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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social groups & communities > Social classes
The End of the Experiment ties together Stanley Rothman's theory of post-industrialism and his four decades of research on American politics and society. Rothman discusses the rise and fall of the New Left, the sixties' impact on America's cultural elites, and the emergence of new post-industrial humanistic values. The first part of this book explains how cultural shifts in post-industrial society increased the influence of intellectuals and redefined America's core values. The second part examines how the shift in American social and cultural values led to a crisis of confidence in the American experiment. And in a final section, Rothman's contemporaries provide insight into his work, reflecting on his continued influence and his devotion to traditional liberalism. Rothman presents a quantitative study of personality differences between traditional American elites and new cultural elites. Rothman argues that the experiment of America-as a new nation rooted in democracy, morality, and civic virtue-is being destroyed by a disaffected intellectual class opposed to traditional values.
This book is drawn from diverse studies that grapple with Black Middle Class experiences in contemporary and historical South Africa. The chapters present research from diverse disciplines, and tackle issues related to being black and middle class, using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Like many other social phenomena, the black middle class concept is seen as complex and not easy to pin down. As a result, conceptualizations from these chapters are dynamic and relevant for understanding the position of the black middle class in contemporary South African society. An interesting dynamic explored by contributors is the critical engagement with the usually reductionist notions of black middle class experiences as ahistorical, homogenous experiences of a group of conspicuous consumers. These limiting notions are unpacked and repositioned in how the book is structured. This book was published as a special issue of Development Southern Africa.
Why do we feel uncomfortable talking about class? Why is it taboo? Why do people often address class through coded terminology like trashy, classy, and snobby? How does discriminatory language, or how do conscious or unconscious derogatory attitudes, or the anticipation of such behaviors, impact those from poor and working class backgrounds when they straddle class? Through 26 narratives of individuals from poor and working class backgrounds - ranging from students, to multiple levels of administrators, and faculty, both tenured and non-tenured - this book provides a vivid understanding of how people can experience and straddle class in the middle, upper, or even elitist class contexts of the academy. Through the powerful stories of individuals who hold many different identities, naming a range of ways they identify in terms of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, ability, and religion, among others, this book showcases how social class identity and classism impact people's experience in higher education and why we should focus more attention on this dimension of identity. The book opens by setting the foundation by examining definitions of class, discussing its impact on identity, and summarizing the literature on class and what it can tell us about the complexities of class identity, its fluidity, sometimes performative nature, and the sense of dissonance it can provoke. This book aims to bring social class identity to the forefront of our consciousness, conversations, and behaviors and to compel those in the academy to recognize classism and reimagine higher education to welcome and support those from poor and working class backgrounds. Its concluding chapter proposes means for both increasing social class consciousness and social class inclusivity in the academy. It is a compelling read for everyone in the academy, not least for those from poor or working class backgrounds who will find validation and recognition and draw strength from its vivid stories.
Terrorism and neoliberalism are connected in multiple, complex, and often camouflaged ways. This book offers a critical exploration of some of the intersections between the two, drawing on a wide range of case studies from the United States, United Kingdom, Brazil, and the European Union. Contributors to the book investigate the impact of neoliberal technologies and intellectual paradigms upon contemporary counterterrorism - where the neoliberal era frames counter-terrorism within an endless war against political uncertainty. Others resist the notion that a separation ever existed between neoliberalism and counter-terrorism. These contributions explore how counterterrorism is already itself an exercise of neoliberalism which practices a form of 'Class War on Terror'. Finally, other contributors investigate the representation of terrorism within contemporary cultural products such as video games, in order to explore the perpetuation of neoliberal and statist agendas. In doing all of this, the book situates post-9/11 counter-terrorism discourse and practice within much-needed historical contexts, including the evolution of capitalism and the state. Neoliberalism and Terror will be of great interest to readers within the fields of International Relations, Security Studies, Terrorism Studies, and beyond. This book was originally published as a special issue of Critical Studies on Terrorism.
