The topics covered in this book are directly related to much of the misunderstanding of what sociology is about. It is usual nowadays to label as sociological any discussion concerned, however loosely, with 'Society'. But a careful reading of Mr Timms' treatment of the problem areas he has chosen should make clear the difference between this use of the adjective in everyday speech, and its more vigorous technical use. In dealing with his subject Mr Timms makes use of the concepts of sociology such as 'role', 'norms', 'social control', 'class', and 'family'.

EU member states have seen high levels of unemployment in recent years especially amongst young people. At the same time the fiscal crisis of welfare states has made it difficult for them to invest in new jobs and new economic growth. The EU, at least since the enactment of the Amsterdam treaty, has had a focus on how to support member states' development of an employment policy which aims for higher levels of participation, lower levels of unemployment and more gender equal approaches. Through exploring patterns in the recent development of financing and governance of social services and developments of social services and employment in the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany and the UK, this volume provides readers with new knowledge and evidence of the options regarding social innovation in social services. Furthermore, it provides a comparative European perspective on how the interplay between a public and private mix of social service on the one hand might help in creating jobs, and, on the other, be a way of coping with the needs and expectations of higher level of services in the core areas of the welfare state.

This book analyses contemporary trends in radical unionism in Europe. It contains nine country case-studies that probe the limits and possibilities of trade union renewal with a focus on radical activity. The editors follow a broad definition of radical unionism, including trade union organisations that can be characterised as radical either in terms of ideology and political identity or in terms of organising and mobilising activity. The ongoing economic crisis and consequent austerity measures, and employers' strategies for increasing labour market flexibility have encouraged the deregulation of capitalism in Europe. The question this book asks is whether radicalised unionism, political action and grassroots activism present opportunities for union renewal and collective interest representation in this economic context. This question is examined in nine national contexts with diverse industrial relations frameworks and trade unions. The editors assess the degree to which we are witnessing the emergence of 'radical political unionism' as an alternative model of trade unionism in Europe, focused on class struggle, engagement in social movement activity beyond the workplace, and politicised union strategies aligned to new left-wing political formations.

An integrated guide to the entire range of clinical art therapy. Its scope is immense, covering every age range in a variety of settings from schools and outpatient clinics to psychiatric hospitals and private treatment. Of special value are the extensive case studies and 148 illustrations.

In the first substantial study of mounting urban problems in the Middle East, contributors present case studies of cities in Turkey, Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Yemen, Sudan, and Iran. In particular, they address problems of urban planning and administration (including historic preservation issues), poverty and marginalization, health and gender in the urban environment, and the impact of politics on the city, including the actions of Islamicist groups. The authors stress that Middle East cities are indeed in crisis; in a concluding chapter, Michael Bonine asks whether or not they are sustainable.

Each year, countless people fall victim to crimes against humanity. These include widespread occurrences of systematic murder, torture, rape, disappearances, forced deportation and political persecution. Crimes against humanity constitute an attack on human dignity and as such they violate the human rights of the victim, as well as the laws of humanity. In recent years, following the creation of the International Criminal Court, there has been a growing interest in the prosecution of offenders and, in particular, in reparation following crimes against humanity. While such measures are meant to provide justice for victims, victims are often forgotten or lost in legal debates about what constitutes reparation and who is eligible to receive it. This book reaches beyond the boundaries of law and psychology and takes a multidisciplinary approach to the question of reparation for victims of crimes against humanity. Law does not take place in a vacuum and it is important to consider the impact of the law on the psychology of the victim, as well as the legal principles themselves. Herein lies the originality of this book, which bridges the gaps between psychology, victimology, criminology and law and will be of key interest to academics and students engaged in the study of these areas.

Research Methods in Africana Studies is a major contribution to the discipline of Africana studies and social science involving people of African descent in general. This textbook is the first of its kind, offering instruction on how to conduct culturally relevant critical research on Africana communities in the American context, in addition to the African diaspora. It contains a collection of the most widely used theories and paradigms designed for exploring, explaining, and advancing Africana communities through science. The relevance, strengths, and weaknesses of every major method of data collection are explained as they relate to the lived experiences of the Black world. It stands alone as the only textbook that details empirical methods in the service of the collective advancement of Africana peoples.

