Marx Matters is an examination of how Marx remains more relevant than ever in dealing with contemporary crises. This volume explores how technical dimensions of a Marxian analytic frame remains relevant to our understanding of inequality, of exploitation and oppression, and of financialization in the age of global capitalism. Contributors track Marx in promoting emancipatory practices in Latin America, tackle how Marx informs issues of race and gender, explore current social movements and the populist turn, and demonstrate how Marx can guide strategies to deal with the existential environmental crises of the day. Marx matters because Marx still provides the best analysis of capitalism as a system, and his ideas still point to how society can organize for a better world. Contributors are: Jose Bell Lara, Ashley J. Bohrer, Tom Brass, Rose M. Brewer, William K. Carroll, Penelope Ciancanelli, Raju J. Das, Ricardo A. Dello Buono, David Fasenfest, Ben Fine, Lauren Langman, Alfredo Saad-Filho, Vishwas Satgar, and William K. Tabb.

Beholding Beauty: Sa'di of Shiraz and the Aesthetics of Desire in Medieval Persian Poetry explores the relationship between sexuality, politics, and spirituality in the lyrics of Sa'di Shirazi (d. 1292 CE), one of the most revered masters of classical Persian literature. Relying on a variety of sources, including unstudied manuscripts, Domenico Ingenito presents the so-called "inimitable smoothness" of Sa'di's lyric style as a serene yet multifaceted window into the uncanny beauty of the world, the human body, and the realm of the unseen. The book constitutes the first attempt to study Sa'di's lyric meditations on beauty in the context of the major artistic, scientific and intellectual trends of his time. By charting unexplored connections between Islamic philosophy and mysticism, obscene verses and courtly ideals of love, Ingenito approaches Sa'di's literary genius from the perspective of sacred homoeroticism and the psychology of performative lyricism in their historical context.

Exploring Instagram’s public pedagogy at scale, this book uses innovative digital methods to trace and analyze how publics reinforce and resist settler colonialism as they engage with the Trans Mountain pipeline controversy online. The book traces opposition to the Trans Mountain pipeline in so-called Canada, where overlapping networks of concerned citizens, Indigenous land protectors, and environmental activists have used Instagram to document pipeline construction, policing, and land degradation; teach using infographics; and express solidarity through artwork and re-shared posts. These expressions constitute a form of “public pedagogy,� where social media takes on an educative force, influencing publics whether or not they set foot in the classroom.

East, South and Southeast Asia are home to two-thirds of the world's hungry people, but they produce more than three-quarters of the world's fish and nearly half of other foods. Through integration into the world food system, these Asian fisheries export their most nutritious foods and import less healthy substitutes. Worldwide, their exports sell cheap because women, the hungriest Asians, provide unpaid subsidies to production processes. In the 21st century, Asian peasants produce more than 60 percent of the regional food supply, but their survival is threatened by hunger, public depreasantization policies, climate change, land grabbing, urbanization and debt bondage.

Persistent unemployment and rising wage differences at the expense of low-skilled workers has characterized the labor market in most developed countries. Since the last economic crisis, unemployment rates and pay inequalities have increased among workers under 25 years of age, thus creating an ever-widening financial gap for an entire generation. Those who do not have a qualification or post-secondary diploma often find themselves in precarious jobs at minimum wage. Countries are now working to adopt reforms to improve the situation of young people in the labor market. International Perspectives on the Youth Labor Market: Emerging Research and Opportunities provides emerging research exploring the theoretical and practical aspects of financial inequality and applications within global economics. Unlike literature that focuses only on developed countries, this book also addresses emerging economies whose labor market is often characterized by a dualism that makes the situation of young workers worse. Featuring coverage on a broad range of topics such as unemployment rate, labor reform, and job insecurity, this book is ideally designed for economists, government officials, policymakers, executives, managers, business professionals, researchers, academicians, and students.

In 1933 and 1934, Thomas Minehan, a young sociologist at the University of Minnesota, joined the ranks of a roving army of 250,000 boys and girls torn from their homes during the Great Depression. Disguised in old clothes, he hopped freight trains crisscrossing six midwestern states. While undercover, Minehan associated on terms of social equality with several thousand transients, collecting five hundred life histories of the young migrants. The result was a vivid and intimate portrayal of a harrowing existence, one in which young people suffered some of the deadliest blows of the economic disaster. Boy and Girl Tramps of America reveals the poignant experiences of American youth who were sent out on the road by grinding poverty, shattered family relationships, and financially strapped schools that locked their doors. For these young people, danger was a constant companion that could turn deadly in an instant. The book documents the hunger and hardships these youth faced, capturing an appalling spectacle and social problem in America's history before any effort was made to meet the problem on a nationwide basis by the federal government. Boy and Girl Tramps of America is a work unique in its ability to extend beyond statistical analyses to uncover the opinions, ideas, and attitudes of the boxcar boys and girls. Originally published in 1934, it remains highly relevant to the turbulent moments of the twenty-first century. This reprint features an introduction by scholar Susan Honeyman that puts the work into our current context.