This important sequel to Nordic Social Policy (Routledge 1999) compares welfare state development over the last twenty years in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden with that of Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and other Western European countries. Topics covered include:
* income distribution, health inequalities and gender equality
* gender policies, health and social care services and policy reaction to family changes
* social security and employment policies
* financing of welfare states.
In the context of globalisation, ageing populations, changing employment patterns and rising inequalities, Nordic Welfare States in the European Context offers an empirical analysis of welfare adaptations and a lively discussion of the historical development of European social policy. It finds a greater ambiguity regarding variation and trends than is commonly suggested. Contrary to expectation, there is little evidence of the Europeanisation of Nordic welfare states, rather the reverse. The comparable and empirical data used in this study make it a unique contribution to understanding current trends in European social policy.

'We were married after three years at opposite ends of the world.... We then, too rapidly for comfort, made off in a snowstorm for the South Seas.... All this we imprudently did in our late forties.' Thus Muriel Jones introduces her account, originally published in 1974, of how she came to start her married life in the Solomon Islands, 'whose impact was traumatic, perhaps just because we were not in our first youth or innocent of other tropical experience'. 'St Peter's College was the only thing at Siota'; there was no store and the only post office on the island 'was so difficult of access that I never visited it ... we ourselves did most of the postal business - quite informally - at our end of the island'. It is not surprising that even high-ranking visitors tended to arrive looking like ship-wrecked sailors. 'If one was ill enough to see a doctor one was, on the whole, too ill to be subjected to several hours of sun or rain in an open boat and a probable night en route.' There is, too, the account of the old lady whose family, on her death, wanted to bury her in a coffin instead of the customary mat. 'Poor old lady; at the end of all these exertions, the coffin with her in it stood in the church for the funeral, uneasily supported on two rickety small tables from our sitting room, mutely exhorting us to STOW AWAY FROM BOILERS.' Muriel Jones tells the unusual story of her five Melanesian years, of the impact of Christianity on a pagan people, of her husband's college and its move to another island, of the students, the islands and their animals and exotic vegetation, of the islanders (nine-tenths of whom live in communities ranging from twenty to two hundred people) and of their changing way of life. Her story takes one about as far as it is possible to go from an urban civilisation and in telling it she reveals the resources of her own character.

This text develops key topics in social work and social policy relating to exclusion, social divisions and control in welfare. It provides theoretical tools for students, academics and professionals whose work involves them in supporting the political agency of excluded groups. At a time when there have been profound shifts in the organization of welfare and the underpinning theories of the associated professions, the book tackles issues such as: the move away from publicly funded welfare; the loss of a public service ethic; reduction of input from professionals in policy; loss of professional skills; and the increase in bureaucracy. The book aims to open up the debate in social justice and anti-oppressive practice.

First book to use eight waves of Understanding Society longituidal data study to provide most comprehensive analysis to date of poverty and wealth distribution across the UK. 100 graphs and tables which present this information in a concise and readable form. Written by two academics whose work is regularly used by both the devolved Scottish government and at UK level e.g. their work was used in bring about universal provision of free school meals at primary level.

This book introduces students and other interested readers to the philosophical study of skepticism, a central and long-standing subject in philosophy. The first three chapters cover knowledge, providing the necessary foundation for introducing skepticism in the book's final three chapters. Throughout, the volume addresses basic questions in these two areas, such as: What are the differences between the three types of knowledge: direct knowledge, knowledge by ability, and propositional knowledge? What is the Gettier problem and why does it resist easy solutions? Why do philosophers still talk about Rene Descartes' techniques for raising doubts about what we can know but have largely forgotten Descartes' attempts to answer these doubts? How do we know that we're not just brains in a vat? Is Pyrrhonian skepticism-the idea that we know absolutely nothing-ultimately self-refuting? With a glossary of key terms and suggestions for further reading, Skepticism: The Basics is an ideal starting point for anyone seeking a lively and accessible foray into the study of epistemology. Key Features and Benefits: Cover both traditional topics - like the tripartite conception of knowledge - and emerging issues, like knowledge-first epistemology and concessive responses to inductive skepticism Demystifies an area where beginners frequently get stuck: the difference between common-sense skepticism and philosophical skepticism Clearly explains the important contributions from historical and contemporary thinkers, like Descartes, Hume, Popper, Quine, Dretske, Strawson, Nozick, and Sosa

