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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social groups & communities
How the problematic behavior of private citizens-and not just the
police force itself-contributes to the perpetuation of police
brutality and institutional racism "Warning: Neighborhood Watch
Program in Force. If I don't call the police, my neighbor will!"
Signs like this can be found affixed to telephone poles on streets
throughout the US, warning trespassers that the community is an
active participant in its own policing efforts. Thijs Jeursen calls
this phenomenon, in which individuals take on the responsibility of
defending themselves and share with the police the duty to mitigate
everyday insecurity, "vigilant citizenship." Drawing on eleven
months of fieldwork in Miami and sharing the stories and
experiences of police officers, private security guards,
neighborhood watch groups, civil society organizations, and a broad
range of residents and activists, Jeursen uses the lens of vigilant
citizenship to extend the analysis of police brutality beyond
police encounters, focusing on the often blurred boundaries between
policing actors and policed citizens and highlighting the many ways
in which policing produces and perpetuates inequality and
injustice. As a central premise in everyday policing, vigilant
citizenship frames racist and violent policing as matters of
personal blame and individual guilt, ultimately downplaying the
realities of how systemically race operates in policing and US
society more broadly. The Vigilant Citizen illustrates how a focus
on individualized responsibility for security exacerbates and
legitimizes existing inequalities, a situation that must be
addressed to end institutionalized racism in politics and the
justice system.
Active political engagement requires the youth of today to begin
their journeys now to be leaders of tomorrow. Young individuals are
instrumental in providing valuable insight into issues locally as
well as on a national and international level. Participation of
Young People in Governance Processes in Africa examines the role of
young peoples' involvement in governance processes in Africa and
demonstrates how they are engaging in active citizenship. There is
an intrinsic value in upholding their right to participate in
decisions that affect their daily lives and their communities, and
the content within this publication supports this by focusing on
topics such as good citizenship, youth empowerment, democratic
awareness, political climate, and socio-economic development. It is
designed for researchers, academics, policymakers, government
officials, and professionals whose interests center on the
engagement of youth in active citizenship roles.
Identity is often fraught for multiracial Douglas, people of both
South Asian and African descent in the Caribbean. In this
groundbreaking volume, Sue Ann Barratt and Aleah N. Ranjitsingh
explore the particular meanings of a Dougla identity and examine
Dougla maneuverability both at home and in the diaspora. The
authors scrutinize the perception of Douglaness over time,
contemporary Douglas negotiations of social demands, their
expansion of ethnicity as an intersectional identity, and the
experiences of Douglas within the diaspora outside the Caribbean.
Through an examination of how Douglas experience their claim to
multiracialism and how ethnic identity may be enforced or
interrupted, the authors firmly situate this analysis in ongoing
debates about multiracial identity. Based on interviews with over
one hundred Douglas, Barratt and Ranjitsingh explore the multiple
subjectivities Douglas express, confirm, challenge, negotiate, and
add to prevailing understandings. Contemplating this, Dougla in the
Twenty-First Century adds to the global discourse of multiethnic
identity and how it impacts living both in the Caribbean, where it
is easily recognizable, and in the diaspora, where the Dougla
remains a largely unacknowledged designation. This book
deliberately expands the conversation beyond the limits of
biraciality and the Black/white binary and contributes nuance to
current interpretations of the lives of multiracial people by
introducing Douglas as they carve out their lives in the Caribbean.
Thorstein Veblen's groundbreaking treatise upon the evolution of
the affluent classes of society traces the development of
conspicuous consumption from the feudal Middle Ages to the end of
the 19th century. Beginning with the end of the Dark Ages, Veblen
examines the evolution of the hierarchical social structures. How
they incrementally evolved and influenced the overall picture of
human society is discussed. Veblen believed that the human social
order was immensely unequal and stratified, to the point where vast
amounts of merit are consequently ignored and wasted. Veblen draws
comparisons between industrialization and the advancement of
production and the exploitation and domination of labor, which he
considered analogous to a barbarian conquest happening from within
society. The heavier and harder labor falls to the lower members of
the order, while the light work is accomplished by the owners of
capital: the leisure class.
From Consent to Coercion examines the increasing assault against
trade union rights and freedoms in Canada by federal and provincial
governments. Centring the struggles of Canadian unionized workers,
this book explores the diminution of the welfare state and the
impacts that this erosion has had on broader working-class rights
and standards of living. The fourth edition witnesses the passing
of an era of free collective bargaining in Canada - an era in which
the state and capital relied on obtaining the consent of workers
and unions to act as subordinates in Canada's capitalist democracy.
It looks at how the last twenty years have marked a return to a
more open reliance of the state and capital on coercion - on force
and on fear - to secure that subordination. From Consent to
Coercion considers this conjuncture in the Canadian political
economy amid growing precarity, poverty, and polarization in an
otherwise indeterminate period of austerity. This important edition
calls attention to the urgent task of rebuilding and renewing
socialist politics - of thinking ambitiously and meeting new
challenges with unique solutions to the left of social democracy.
Explores the role of race and consumer culture in attracting urban
congregants to an evangelical church The Urban Church Imagined
illuminates the dynamics surrounding white urban evangelical
congregations' approaches to organizational vitality and
diversifying membership. Many evangelical churches are moving to
urban, downtown areas to build their congregations and attract
younger, millennial members. The urban environment fosters two
expectations. First, a deep familiarity and reverence for popular
consumer culture, and second, the presence of racial diversity.
Church leaders use these ideas when they imagine what a "city
church" should look like, but they must balance that with what it
actually takes to make this happen. In part, racial diversity is
seen as key to urban churches presenting themselves as "in touch"
and "authentic." Yet, in an effort to seduce religious consumers,
church leaders often and inadvertently end up reproducing racial
and economic inequality, an unexpected contradiction to their goal
of inclusivity. Drawing on several years of research, Jessica M.
Barron and Rhys H. Williams explore the cultural contours of one
such church in downtown Chicago. They show that church leaders and
congregants' understandings of the connections between race,
consumer culture, and the city is a motivating factor for many
members who value interracial interactions as a part of their
worship experience. But these explorations often unintentionally
exclude members along racial and classed lines. Indeed, religious
organizations' efforts to engage urban environments and foster
integrated congregations produce complex and dynamic relationships
between their racially diverse memberships and the cultivation of a
safe haven in which white, middle-class leaders can feel as though
they are being a positive force in the fight for religious vitality
and racial diversity. The book adds to the growing constellation of
studies on urban religious organizations, as well as emerging
scholarship on intersectionality and congregational characteristics
in American religious life. In so doing, it offers important
insights into racially diverse congregations in urban areas, a
growing trend among evangelical churches. This work is an important
case study on the challenges faced by modern churches and urban
institutions in general.
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