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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social groups & communities > General
Drawing on both theoretical and practical case studies, "Community Media" moves from developing attempts at local media to case studies and on to cyber-examples. Alphabetically, its more than two dozen cases include reports on the Asian Pacific region, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Ghana, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Latin America, Lebanon, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Turkey, the United Kingdom, the United States, as well as a number of other perspectives and (virtual) visions. The contributors, all distinguished international communications scholars, present a range of perspectives on the ever-burgeoning area of grassroots, local media by the people, for the people, their research representing participant observation, hands-on community involvement, serving on international boards of directors, content analysis, and ethical inquiries. It will appeal to a range of academic disciplines, community media groups, and the thousands of people who work in their local cable television centers to provide an alternative voice to mainstream media.
"Deniers of climate change have benefited from political strategies developed by conservative think tanks and public relations experts paid handsomely by the energy industry. With this book, environmental activists can benefit from some scholarly attention turned to their efforts. This book exhibits the best that public scholarship has to offer. Its authors utilize sophisticated rhetorical theory and criticism to uncover the inventional constraints and possibilities for participants at various sites of the Step-It-Up day of climate activism. What makes this book especially valuable is that it is not only directed to fellow communication scholars, but is written in a clear and accessible style to bring the insights of an academic field to a broader public of activists committed to building an environmental social movement." - Prof. Leah Ceccarelli, University of Washington "This is an unusually interesting volume grounded in a sustained and coordinated analysis of the Step It Up campaign. Generating a multifaceted and shared archive for analyzing the SIU campaign on global warming, the volume's multiple authors critically examine intersecting dimensions of the SIU campaign-its persuasive strategies, organizational dynamics, and political practices for everyday citizens-with an eye on implications for enhancing the larger environmental movement. Readers with a practical and theoretical interest in social and political movements will find this book engaging and leavened with heuristic value." - Professor Robert L. Ivie, Indiana University, Bloomington
Explains the failure-on both sides of the aisle-of the War on Poverty The much-heralded War on Poverty has failed. The number of children living in poverty is steadily on the rise and an increasingly destructive underclass brutalizes urban neighborhoods. America's patience with the poor seems to have run out: even cities that have traditionally been havens for the homeless are arresting, harassing, and expelling their street people. In this timely work, William Kelso analyzes how the persistence of poverty has resulted in a reversal of liberal and conservative positions during the last thirty years. While liberals in the 1960s hoped to eliminate the causes of poverty, today they increasingly seem resigned to merely treating its effects. The original liberal objective of giving the poor a helping hand by promoting equal opportunity has given way to a new agenda of entitlements and equal results. In contrast, conservatives who once suggested that trying to eliminate poverty was futile, now seek ways to eradicate the actual causes of poverty. Poverty and the Underclass suggests that the arguments of both the left and right are misguided and offers new explanations for the persistence of poverty. Looking beyond the codewords that have come to obscure the debate-underclass, family values, the culture of poverty,-Kelso emphasizes that poverty is not a monolithic condition, but a vast and multidimensional problem. During his Presidential campaign, Bill Clinton called for an overhaul of the welfare system and spoke of a new covenant to unite both the left and right in developing a common agenda for fighting poverty. In this urgent, landmark work, William Kelso merges conservative, radical, and liberal ideals to suggest how the intractable problem of poverty may be solved at long last by implementing the principles of this new covenant.
This book delves into the legal traditions that relegated women to an inferior social and legal status worldwide. Winnie Hazou probes the nature of law, changes in legislation, and the trend of modern law toward a social engineering that effects gender equality. Hazou analyzes changes in major areas of women's lives, such as family, employment, and the acquisition of social power. She presents a global perspective of women's status and discusses international law aimed at eliminating the exploitation and abuse of women. The book highlights five countries, exploring the cultural basis for and social attitudes toward the position of women in each country. Students and scholars of women's studies will find this book a valuable resource. The book concludes that both national and international law are slowly evolving into an effective tool for the elimination of discrimination against women. In spite of residual traditions, and beliefs across all cultures concerning gender roles, there is great institutional support in governments as well as the United Nations to elevate the status of women. This book combines the sociology of women and the sociology of law to give a global perspective on not only the current position of women but the changes that are occurring in their lives.