Social Problems: A Human Rights Perspective, Second Edition evaluates U.S. society through an international human rights framework. The book provides a critical discussion about what rights mean, along with a sociological exploration of power and inequality to explain why human rights are so often violated or left ignored and unfulfilled in the United States. In each chapter, the book offers numerous policy alternatives that could provide a pathway toward the increased fulfillment of rights, while also stressing the important role that nonviolent social movements have had, and must have in the future, in achieving greater justice, dignity, wellbeing, and environmental protection in our society. This edition includes several new chapters on topics of major interest to students, including: the human right to health climate change and human rights immigration and human rights violations in U.S. society a new discussion of the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Social Problems gives social science students a new way to understand pressing social issues that exist in their own communities.
This succinct introductory text argues that class remains a key concept in sociology. The author examines the classic contributions of Marx and Weber and the recent works of Wright and Goldthorpe. The book provides students with an accessible review of class structures, social mobility, inequality, politics and the potential classlessnes of Britain and America.
Elite Schools in Globalizing Circumstances foregrounds the richly theoretical and empirically-based work of an international cast of scholars seeking to break out of the confines of the methodological nationalism that now governs so much of contemporary scholarship on schooling. Based on a 5-year extended global ethnography of elite schools in nine different countries-countries defined by colonial pasts linked to England-the contributors make a powerful case for the rethinking of elite schools and elite class formation theory in light of contemporary processes of globalization and transnational change. Prestigious, high-status schools have long been seen as critical institutional vehicles directly contributing to the societal processes of elite selection and reproduction. This book asserts that much has changed and that these schools can no longer rest on their past laurels and accomplishments. Instead they must re-cast their heritages and tradition in order to navigate the new globally competitive educational field enabling them to succeed in a world in which the globalization of educational markets, the global ambitions and imaginations of school youth, and the emergence of new powerful players peddling entrepreneurial models of curriculum and education, have placed contemporary schooling under tremendous pressure. This insightful and though-provoking volume provides a well-researched perspective on the nature of contemporary schooling in the globalizing era. This book was originally published as a special issue of Globalisation, Societies and Education.
Considering such witnesses of the time as Shakespeare, Dante, Petrarch, Michelangelo, Machiavelli, Montaigne, More and Bacon, Agnes Heller looks at both the concept and the image of a Renaissance man. The concept was generalised and accepted by all; its characteristic features were man as a dynamic being, creating and re-creating himself throughout his life. The images of man, however, were very different, having been formed through the ideas and imagination of artists, politicians, philosophers, scientists and theologians and viewed from the different aspects of work, love, fate, death, friendship, devotion and the concepts of space and time. Renaissance Man thus stood as both as a leading protagonist of his time, one who led and formulated the substantial attitudes of his time, and as one who stood as a witness on the sidelines of the discussion. This book, first published in English in 1978, is based on the diverse but equally important sources of autobiographies, works of art and literature, and the writings of philosophers. Although she uses Florence as a starting point, Agnes Heller points out that the Renaissance was a social and cultural phenomenon common to all of Western Europe; her Renaissance Man is thus a figure to be found throughout Europe.
Hip-Hop and Dismantling the School-to-Prison Pipeline was created for K-12 students in hopes that they find tangible strategies for creating affirming communities where students, parents, advocates and community members collaborate to compose liberating and just frameworks that effectively define the school-to-prison pipeline and identify the nefarious ways it adversely affects their lives. This book is for educators, activists, community organizers, teachers, scholars, politicians, and administrators who we hope will join us in challenging the predominant preconceived notion held by many educators that Hip-Hop has no redeemable value. Lastly, the authors/editors argue against the understanding of Hip-Hop studies as primarily an academic endeavor situated solely in the academy. They understand the fact that people on streets, blocks, avenues, have been living and theorizing about Hip-Hop since its inception. This important critical book is an honest, thorough, powerful, and robust examination of the ingenious and inventive ways people who have an allegiance to Hip-Hop work tirelessly, in various capacities, to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline.
