Explorative, responsive and research-led, this ground-breaking textbook offers students invaluable insights into the passage of human development from birth to adulthood. Understanding Developmental Psychology engages students from the outset with its conversational style, taking them on a fascinating journey through their own physical, cognitive, social and emotional development. With a focus on developing critical thinking skills, the book encourages students to engage with cutting-edge research in areas such as replication, gender fluidity, the ageing global population, the implications of social media and recent breakthroughs in neurodevelopment. This textbook not only covers the foundations of developmental psychology but also offers a, fresh perspective on the latest developments in the field. This comprehensive introduction is ideal for both undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in developmental psychology. Critical and accessible, the book connects students to the field of developmental psychology in an accessible and culturally inclusive way.

The new edition of this established core textbook continues to give an insightful, authoritative and accessible overview of competing theoretical positions on the sociological study of childhood. The book explores the ways these theories inform key themes, including education, work, identity and agency. The study of childhood has taken on an increasingly global focus in recent years, honing in on how issues of rights, protection and development shape the lives of children and those around them at political, social and institutional levels across the world. As a result, this book guides students through the theories and research on childhood in both local and global contexts. Author Michael Wyness clearly illustrates how a study of childhood can inform sociological thinking on social crises, changes and problems such as globalisation, criminality and disruption of the social order. Written for students exploring childhood from a sociological perspective, this is the essential introduction to the topic. New to this Edition: - A broadened global focus throughout every chapter, including more on the developing world. - A revised chapter on researching children and childhood. - An updated critical appraisal of children's rights, as well as new data on child protection and schooling. - The introduction of new key readings and 'Academic Insights' boxes that explore research on important topics in more detail.

What can sociology tell us about our personal lives, families and intimate relationships? This book explains how key theoretical perspectives and relevant contemporary research in the discipline can shed new light on even the most familiar areas of our everyday worlds. From friendships and pets, to political engagement and social legislation, the text shows how distinctions and connections can be drawn between our public and private lives. Each chapter explores a familiar topic that illustrates how individual relationships and lives can be shaped by social contexts, and how personal choices shape the wider social world. Using vivid case examples drawn from topical areas of debate, such as marriage rights and the role of social networking, the book is clearly laid out and easy to read. It gives useful explanations of theory and invaluable advice on how to carry out research on personal lives and relationships. This is essential reading for students of sociology interested in family, relationships and beyond. New to this Edition: - Pre-existing chapters have been fully re-written - Includes a number of new chapters on topics such as the body, home and personal life in public spaces. - Reformulated 'questions for discussion' at the end of each chapter.

Life on the Malecon is a narrative ethnography of the lives of street children and youth living in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and the non-governmental organizations that provide social services for them. Writing from the perspective of an anthropologist working as a street educator with a child welfare organization, Jon M. Wolseth follows the intersecting lives of children, the institutions they come into contact with, and the relationships they have with each other, their families, and organization workers. Often socioeconomic conditions push these children to move from their homes to the streets, but sometimes they themselves may choose the allure of the perceived freedoms and opportunities that street life has to offer. What they find, instead, is violence, disease, and exploitation-the daily reality through which they learn to maneuver and survive. Wolseth describes the stresses, rewards, and failures of the organizations and educators who devote their resources to working with this population. The portrait of Santo Domingo's street children and youth population that emerges is of a diverse community with variations that may be partly related to skin color, gender, and class. The conditions for these youth are changing as the economy of the Dominican Republic changes. Although the children at the core of this book live and sleep on avenues and plazas and in abandoned city buildings, they are not necessarily glue- and solvent-sniffing beggars or petty thieves on the margins of society. Instead, they hold a key position in the service sector of an economy centered on tourism. Life on the Malecon offers a window into the complex relationships children and youth construct in the course of mapping out their social environment. Using a child-centered approach, Wolseth focuses on the social lives of the children by relating the stories that they themselves tell as well as the activities he observes.

This innovative study considers how approximately seven thousand male graduates of law came to understand themselves as having a legitimate claim to authority over nineteenth-century Brazilian society during their transition from boyhood to manhood.
While pursuing their traditional studies at Brazil's two law schools, the students devoted much of their energies to theater and literature in an effort to improve their powers of public speaking and written persuasion. These newly minted lawyers quickly became the magistrates, bureaucrats, local and national politicians, diplomats, and cabinet members who would rule Brazil until the fall of the monarchy in 1889.

Andrew J. Kirkendall examines the meaning of liberalism for a slave society, the tension between systems of patriarchy and patronage, and the link between language and power in a largely illiterate society. In the interplay between identity and state formation, he explores the processes of socialization that helped Brazil achieve a greater measure of political stability than any other Latin American country.

This study explores developments in the theory and practice of European feminism. It assesses the significance of trends both in terms of a possible convergence of identities and issues across national boundaries and of the continuing relevance and vitality of feminist thinking and female activism throughout the 1990s. The text focuses on Europe, East and West, paying particular attention to the former USSR.

Children's and young people's geographies is one of the most recent sub-disciplines within human geography. It has rapidly developed to a level of critical mass which includes established academic work, key names within academia, growing numbers of graduate students, expanding numbers of university level taught courses, as well as national and international training programmes focusing on younger people. In addition to the journal Children's Geographies, all the major academic presses have published monographs, textbooks and edited collections focusing on children and young people. However, the largest international collection of scholarly work on geographies of children and young people is now available through the Springer Major Reference Work, Geographies of Children and Young People. This edited collection comprises twelve volumes containing almost 300 chapters. The volumes and sections are structured by themes, which reflect the broader geographical debates, geographical diversity, and scholarly expertise of 24 editors and chapter contributors.

This book examines the lived reality of 'everyday multiculturalism', and the ways that young people make sense of the diverse world around them. Currently we know very little about how multiculturalism shapes our lives, our interactions and our identity. This is especially pertinent for young people. How do young people from largely white, disadvantaged backgrounds interpret multiculturalism? How do they engage with people from 'different' minority ethnic and faith communities? How do they negotiate the challenges that arise within ever-diversifying environments? Drawing on empirical research, Stevie-Jade Hardy uncovers the fears and tensions that both undermine, and are caused by, doing multiculturalism. In doing so, she shines a light on the 'hidden' phenomenon of youth hate crime perpetration. This book will be of particular interest to scholars of criminology, sociology and cultural studies, as well as to professionals and policy-makers working in the fields of diversity and hate crime.