Urban Change and Citizenship in Times of Crisis addresses the fact that in the beginning of the twenty-first century the majority of the world's population is urbanized, a social fact that has turned cities more than ever into focal sites of social change. Multiple economic and political strategies, employed by a variety of individual and collective actors, on a number of scales, constitute cities as contested spaces that hold opportunities as well as restrictions for their inhabitants. While cities and urban spaces have long been of central concern for the social sciences, today, classical sociological questions about the city acquire new meaning: Can cities be spaces of emancipation, or does life in the modern city entail a corrosion of citizenship rights? Is the city the focus of societal transformation processes, or do urban environments lose importance in shaping social reality and economic relationships? Furthermore, new questions urgently need to be asked: What is the impact of different historical phenomena such as neo-liberal restructuring, financial and economic crises, or migration flows, as well as their respective counter-movements, on the structure of contemporary cities and on the citizenship rights of city inhabitants? The three volumes address such crucial questions thereby opening up new spaces of debate on both the city and new developments of urbanism.

This innovative book takes a unique approach to rethinking welfare states by considering two centrally interlinked issues: namely what is welfare, and what we should expect from welfare states now and in the future. Bent Greve critically considers thinking on the core elements of welfare states, how they should be ranked and how to recognise indicators of their direction of movement. Providing expert analysis of the historical development of welfare states and the challenges and pressures experienced both regionally and globally, this book argues for a new division of welfare states and a system for balancing old and new social risk. The investigation of dilemmas and the analysis of developing welfare states are particularly illuminating and informative. Greve provides a forward-thinking approach considering long-term stability and the challenges of inequality and poverty in different welfare regimes. He effectively combines new perspectives with attention to a strong public sector economy. With insightful new analysis this book will be an invaluable read for researchers and students of social policy and welfare states.

What is the social structure of Chinese society in the 21st century? How should China address the problem of migrant workers? How can China form a modern society? These key sociological issues are some of the topics this book covers. This book is a collection of the research articles and lectures that Dr. Lu Xueyi, the former Head of the Institute of Sociology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences has published since the 1980s. The author discusses the social structure, social stratification, social construction and development of contemporary Chinese society. Arguing that the gap between economic and social development has become the major social issue facing modern China, the author advocates paying close attention to the country's social structure and the growth of the middle-class. The book will be of interest for all scholars and students of Sociology and Chinese Studies.

The Welfare State in Britain presents a history of British social policy from the election of Clement Attlee to the fall of Margaret Thatcher.Michael Hill focuses upon the political processes which influenced the key reforms of the late 1940s, and the ways in which those reforms have subsequently been consolidated and undermined. He critically examines some of the theories drawn from political science which have been used to explain the growth of the welfare state in Britain. The so called 'crisis of the welfare state' that has dominated recent rhetoric is shown to have its origins in the very period when the welfare state was believed to have been created. Despite its importance for electoral politics, social policy is shown to have often been subordinate to economic and foreign policy. The book will be essential reading for all students of social welfare and social policy as well as the political history of Britain since 1945.

The star of Marvel's first Asian superhero film, Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings, tells his own origin story of being a Chinese immigrant, his battles with cultural stereotypes and his own identity, becoming a TV star, and landing the role of a lifetime. In this honest, inspiring and relatable memoir, Simu Liu chronicles his family's journey from China to the bright lights of Hollywood with wit and humour. As a child, Simu's parents left him in the care of his grandparents, bringing him to Canada when he was four. However, Simu soon senses that his new guardians lack the gentle touch of his grandparents, resulting in harsh words and hurt feelings between him and his parents, who find their son emotionally distant and difficult to relate to. Although they are related by blood, they are separated by culture, language, and values. As Simu grows up, he plays the part of the pious child flawlessly - he gets straight As, performs exceptionally in national math competitions and makes his parents proud. However, as time passes, he grows increasingly disillusioned with the path that has been laid out for him. Less than a year out of University, he is fired from his first job and hits rock bottom. He develops a determination centred around creating his own path. This leads him to not only succeeding as an actor, but also opens the door to reconciling with his parents. We Were Dreamers is a story about growing up between cultures, finding your family, and becoming the master of your own extraordinary circumstance.

'They have built a dam across the rivers of justice and then they complain of the drought in the field below.' - With these stinging words W. Clarke Durrant III, then Chairman of the Legal Services Corporation, admonished the American Bar Association in 1987 for its use of monopoly prices to exclude less affluent Americans from access to civil justice.The Right to Justice reviews the history of legal services in the US from its origins in the 1890s to the multi-million dollar Federal program of the late 20th century. But this is no ordinary text. Charles Rowley skilfully shows how government transfers tend to be dissipated in competitive rent-seeking by special interest groups, that much of what is left tends to be subverted to the agendas of the more powerful groups and that the residuals tend to be inefficiently managed by a poorly monitored and ideologically motivated supply bureaucracy. The upshot is that customer preferences play little or no role in the allocation of resources within the legal services budget. In a veritable tour de force, Charles Rowley places the US Federal legal services program on the scholarly rack of public choice - which analyses individual behaviour in terms of universal self-seeking motivations in a political market. He offers a convincing unique explanation of the forces that have subverted a well meaning attempt to assist poor Americans into a co ordinated attack on the central institutions of the family, capitalism and of Madisonian Republicanism which together constitute the essence of the American dream.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This Advanced Introduction to Youth Studies analyses the historical development of the sociology of youth in the context of changing population demographics. Howard Williamson and James Cote explore competing paradigms underlying current understandings of youth with reference to key philosophical, theoretical and methodological debates. Young people's transitions to adulthood and youth cultural behaviour are then explored. The authors conclude with a consideration of youth policies and how, in the future, these may be better informed by sociological research. Key Features: Fact-based analysis of key debates Sociological perspectives informed by multidisciplinary analyses Concise coverage of complex topics Policy recommendations informed by years of experience in the field This Advanced Introduction will provide essential reading for scholars and researchers of sociology and sociological theory, as well as youth workers and students looking for an excellent introduction to youth studies.

