This book discusses the roles of civil society in the initiation stage of democratization in China. It argues that there is a semi-civil society in China and that this quasi-civil society that plays dual roles in the initial stage of democratisation in China. It makes a contribution to existing theories on democratic functions of civil society by applying, testing, revising and developing these theories in the context of Chinese democratization.

The Unique Nature of Frontier Cities and their Development Challenge Harvey Lithwick and Yehuda Grad us The advent of government downsizing, and globalization has led to enormous com petitive pressures as well as the opening of new opportunities. How cities in remote frontier areas might cope with what for them might appear to be a devastating challenge is the subject of this book. Our concern is with frontier cities in particular. In our earlier study, Frontiers in Regional Development (Rowman and Littlefield, 1996), we examined the distinction between frontiers and peripheries. The terms are often used interchangeably, but we believe that in fact, both in scholarly works and in popular usage, very different connotations are conveyed by these concepts. Frontiers evoke a strong positive image, of sparsely settled territories, offering challenges, adventure, unspoiled natural land scapes, and a different, and for many an attractive life style. Frontiers are lands of opportunity. Peripheries conjure up negative images, of inaccessibility, inadequate services and political and economic marginality. They are places to escape from, rather than frontiers, which is were people escape to. Peripheries are places of and for losers."

Problems of governance in Pakistan are rooted in a persistently unclear and antagonistic relationship among the forces of authority, ideology and ethnicity. Based on theoretical and empirical research, this book focuses on significant themes such as the oligarchic state structure dominated by the military and bureaucracy, civil society, Islam and the formation of Muslim identity in British India, constitutional traditions and their subversion by coercive policies, politics of gender, ethnicity, and Muslim nationalism versus regional nationalisms as espoused by Sindhi nationalists and the Karachi-based Muhajir Qaumi Movement (MQM).

"This book may be mostly history or it may be mostly folklore, but it is in any case well worth reading. It is a colloquy--an extended interview--with a long foreword by the interviewer and two appendices...the colloquy took place on January 27, 1883 on Sourland Mountain, near the border between Hunterton and Somerset counties in New Jersey....What we have here throughout is the material for social history, particularly for that part of social hisory deasling with slave life and the life of the uneducated free black in the middle-states part of the north, from the end of the eighteenth century to as late as 1883."--James C. Lobdell, in his Introduction

The authors describe a new demographic phenomenon: the settlement of Latino families in areas of the United States where previously there has been little Latino presence.This New Latino Diaspora places pressures on host communities, both to develop conceptualizations of Latino newcomers and to provide needed services.These pressures are particularly felt in schools; in some New Latino Diaspora locations the percentage of Latino students in local public schools has risen from zero to 30 or even 50 percent in less than a decade.Latino newcomers, of course, bring their own language and their own cultural conceptions of parenting, education, inter-ethnic relations and the like. Through case studies of Latino Diaspora communities in Georgia, North Carolina, Maine, Colorado, Illinois, and Indiana, the eleven chapters in this volume describe what happens when host community conceptions of and policies toward newcomer Latinos meet Latinos' own conceptions. The chapters focus particularly on the processes of educational policy formation and implementation, processes through which host communities and newcomer Latinos struggle to define themselves and to meet the educational needs and opportunities brought by new Latino students.Most schools in the New Latino Diaspora are unsure about what to do with Latino children, and their emergent responses are alternately cruel, uninformed, contradictory, and inspirational.By describing how the challenges of accommodating the New Latino Diaspora are shared across many sites the authors hope to inspire others to develop more sensitive ways of serving Latino Diaspora children and families.

Although the bad days are incredibly hard to take at the time, the pain of them dies through time; we surely can't be alone in looking back and smiling at some of them. As a club firmly established in what the legendary Bob Crampsey described as the 'middle order' of Scottish football, it's unlikely the Pars will ever win the league or get very far in Europe. We might as well embrace what we have for what it is, and celebrate that ridiculous collection of memories our love of football has given us. Many people who don't like football sneer at those of us who do - let them sneer. Standing in an enclosure at Elgin, under a rickety corrugated iron roof while the rain hammers down on a grim November Scottish Cup Saturday with the side from the higher division away from home - if someone doesn't understand why that can be the most romantic thing in the world, they probably aren't worth listening to.