The International Library of Sociology (ILS) is the most important series of books on sociology ever published. Founded in the 1940s by Karl Mannheim, the series became the forum for pioneering research and theory, marked by comparative approaches and analysis of new disciplines, such as the sociology of youth and culture. Spanning volumes by Parsons, Dickinson and Ossowski, the history of the ILS is the history of modern sociology.

Black British Culture and Society brings together in one indispensable volume key writings on the Black community in Britain, from the 'Windrush' immigrations of the late 1940s and 1950s to contemporary multicultural Britain. Combining classic writings on Black British life with new, specially commissioned articles, Black British Culture and Society records the history of the post-war African and Caribbean diaspora, tracing the transformations of Black culture in British society.
Black British Culture and Society explores key facets of the Black experience, charting Black Britons' struggles to carve out their own identity and place in an often hostile society. The articles reflect the rich diversity of the Black British experience, addressing economic and social issues such as health, religion, education, feminism, old age, community and race relations, as well as Black culture and the arts, with discussions of performance, carnival, sport, style, literature, theatre, art and film-making. The contributors examine the often tense relationship between successful Black public figures and the media, and address the role of the Black intellectual in public life. Featuring interviews with noted Black artists and writers such as Aubrey Williams, Mustapha Matura and Caryl Phillips, and including articles from key contemporary thinkers, such as Stuart Hall, A. Sivanandan, Paul Gilroy and Henry Louis Gates, Black British Culture and Society provides a rich resource of analysis, critique and comment on the Black community's distinctive contribution to cultural life in Britain today.

A number of societal risks pose serious challenges to families' well-being, many of which cut across divisions of class and race. These challenges include: changes in the labor market and economy; the increasing participation of mothers in the labor force; the changing nature of family structure and the composition of households; and the increase in the number of immigrant families. Key institutions in the lives of families, including places of employment and schools, can play a significant role in fostering families' capacity to adapt to the potential challenges they face. "Resilience Across Contexts: Family, Work, Culture, and Community" presents papers--written by leading scholars in varied disciplines including economics, developmental and educational psychology, education, and sociology--discussing factors that influence resilience development. The authors' research focuses on emerging issues that have significant implications for policy and practice in such areas as employment and new technologies; maternal employment and family development; family structure and family life; immigration, migration, acculturation, and education of children and youth; and social and human services delivery. The book's overall goal is to take stock of what is known from research and practice on some of the challenges facing children and families for policy development and improvement of practices.

This book offers a complete account of Contextual Safeguarding theory, policy, and practice frameworks for the first time. It highlights the particular challenge of extra-familial routes through which young people experience significant harm, such as child sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation, serious youth violence, domestic abuse in teenage relationships, bullying, gang-association, and radicalisation. Through analysing case reviews, observing professionals, and co-creating practices with them, Firmin provides a personal, philosophical, strategic, and practical account of the design, implementation and future of Contextual Safeguarding. Drawing together a wealth of practice examples, case studies, policy references, and practitioner insights for the first time, this book articulates a new safeguarding framework and provides a detailed account of its translation across an entire child protection system and its relevant component parts. It will be of interest to all scholars, students, and professionals working within social work, youth justice and youth work, policing and law enforcement, community safety, council services, forensic and clinical psychology, counselling, health, and education.

A rich heritage that needs to be documented
Beginning in 1869, when the study of homosexuality can be said to have begun with the establishment of sexology, this encyclopedia offers accounts of the most important international developments in an area that now occupies a critical place in many fields of academic endeavors. It covers a long history and a dynamic and ever changing present, while opening up the academic profession to new scholarship and new ways of thinking.
A groundbreaking new approach
While gays and lesbians have shared many aspects of life, their histories and cultures developed in profoundly different ways. To reflect this crucial fact, the encyclopedia has been prepared in two separate volumes assuring that both histories receive full, unbiased attention and that a broad range of human experience is covered.
Written for and by a wide range of people
Intended as a reference for students and scholars in all fields, as well as for the general public, the encyclopedia is written in user-friendly language. At the same time it maintains a high level of scholarship that incorporates both passion and objectivity. It is written by some of the most famous names in the field, as well as new scholars, whose research continues to advance gender studies into the future.

