Environmental movements are at a crossroads. Increasingly institutionalized almost everywhere in the industrially developed societies, established environmental organizations are confronted by new radical groups and uninstitutionalized local protesters. Despite growing evidence of the universality of environmental problems and of economic and cultural globalization, the development of a truly global environmental movement is at best tentative. The dilemmas which confront environmental organizations are no less apparent at the global than at national levels. This volume is a collection of 1990s research on environmental movements in western and southern Europe, the US and the global arena.

There is no denying that friendship, however narrow or broad the definition, is dynamic and highly responsive to socio-cultural and environmental factors. Urban Youth Friendships and Community Practice highlights the greater importance of friendships in circumstances where youth have been marginalized and have limited access to instrumental resources that restrict geographical mobility or curtail their movement to limited public spaces (in which they are validated, and even liked or admired). Youth friendships are not limited to peer-networks; they can cross other social divides and involve adults of all ages. Indeed, community practice and asset assessment approaches are increasingly focusing on the relevance of strong peer relationships and networks as strengths upon which to build. Friendships, therefore, are a community asset and as such could be included as a key aspect of community asset assessments and interventions. Community organizations, schools, religious institutions, and other less-formal groups provide practitioners with ample opportunities to foster urban youth friendships. This book seeks to accomplish four goals: (1) provide a state of knowledge on the definition, role, and importance of friendships in general and specifically on urban youth of color (African-American, Asia and Latinos); (2) draw implications for community practice scholarship and practice; (3) illustrate how friendships can be a focus of a community capacity enhancement assets paradigm through the use of case illustrations; and (4) provide a series of recommendations for how urban friendships can be addressed in graduate level social work curriculum but with implications for other helping professions. Urban Youth Friendships and Community Practice is a must-have for community practitioners, whether their focus be social work, recreation, education, planning, or out-of-school programming.

Based upon a series of detailed case studies of associations such as early synagogues and churches, philosophical schools and pagan mystery cults, this collection addresses the question of what can legitimately be termed a "voluntary association". Employing modern sociological concepts, the essays show how the various associations were constituted, the extent of their membership, why people joined them and what they contributed to the social fabric of urban life. For many, such groups were the most significant feature of social life beyond family and work. All of them provided an outlet of religious as well as social commitments. Also included are studies of the way in whcih early Jewish and Christian groups adopted and adapted the models of private association available to them and how this affected their social status and role. Finally, the situation of women is discussed, as some of the voluntary associations offered them a more significant recognition than they received in society at large.

Rather than focusing upon advanced countries, where civil society growth is seen as a post-market development, this volume explores developing countries, with case studies examining grassroots developments and experiences. The desirability, efficiency and effectiveness of market institutions as viewed by civil society organizations is addressed in this important collection, which moves the debate from acceptance or criticism of global markets to focus upon the case of rural development where local social relations and economic exchange remain more powerful and relevant than the operation of markets .

The past decade has seen the emergence of new types of trade union representatives attracting new and more diverse activists; this book explores their motivations and values, drawing upon the voices of the activists themselves and capturing the relationship between work, social identity and class consciousness.

Few terms elicit such strong and varied feelings and yet have so little clarity as "democracy." Leaders of large states use "democracy" to designate their nations' public character even as critics and rivals use the term to validate their own political perspectives. In Envisioning Democracy, the editors and contributors address the following questions: What does democracy mean today? What could it mean tomorrow? What is the dynamic of democracy in an increasingly interdependent world? Envisioning Democracy explores these questions amid the dynamic of democracy as a political phenomenon interacting with forms of economic, ethical, ethnic, and intellectual life. The book draws on the work of Sheldon S. Wolin (1922-2015), one of the most influential American theorists of the last fifty years. Here, scholars consider the historical conditions, theoretical elements, and practical impediments to democracy, using Wolin's insights as touchstones in thinking through the possibilities and obstacles facing democracy now and in the future.

*** THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS GIFT FOR FANS OF THE LIDO AND THE READING LIST *** 'The Last Library made me laugh, cry, cheer and want to champion all of our fabulous libraries' Clare Pooley, author of The Authenticity Project 'A powerful reminder about the importance of community, kindness and friendship. A truly stunning debut' Hannah Tovey, author of The Education of Ivy Edwards 'I adored every page' Jessica Ryn, author of The Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside You can tell a lot about a person from the library books they borrow Lonely library assistant June is much more comfortable with books than people. When her mum - the beloved local librarian - passed away, June stepped into her shoes. But shy June has always felt that she could never live up to her mum's legacy. Instead, she's retreated into herself, surviving on takeaways-for-one and her favourite stories. When the library is threatened with closure, June is distraught. Yet when a ragtag band of eccentric but dedicated locals establish the Friends of Chalcot Library campaign, June is forbidden from joining their cause. If June wants to save the place that means so much to her, she'll have to make some bold changes to her life: opening up her heart to friendship, opportunities and maybe even more . . . 'A sheer joy. A funny, poignant story of love, loss, self-discovery and courage. A celebration of books and everything that makes us human' Katie Marsh, author of My Everything 'A truly lovely and endearing read' Nina Pottell EditBuild