Research Methods in Africana Studies is a major contribution to the discipline of Africana studies and social science involving people of African descent in general. This textbook is the first of its kind, offering instruction on how to conduct culturally relevant critical research on Africana communities in the American context, in addition to the African diaspora. It contains a collection of the most widely used theories and paradigms designed for exploring, explaining, and advancing Africana communities through science. The relevance, strengths, and weaknesses of every major method of data collection are explained as they relate to the lived experiences of the Black world. It stands alone as the only textbook that details empirical methods in the service of the collective advancement of Africana peoples.

Care work, both paid and unpaid, contributes to well-being, social development and economic growth. But the costs of providing care are unequally borne across gender and social class. Feminist scholarship on the gendered construction of welfare provisioning and welfare regimes has produced a conceptually strong and empirically grounded analysis of care, reinforcing the necessity of rethinking the distinctions between "the public" and "the private" as well as the links between them. Yet this analysis, premised on post-industrial contexts, does not travel easily to other parts of the world. Many of its core assumptions - about family structures, labor markets, state capacities, and public social provisioning - do not hold for a wider range of countries. Drawing on original research on the care economy in three developing regions (Africa, Asia, Latin America), this volume addresses a major empirical lacuna while facilitating a conversation across the North-South divide.

Criticism is often levied that care ethics is too narrow in scope and fails to extend to issues of social justice. Socializing Care attempts to dispel that criticism. Contributors to the volume demonstrate how the ethics of care factors into a variety of social policies and institutions, and can indeed be useful in thinking about a number of different social problems. Divided into two sections, the first looks at care as a model for an evaluative framework that rethinks social institutions, liberal society, and citizenship at a basic conceptual level. The second explores care values in the context of specific social practices (like live kidney donations) or settings (like long-term care), as a framework that should guide thinking. Ultimately, this collection demonstrates how society would benefit from a more serious engagement with care ethics.

"Human security" is an approach that rejects the traditional prioritization of state security, and instead identifies the individual as the primary referent of security. It offers a way of broadening our perspective, and recognizing that the most pressing threats to individuals do not come from interstate war, but from the emergencies that affect people every day, such as famine, disease, displacement, civil conflict and environmental degradation. Human security is about people living their lives with dignity, being free from "fear" and "want". To date, there has been a strong tendency to focus on insecurity caused by civil conflict, with less attention on issues to do with environmental security. This volume addresses the threat posed by natural disasters, which represent an increasingly major human security threat to people everywhere. In looking at natural disasters, this book also refines the human security approach. It does so through developing its previously unexplored interdisciplinary potential. This volume explicitly seeks to bring the human security approach into conversation with contributions from a range of disciplines: development, disaster sociology, gender studies, international law, international relations, philosophy, and public health. Collectively these scholars unpack the "human" element of "natural" disasters. In doing so, an emphasis is placed on how pre-existing vulnerabilities can be gravely worsened, as well as the interconnected nature of human security threats. The book presents a variety of case studies that include the Indian Ocean tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the 2010 Haiti earthquake, and the 2011 "triple disasters" in Japan.

The creation of Britain's welfare state in 1948 was an event of major international importance. Designed to provide a concise introduction to the evolution of both the structure of the welfare state and attitudes towards it. Concentrates on five core services: health care, education, social security, the personal social services and housing. For each service it examines the original vision, the attempts to implement this vision, the resulting complexities and controversies and, above all, the impact on individual 'customers'. A wide range of documentary evidence is used, including published and unpublished government sources, political memoirs, newspaper exposes and personal testimony. -- .

See blurb for Communication and Disenfranchisement. Books will be promoted together.

The Divisive State of Social Policy reviews one of the most contentious aspects of UK austerity politics: the `Bedroom Tax'. Combining detailed policy analysis with personal stories from one housing estate, the book traces the links between Housing Benefit reforms and inequality, and examines how the Tax has contributed to housing precarity, poverty and damage to social networks.