Black British Culture and Society brings together in one indispensable volume key writings on the Black community in Britain, from the 'Windrush' immigrations of the late 1940s and 1950s to contemporary multicultural Britain. Combining classic writings on Black British life with new, specially commissioned articles, Black British Culture and Society records the history of the post-war African and Caribbean diaspora, tracing the transformations of Black culture in British society.
Black British Culture and Society explores key facets of the Black experience, charting Black Britons' struggles to carve out their own identity and place in an often hostile society. The articles reflect the rich diversity of the Black British experience, addressing economic and social issues such as health, religion, education, feminism, old age, community and race relations, as well as Black culture and the arts, with discussions of performance, carnival, sport, style, literature, theatre, art and film-making. The contributors examine the often tense relationship between successful Black public figures and the media, and address the role of the Black intellectual in public life. Featuring interviews with noted Black artists and writers such as Aubrey Williams, Mustapha Matura and Caryl Phillips, and including articles from key contemporary thinkers, such as Stuart Hall, A. Sivanandan, Paul Gilroy and Henry Louis Gates, Black British Culture and Society provides a rich resource of analysis, critique and comment on the Black community's distinctive contribution to cultural life in Britain today.

This set publishes some of the leading European contributors to the early formation of historical and social science analysis of the orient. The collection concentrates on those authors who have shaped the modern debate on orientalism, especially on Islam, the Middle-East and orientalism in the late and early twentieth centuries.

Many people consider their weight to be a personal problem; when, then, does body weight become a social problem? Until recently, the major public concern was whether enough food was consistently available. As food systems began to provide ample and stable amounts of food, questions about food availability were replaced with concerns about "ideal" weights and appearance. These interests were aggregated into public concerns about defining people as "too fat" and "too thin." Social constructionist perspectives can contribute to the understanding of weight problems because they focus attention on how these problems are created, maintained, and promoted within various social environments. While there is much objectivist research concerning weight problems, few studies address the socially constructed aspects of fatness and thinness. This book however draws from and contributes to social constructionist perspectives. The chapters in this volume offer several perspectives that can be used to understand the way society deals with fatness and thinness. The contributors consider historical foundations, medical models, gendered dimensions, institutional components, and collective perspectives. These different perspectives illustrate the multifaceted nature of obesity and eating disorders, providing examples of how a variety of social groups construct weight as a social problem.

What is "too fat?" "Too thin"? Interpretations of body weight vary widely across and within cultures. Meeting weight expectations is a major concern for many people because failing to do so may incur dire social consequences, such as difficulty in finding a romantic partner or even in locating adequate employment. Without these social and cultural pressures, body weight would be only a health issue. While socially constructed standards of body weight may seem immutable, they are continuously re-created through social interactions that perpetuate or transform expectations about fatness and thinness. Understanding social constructions of body weight requires insight regarding how people develop and use constructions in their daily lives. While structural conditions and cultural environments make important contributions to weight constructions, the chapters in this book focus on the "social processes" in which people engage while they interpret, negotiate, resist, and transform cultural definitions and expectations. As such, most of the chapters in this volume borrow from and contribute to a symbolic interactionist perspective. Written by sociologists, psychologists, and nutritionists, all of the chapters in "Interpreting Weight" focus on how people construct fatness and thinness. The contributors examine different strategies used to interpret body weight, such as negotiating weight identities, reinterpreting weight, and becoming involved in weight-related organizations. Together, these chapters emphasize the many ways that people actively define, construct, and enact their fatness and thinness in a variety of settings and situations.

