Drawing on findings from a large EU-funded research project that took place over three years, this book analyses educational trajectories of young people in eight European countries: Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia and the United Kingdom. Contributors explore interactions between structural and institutional contexts of educational trajectories, the individual meaning attached to education and the strategies adopted by young people to cope with its demands. The book also analyses the decision-making processes of individual students, placing them firmly within the social contexts of their families, local schools, national education systems and welfare states, as well as transnational policy contexts. In considering educational disadvantage, the book is based on primary, cross-national research with systematic analysis of the different themes addressed. As every chaptersis co-authored by two or three researchers, each based in a different country, the book goes beyond the usual country-based chapter design to provide an enriched insight into both comparative theory and research methods.

This book presents multi-sector practical cases based on the author's own research. It also includes the best practice, which could serve as a benchmark for the creation of smart cities. The global urbanisation index, i.e., the ratio of city dwellers to the total population, has been steadily increasing in recent years. It is highest in the Americas, followed by Europe, Asia and Africa. The city of the future will combine the intelligent use of IT systems with the potential of institutions, companies and committed, creative inhabitants. The administrative boundaries of today's cities put certain constraints on their further growth, but in the future these boundaries will no longer be as relevant. Cities in Europe face the challenge of reconciling sustainable urban development and competitiveness - a challenge that will likely influence issues of urban quality such as the economy, culture, social and environmental conditions, changing a given city's profile as well as urban quality in terms of its composition and characteristics.

In the past decade the Asia-Pacific region has become a focus of international politics and military strategies. Due to China's rising economic and military strength, North Korea's nuclear tests and missile launches, tense international disputes over small island groups in the seas around Asia, and the United States pivoting a majority of its military forces to the region, the islands of the western Pacific have increasingly become the center of global attention. While the Pacific is a cur- rent hotbed of geopolitical rivalry and intense militarization, the region is also something else: a homeland to the hundreds of millions of people that inhabit it.
Based on a decade of research in the region, "The Empires' Edge" examines the tremendous damage the militarization of the Pacific has wrought on its people and environments. Furthermore, Davis details how contemporary social movements in this region are affecting global geopolitics by challenging the military use of Pacific islands and by developing a demilitarized view of security based on affinity, mutual aid, and international solidarity. Through an examination of "sacrificed" is- lands from across the region--including Bikini Atoll, Okinawa, Hawai'i, and Guam--"The Empires' Edge" makes the case that the great political contest of the twenty-first century is not about which country gets hegemony in a global system but rather about the choice be- tween perpetuating a system of international relations based on domination or pursuing a more egalitarian and cooperative future.

Domestic Violence "You Are Not Alone" was written to inform individuals on what Domestic Violence is, the warning signs, risk factors and how it affects the whole family. The book also discuss prevention methods and developing an escape plan. Through experience and education this is a practical book on the dynamics of Domestic Violence

Sociology and Hip Hop: An Anthology provides students with a carefully curated selection of articles that explore human behavior and society through a variety of scholarly lenses crafted by hip hop-influenced academics. The anthology acknowledges the influence of hip hop on pop culture through music, fashion, dance, art, and more, and demonstrates how sociologists can better explain their work and research through hip hop. The anthology is organized into four distinct parts. The readings in Part I confront stereotypes generally associated with hip hop and provide readers with a greater understanding of the international impact and relevance of hip hop. Part II includes articles that demonstrate the ways in which hip hop culture and art are practiced in countries outside of the United States. In Part III, students read about the participation of women and members of the LGBTQ community in hip hop. The final part of the anthology speaks to hip hop as resistance and features readings that underscore the use of hip hop in contemporary social movements and activism. Designed to help readers understand the usefulness of hip hop within the discipline, Sociology and Hip Hop is an ideal resource for courses and programs in sociology.

This book presents a collection of critical thinking that concern cultural, social and political issues for science education in the Nordic countries. The chapter authors describe specific scenarios to challenge persisting views, interrogate frameworks and trouble contemporary approaches to researching teaching and learning in science. Taking a point of departure in empirical examples from the Nordic countries the collection of work is taking a critical sideways glance at the Nordic education principles. Critical examinations target specifically those who are researching in the fields of science education research to question whether conventional research approaches, foci and theoretical approaches are sufficient in a world of science education that is neither politically neutral, nor free of cultural values. Attention is not only on the individual learner but on the cultural, social and political conditions and contexts in science education. The different chapters review debates and research in teacher education, school teaching and learning including when external stakeholders are involved. Even though the chapters are contextualized in Nordic settings there will be similarities and parallels that will be informative to the international science education research community.