This book challenges sociologists and sociology students to think beyond the construction of social problems to tackle a central question: What do sociologists do with the analytic tools and academic skills afforded by their discipline to respond to social problems? Service Sociology posits that a central role of sociology is not simply to analyse and interpret social problems, but to act in the world in an informed manner to ameliorate suffering and address the structural causes of these problems. This volume provides a unique contribution to this approach to sociology, exploring the intersection between its role as an academic discipline and its practice in the service of communities and people. With both contemporary and historical analyses, the book traces the legacy, characteristics, contours, and goals of the sociology of service, shedding light on its roots in early American sociology and its deep connections to activism, before examining the social context that underlies the call for volunteerism, community involvement and non-profit organisations, as well as the strategies that have promise in remedying contemporary social problems. Presenting examples of concrete social problems from around the world, including issues of democratic participation, poverty and unemployment, student involvement in microlending, disaster miitigation, the organization and leadership of social movements, homelessness, activism around HIV/AIDS and service spring breaks, Service Sociology and Academic Engagement in Social Problems explores the utility of public teaching, participatory action research, and service learning in the classroom as a contribution to the community.

One of the distinguishing characteristics of London's bid to host the games was its commitment to legacy where it was argued that 'the legacy would lead to the regeneration of an entire community for the direct benefit of everyone who lives there'. This book adopts a critical approach to the concept of 'legacy' focussing specifically on housing. It argues there will be a range of both intended and unintended legacy outcomes and an urgent need for revised strategies if those original objectives are to be achieved. The concept of legacy is explored in a number of ways, including an overview of housing legacy in other host cities; the experiences and perspectives of those residents decanted to make way for the Olympic Park; a critical review of legacy plans; a detailed analysis of the conversion of the Athletes' Village into housing; and a case study of the emerging area 'Stratford High Street', which explores issues of social class change and the limitation of planning policies. Whilst taking housing as its focus, this book adopts a sociological perspective by exploring the likelihood of social class change in order to draw conclusions about 'gentrification', 'social polarisation' and the extent to which 'social inclusion' is reflected in housing legacies.

Current debates around participation and marginalization dominate the agenda of many European political forums. There is an increasing concern about the stability of social cohesion and a growing number of particular groups of people who are regarded as being at risk of being socially excluded or marginalized. This volume goes beyond the surface of public discussions to look at the central role played by welfare services in European societies in either strengthening or hindering participatory citizenship and democracy. In current discussions welfare services - understood in a broad sense - are centrally positioned: there are high expectations that welfare services can hinder marginalization and enable participation. Yet marginalization is, in most cases, rooted in the deeper structures of society, with economy, participation and involvement dependent on political or highly personal factors, which are beyond the scope of welfare services. This groundbreaking volume posits that participation and marginalization are 'twin' concepts, expressing opposing sides of one and the same processes faced by individuals and communities. It will be essential reading for social workers, sociologists and policy-makers throughout Europe.

Series Information:
The State of Welfare

This book provides fresh perspectives on the state of policy practice. Leading scholars explore such vital conceptual topics such as how to impact social justice, what the strengths-based perspective means to policy practitioners and how to bridge the all-too common gap between community organizing and direct practice in social work. Other esteemed academics address topics including how to use technology to impact social justice, what the impacts of the recent changes in the United States' Supreme Court will be, how to conceptualize the impact of ex-prisoners' re-entry into society and how to better include marginalized populations in the policy practice. The volume closes with two pieces relating to students: using service learning to increase knowledge of macro interventions and integrating social capital analysis into policy practice. Each topic is thoroughly covered by experts, using the latest scholarly material available. The reader will come away with a new perspective on the many areas where social work is involved, needed and effective in making positive change in the world. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Policy Practice.