The book analyses intersections between gender and diversity through cross-national studies of European public spheres. It explores key questions like to what extent female citizens and migrant/minority groups are included/ excluded in European public spheres and how they contribute to these emerging spheres. Reflections about European equality and diversity issues are based on new research from a large-scale EU project. The theoretical part poses questions of ethno-national diversity and gender from the European context and applies an intersectionality approach to research about the European public spheres. The empirical part contains cross-country and regional case studies comparing the attitudes of collective actors (political parties, NGOs, media) towards gender and ethno-national diversity.
Setting out to correct the inadequacies of many written accounts of slavery, teacher and social activist Octavia Albert added her own incisive commentary to the personal narratives of former slaves. Her early interviews, like many antebellum slave narratives, depict cruel punishments, divided families, and debilitating labour. Seeing herself as a public advocate for social change, Albert called for every Christian's personal acceptance of responsibility for slavery's legacies and lessons. As well as its historical value, the book has many merits as a work of literature, using dialogue and experiments with dialect, and incorporating songs and poems in the text.
"Advances in Group Processes" publishes theoretical analyses, reviews, and theory based empirical chapters on group phenomena. It is the only edited volume of its kind explicitly devoted to group related phenomena and brings together diverse papers on the subject from a wide range of fields. The series adopts a broad conception of "group processes." This includes work on groups ranging from the very small to the very large, and on classic and contemporary topics such as status, power, exchange, justice, influence, decision-making, intergroup relations and social networks. Volume 28, including contributions from Stanford University and Harvard Business School, examines topics such as: graded status characteristics and expectation states; standardizing open interaction coding for status processes; creating community through language among San Pedro Longshoremen; applying identity theory to moral acts of commission and omission; and, joint commitments and social groups. It looks at key questions about the legitimacy of groups and the mobilization of resources, and also reducing social distance through the role of globalization in global public goods provision.
"An excellent selection of women's slave narratives from the Schonberg collection. William Andrew's introduction prepares the reader for the appointed narratives that follow, and the texts are invaluable in teaching the experience of black women in America."-- Mason Lowance, University of Massachusetts
This volume takes a completely new look at two controversial topics: American anti-Communism and the Cold War. First, it reveals the little known history of anti-Communism in the US from the point of view of ethnic refugee/emigre groups, and also offers insight into the lives of minority groups that have hitherto not received scholarly attention, often due to their politically controversial position. The book consists of chapters dedicated to particular ethnic groups, as well as an introduction and conclusion. The discussed groups include Latvians, Ukrainians, Albanians, Bulgarians, Slovaks, Vietnamese, Hmong and Cubans, possibly also Hungarians or Romanians. The introduction provides the historical and sociological framework, and the conclusion undertakes a comparative analysis of ethnic anti-Communism and refugee politics.
This book presents 18 essays by leading scholars covering mortuary analysis, the archaeology of foraging and agricultural societies, cultural evolution, and archaeological method and theory, which transcend the processual/postprocessual debate in archaeology and provide examples of how archaeologists think about, and go about, studying the past. As archaeology encounters the 21st century, debate over the nature of the discipline dominates professional discourse. Archaeologists are embattled over isms: processualism, postprocessualism, scientism, and humanism are ubiquitous buzzwords in the literature. Yet archaeology is a craft practiced by individuals, learned from and influenced by other individuals. Sometimes a peson, through sheer force of intellectual spirit, rises above the debate to make a mark on the field in ways that cross out schools, paradigms, and factions. It is fitting to look back at the influence one such individual has had on archaeological methods, theory, data collection, and syntheses over the last half century. This volume draws on the experience of students and colleagues who worked with and were strongly influenced by James A. Brown's approach to the past. The volume is divided into five categories, each reflecting one distinctive facet of Brown's affect on archaeology: mortuary analysis, foraging and horticultural societies, complex agriculturalists, proto-historic and historic societies, and method and theory. These diverse categories, with articles by archaeologists of many backgrounds, are drawn together by the threads of Brown's intellectual legacy. Not all authors here are in agreement with Brown's views on their subjects, but all acknolwedge that his work in the area sets a standard that needs to be met if one is to succeed.