Outrageously handsome, witty and clever, Harry Cust was reputed to be one of the great womanisers of the late Victorian era. In 1893, while a Member of Parliament, he caused public scandal by his affair with artist and poet Nina Welby Gregory. When she revealed she was pregnant, horror swept through their circle known as 'the Souls', a cultured, mostly aristocratic group of writers, artists and politicians who also rubbed shoulders with luminaries such as Oscar Wilde and H. G. Wells. For the rest of their lives, Harry and Nina would fight to rebuild their reputations and maintain the marriage they were pressurised to enter. In Tangled Souls, acclaimed biographer Jane Dismore tells the tumultuous story of the romance which threatened to tear apart this distinguished group of friends, revealing pre-war society at its most colourful and most conflicted.
The modern world is characterised by pervasive economic inequalities. Strong economic growth in some developing countries has contributed to a degree to a reduction in the levels of inequality between nations, yet inequality within nations remains high and in some cases, continues to increase. Ethnic Stratification and Economic Inequality around the World investigates the reasons for these striking differences, exploring the coincidence and interaction between economic stratification and ethnic differentiation. Drawing on extensive international survey and statistical data, the author develops a new theory and concrete hypotheses concerning the conditions which lead toward extreme inequality and those which tend toward greater equality. A systematic examination of the interaction between class structures, social stratification and ethnic differentiation, this book sheds light on the manner in which the resulting social structures produce different levels of economic inequality, offering a fivefold typology of patterns of ethnic stratification, which can be applied to present-day world regions. Drawing on the work of Max Weber to provide a rigorous investigation of inequality around the world, it demonstrates what 'sociology as a science of social reality' can significantly contribute to our understanding of global economic stratification. The book is relevant for a wide social-scientific audience, particularly for sociologists, economists and political scientists working in a comparative perspective.
Illustrated by a range of case studies of affordable housing options in Canada, this book examines the liveability and affordability of twenty-first-century residential architecture. Focussing on the architects' and communities' commitment to these housing programmes, as well as that of the private building sector, it stresses the importance of the context of the neighbourhoods in which they are placed, which are either in the process of urban transition or already gentrified. In doing so, the book shows how, and to what extent, twenty-first-century dwelling architecture developments can help to create an integrated sense of community, diminish social and demographic exclusions in a neighbourhood and incorporate people's desires as to what their buildings should look like. This book shows that there are significant architectural projects that help to meet the needs and desires of low- to middle-income households as well as homeowners, and that gentrification does not necessarily lead to the displacement of low-income families and singles if housing policies such as those highlighted in this book are put into place. Moreover, the migration of the middle class can result in a healthy mix of classes out of which everyone can enjoy a peaceful and habitable coexistence.
What do we mean by social class in the 21st century? University of Brighton sociologists Laura Harvey and Sarah Leaney and award-winning comics creator Danny Noble present an utterly unique, illustrated journey through the history, sociology and lived experience of class. What can class tell us about gentrification, precarious work, the role of elites in society, or access to education? How have thinkers explored class in the past, and how does it affect us today? How does class inform activism and change? Class: A Graphic Guide challenges simplistic and stigmatising ideas about working-class people, discusses colonialist roots of class systems, and looks at how class intersects with race, sexuality, gender, disability and age. From the publishers of the bestselling Queer: A Graphic History, this is a vibrant, enjoyable introduction for students, community workers, activists and anyone who wants to understand how class functions in their own lives.