This book provides a source of innovative theories and data for researchers grappling with social justice methodology and research methods in an environment constrained by funding agendas. This book foregrounds and promotes creativity and imagination within a critical frame of reference to challenge the status quo. It invites people into creative spaces for thinking about and researching 'the social'. With/in these spaces both the processes of social justice research (methodology) and the presentation of the research (re-presentation) are seen as being intertwined. This book explores methodologies which include, but are not limited to: writing as inquiry; performance ethnography; emotional geographies; arts-based inquiry; autoethnography; evocative inquiry; reader's theatre. This may include poetry, monologues, art, music, dance, and other creative mediums. Many of these methods are not new per se. What is new is the blurring of traditional research boundaries, for example between the social sciences and the arts, and the initial movement of these methods from the margins to the mainstream in the search for more successful ways to effect social justice outcomes. This book was published as a special issue of the International Journal of Social Research Methodology.

This book examines the foundation and progress of the Rochester Monroe Anti-Poverty Initiative (RMAPI). Poverty has once again become a major issue in American cities, and nowhere more so than Rochester, which has one of the highest rates of poverty in the nation. RMAPI was established to reduce poverty, yet in the five years since its formation the poverty rate is essentially unchanged. Analyzing the reasons behind its failure, this book argues that the very nature of the organizational framework is part of the problem, and that RMAPI's project is caught up with contradictory imperatives of neo-liberal welfare reforms. More than just a study of local interest, the book uses Rochester as a case study to illuminate the limits of the neo-liberal approach to poverty. It will appeal to all those interested in political science, urban politics, community studies, welfare policy and public administration.

In a groundbreaking longitudinal study, researches studied seven similar social housing neighbourhoods in Ireland to determine what factors affected their liveability. In this collection of essays, the same researchers return to these neighbourhoods ten years later to see what's changed. Are these neighbourhoods now more liveable or leaveable? Social Housing, Disadvantage and Neighbourhood Liveability examines the major national and local developments that externally affected these neighbourhoods: the Celtic tiger boom, area-based interventions, and reforms in social housing management. Additionally, the book examines changes in the culture of social housing through studies of crime within social housing, changes in public service delivery, and media reporting on social housing. Social Housing, Disadvantage and Neighbourhood Liveability offers a new body of data valuable to researchers in Ireland and abroad on how to create more equitable and liveable social housing.

This comprehensive collection provides a fascinating summary of the debates on the growth of institutional care during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Revising and revisiting Foucault, it looks at the significance of ethnicity, race and gender as well as the impact of political and cultural factors, throughout Britain and in a colonial context. It questions historically what it means to be mad and how, if at all, to care.

Related link: The Society for the Social History of Medicine
eBook available with sample pages: 0203025784

For many, caring for a chronically ill family member is "the right thing to do," but it is also often a source of emotional hardship, physical stress, and social isolation. In response, skill-building, coping, and psychoeducational programs have emerged to help caregivers meet the changes and challenges in their - as well as the patients' - lives.

"Education and Support Programs for Caregivers "reveals the diversity of the caregiver population as well as their experiences and needs, and it introduces an empirically solid framework for planning, implementing, and evaluating caregiver programs. The book synthesizes current trends, exploring the effectiveness of different types of programs (e.g., clinic, community, home based) and groups (e.g., peer, professional, self-help), and how supportive programs lead to improved care.

Coverage includes:

Improving service delivery of education and support programs to underserved caregivers.Cultural, ethnic, and gender issues in conducting caregiver education and support groups.Utilization patterns (e.g., a key to understanding service needs).E-health, telehealth, and other technological developments in caregiver services.Evaluating the effectiveness and sustainability of programs.Recommendations for future practice, training, policy, and advocacy.

"Education and Support Programs for Caregivers" offers a wealth of insights and ideas for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students across the caregiving fields, including psychology, social work, public health, geriatrics and gerontology, and medicine as well as public and education policy makers.

What social factors contribute to the tragic state of health care in Africa? Focusing on East African societies, this book is the first to investigate what role religion plays in health care in African cultures. Taking into account the geopolitical and economic environments of the region, the authors examine the roles played by individual and group beliefs, government policies, and pressure from the Millennium Development Goals in affecting health outcomes. Informed by existing related studies, and on-the-ground interviews with individuals and organizations in Uganda, Mozambique and Ethiopia, this interdisciplinary book will form an invaluable resource for scholars seeking to better understand the links between society, multi-level state instruments, and health care in East Africa.