StreetWays: Chronicling the Homeless in Miami is a collection of interviews with 28 homeless individuals living in downtown Miami and Miami Beach. Besides extensive photographs of these people and their lives on the street, the book also includes interviews with social service providers, as well as a detailed analysis of homelessness in the United States and more specifically in Miami. The work concludes with a policy analysis and suggestions for addressing issues of homelessness in Miami and the nation. StreetWays attempts to make clear how and why homelessness occurs, and what the actual lives and experiences of the homeless are about. Through extensive interviews and extensive documentary photographs, a selected group of homeless Miamians lose their invisibility as their experiences, needs and aspirations are reported. The book calls for a better understanding of the experience of homelessness places such as Miami, and of the need to understand homelessness as an issue of diversity and human rights.

Energy and Society (Revised) When first published in 1955, this book was among the first interpretive treatments of the connection between a society's energy conditions and evolution of its culture. The book begins with a basic discussion of the earliest forms of energy uses and evolves through a discussion of how the evolution of alternative energy converters has impacted the growth of civilization. Dr.Cottrell takes us from food gathering societies up through the beginning of the industrial revolution into the age of nuclear power. With each step of change, he discusses how society has changed and the impact these changes have had on economic, moral and social issues. Today, more than any time in history, the questions of energy sources, energy conversion, energy uses and energy distribution are among the greatest challenges faced by civilization. In this book, Dr. Cottrell does not give you answers or predictions but takes you through the thought processes necessary to overcome the multible barriers we face in moving into the future.

The New York Times-bestselling history of the first half of the twentieth century-five decades that transformed America-from the author of Only Yesterday. During the first fifty years of the twentieth century, the United States saw two world wars, a devastating economic depression, and more social, political, and economic changes than in any other five-decade period before. Frederick Lewis Allen, former editor of Harper's magazine, recounts these years-spanning World War I, the Progressive Era, the Great Depression, World War II, and the early Cold War-in vivid detail, from the fashions and customs of the times to major events that changed the course of history. Politically, the United States grew into its own as a global superpower during these years, even as domestic developments altered the everyday lives of its citizens. The introduction of the automobile, mass production, and organized labor changed the way Americans lived and worked, while innovations like penicillin and government regulation of food safety contributed to an increase in average life expectancy from forty-nine years in 1900 to sixty-eight years in 1950. With the development of a strong, centralized government, a thriving middle class, and widespread economic prosperity, the nation emerged from the Second World War transformed in virtually every way. Richly informative and delightfully readable, The Big Change is an indispensable volume charting the many changes that ushered in our contemporary age.

Populism is a contested concept when applied to Asia. In Populism in Asian Democracies: Features, Structures and Impacts, members of the Asia Democracy Research Network (ADRN) discuss the diverse subtypes of populism in 11 countries across Asia, their structural elements and societal impacts. Populism takes on different forms in Asia according to its target, rhetoric and strategy. Redistributive populism stems from income inequality and rural poverty while ethno-religious populism represents a continued struggle between majority and minority groups. Progressive populism emphasizes democratic governance over corruption and factional politics, and authoritarian populism rises from government incompetence. As ADRN shows, the 11 Asian democracies have adopted various subtypes-and hybrids-of such populism models, adding importance to regional cooperation in safeguarding democracy.

How do we place value on goods - and, importantly, why? Valuation and pricing are core issues in the market economy, but understanding of these concepts and their interrelation is weak. In response, The Worth of Goods takes a sociological approach to the perennial but timely question of what makes a product valuable.
Structured in three parts, it first examines value in the broader sense - moral values and how they are formed, and the relations between economic and non-economic values - discussing such matters as the value of an oil spill, the price of a scientific paper, value in ethical consumption, and imaginative value. The second part discusses the issues surrounding valuation in aesthetic markets, specifically wine, fashion models, art, and the creative industries. The third part analyzes valuation in financial markets - credit rating agencies, stock exchange markets, and industrial production.
This pioneering volume brings together leading social scientists to provide a range of theoretical tools and case studies for understanding price and the creation of value in markets within social and cultural contexts and preconditions. It is an important source for scholars in economics, sociology, anthropology, and political science interested in how markets work, and how value is established.

Winner, American Sociological Association Asia and Asian America Section Best Book on Asia/Transnational Asia Finalist, 2015 C. Wright Mills Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems India is the top provider of surrogacy services in the world, with a multi-million dollar surrogacy industry that continues to grow exponentially, as increasing numbers of couples from developed nations look for wombs in which to grow their babies. Some scholars have exulted transnational surrogacy for the possibilities it opens for infertile couples, while others have offered bioethical cautionary tales, rebuked exploitative intended parents, or lamented the exploitation of surrogate mothers-but very little is known about the experience of and transaction between surrogate mothers and intended parents outside the lens of the many agencies that control surrogacy in India. Drawing from rich interviews with surrogate mothers and egg donors in Bangalore, as well as twenty straight and gay couples in the U.S. and Australia, Discounted Life focuses on the processes of social and market exchange in transnational surrogacy. Sharmila Rudrappa interrogates the creation and maintenance of reproductive labor markets, the function of agencies and surrogacy brokers, and how women become surrogate mothers. Is surrogacy solely a labor contract for which the surrogate mother receives wages, or do its meanings and import exceed the confines of the market? Rudrappa argues that this reproductive industry is organized to control and disempower women workers and yet her interviews reveal that, by and large, the surrogate mothers in Bangalore found the experience life affirming. Rudrappa explores this tension, and the lived realities of many surrogate mothers whose deepening bodily commodification is paradoxically experienced as a revitalizing life development. A detailed and moving study, Discounted Life delineates how local labor markets intertwine with global reproduction industries, how Bangalore's surrogate mothers make sense of their participation in reproductive assembly lines, and the remarkable ways in which they negotiate positions of power for themselves in progressively untenable socio-economic conditions.