Of all the scholarly work on the countryside done in pre-1917 Russia and in the Soviet Union in the 1920s, that of L.N. Kritsman and those influenced by him - the so-called 'Agrarian Marxists' - is perhaps the least well known. However, that work was of extremely high quality and very original. Its significance is more than historical, since it has great relevance to the study of peasantries in contemporary poor countries - especially to the analysis of peasant differentiation. This volume, first published in 1984, has been prepared by two specialists who have been working on Kritsman and the Agrarian Marxists for several years, and will help dispel ignorance of this important body of writing. It consists of two substantial essays, and an abridged translation of one of Kritsman's most important works: Class Differentiation of the Soviet Countryside (first published in 1926 and never before translated into English).
Poverty is generally defined as a lack of material resources. However, the relationships that poor people have with their possessions are not just about deprivation. Material things play a positive role in the lives of poor people: they help people to build social relationships, address inequalities, and fulfill emotional needs. In Materializing Poverty, anthropologist Erin Taylor explores how residents of a squatter settlement in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, use their material resources creatively to solve everyday problems and, over a few decades, radically transform the community. Their struggles show how these everyday engagements with materiality, rather than more dramatic efforts, generate social change and build futures.
In the decade between 1998-2008, Spain became the main destination for Ecuadorian migrants, and Madrid, Spain's capital, became the city with the largest Ecuadorian population outside of Ecuador. Through a combination of ethnographic research and cultural analysis, this book addresses the interconnections between spatial practices, cultural production, and definitions of citizenship in migration dynamics between Ecuador and Spain, showing how Ecuadorians are key actors in Madrid's recent urban history. Looking at the city as form and content, constitutive and constituting of ideological processes, each chapter analyzes the spatial practices of Madrid's Ecuadorian residents through various forms: the body, the home, public and leisure spaces, the city, the nation, and transnational circuits. Rather than addressing migrants as a general human type marked by (dis)placement, each chapter offers an illustration of how Ecuadorian migrants forge transnational processes through their everyday lives in specific time and place, and how these processes manifest culturally on both sides of the Atlantic.
The strong community ties of mining villages are the central concern of this book, which deals with the social history and sociology of mining in County Durham in the twentieth century. Focusing on the country as a whole, this title, first published in 1978, asks what is most distinctive about the area in the past and how it is changing in the present. The personal documents presented in the first chapters of the book bring to life the local mining community with an evocative picture of village life at the turn of the century. These first-hand accounts are integrated with the results of social research carried out at Durham University over a number of years. Mining and Social Change will be of interest to students of history and sociology.
In Workers ' Self-Management in Argentina, Marcelo Vieta homes in on the emergence and consolidation of Argentina 's empresas recuperadas por sus trabajadores (ERTs, worker-recuperated enterprises), a workers ' occupy movement that surged at the turn-of-the-millennium in the thick of the country 's neo-liberal crisis. Since then, around 400 companies have been taken over and converted to cooperatives by almost 16,000 workers. Grounded in class-struggle Marxism and a critical sociology of work, the book situates the ERT movement in Argentina 's long tradition of working-class activism and the broader history of workers ' responses to capitalist crisis. Beginning with the voices of the movement 's protagonists, Vieta ultimately develops a compelling social theory of autogestion -- a politically prefigurative and ethically infused notion of workers ' self-management that unleashes radical social change for work organisations, surrounding communities, and beyond.
These sociologists and theorists, long concerned with the critical role in society of the middle class, trace its historical, structural, and cultural links with democracy since ancient times. They show how the middle class has been instrumental in spawning industrialization and capitalism. They consider the rise and decline of fascism and communism and the development of multinational capitalism. They reflect upon the decline of the working class, the growth of an underclass, and the need today to counterbalance the power of the rich and big business. They ponder how to break an "iron cage" of bureaucracy and to revitalize democracy. This socio-historical analysis from a neo-Weberian perspective deals with issues that are central to sociologists, political theorists, and historians.
The contributions to this edited collection, first published in 1983, are based on two underlying themes. The first examines the major recession that took hold of the global economy during the 1980s and assesses its effects on key areas of social structure, including political and economic democracy and trade union representation. The second theme considers the limitations of state intervention in such changing circumstances, with particular reference to the welfare state. This is a comprehensive title, which is of great relevance to those with an interest in the current global economic situation and the potential impact of this on the welfare state and class structure.