How good is the NHS, really? That is the question this book seeks to answer, as the health service emerges from the gravest crisis in its history with more money - but greater challenges - than ever before. During the pandemic, voters made extraordinary sacrifices to save the NHS from collapse. Thanks to these efforts and the dedication and bravery of the NHS workforce, hospitals were able to treat patients with coronavirus, but millions of others lost out. Now an exhausted and depleted NHS workforce faces a huge backlog. The gap between supply and demand for publicly funded healthcare has never been so wide. With record numbers waiting for treatment, the politicians' answer has been to spend ever more taxpayers' money. The question is whether throwing cash at the problem will work. Every day, millions of patients receive care that is fair, good or outstanding. In keeping with Nye Bevan's founding principles, the same treatment is available to rich and poor, free at the point of need. Public support for the concept remains overwhelming. Yet for every positive NHS experience there are negatives: care that is substandard, disjointed and arrives too late. A cult of secrecy surrounds errors and failings. Politicians on all sides dissemble and lie. This book seeks to strip away the spin and uncover the true state of the NHS: the good, the bad and the ugly. It explores an increasingly urgent question: in an era of pandemics, can the NHS provide the quality of service patients deserve?

Despite the growth in literature on political corruption, contributions from field research are still exiguous. This book provides a timely and much needed addition to current research, bridging the gap and providing an innovative approach to the study of corruption and integrity in public administration. The volume contributors provide insights from nine different countries, all drawing on extensive fieldwork data and following ethnographic methodologies. The topics discussed in this book include: the role of anti-corruption legislation; organizational change and morality; party corruption; socio-cultural dimensions of corruption; clientelism and patronage. Analyzing these topics comparatively, the volume concludes that in countries where public perception of corruption is high, citizens are well aware of the generalized damage of these practices and the loss of trust they cause for public administrations. On the other hand, corruption in public administration takes place following patterns that mirror some of the fundamental social and cultural features that characterize interactions among citizens and institutions. Scholars and students of the fields including public policy, public administration, sociology and anthropology will find this book to be of use to their research and studies. It will also be of interest to policy-makers internationally and public sector practitioners. Contributors include: M. Acar, C. Baez Camargo, E. Denisova-Schmidt, Z.T. Lofranco, N. Luci, R.M. Rivera, R.F Sambaiga, D. Torsello

The star of Marvel's first Asian superhero film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, tells his own origin story of being a Chinese immigrant, his battles with cultural stereotypes and his own identity, becoming a TV star, and landing the role of a lifetime. In this honest, inspiring and relatable memoir, Simu Liu chronicles his family's journey from China to the bright lights of Hollywood with wit and humour. As a child, Simu's parents left him in the care of his grandparents, bringing him to Canada when he was four. However, Simu soon senses that his new guardians lack the gentle touch of his grandparents, resulting in harsh words and hurt feelings between him and his parents, who find their son emotionally distant and difficult to relate to. Although they are related by blood, they are separated by culture, language, and values. As Simu grows up, he plays the part of the pious child flawlessly - he gets straight As, performs exceptionally in national math competitions and makes his parents proud. However, as time passes, he grows increasingly disillusioned with the path that has been laid out for him. Less than a year out of University, he is fired from his first job and hits rock bottom. He develops a determination centred around creating his own path. This leads him to not only succeeding as an actor, but also opens the door to reconciling with his parents. We Were Dreamers is a story about growing up between cultures, finding your family, and becoming the master of your own extraordinary circumstance.

The Mexicans is a multifaceted portrait of the complex, increasingly turbulent neighbor to our south. It is the story of a country in crisis -- poverty, class tensions, political corruption -- as told through stories of individuals.

From Augustín, an honest cop, we learn that many in the Mexican police force use torture as their number-one-crime-solving technique; from Julio Scherer Garcia, a leading newspaper editor, we learn how kidnapping and intimidating phone calls stifle people despite his meager income; we hear from a homosexual teacher wary of bigotry in a land of machismo; and many others.

Moving from Mexico City discos to remote Indian towns, Patrick Oster tells of Mexicans whose lives reveal something vital about Mexico, and in doing so, helps to understand why many decide to risk their lives in order to have the opportunity to live in the United States.