The 'European project' is in a state of perpetual crisis in which the root cause is a lack of identification by ordinary citizens with Europe and European institutions. The Evolution of European Identities employs state of the art analysis of in-depth interviews by renowned practitioners to give a unique 'bottoms up' perspective on the development (or its lack) of a sense of 'European mental space'. Linking conceptual findings with case studies, the book provides unique insights into groups that have been especially sensitized by their life experiences to question what it means to be European in the twenty-first century. The groups explored in this book include: adults who experienced European education exchanges when young; transnational workers; civil society organization activists; persons involved in cross-border intimate relationships; farmers who are subject to European markets, regulations and subsidies; and migrants into 'fortress Europe'.

The "cultural turn" in sociology created a new interest in power questions. This has led to a renewed interest in conceptual discussions of power in the field of culture studies, whereas empirical work is still less developed. "Comparative Studies of Culture and Power" sets the focus on the uses of cultural and symbolic means in struggles for hegemony: in politics, music markets, literature and the arts. Gender specific uses of rhetorical techniques is one salient theme, struggles for recognition of rhythm and blues music another. Several articles treat the role of the arts in nation building, as well as the role of public monuments in the acknowledgement of war and terrorism. The analyses relate to cultures all over the Western world.

This collection gives voice to the peoples and groups impacted by globalization as they seek to negotiate their identities, language use, and territorial boundaries within a larger global context. Rather than viewing globalization as one-dimensional (i.e., cultural, economic, or political), the approaches taken by the authors reflect a nuanced and multifaceted discussion of globalization that integrates all three perspectives. They explore identity, boundaries, language use, and other issues in the context of specific temporal and spatial contexts.

How are group-based identities related to intergroup conflict? When and how do ethnic, religious, and national identities lead to oppression, violence, rebellion, war, mass-murder, and genocide? How do intergroup conflicts change people's identities? How might social identity be harnessed in the service of reducing conflict between groups? The chapters in this book present a sophisticated and detailed interdisciplinary analysis of the most topical and fundamental issues involved in understanding identity and conflict.

When a word describing an emotion is said to be untranslatable, is that emotion untranslatable also? This unique study focuses on three word-concepts on the periphery of Europe, providing a wide-ranging survey of national identity and cultural essentialism, nostalgia, melancholy and fatalism, the production of memory and the politics of hope.

This book explores the complex problem of how to measure the 'success' of social organisations, projects and activities. Whether improving a local situation, organizing a campaign around sustainability, or assessing the intangible effects of perceived social benefits, currently we have only have a very limited range of mechanisms for judging effectiveness. On the one hand, a market-driven logic demands that qualitative perceptions and experiences are quantified into simplified and numerically defined variables. On the other, community projects are left un-assessed, as one-off outcomes of local and situated processes that must somehow automatically 'make things better'. For academics, researchers and other professionals working in this field this has resulted in the deep frustration of not being able to assess the things that are most centrally important: higher human values such as integrity, trust, respect, equality and social justice. Measuring Intangible Values argues that we can make shared social values - and their measurement - central to decisions about improving civil society. But because these social values are intangible, we need to develop ways of eliciting and validating them at the local level that can capture people's shared meanings across multiple goals and perspectives. We need to develop mechanisms for evaluating whether these values are met that use rigorous but also relevant measures. And we need to develop ways of doing this that are scalable, transferable and comparable across different kinds of organisations and fields of activity. This book will be valuable for researchers in all social science disciplines which touch on human values, such as sociology, social psychology, human geography, social policy, architecture and planning, design and community studies.

This volume is directed toward researchers and health professionals with an interest in the interstices of social networks and health. It consists of original papers that address critical themes in health-related social network research and disease prevention. The sections discuss the dynamics of social networks and their role in providing social support under varying conditions and contexts; how social network theory and research contribute to disease prevention and control; methodological issues that affect recall and agreement when conducting social network studies; how social networks structure and facilitate or discourage health risk; and the role of network ties in disease prevention. The volume concludes by examining the influence of social support in health promotion, symptom identification and disease management.

