Porpora is concerned with the concept of social structure and with the relationship between social structure and the individual. He focuses on two different conceptions of social structure, the Durkheimian conception, which is the dominant way in which social structure is conceptualized by sociologists, and an alternative conception, based on a reading of Marx. The author discusses in depth the various aspects of these two divergent theories and shows how the Marxian conception of social structure underlies even the newer structural analyses of racism, sexism, and power that go beyond Marxian theory. He offers a sustained critique of Structural Sociology's theoretical elimination of the individual actor, which results in a corresponding elimination of any form of agency from the explanation of social structural processes.

This study examines fundamental theoretical and conceptual issues of social change in Latin America in the context of detailed empirical analysis. It challenges the major assumptions and propositions that underlie globalization theory, reworking and fine tuning the concepts of imperialism and social class as relevant to understanding the 'new world order'. The study centers on the structural features of Latin America and the state policies reconcentrating power in the capitalist class at the expense of labor. The study surveys the contradictory tendencies of concentrated wealth and power and the emergence of new socio-political movements and alternative development strategies to the dominant paradigm.

This book examines the concept of 'community unionism, ' which argues that the future of the labour movement and industrial relations lies with the community and local labor markets. Providing a conceptual overview of the term, the book uses international case studies and draws on faith-based organizations to explore the issue.

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.

Creating Digital Exhibits for Cultural Institutions will show you how to create digital exhibits and experiences for your users that will be informative, accessible and engaging. Illustrated with real-world examples of digital exhibits from a range of GLAMs, the book addresses the many analytical aspects and practical considerations involved in the creation of such exhibits. It will support you as you go about: analyzing content to find hidden themes, applying principles from the museum exhibit literature, placing your content within internal and external information ecosystems, selecting exhibit software, and finding ways to recognize and use your own creativity. Demonstrating that an exhibit provides a useful and creative connecting point where your content, your organization, and your audience can meet, the book also demonstrates that such exhibits can provide a way to revisit difficult and painful material in a way that includes frank and enlightened analyses of issues such as racism, colonialism, sexism, class, and LGBTQI+ issues. Creating Digital Exhibits for Cultural Institutions is an essential resource for librarians, archivists, and other cultural heritage professionals who want to promote their institution's digital content to the widest possible audience. Academics and students working in the fields of library and information science, museum studies and digital humanities will also find much to interest them within the pages of this book.

The Nordic Atlantic area has seen remarkable examples of social formations in areas that many would perceive as too remote to allow the construction of functioning communities. But through innovations, networking and the formation of identities people have coped with distances, thus continuously rebuilding societies in Northern Norway, Iceland, the Faroes and Greenland. Living conditions in the Nordic Atlantic are so extreme that one might ask whether the notion of society is applicable under these circumstances. The author argues that, yes, there is a meaningful way of comprehending these social formations, which is through the spatial and temporal practices that produce, reproduce, stabilize, destabilize and change them. He introduces the concept of coping, which means neither mastering nor adapting but relates to in-between strategies and tactics reflected in practices of securing people's way of life under conditions that are never totally under their control.

'Baerenholdt's compelling work addresses themes and ideas that extend well beyond the North Atlantic...His well-researched, intriguing study delves into theories of social formation as well as the histories and intricacies of historical and modern Nordic societies... and] presents the complexity of social formation in the Nordic Atlantic in an in-depth and approachable format.' Choice

'In many ways, Baerenholdt's work constitutes a departure from traditional approaches to thinking about territory and society making. It challenges the dominant, traditional views of societies, namely theoretical perspectives on societies as contained within given territories and shaped largely by external forces.' Canadian Review of Sociolog

The concept of sustainability holds that the social, economic, and environmental factors within human communities must be viewed interactively and systematically. Sustainable development cannot be understood apart from a community, its ethos, and ways of life. Although broadly conceived, the pursuit of sustainable development is a local practice because every community has different needs and quality of life concerns. Within this framework, contributors representing the disciplines of anthropology, sociology, geography, economics, law, public policy, architecture, and urban studies explore sustainability in communities in the Pacific, Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Eastern Europe, and North America. Contributors: Janet E. Benson, Karla Caser, Snjezana Colic, Angela Ferreira, Johanna Gibson, Krista Harper, Paulo Lana, Barbara Yablon Maida, Carl A. Maida, Kenneth A. Meter, Dario Novellino, Deborah Pellow, Claude Raynaut, Thomas F. Thornton, Richard Westra, Magda Zanoni