One of the greatest internal migrations in American history has been the movement of the people of Appalachia to a variety of rural and urban destinations all over the country --- wherever economic opportunity beckoned, from the industrial Midwest to the timber empires of the Pacific Northwest. This movement (about five million in the 1950s alone) has taken place in several waves throughout the twentieth century, and continues to this day. "Appalachian Odyssey" provides an interdisciplinary exploration of the impact of this phenomenon on both the Appalachian region and the country as a whole. Scholars from a variety of social science disciplines bring their perspectives to this volume in an examination of the historical, political, social, economic, and cultural impact of a talented group often derided as hillbillies. "Appalachian Odyssey" provides a much-needed corrective to this bias, and a deeper understanding of a people who have significantly influenced the American story.
This definitive guide encompasses past, present, and future issues of theory, research, and practice in areas of interest and specialization in aging, and represents current trends of thought on gerontology, the science of and associated practices with the elderly. This volume is a collection of articles dealing with the psychological, social, and cultural domains affecting older people and contains general biomedical understandings and practical/clinical applications. The contributors broadly outline some of the most relevant academic issues, including cross-cultural perspectives on age and aging; past and future trends in life expectancy with underlying explanations; innovations and advances in research design and methodology in the study of the aging process and the effects of age as a variable; and past and current theoretical perspectives on the psychology and sociology of aging. Some pertinent concerns for practitioners and clinicians are addressed, such as successful counseling therapies with older adults and changes in social work and rehabilitation practice with the elderly. The thought-provoking chapters provide a wide-sweeping, multidisciplinary review of a rapidly expanding field of interest and represent a definite desire among the contributors to evolve a theoretical apparatus and a related, applied arena of endeavor. This important work on a significant and timely issue of concern will broaden our understanding and awareness of the rising number of positive efforts within gerontological studies now being derived from diverse disciplinary roots. The reader will find articles on subjects of particular interest, such as the Biology of Aging, the Psychology of Adult Development and Aging, Rehabilitation of the Elderly, and Social Work and Aging. An extraordinarily detailed reference, this work will be a valuable resource for gerontologists, social workers, psychologists, and doctors specializing in geriatrics.
How people can be persuaded to take more control of their own lives continues to be a subject of policy and academic debate, and the contribution of active citizens to improving societal well-being is high across different policy agendas. But the promotion of community self-help raises a wide range of questions - for people working in neighbourhoods, for policy makers, for politicians, and for residents themselves - about how we promote engagement, what would motivate people to become active, and more fundamentally about the ongoing relevance and value of community activity. "DIY Community Action" offers thought-provoking answers to these questions, based on detailed real-life evidence from over 100 community groups, each trying to combat neighbourhood problems. It presents a lively challenge to the existing thinking on contested debates, and proposes ways forward for community building. This timely publication is an engaging resource for policy makers, practitioners, academics, students and general readers interested in exploring community engagement and active citizenship. Its insightful analysis will be of interest to students of social policy, sociology, community work, housing and regeneration, local government studies and public policy.
Communities are basic social units that provide contexts in which people live together to their mutual benefit. This book defines exactly what prosocial communities are, identifying their elements and relevant interrelationships, and reviewing the available evidence in support of those conclusions. This work shows why a prosocial community is essential to the accomplishment of the goals of community psychology and related fields, and offers advice on how to create such communities.
Minority languages in Europe, as part of a common cultural
heritage, need protection. The contributions to this book reflect
urgent, stimulating and productive debates among researchers in
sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, politics and sociology,
and among language activists and policy makers. At the heart of the
debate are the effectiveness of the existing political and legal
frameworks aimed at protecting linguistic and cultural diversity,
and prospects for the survival of minority languages in the process
of European integration.
This is a study of relations between landlords and tenants in Ireland between the great famine and the land war. Based on a remarkably wide range of primary sources, most notably collections of estate papers, it is a comprehensive and wide-ranging analysis, in which W. E. Vaughan explores evictions, rents, tenant right, estate management, agrarian outrages, and tenants' resistance to landlords. Dr Vaughan questions many assumptions about landlord-tenant relations that hitherto have been uncritically accepted. In place of the conventional image of predatory and allpowerful landlords, and oppressed, impoverished tenants, Dr Vaughan presents a scholarly and nuanced picture of complex mutual accommodation, thus revising the traditional view of land relations in nineteenth-century Ireland.