Despite decades of efforts to combat homelessness, many people continue to experience it in Canada's major cities. There are a number of barriers that prevent effective responses to homelessness, including a lack of agreement on the fundamental question: what is homelessness? In Multiple Barriers, Alison Smith explores the forces that shape intergovernmental and multilevel governance dynamics to help better understand why, despite the best efforts of community and advocacy groups, homelessness remains as persistent as ever. Drawing on nearly 100 interviews with key actors in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal, as well as extensive participant observation, Smith argues that institutional differences across cities interact with ideas regarding homelessness to contribute to very different models of governance. Multiple Barriers shows that the genuine involvement of locally based service providers, with the development of policy, are necessary for an effective, equitable, and enduring solution to the homelessness crisis in Canada.

Grounded in extensive historical research, this eye-opening survey reveals the long-undervalued role secret societies have played in American history. Americans are fascinated by secret societies and have devoured exaggerated claims for their influence. At the same time, scholarly assessments of covert groups that have shaped American social, cultural, and political history have often undervalued their role or even questioned their existence. This survey challenges both the exaggerators and the deniers. Freemasons? They may not be the hidden rulers of the world, but a significant number of America's founders were Masons. The Know Nothings? Two American presidents joined the movement. The Bohemian Grove? Republican politicians and corporate leaders really did engage in strange behavior under the redwood trees through the 20th century. Revealing fascinating facts about some of the most talked-about covert societies, including the Mafia, the Skull and Bones and the Ku Klux Klan, Secret Societies and Clubs in American History exposes the truth about the subcultures that made their mark on some of the most important events in the nation's history and contributed to the shaping of the country itself. Based on scholarly research, this book appeals to both academics and the general public Sheds light on familiar figures from American history Includes photographs

University student-run communications agencies allow students to work with real clients and get real world experience before they graduate from college and enter the workforce. Student-run agencies are increasing in popularity, but building a successful agency is challenging. With more than ten years of experience supervising a student-run agency, Swanson examines the three critical roles a student agency must fulfill in order to be successful. First, the agency must be an exceptional environment for learning. Second, it must be a successful business-without satisfied clients, the agency will not survive. Third, it must be a supportive partner in both on- and off-campus communities. As the first book to address student-run agencies, Real World Career Preparation offers extensive 'how to' guidance, and is supported by 22 Agency Spotlight best practice examples from student-run agencies across the U.S. The book ends with a comprehensive directory of 158 university student-run agencies in operation all over the world. Real World Career Preparation is essential reading for any faculty member or administrator who is involved with an agency, or who plans to launch one in the future. This book is also valuable for college students working in an agency who seek 'the big picture' view of how their work for clients has long-lasting impact on the campus and the community.

Astor. Rockefeller. McCormick. Belmont. All family names that still adorn buildings, streets and charity foundations. While the men blazed across America with their oil, industry, and railways, the matriarchs founded art museums, opera houses, and symphony houses that functioned almost as private clubs. These women ruled American society with a style and impact that make today's socialites seem pale reflections of their forbears. Linked by money, marriage, privilege, power and class, they formed a grand American matriarchy that dominated the social and cultural life of the nation between the 1870s and the Second World War. The Grandes Dames of America knew just what they wanted and precisely how to get it, and when faced with criticism, malice or jealousy, they would rise above their detractors and usually persevere. Preeminent social historian Stephen Birmingham takes us into the drawing rooms of these powerful women, providing keen insights into aspects of an American Society that no longer exists. Caroline Astor, when asked for her fare boarding a street car, responded, "No thank you, I have my own favorite charities." Edith "Effie" Stern decided that no existing school would do for her child, so she had a new one built. And the legendary Isabella Stewart Gardner replied to a contemporary who was overly taken with their Mayflower ancestors: "Of course, immigration laws are much more strict nowadays." These women had looks, manner, and style, but more than that they had presence-there was a sense that when one of them entered a room, something momentous was about to occur. Birmingham opens a window to the highest levels of American society with these eight profiles of American "royalty".