Those who address conflict resulting from differing socio-economic groups (stratification systems) focus on the arousal of negative emotions. Less frequently explored are the effects of positive emotions, particularly among the middle classes in industrial and post-industrial societies. In more developed societies, those experiencing positive emotional energy far outnumber those who endure negative emotions. Jonathan H. Turner sees the distribution of positive and negative emotions in developed societies as another basis for grouping people into socio-economic classifications. Such distribution explains the commitments of middle classes to the system and the lack of class-based social movements from lower classes. Turner argues for Marx's theory--when a population's vast majority is consistently experiencing negative emotions, the potential for revolution within society increases. Turner explains why class-conflict potential is low in developed societies and how it might increase if the middle classes lose their share of resources. He notes the beginnings of this shift, but says that the overall positive emotions of the middle class have not yet transitioned from positive to negative. Capitalism will persist, but it will be a reformed capitalism, especially in the United States, as taxes and regulation by government assure higher levels of resource redistribution to members of a society.
The global capitalism perspective is a unique research program focused on understanding relatively recent developments in worldwide social, economic, and political practices related to globalization. At its core, it seeks to contextualize the rearticulation of nation-states and broad geographic regions into highly interdependent networks of production and distribution, and in so doing explain consequent changes in social relations within and between countries in the contemporary era. The present volume contributes to this effort by focusing on social class formation across borders via the processes and actors that make globalized capitalism possible. The essays presented here offer a wide range of emphases in terms of the particular lenses and evidence they use. They cover such topics as the emergence of a transnational capitalist class-based fascist regime responding to the structural crises of global capitalism as well as the links between global class formation and the US racial project as it relates to electoral politics and demographic changes in the US South. This book was published as a special issue of Globalizations.
Fidel in the Cuban Socialist Revolution makes accessible-and in some cases available in English for the first time-a selection of speeches and television appearances by Fidel Castro during the first two years of the Cuban Revolution. This extraordinary collection of documents allows readers to trace the evolution of this legendary leader's radical political thought as it pushes against and eventually overcomes adverse political and ideological circumstances faced by the newly formed socialist government. The pieces are organized chronologically, and each features an introduction prepared by Cuban experts Jose; Bell, Tania Caram and Delia Luisa Lopez.
The editors of this book examine social movement scholars' use of contemporary concepts and paradigms in the study of protest as they analyse the extent to which these tools are valid (or not) in very different regional - and thus political or cultural - contexts. The authors posit that 'weakly resourced groups' are a particularly useful point of departure to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of three key social movement schools of analysis: resource mobilization, political opportunity structures, and frame analysis. Some of the groups considered in this volume are financially disadvantaged, lacking money and work; others are economically disadvantaged, with members having precarious, part-time, or short-term jobs; some are socially disadvantaged, with fragile networks of solidarity; others are culturally disadvantaged, with members continuously victimized, stigmatized and rejected; finally some are politically disadvantaged when they have little or no access to decision-making structures. These exclusionary factors can be cumulative and give way to different outcomes. The chapters cover a large range of examples including urban riots in France and in Great Britain, the World Social Forums of Dakar and Nairobi, the struggles of precarious workers in Italy and Greece, unemployed mobilization in Germany and Ireland, the mobilization of the Roma and Muslims in Europe, the Brazilian landless movement, the mobilization of small farmers in France, as well as mobilization in authoritarian states such as Morocco and Cuba. This book will be of interest to scholars, students and activists working within social movement studies.
Most recent sociological work on the theory of class is based on a distinction between Weberian and Marxist approaches. For the first part of this volume, the authors use this distinction to review the literature on the middle class, concentrating particularly on the traditions of Marxist theory and of the more empirical work inspired by Max Weber. They show, however, that this distinction is of limited utility in reconstructing a theory of the middle class. |
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