Questions about the respective roles of private and state property have been at the center of European political life for the past century. Much less attention has been given to the ways in which rights to property have been transmitted over time and how different inheritance traditions have affected European societies. The chapters in this volume draw on historical and anthropological research to show how inheritance practices connect the intimate organization of domestic life with questions of economic development, political structure, and religious belief. The book traces the history of inheritance from the coming of Christianity, through the imposition and dissolution of different forms of feudalism, to the development of the modern economy. Several chapters address the impact of communism and its collapse, and demonstrate how ideas about the inheritance of property and status are continuing to shape, and be shaped by, economic and social changes in a continent that is moving beyond the ideological dichotomies of the Cold War.
Hannes Grandits teaches European history at University of Graz, Austria. Patrick Heady teaches anthropology at Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany.

In this authoritative volume, leading researchers offer diverse theoretical perspectives and a wide-range of information on the beginnings and nature of social inequality in past human societies. Their illuminating work investigates the role of status differentiation in traditional archaeological debates and major societal transitions. This volume features numerous case studies from the Old and New World spanning foraging societies to agricultural groups and complex states. Diachronic in view and archaeological in focus, this book will be of significant interest to archaeologists, anthropologists, and students.

This book is considered to be one of the pioneering studies in this area. Theoretical research on picture books and empirical research on children reading picture books greatly increased, in many cases as a result of the influence of the previous editions of this book, and continues to be a growing field Includes case studies, new and old, draws readers' attention to all the significant theoretical work in the field, provides structured advice for teachers and for those who wish to carry out their own research of this kind. Considers competing technologies and looks ahead to future developments of the picturebook on the internet, in the classroom, in the museum/gallery and in publishing. Includes a new focus on art museum education Whilst many books about picturebooks, few others explore children's response to picture books

This volume focuses on challenges to the effective and proper use of human rights and tries to identify, through a series of case studies, strategies and contexts in which human rights advocacy can work in favor of human rights, as well as situations in which such advocacy may backfire, or unintentionally cause harm.

In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in alienation by writers throughout the world. At least in the economically advanced nations, one reason for the rediscovery of alienation is the need for a term to denote the relatively new phenomenon of dissatisfaction in the midst of material prosperity and political freedom. The contributors to this volume collectively seek a concept of alienation that will be a useful tool in social diagnosis--a key to identifying causes of undesirable social conditions. The result is a collection of essays in policy-oriented social theory, keyed to problems of modern life at the end of the twentieth century and written from richly diverse cultural, political, and philosophical backgrounds. The linchpin of the volume is the essay by Melvin Seeman, which discusses and connects two distinct approaches to alienation theory, one that emphasizes subjective feelings and one that emphasizes social structures as definitive of alienation. The other essays range from theoretical critiques of Marxist and Durkheimian explanations, to the role of alienation in political systems in East and West, to empirical studies in Swedish factories and among Israeli kibbutzim. In all the essays, the idea of alienation as a loss of the sense of belonging to community plays a role. Some of the essays are critical of a communitarian approach, some deal with it obliquely and others overtly espouse it. All are policy oriented, suggesting explicitly or indirectly work- and community- dealienation strategies for modern industrial societies. This book is useful as a supplementary text in social and political philosophy courses, and sociology and social psychology courses dealing with urban problems.

This book examines bias within the state of Israel and the media at large, through the lens of the news coverage of the Yemenite Babies Affair. The Yemenite Babies Affair is the emotionally laden, yet still unresolved, story of the alleged kidnapping of hundreds of Yemenite babies upon their arrival to Israel during the 1950s. In analyzing fifty years of public narratives, Shoshana Madmoni-Gerber argues that the media played a major role in the concurrent framing and silencing of this story. This eye-opening study exposes the clash between the European Zionist ideology of unity and the reality of Israel's diverse society, where at least half of the Jewish population is of Arab descent.