This book discusses the relationship, interaction and conflict between everyday life and various institutions in a specific village in North China, with a focus on the formal and informal legal systems. It vividly describes the village's "legal construction problems" as well as the customs and laws, and such it can be seen as a historical and innovative comment on China's problems. The book is based on the author's field investigations assessing vast amounts of material concerning local organizations, formal and informal authorities, economic exchange, religious rituals, as well as interviews with villagers and numerous court files. It presents an in-depth exploration of "pluralism of authority" in China's rural society, and examines how various authorities were formed. It also summarizes how various local disputes are resolved and discusses the villagers' understanding of the concept of "justice." Lastly, it suggests ways in which national law and local customs could communicate and collaborate.

The senses are made, not given. This revolutionary realization has come as of late to inform research across the social sciences and humanities, and is currently inspiring groundbreaking experimentation in the world of art and design, where the focus is now on mixing and manipulating the senses. The Sensory Studies Manifesto tracks these transformations and opens multiple lines of investigation into the diverse ways in which human beings sense and make sense of the world. This unique volume treats the human sensorium as a dynamic whole that is best approached from historical, anthropological, geographic, and sociological perspectives. In doing so, it has altered our understanding of sense perception by directing attention to the sociality of sensation and the cultural mediation of sense experience and expression. David Howes challenges the assumptions of mainstream Western psychology by foregrounding the agency, interactivity, creativity, and wisdom of the senses as shaped by culture. The Sensory Studies Manifesto sets the stage for a radical reorientation of research in the human sciences and artistic practice.

First published in 1995, this book provides a readable survey of the three major forms of working-class self-help in nineteenth century England: the trade unions, the friendly societies and the co-operative movement. It is accessible to an introductory student readership as well as providing a critical appraisal of all types and forms of self-help available to the industrial working-class. Unlike former studies, the author examines trade unionism alongside friendly societies and the co-operative movement and shows how each developed in response to the challenge of industrialization and the demands of urban industrial life. The strengths and limitations of self-help approaches are assessed and wider issues of working-class culture and identity are examined. This book will be of interest to those studying the history of social welfare, class and industrial Britain.

Long encouraged by the International Association for the Study of Organized Crime, the current research on this broad and intriguing topic is systematically brought together in this exemplary reader. Understanding Organized Crime in Global Perspective presents a rich collection of articles by outstanding researchers in the field who examine empirical research examples, salient issues and their explication, and provide a theoretical foundation as a guide for further explorations. Skillfully edited by Patrick J. Ryan and George E. Rush, this accessible and timely volume focuses on such particular areas of study and recent trends as: the nature of organized crime; theoretical perspectives; organized crime in Russia, Eastern Europe and Hong Kong, with predictions for the next century; the diversity of activities and structures; and how the law enforcement community responds to organized crime.

This book provides the first account of the rise of these most distinctive, widespread and powerful of social institutions in Georgian Britain: the British clubs and societies, thousands of which had swept the country by 1800. Looking at the complex mosaic of clubs and societies, ranging from freemasonry to bird-fancying, the author considers the reasons for their successful development, their export to America and the colonies, and examines their long term impact on British Society which continues up to the present day.

The YMCA and the YWCA have been an integral part of America's urban landscape since their emergence almost 150 years ago. Yet the significant influence these organizations had on American society has been largely overlooked. Men and Women Adrift explores the role of the YMCA and YWCA in shaping the identities of America's urban population.

Examining the urban experiences of the single young men and women who came to the cities in search of employment and personal freedom, these essays trace the role of the YMCA and the YWCA in urban America from the mid-nineteenth century to the present. The contributors detail the YMCA's early competition with churches and other urban institutions, the associations' unique architectural style, their services for members of the working class, African Americans, and immigrants, and their role in defining gender and sexual identities.

The volume includes contributions by Michelle Busby, Jessica Elfenbein, Sarah Heath, Adrienne Lash Jones, Paula Lupkin, Raymond A. Mohl, Elizabeth Norris, Cliff Putney, Nancy Robertson, Thomas Winter, and John D. Wrathall.

This study examines the emergence and evolution in China of a tradition of popular organization generally known under the rubric of "secret society." The author suggests that the secret society is properly understood as one variety of the "brotherhood association," a category that encompasses a range of popular fraternal organizations that flourished in the early and mid-Qing period.
The book begins by describing the proliferation of brotherhood associations in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, particularly in Southeast China. It concludes in the early nineteenth century, as the Qing suppression of the Lin Shuangwen rebellion in late 1780's forced members of the best-known brotherhood association, the Heaven and Earth Society (Tiandihui) to flee their homes in the Southeast, taking refuge in other parts of South China and Southeast Asia and, eventually, in Chinatowns throughout the world. This episode set the stage for the violent nineteenth-century confrontations between the Qing state and the secret societies.