This book presents the argument that solution-driven policy and treaty changes, if faithfully implemented, will rekindle the relevance of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in combatting and prosecuting atrocity crimes. This work examines how the International Criminal Court could be re-envisioned to perform optimally, and why such reform is urgent. It also discusses the position of the USA towards the court and explores why it has been unable to transition from marginal engagement to full spectrum support by signing and ratifying the Rome Treaty 1998. The conceptual frameworks deployed range from how the US construes its 'national interest' to geo-political balancing and the present rudderless state of the rules order, in addition to the personal predilections of US Presidents and the Court's dysfunctional state. The objective is to show that if the ICC does not engender reforms internally, it will not survive the fissiparous tendencies innate in the presently fractured rules order. The work argues that only foundational reforms around treaty amendments along with institutional realignment of roles and responsibilities of the Court's principal officers will yet rescue it. The book will be of interest to researchers, academics and policy-makers working in the areas of International Criminal Law and International Relations.

This book demonstrates how the largely neglected and multifaceted concept of distance can be used as a primary lens to expand and enrich our understandings of what older people say about their lives, needs, and wishes in diverse surroundings in the Northern periphery and beyond. It asks how physical, social and emotional distances shape older people's everyday lives and practices. Contributions from leading experts provides interdisciplinary investigations into the experiences and stories of older people in the Northern periphery. These insights demonstrate the utility of the concept distance when reflecting on the central aspects of contemporary ageing societies. The book explores key themes such as care, age politics, technology, intergenerational relations and migration, providing perspectives that are applicable across a variety of international geographical contexts. This innovative book offers a valuable theoretical and methodological contribution with critical new perspections on ageing in relation to distances. It will be of interest to students and scholars interested in sociology, human geography, health and social care, ageing and gerontological studies, gender studies and Arctic studies.

This book explores the Indian tradition of liberalism through a critical intellectual biography of Valangaiman Sankaranarayana Srinivasa Sastri (1869–1946). A notable politician, diplomat and educationist in colonial India, Sastri was a founding member of the National Liberal Federation and was one of the leading liberals — often dismissed as ‘a body of sycophants and self-seekers’ — of the post-1918 period of Indian pre-independence history. Through Sastri, the book shines a light on the contributions of liberals in Indian political history and challenges the convenient binaries in Indian historiography. Examining the role that liberals like Sastri played in bridging the gap between the officials and the nationalists, it traces the practice of liberal politics in the post-1918 period of Indian nationalist struggle and the broader contours of Indian liberalism. Accessible, comprehensive and scholarly, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of Indian history, especially the nationalist movement, political thought, and South Asian studies.

Global Research Ethics is a guide for students and their instructors as well as practitioners and researchers to understand topics linked to research ethics from a more global perspective. Research plays a key role in identifying health disparity trends and evaluating interventions to improve the health and wellbeing of the populations at the individual, local, national, and global levels. Conducting ethically sound research is imperative in these contexts. This book (a) uses case studies to offer examples of current research ethical dilemmas and (b) considers regulatory and cultural frameworks in a number of country contexts that highlight diverse methods of identifying and managing these ethical dilemmas. Chapters cover different types (groups) of participants, issues in research, and ways of doing research; then each chapter looks at least three exemplar case studies with at least two analytical commentaries. Case studies include health and social care research, and originate from countries such as Brazil, Chile, South Africa, Botswana, Australia and New Zealand, as well as the US and UK. The different viewpoints showcased will allow for dialogue to ensue about the ways in which populations and topics in research need to be conceptualized. Global Research Ethics is suitable for all undergraduates and postgraduates on research methods courses in the social and health sciences. It provides academic researchers, students, and community partners with guidelines to reflect on as they develop their own research studies.

This book explores the Indian tradition of liberalism through a critical intellectual biography of Valangaiman Sankaranarayana Srinivasa Sastri (1869–1946). A notable politician, diplomat and educationist in colonial India, Sastri was a founding member of the National Liberal Federation and was one of the leading liberals — often dismissed as ‘a body of sycophants and self-seekers’ — of the post-1918 period of Indian pre-independence history. Through Sastri, the book shines a light on the contributions of liberals in Indian political history and challenges the convenient binaries in Indian historiography. Examining the role that liberals like Sastri played in bridging the gap between the officials and the nationalists, it traces the practice of liberal politics in the post-1918 period of Indian nationalist struggle and the broader contours of Indian liberalism. Accessible, comprehensive and scholarly, this book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of Indian history, especially the nationalist movement, political thought, and South Asian studies.