This work represents a major survey of research which succeeds in opening up new perspectives on a number of European countries. The theme of social inequality is divided into sections on income, property, employment, education, housing, illness and death. The author finally attempts to develop a number of arguments about the relationship between industrialisation and social inequality, which are likely to stimulate further debate.

Tropman examines American values and the two groups that threaten those values. One might wonder why, in the world's wealthiest society, do the poor seem so stigmatized. Tropman's answer is that they represent potential and actual fates that create anxiety within the dominant culture and within the actual poor themselves. The response in society is hatred of the poor, he contends, and among the poor themselves, self-hatred. Two groups of poor are analyzed. The status poor--those at the bottom of America's money, deference, power, education, or occupation (and combinations of those). The status poor embody the truth that, in the land of opportunity, not all succeed. The elderly are the life cycle poor. They are deficient of future, and in the land of opportunity, to have one's own life trajectory circumscribe hope is a condition that must be denied. Poorhate is a classic example of "blame the victim." Tropman explores the process of poorhate through data from the 1960s and 1970s, and he uses the past to illuminate the probelms of the present, and, hopefully, to assist in crafting a better future. A provocative work for students and scholars of social welfare policy and policymakers themselves.

This book, which brings together nine studies of fundamentalism in disparate religions and regional contexts, examines the specific circumstances nurturing such beliefs and practices, and explores the possibilities for cross-cultural insights into this widespread phenomenon in the contemporary world.

This roster of the principal known civilizations and cultures of the world contains a description of their geographical boundaries, a study of their cultural divisions, and an outline of the native character. Its aim is to correct certain historical misconceptions and attitudes, while laying the foundation for a more exact, objective study of the history of man.

This is the sixth volume in a series designed to publish theoretical, empirical and review papers on scientific human ecology. Human ecology is interpreted to include structural and functional changes in human social organization and sociocultural systems as these changes may be affected by, interdependent with, or identical to changes in ecosystemic, evolutionary or ethological processes, factors or mechanisms. Three degrees of scope are included in this interpretation: the adaptation of sociocultural forces to bioecological forces; the interactions, two-way adaptations, between sociocultural and bioecological forces; and the integration, or unified interactions, of sociocultural with bioecological forces.

This study examines the impact of the first major influx of foreign refugees into Britain--the Protestant exiles of the Reformation era who came to escape persecution by the Catholic powers in France and the Low Countries. The refugees were generally well received by an English government that was aware of their economic potential. They came to exercise a powerful influence over the Reformation at home and abroad and provided a significant economic structure for a flagging economy.

This concise and engaging book presents a critical perspective on the correctional system and the process of incarceration in the United States. Fleury-Steiner and Longazel emphasize the magnitude of mass imprisonment in the United States, especially of people of color, not by objective statistics and trends, but by the voices and lived experiences of individuals who live their harsh conditions on a daily basis. This is an ideal book for courses in corrections, social problems, criminology, and prisoner re-entry.

This unique collection brings together various scholars of sociology and political science to explore the status and activities of the intellectuals and the intelligentsia past, present and future. The intellectuals and intelligentsia perform a social role as well as a mental function and are products of their age and country. Their role in various parts of the globe and in different historical periods is compared and contrasted. Long-range historical perspective is provided by an essay on the sociology of intellectual creativity in the axial period of human history. In addition, the role of the intellectual and intelligentsia and its implications for the future development of Third World nations is considered.

First published in 1980, this book presents an important critique of prevailing political doctrine in Western societies at a time of major change in circumstances of Western civilization. G. Lowell Field and John Higley stress the importance of a more realistic appraisal of elite and mass roles in politics, arguing that political stability and any real degree of representative democracy depend fundamentally on the existence of specific kinds of elites.

On the night of September 6, 2011, terror called at the Amish home of the Millers. Answering a late-night knock from what appeared to be an Amish neighbor, Mrs. Miller opened the door to her five estranged adult sons, a daughter, and their spouses. It wasn't a friendly visit. Within moments, the men, wearing headlamps, had pulled their frightened father out of bed, pinned him into a chair, and--ignoring his tearful protests--sheared his hair and beard, leaving him razor-burned and dripping with blood. The women then turned on Mrs. Miller, yanking her prayer cap from her head and shredding it before cutting off her waist-long hair. About twenty minutes later, the attackers fled into the darkness, taking their parents' hair as a trophy for their community.