From businesses, public administrations, universities and schools, to hospitals, prisons, political parties, or the military, peoples' lives are inextricably bound up with organizations from cradle to grave. Yet we receive little training in how - as members, customers, voters, or patients - to deal with them. In Organizations Stefan KA1/4hl asks and answers many questions. What are these entities that wield such strong influence in our society? What makes them tick? What are our options for intervening, either from within or without? This book explains how organizations function by examining their three central features: their purposes or goals, their hierarchies, and their memberships. The author presents the three aspects of organizations - the display, formal, and informal aspects, explaining them in metaphorical terms as faAades, machines, and games. Acknowledging that the seminal systems theory developed by sociologist Niklas Luhmann is not easily accessible, Professor KA1/4hl presents Luhmann's organizational concept in a succinct and user-friendly form that will be readily grasped by a practitioner audience and provides new insights in this ambitious theory.

Uncovers the mindset and motives that drive far-right extremists More than half a century after the defeat of Nazism and fascism, the far right is again challenging the liberal order of Western democracies. Radical movements are feeding on anxiety about immigration, globalization and the refugee crisis, giving rise to new waves of nationalism and surges of white supremacism. A curious mixture of Aristocratic paganism, anti-Semitic demonology, Eastern philosophies and the occult is influencing populist antigovernment sentiment and helping to exploit the widespread fear that invisible elites are shaping world events. Black Sun examines this neofascist ideology, showing how hate groups, militias and conspiracy cults gain influence. Based on interviews and extensive research into underground groups, the book documents new Nazi and fascist sects that have sprung up since the 1970s and examines the mentality and motivation of these far-right extremists. The result is a detailed, grounded portrait of the mythical and devotional aspects of Hitler cults among Aryan mystics, racist skinheads and Nazi satanists, and disciples of heavy metal music and occult literature. Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke offers a unique perspective on far right neo-Nazism viewing it as a new form of Western religious heresy. He paints a frightening picture of a religion with its own relics, rituals, prophecies and an international sectarian following that could, under the proper conditions, gain political power and attempt to realize its dangerous millenarian fantasies.

The concept of social capital refers to the ways in which people make use of their social networks in "getting ahead." Social capital isn't just about the connections in networks, but fundamentally concerns the distribution of resources on the basis of exchanges. This volume focuses on how social capital interacts with social institutions, based on the premise that markets, communities, and families are the major contexts within which people meet and build up social networks and the foci to create social capital. Featuring innovations in thinking about exchange mechanisms, resource distribution, institutional logics, resource diversity, and the degree of openness or closure of social networks, these chapters present some of the most important advances in this essential field. Paralleling these theoretical developments, the chapters also improve practical methodological work on social capital research, using new techniques and measurement methods for the uncovering of social logics.

Based upon a series of detailed case studies of associations such as early synagogues and churches, philosophical schools and pagan mystery cults, this collection addresses the question of what can legitimately be termed a 'voluntary association'. Employing modern sociological concepts, the essays show how the various associations were constituted, the extent of their membership, why people joined them and what they contributed to the social fabric of urban life. For many, those groups were the most significant feature of social life beyond family and work. All of them provided an outlet of religious as well as social commitments. Also included are studies of the way in which early Jewish and Christian groups adopted and adapted the models of private association available to them and how this affected their social status and role. Finally, the situation of women is discussed, as some of the voluntary associations offered them a more significant recognition than they received in society at large.

A glimpse into the private world of the hilarious Friars. The legendary New York Friars Club and its members are known the world over. This is a hilarious compilation of tales, anecdotes, and historical information about the club, featuring funny and moving moments from hundreds of stars like Milton Berle, Frank Sinatra, Jerry Lewis, Don Rickles, and more, as well as stars of today, like Kelsey Grammer, Jason Alexander, Billy Crystal, and Drew Carey. The Friars are renowned for dishing out jokes and doling out insults in order to roast countless performers, politicians, and popular personalities. From their first testimonial dinner in 1907 to their televised roast of Jerry Stiller in 1999, you'll be inside the club, where ribaldry is synonymous with fraternity. The Friars have never held back when the promise of a good laugh, especially at someone else's expense, was at hand. Find out what was really said and done at those titillating tongue-lashings known as the private and exclusive Friars Roasts (where even the waiters were ordered out of the room).

Women have experienced decades of economic and political repression across Latin America, where many nations are built upon patriarchal systems of power. However, a recent confluence of political, economic, and historical factors has allowed for the emergence of civil society organizations (CSOs) that afford women a voice throughout the region. Leadership from the Margins describes and analyzes the unique leadership styles and challenges facing the women leaders of CSOs in Argentina, Chile, and El Salvador. Based on ethnographic research, Serena Cosgrove's analysis offers a nuanced account of the distinct struggles facing women, and how differences of class, political ideology, and ethnicity have informed their outlook and organizing strategies. Using a gendered lens, she reveals the power and potential of women's leadership to impact the direction of local, regional, and global development agendas.