Contested Images: Women of Color in Popular Culture is a collection of 17 essays that analyze representations in popular culture of African American, Asian American, Latina, and Native American women. The anthology is divided into four parts: film images, beauty images, music, and television. The articles share two intellectual traditions: the authors, predominantly women of color, use an intersectionality perspective in their analysis of popular culture and the representation of women of color, and they identify popular culture as a site of conflict and contestation. Instructors will find this collection to be a convenient textbook for women's studies; media studies; race, class, and gender courses; ethnic studies; and more.

This insightful book introduces the most important trends, people, events, and products of popular culture in Latin America and the Caribbean. In recent times, Latin American influences have permeated American culture through music, movies, television, and literature. This sweeping volume serves as a ready-reference guide to pop culture in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, focusing on Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Argentina, Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Costa Rica, among other areas. The work encourages hands-on engagement with the popular culture in these places, making such suggestions as Brazilian films to rent or where to find Venezuelan music on the Internet. To start, the book covers various perspectives and issues of these regions, including the influence of the United States, how the idea of machismo reflects on the portrayal of women in these societies, and the representation of Latino-Caribo cultures in film and other mediums. Entries cover key trends, people, events, and products from the beginning of the 20th century to the present day. Each section gives detailed information and profound insights into some of the more academic-and often controversial-debates on the subject, while the inclusion of the Internet, social media, and video games make the book timely and relevant. Explores controversial issues like censorship, gender, cultural imperialism, and globalization Allows for cross-cultural comparisons between Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States Enables quick access to areas of interest through well-organized entries and helpful topic introductions Features a discussion on the influence of modern technologies-the Internet, social media, and video games-in Latin American cultures Provides substantial citations and references on each element of popular culture

An absolute truth, sometimes called a universal truth, is an unalterable and permanent fact. It means that something is true no matter where you are and who says it, i.e., 2 +2 = 4, no matter where you go you get the same answer. A universal truth is something anyone can benefit from. They are simple lessons containing wisdom that often goes unnoticed or gets lost in the daily hustle and bustle of our over-stimulated lives. This book is a testament to the struggles that we all face every day in our lives that we must rise up to and overcome in order to be our best and to achieve the miracle that we want to see. These principles are used as a part of Clark's Executive Presentations Skills Training Course. Each has its own significance and each is able to stand alone. Although numbered for reference purposes, they are not presented in any particular order of importance. Clearly, there are far more than 100 principles of communications, but these are the ones most likely to resonate. Like all great truths, they have a timeless quality making them just as meaningful today as they were in the beginning of time and ensuring that they will maintain their significance far into the future.

This book explores how concepts and values of contemporary democracy are variously understood and applied in diverse cultural contexts, with a focus on children and childhood and diversity. Drawing on a range of methodological approaches relevant to early childhood education, it discusses young children's engagement and voice. The book identifies existing practices, strengths, theories and considerations in democracy in early childhood education and childhood, highlighting the democratic participation of children in cultural contexts. Further, it illustrates how democracy can be evident in early childhood practices and interactions across a range of curriculum contexts and perspectives, and considers ways of advancing and sustaining practices with positive transformational opportunities to benefit children and wider ecological systems. It offers readers insights into what democracy and citizenship look like in lived experience, and the issues affecting practice and encouraging reflection and advocacy.

This book explores Ireland's Marriage Bar, examining its impact on women's lives and the predominantly feminised nursing profession. Information on the history of nursing and the evolution of the nursing profession tends to focus on critical events or key persons who shaped the profession. What is less known and explored is the women nurses' work experiences or how the world outside the ward affected the nurse and the nursing profession at moments in time. This book takes one of these moments in time, the period of the Marriage Bar, and examines the women nurses' lives and the nursing profession during this period of Ireland's history. It does so by adopting a historical perspective and a lived experience perspective of women who had to negotiate this practice. Fifty years on from the Bar removal, as remnants of this time in Ireland's history remain, legislative and constitutional change are required to right the wrongs of the past.