This trans-disciplinary book indicates the necessity for addressing well-being from individual, community and social perspectives in an integrated manner. The book complements the harm-based focus of much social scientific research into health. Invited experts from a wide range of academic disciplines contribute and together the chapters present a new dynamic view of well-being, one that will be crucial for the way in which we will cope with the Twenty-First Century.

An encyclopedic dictionary that treats organizations, persons, and federal legislation that document the history of grass-roots community organizing. Focusing on neighborhood associations in the US from the 1880s to the present, the work includes more than 100 signed entries, which average one to two pages each. Numerous cross-references and thorough name and subject indexes are included. . . . The] excellent bibliographic essay by Robert Fisher contains] 12 pages of accessible books, articles, and papers on the topic as a whole and by time period. The editor has also provided a useful introductory essay on the changing notion of neighborhood. This well-planned and well-edited resource is further enhanced by its attractive typography and layout. Highly recommended to academic libraries with programs in sociology, social work, local politics, and urban history, and to all urban public libraries. "Choice"

This new historical dictionary brings together informaton about the formative years of community organization and material on the more recent explosion in the organization of America's urban areas. The organizational activities included in this volume focus on the geographical community rather than on issue-oriented activities; are dedicated to the involvement of neighborhood residents in both the planning and implementation of local activities; and share a commitment to provide not only fuller services but also to serve as agents for potential social change.

Throughout the world, governments and intergovernmental organizations, such as the International Organization for Migration are developing new approaches aimed at renewing migration policy-making. This book, now in paperback, critically analyzes the actors, discourses and practices of migration management.

In Western countries, the theories and practices of citizenship and democracy have come under intense scrutiny. These are premised on a relatively autonomous nation state, yet national boundaries are now being tested through globalization. At the same time they are being challenged by new forms of identity based on communities, minorities and transnational belonging. Increasingly, the nation state is incapable of delivering on its promise of economic, political and social rights. The contributions in this book focus on the relationship between citizenship and difference, highlighting new tensions between the local and the global.

Iran's long history and complex cultural legacy have generated animated debates about a homogenous Iranian identity in the face of ethnic, linguistic and communal diversity. The volume examines the fluid boundaries of pre-modern identity in history and literature as well as the shaping of Iranian national identity in the 20th century.

Today Capitalism is generally accepted as the only viable socioeconomic system in spite of the stress, moral decay, drug abuse, and crime it fosters. Peeters shows that, before entering the present Materialistic Phase, Western society went through two other phases, the Religious and the Militaristic-Nationalistic Phase. He argues that current social problems arose because the behavior of most people was no longer determined by the laws of Church and State, but instead by the need to be productive and the desire to acquire money and material goods. Peeters shows that Materialism is, however, not the ultimate stage of development of society. A comparison of the three phases and Communism-a rival form of materialistic Phase-shows that Western society is going to enter a Fourth Phase, which Peeters asserts will occur around 2050. Peeters sets out to discover which prominent traits of today's ways of living and acting will be rejected during the transition toward the Fourth Phase and which new characteristics will emerge. The educational system, democracy, the goals of production and income inequality will all have to change when people adapt their aims to the requirements of the Post-Materialistic Phase. The challenge of the forces that now rule people's lives and the rejection of materialism will ultimately recreate a healthy, balanced society. Scholars and researchers in Future Studies as well as concerned citizens will find this a provacative analysis of today's problems and their possible resolution.