A complex and unpredictable factor in the explosive South African conflict, the Christian churches will almost certainly play a key role in its ultimate resolution. This book, which is based on a four-year research project, explores the possible dimensions of that role through a systematic examination of the connections between religion and the social, political, and economic life of the nation. Focusing on critical issues in the current debate, the authors look at how religion and religious attitudes function in facilitating or restraining social change and what consequences this may hold for South Africa's future. The authors begin by describing the social role fo religion in South Africa, together with the particular issues that have drawn churches into the debate. They provide comprehensive profiles of the patterns of religious affiliation and attitudes that characterize contemporary South Africa. Next they assess the social impact of various denominations and movements, including Afrikaner civil religion, the Black indigenous churches, and pietistic religious groups. Ongoing theological debates on human rights, racial equality, the power structure of society, and the question of violence are considered in detail. The concluding chapter integrates the findings of the study and considers religious values as an instrument for developing social consciousness and a commitment to universal justice. This authoritative analysis of the broader dimensions of religion in South Africa makes a significant contribution to our understanding of religion as a factor in contemporary social and political processes. It will be of interest to students and specialists in African studies and to scholars concerned with the role of religion in the modern world.
As the twenty-first century is ushered in, rebels, revolutionaries and political dissidents remain a major roadblock to the structuring of a new world order. Challenging their national or local institutions of authority--political or economic, social or religious--aggrieved individuals and disgruntled communities continue to wage their eternal struggles against those perceived as perverting the common good. "Rebels with a Cause" seeks to explain the minds, motives, means, and morality of those who espouse individual as well as communal dissent and resistance--violent or otherwise--in the name of some greater good. The ranks of political offenders vary widely: Civil Disobedients; Conscientious Objectors; Dissidents; Fanatics; Freedom Fighters; Fundamentalists; Militants; Political Prisoners; Pseudo-Politicals; Rebels; Resisters; Revolutionaries and Terrorists. The cast of characters is equally diverse and colorful: from Rome's Brutus to South Africa's Nelson Mandela. From America's John Brown and Susan B. Anthony to John Wilkes Booth and Timothy J. McVeigh. From Cuba's Che Guevara to the anonymous heroes of Beijing's Tienaman Square. From the Soviet Union's Aleksander Solzhenistzen to Burmese dissident Aung San Suu Kyi. "Rebels" portrays political offenders as products of three unorthodoxies. They constitute neither traditional political actors, nor common criminals or lawful belligerents. As players in the political arena, they refuse to abide by the rules and means of conventional politics--the ballot box and the rule of law. Offending against the prevailing law, they nevertheless disclaim the common criminal's venal goals to assert their own pursuit of altruistic communal and just objectives. Finally, as militant activists they act surreptiously, disclaim uniforms and insignias, proclaim allegiance to no sovereign and in their resort to indiscriminate violence they spurn the rules of lawful belligerency. This triple unorthodoxy has made the development of coherent public responses to political dissidents, resisters and rebels particularly difficult. "Rebels" does not only identify the actors and social forces that have caused nearly half of all countries throughout the globe to become infected with the ethnic, religious, tribal, clannish, and racial strife which now tear them apart. Acknowledging that domestic conflicts are replacing international warfare as the source of political disorder and violence in the emerging decades, "Rebels" also offers both readers and antagonists new insights and constructive approaches for the making of a less hostile and violent world. "Rebels with a Cause" will help readers address some of this era's most troublesome questions. What weight should one give to the demands of his conscience or the urgings of his or her faith? When should one reject the rules of those in power and stand up against evil laws and governments? Is one ever entitled to disobey the commands of an allegedly "democratic" regime? What means may one justly use in the struggle against tyrants, dictators, and other abusers of power? And when does a dissenter cease to be a freedom fighter and become a terrorist? "Rebels with a Cause" responds to these and other pressing contemporary questions with a "Bill of Rights on Just Authority and Just Resistance" as a guide for both the governed and those who govern.
"Invaluable...Elizabeth Keckley's memoir of her life as a White House dressmaker for Mary Todd Lincoln...[is a] curious gem"--Eric J. Sundquist in The New York Times Book Review
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