities are facing chronic problems: fiscal stress, urban decline, environmental sprawl, mass incarceration, political isolation, disproportionate foreclosures and severe public health risks. In The Price of Paradise, David Troutt argues that it is a lack of mutuality in our local decision making that has led to this looming crisis facing cities and local governments. Arguing that there are structural flaws in the American dream, Troutt investigates the role that place plays in our thinking and how we have organized our communities to create or deny opportunity. Legal rules and policies that promoted mobility for most citizens simultaneously stifled and segregated a growing minority by race, class and-most importantly-place. A conversation about America at the crossroads, The Price of Paradise is a multilayered exploration of the legal, economic and cultural forces that contribute to the squeeze on the middle class, the hidden dangers of growing income and wealth inequality and the literature on how growth and consumption patterns are environmentally unsustainable.

This book examines urban development and its role in planning in China and other Asian cities. Starting with a substantial narrative on the history, development philosophy, and urban form of ancient Asian cities, it then identifies the characteristics of urban society and different phases of development history. It then discusses urbanization patterns in China with a focus on spatial layout of the city clusters in the Yangtze River Delta since the 20th Century. Lastly, it explores institutional design and the legal system of urban planning in China and other Asian cities. As a textbook for the "Model Course in English" for international students listed by the Ministry of Education in China, it helps international researchers and students to understand urban development and planning in Asian cities.

"Walking In Their Shoes," is a sociological perspective on communicating with people diagnosed with moderate-severe Alzheimer's disease and where/how negative behaviors originate. This book includes true stories and illustrates how to successfully understand behaviors, resolve conflict, and redirect persons diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The Alzheimer Association estimates between the years 2010 and 2030, 17 million people will become at high risk to develop Alzheimer's disease. It is important that you see the faces and realities of these people, not just the numbers. My book is designed to assist you in exploring the reality, and face, of Alzheimer's disease by inviting you on a short journey into the world of Alzheimer's disease. "2010 Alzheimer's Disease Facts And Figures," Prevalence, pages 10-12: Alzheimer's Association.

Originally published between 1931 and 1994 these books cover the turbulent racial history and politics of South Africa as well as economic and social aspects. Their authors include one of the premier historians of British imperial policy and African history, as well as many who were active in the political fight to end the apartheid system, some of whom were imprisoned or exiled for their beliefs. The volumes discuss: The complexities of the relationships between peoples of different racial origins The widely differing economic and cultural standards within one country - inequalities which continue to exist today They: Trace the history and growth of Apartheid in South Africa Provide novel data for sociological, political and strategic reassessment of South Africa. Explore the development of the gold and diamond mining industries and their effect on the South African economy and its labour force Examine the ways in which American and South African culture have been fascinated with and influenced by one another Provide students with easily accessible historical primary sources.

Do computers foster cultural diversity? Ecological sustainability? In our age of high-tech euphoria we seem content to leave tough questions like these to the experts. That dangerous inclination is at the heart of this important examination of the commercial and educational trends that have left us so uncritically optimistic about global computing. Contrary to the attitudes that have been marketed and taught to us, says C. A. Bowers, the fact is that computers operate on a set of Western cultural assumptions and a market economy that drives consumption. Our indoctrination includes the view of global computing innovations as inevitable and on a par with social progress--a perspective dismayingly suggestive of the mindset that engendered the vast cultural and ecological disruptions of the industrial revolution and world colonialism. In Let Them Eat Data Bowers discusses important issues that have fallen into the gap between our perceptions and the realities of global computing, including the misuse of the theory of evolution to justify and legitimate the global spread of computers, and the ecological and cultural implications of unmooring knowledge from its local contexts as it is digitized, commodified, and packaged for global consumption. He also suggests ways that educators can help us think more critically about technology. Let Them Eat Data is essential reading if we are to begin democratizing technological decisions, conserving true cultural diversity and intergenerational forms of knowledge, and living within the limits and possibilities of the earth's natural systems.

This book brings together social sciencists to create an interdisciplinary dialogue on the topic of social change as a cultural process. Culture is as much about novelty as it is about tradition, as much about change as it is about stability. This dynamic tension is analyzed in collective protests, intergroup dynamics, language, mass media, science, community participation, art, and social transitions to capitalism, among other contexts. These diverse cases illustrate a number of key factors that can propel, slow-down and retract social change. An emancipatory and integrative social science is developed in this book, which offers a new explanatory model of human behavior and thought under conditions of institutional and societal change.

Making of the Future is the first English?language coverage of the new methodological perspective in cultural psychology-TEA (Trajectory Equifinality Approach) that was established in 2004 as a collaboration of Japanese and American cultural psychologists. In the decade that follows it has become a guiding approach for cultural psychology all over the World. Its central feature is the reliance on irreversible time as the basis for understanding of cultural phenomena and the consideration of real and imaginary options in human life course as relevant for the construction of personal futures. The book is expected to be of interest in researchers and practitioners in education, developmental and social psychology, developmental sociology and history. It has extensions for research methodology in the focus on different sampling strategies.

This book differs from most others of its kind, by looking at the Hong Kong issue from China's perspective, which in turn mirrors China's own situation. Through a legal lens, the author conducts a political and cultural examination of the past and the present, and provides a comprehensive overview of the many theories and problems concerning Hong Kong. Including reflections on the theory of administrative absorption of politics, a historical review of "one country, two systems" and an analysis of the form and nature of the Basic Law, it offers a valuable reference resource for studying the historical, political and legal context of Hong Kong under the principle of "one country, two systems". Instead of over-simplifying the issue of Hong Kong or only seeing it as a Chinese regional issue, the book regards it as a central Chinese issue and the key to understanding China.

This book examines the connection between central-local government relations and the transition of contemporary China, the urbanization process and social development. Based on empirical investigations and theoretical research, it argues that this is the key to understanding the transition of central-local government relations from the overall fiscal rationing system in the 1980s and the tax distribution system in the 1990s. The former system provided the incentive for local government to "set up a number of enterprises" and resulted in rapid local industrialization, while the latter system enabled the local governments to move from "operating the enterprises" to "operating the land and cities". The book analyzes two aspects of the profound impact of the change in central-local government relations on the behavior of local governments: land quota acquisition and urbanization, thus providing valuable insights into the economic and social development of contemporary China.

Recovering Assemblages offers an exciting new insight into the policies and practices of recovery and drug use bridging critical drug studies and the sociology of health and illness. The book investigates lived experiences of young people in Azerbaijan and Germany during their personal recovery from alcohol and other drug use and shows the contingency of 'real' experiences. The sociomaterial and ontological analyses unfold the interrelation of practices, spaces, bodies, and affects in experiencing recovery both within and outside of various treatment facilities. The book will appeal to a range of scholars, postgraduates, and undergraduates engaged in critical, methodological, and empirical studies of recovery, drug use, and policy.