Four similar beard-cutting attacks followed, disfiguring nine victims and generating a tsunami of media coverage. While pundits and late-night talk shows made light of the attacks and poked fun at the Amish way of life, FBI investigators gathered evidence about troubling activities in a maverick Amish community near Bergholz, Ohio--and the volatile behavior of its leader, Bishop Samuel Mullet.

Ten men and six women from the Bergholz community were arrested and found guilty a year later of 87 felony charges involving conspiracy, lying, and obstructing justice. In a precedent-setting decision, all of the defendants, including Bishop Mullet and his two ministers, were convicted of federal hate crimes. It was the first time since the 2009 passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act that assailants had been found guilty for religiously motivated hate crimes within the same faith community.

"Renegade Amish" goes behind the scenes to tell the full story of the Bergholz barbers: the attacks, the investigation, the trial, and the aftermath. In a riveting narrative reminiscent of a true crime classic, scholar Donald B. Kraybill weaves a dark and troubling story in which a series of violent Amish-on-Amish attacks shattered the peace of these traditionally nonviolent people, compelling some of them to install locks on their doors and arm themselves with pepper spray.

The country's foremost authority on Amish society, Kraybill spent six months assisting federal prosecutors with the case against the Bergholz defendants and served as an expert witness during the trial. Informed by trial transcripts and his interviews of ex-Bergholz Amish, relatives of Bishop Mullet, victims of the attacks, Amish leaders, and the jury foreman, "Renegade Amish" delves into the factors that transformed the Bergholz Amish from a typical Amish community into one embracing revenge and retaliation.

Kraybill gives voice to the terror and pain experienced by the victims, along with the deep shame that accompanied their disfigurement--a factor that figured prominently in the decision to apply the federal hate crime law. Built on Kraybill's deep knowledge of Amish life and his contacts within many Amish communities, "Renegade Amish" highlights one of the strangest and most publicized sagas in contemporary Amish history.

Part of a series which covers advances and progress in the field of human ecology, this volume discusses such topics as: the world around us and how we make it; the political economy of environmental problems and policies; and, the assembling of human populations.

Biofuels and Rural Poverty makes an original contribution to the current controversial global debate on biofuels, in particular the consequences that large-scale production of transport fuel substitutes can have on rural areas, principally in developing countries but also in some poor rural areas of developed countries.

Three key concerns are examined from a North-South perspective: ecological issues (related to land use and biodiversity), pro-poor policies (related to food and land security, gender and income generation) and equity of benefits within the global value chain. Can biofuels be pro-poor? Can smallholder farmers be equitably integrated in the biofuels global supply chain? Is the biofuels production chain detrimental to biodiversity?

Most other books available on biofuels take a technical approach and are aimed at addressing energy security or climate change issues. This title focuses on the socio-economic impacts on rural people's livelihoods, offering a unique perspective on the potential role of biofuels in reducing rural poverty.

Before about 1840, there was little prestige attached to the writing of novels, and most English novelists were women. By the turn of the twentieth century, "men of letters" acclaimed novels as a form of great literature, and most critically successful novelists were men. In the book, sociologist Gaye Tuchman examines how men succeeded in redefining a form of culture and in invading a white-collar occupation previously practiced mostly by women.

Tuchman documents how men gradually supplanted women as novelists once novel-writing was perceived as potentially profitable, in part because of changes in the system of publishing and rewarding authors. Drawing on unusual data ranging from the archives of Macmillan and company (London) to an analysis of the lives and accomplishments of authors listed in the Dictionary of National Biography, she shows that rising literacy and the centralization of the publishing industry in London after 1840 increased literary opportunities and fostered men 's success as novelists. Men redefined the nature of a good novel and applied a double standard in critically evaluating literary works by men and by women. They also received better contracts than women for novels of equivalent quality and sales. They were able to accomplish this, says Tuchman, because they were to a large extent the culture brokers the publishers, publishers readers, and reviewers of an elite art form.

Both a sociological study of occupational gender transformation and a historical study of writing and publishing, this book will be a rich resource for students of the sociology of culture, literary criticism, and women 's studies.