This is the updated and revised translation of the French original "Psychologie des espaces de travail", published in 1989. The goal of this book is to study the workplace from a psychosocial perspective. Workspace is a unique type of social environment. It is often situated on the outskirts of urban areas and relegated to property of little real estate value. It rarely gets the attention that the importance of its function in the social structure would merit. It does after all, represent a territory with its own style of occupation and its own organizational, material, and symbolic characteristics. This work is organized around the major concepts of space psychology and puts forward analysis models furnished by research on workspace. The book will familiarize the general public, students as well as professionals with a new way of comprehending professional organization and experiences. It does not only presents American and European research, but is also based on field studies by the author. 'Fischer's timely book brings out, by argument and by case-history, the importance of the subtle processes of using space and of appropriating it. Neither the designer not the manager can now claim ignorance of the high stakes involved; the world of business has to recognize that communications about the workplace can be two-directional, and that the employees' spatial experience and competence can contribute to creating successful working conditions, in both the short and the long terms'.

In many international settings, regional economies are declining resulting in lowered opportunities for these communities. This result attacks the very fabric of cohesion and purpose for these regional societies, and increases social, health, economic and sustainability problems. Community informatics research, education and practice is an emerging area in many countries, which seeks to address these issues. The primary objective of Using Community Informatics to Transform Regions is to provide leaders, policy developers, researchers, students and community workers with successful strategies and principles of Community Informatics to transform regions. This book embraces an integrative cross-sectoral approach in the use of Community Informatics to increase both social and cultural capital as a means to increased sustainability for regional communities.

1. The book provides practical guidance that will support the reader as they develop and deliver a costumed-interpreted character of their own. 2. The book provides a variety of examples for the reader to draw upon in their own practice. Comprehensive guidance on verbal techniques, such as voice tone and the use of accents, is provided. The importance of non-verbal communication is also covered, ensuring that the book will be useful to practitioners working at museum and heritage sites around the world. 3. This is the first practical guide to provide a non-US approach to costumed interpretation. The author demonstrates how it is possible to enhance visitor experience and on-site engagement through the use of costumed interpretation.

This book investigates the relationship of secrecy as a social practice to contemporary media, news cultures and public relations. Drawing on Georg Simmel's theorisation of how secrecy produces a 'second world' alongside the 'obvious world' and creates and reshapes social relations, Anne Cronin argues for close analysis of the PR industry as a powerful vector of secrecy and an examination of its relationship to news cultures. Using case studies and in-depth interviews, as well as recent research in media and cultural studies, sociology, journalism studies and communication studies, the book analyses how PR practices generate a second, shadow world of the media sphere which has a profound impact on the 'obvious world'. It interrogates both the PR industry's and news culture's role in shaping social relations for a digital media landscape, and those initiatives promoting transparency of data and decision-making processes. An insightful, interdisciplinary approach to debates on media and power, this book will appeal to students of public relations, sociology, media studies, cultural studies and communication studies. It will also be of interest to scholars and practitioners working at the intersections of media, social relations and public trust.

This book investigates how humanitarians balance the laws and principles of civilian protection with the realities of contemporary warzones, where non-state armed actors assert cultural, political and religious traditions that are often at odds with official frameworks. This book argues that humanitarian protection on the ground is driven not by official frameworks in the traditional sense, but by the relationships between the complex mix of actors involved in contemporary wars. The frameworks, in turn, act as a unifying narrative that preserves these relationships. As humanitarian practitioners navigate this complex space, they act as unofficial brokers, translating the official frameworks to align with the often-divergent agendas of non-state armed actors. In doing so, they provide an unofficial humanitarian fix for the challenges inherent in applying the official frameworks in contemporary wars. Drawing on rich ethnographic observations from the author's time in northern Iraq, and complemented by interviews with a range of fieldworkers and humanitarian policy makers and lawyers, this book will be a compelling read for researchers and students within humanitarian and development studies, and to practitioners and policy makers who are grappling with the contradictions this book explores.

This book systematically analyses state responses towards Maoism in India and studies the role of state policies in prolonging conflict. It looks at how the structural maladies that once gave rise to conflict have now found a place in the government responses meant to address it. The book studies the socio-political conditions of Adivasis and lower caste groups that make up large sections of the cadre and highlights the exclusionary nature of the Indian political landscape. It discusses various themes such as state legitimacy, the political landscape through exclusion, the agency of Maoist foot soldiers, limitations of government welfare responses, and the idea of the marginalised in India. Rich in empirical data, the book will be useful for scholars and researchers of development studies, political studies, political sociology, minority studies, exclusion studies, sociology and social anthropology. It will also be of interest to policy-makers.