Continuing a series of explorations of aspects of family life begun in A History of Marriage Systems (GP, 1988), G. Robina Quale provides a comprehensive overview of the basic forms of interaction between the family and the societal macrocosm, as both interact with disease, available resources, and current technologies. Since the beginning of human society, Quale says, forager bands and, later, family households have striven to meet the group's basic needs by maintaining a ratio of 3 active members to 2 members who need care because of immaturity, a handicap, or frailty. The book describes the way in which households have tried to reach the favorable 3:2 ratio in different areas and periods of history, factoring in the technological and environmental constraints and health hazards inherent in those areas and periods. The broad periods considered include forager and preurban agricultural life, the period of regional cities and peasantry from about 3500 B.C. to A.D. 1500, and, since 1500, the age of world cities, which grew out of the increasing commercialization and demographic expansion of regional cities. Quale describes how in recent times economic diversification, fertility reduction, education, social welfare services, and pension plans have joined bilaterality, equally divided inheritance, nuclear households, mid-twenties marriage, and partner self-selection in modern life in Europe and its overseas offshoots. These patterns are being adapted by other societies as they also diversify economically. Yet economic diversification, with all its benefits, also presents problems such as the overuse of environmental resources and the incidence of pollution-caused disease. This volume will be of interest to those concerned with family studies and family history, global environmental history, and the history of disease, as well as those concerned with demographic history.

This encyclopedia provides detailed information about the historical, cultural, social, religious, economic, and scientific significance of gold, across the globe and throughout history. Gold has been an intrinsic part of human culture and society throughout the world, both in ancient times and in the modern era. This precious metal has also played a central role in economics and politics throughout history. In fact, the value of gold remains a topic of debate amid the current upheavals of economic conditions and attendant reevaluations of modern financial principles. Gold: A Cultural Encyclopedia consists of more than 130 entries that encompass every aspect of gold, ranging from the ancient metallurgical arts to contemporary economies. The connections between these interdisciplinary subjects are explored and analyzed to highlight the many ways humankind's fascination with gold reflects historical, cultural, economic, and geographic developments. While the majority of the works related to gold focus on economic theory, this text goes beyond that to take a more sociocultural approach to the subject. Contains more than 130 A-Z entries on the significance of gold worldwide, from antiquity to the present, from an interdisciplinary perspective, as well as sidebar entries Provides unique details and remarkable scope of facts in each entry along with direct references to and examples of primary source materials Photographs and illustrations of the use and significance of gold as varied as Ca' d'Oro in Venice, royal crowns, filigree, Italian florin coin, Hatshepsut, Rumpelstiltskin, Wat Traimit, and modern "bling" Extensive bibliography including monographs, scholarly articles, newspaper and magazine articles, primary source documents, and online resources Detailed subject index as well as list of entries and guide to related topics

In recent years there has been growing debate among sociologists about the concept of class and its relevance to the highly industrialised world of the late twentieth century. This book makes available in a single volume all of the key contributions to this debate and takes it a step further with a number of specially commissioned pieces. An editorial introduction which sets the main arguments in context, additional commentary and two alternative conclusions help to make this a unique text for a subject that remains crucial yet highly contentious.

This is a detailed study of understanding in a second language, related to the actual lives of minority workers. The focus is on everyday interactions between these workers and the bureaucrats of the society in which they are now resident. It provides an important contribution to the debate about the function of language as a social practice, adding a new perspective to the psycholinguistic and experimental paradigms, currently existing in second language acquisition research.

John E. Tropman examines older Americans and public policy opinion between 1952 and 1978 in order to see just where elder citizens fit in the overall picture. Differences and similarities to opinions of younger groups are discussed along with the changes that took place from the conservative fifties to the liberal sixties and early seventies and back again to the conservatism of the late seventies.

This study of social structures looks at the network approach. It contains non-technical articles that contrast structural analysis with other social scientific approaches. It deals with individual behaviour and identity and with neighbourhood and community ties. It examines the relationships within and between organizations, discussing how firms occupy strategically appropriate niches. It also explores the impact of the growth of the Internet, equating computer networks as social networks connecting people in virtual communities and collaborative work.

In the first book-length study of this topic, D.W. McKiernan examines the way mainstream commercial cinema represents society's complex relationship with the idea and practice of community in the context of rapidly changing social conditions. Films examined include "Fond Kiss," "The Idiots" and "Monsoon Wedding."