This book differs from books for the US Criminal Justice market, by offering an upper level, and philosophical introduction to Criminal Justice Ethics. Its focus on Anglo-American models of justice, means this has a market across western jurisdictions. This book has a market across criminology and criminal justice, philosophy and political science.

The third book in the Sustainable Well Series, Microbiology of Well Biofouling, is the second edition of Practical Manual of Groundwater Microbiology. It is concerned with solving production problems in all types of wells.

See what's new in the new edition:
· Addresses deleterious events in all types of wells in greater detail
· Discusses the generation of mass which interferes with the physical functioning of a well
· Covers the major innovations in the field
· Includes more field applicable material
· Completely revised and updated

The book is a useful reference guide for water well operators, hazardous waste site operators, consulting engineers, public health inspectors, microbiologists, and analytical chemists. It is written with a direct, straight forward approach based upon the advances in the technology over the last twenty years.

With this guide, you understand the phenomena of biofouling, corrosivity, biodegradation, and shifts in hydraulic transmissivity that can be linked to microbial events. Practical approaches to the evaluation of these effects are introduced, including standard and novel methodologies.

This text develops key topics in social work and social policy relating to exclusion, social divisions and control in welfare. It provides theoretical tools for students, academics and professionals whose work involves them in supporting the political agency of excluded groups. At a time when there have been profound shifts in the organization of welfare and the underpinning theories of the associated professions, the book tackles issues such as: the move away from publicly funded welfare; the loss of a public service ethic; reduction of input from professionals in policy; loss of professional skills; and the increase in bureaucracy. The book aims to open up the debate in social justice and anti-oppressive practice.

From strip clubs to gambling halls to swingers clubs to porn sets - and then back to the strip clubs, but only because he left his glasses there - Sagal explores exactly what the sinful folk do, how much they pay for the privilege, and how exactly they got those funny red marks. He hosts a dinner for three of the smartest porn stars in the world, asks the floor manager at the oldest casino in Vegas how to beat the house, and indulges in molecular cuisine at the Finest Restaurant in the Country. Find out what exactly goes on in Vegas - and in less glamorous places - all laid out in these pages, a modern version of Dante's Inferno, except with more jokes.

This book constitutes a major new resource for professionals working with hard core smokers and their families. It is designed as a practical, clinically useful and up-to-date guide for all those in a position to intervene: mental health professionals, physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists and other health care professionals, clergy, human resource and employee assistance program corporate staff, and teachers and guidance counselors.
New research suggests that difficult-to-treat smokers often have emotional problems adjusting to stopping smoking. Some also have psychiatric diagnoses or abuse other substances. These are factors which interfere with their efforts to quit.
Because these difficulties have been poorly understood, hard-core smokers have not been provided with adequate resources and skills to overcome their addiction. These smokers are in need of increasingly comprehensive assessment and treatment.
Despite massive public health education about the dangers of cigarette smoking, rates of smoking among the population are no longer declining in the United States and the success rates of clinical programs for smokers remain low. "Helping the Hard-Core Smoker" seeks to explain why current approaches are often inadequate and how best to help today's highly nicotine-dependent smokers who are struggling with their addiction quit.

This book offers an analytical overview of schools of thought on European integration which offer useful insights into EU social politics. Building on this framework, the chapters then examine in detail pre-Maastricht social policy and the 'social partners', the innovations of the Treaty itself, and where EU social policy stands at the end of the 1990s. Case studies of European Works Councils, parental leave, and atypical work, are included to highlight the day-to-day processes at work in social policy formation and the major interest groups and EU institutions involved. This is an up-to-date and accessible study which finds the social policy-making environment in the EU has become increasingly corporatist in the 1990s.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203299078