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Books > Social sciences > Sociology, social studies > Social issues
Global social inequality has declined over the past 100 years and the gap between different parts of the world, measured by average lifespan, has narrowed. The internal gap between wealthy and poor in the western world has likewise reduced, from the 1930s to the 1970s, although not in a linear way. The 1980s represented a turning point in developed countries, as the top 0.1% of income earners accumulated extraordinary riches. This new trend did not subside with the financial crisis of 2008, but expanded to less developed areas of the world; indeed, long-term significant reduction of poverty is now considered vulnerable. Inequality of income and its associated impacts has triggered a passionate debate between those who maintain that an unequal accumulation of richness is crucial for economic and social progress and those who believe that it does not encourage investment and that it prevents increased demand, thus negatively affecting the economy. This contributed volume sets out to study social inequality in Portuguese-speaking countries, thus providing diversification of experience across different continents. The purpose is to identify major economic, historical and cultural developments in terms of education, health, life-cycle, gender, ethnic, and religious relations. The current realities of migration are also addressed, since they raise the issue of ethnic integration. This is the first published work to address inequality in a cross-continent yet same language perspective, and presents a striking advance in the global study of inequality.
'Modern society is shaped in ways that were scarcely thought of a few years ago - and debates on regulation and governance have much work to do if they are to come to grips with new modes and sources of influence such as the new media and transnational engagements. This book makes an incisive contribution to the re-configuring of those debates and will appeal to all who look for an invigorated understanding of regulation, governance and social change.' - Robert Baldwin, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK Society, Regulation and Governance critically appraises the issue of intentional social change through the lens of regulation and governance studies. A twofold understanding of regulation and governance underpins the conceptual and empirical engagement throughout the book. On the one hand, regulation and governance are understood to be innovatively minded. On the other hand the book argues that, at their respective cores, regulation and governance are continuously concerned with how intentional social change can be fostered and what results can be yielded in terms of shaping society. This book brings together sociologists, political scientists, legal scholars and historians to produce an interdisciplinary critical evaluation of alleged 'new modes' of social change, specifically: risk, publics and participation. It makes three key contributions by: offering a consolidation and re-appraisal of a debate that has become increasingly vague with its academic and political proliferation identifying a uniting conceptual-analytical core between regulation and governance which explains the adaptability and innovation-mindedness of processes of 'shaping society' re-focusing on the 'essence' of regulation and governance approaches - intentional modes of social change. Society, Regulation and Governance will give significant insight into the potential and limits of new methods of social change, suiting a wide range of social science and legal academics due to its collaborative nature. Contributors include: A.-L. Beaussier, A. Bora, E. Carmel, M. Huber, D. Kuchenbuch, M. Moelders, P. Munte, R. Paul, H. Rothstein, J.-F. Schrape, L. Viellechner
The New York Times bestselling book that both galvanizes progressives for action and is a balm--from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author "A light in darkness, Alice Walker awakens us to our own power as only she can. . . . Once again, Walker has exceeded our expectations." --The Atlanta Journal-Constitution When the United States recently exploded with unprecedented demonstrations challenging racial violence and hatred, Alice Walker's New York Times bestselling We Are the Ones We Have Been Waiting For was one of the books to which people turned for inspiration and solace. Called "stunningly insightful" and "a book that will inspire hope" by Publishers Weekly, this work by the author of The Color Purple is a clarion call to activism--spiritual ruminations with a progressive political edge, that offer a moment of care and solace. Walker encourages readers to take faith in the fact that, despite our daunting predicaments, we are uniquely prepared to create positive change. Drawing on Walker's spiritual grounding and her progressive political convictions, the book offers a cornucopia of the Pulitzer Prize winner's writings and speeches on advocacy, struggle, and hope. Each chapter concludes with a recommended meditation to teach patience, compassion, and forgiveness. Walker's clear vision and calm meditative voice--truly "a light in darkness"--has struck a deep chord among a large and devoted readership.
From all over the world, picture book illustrators sent original images and personal messages, in postcard form, for Migrations, an exhibition at the Biennial of Illustration, Bratislava, in 2017, curated by the University of Worcester's International Centre for the Picture Book in Society. Over fifty of the cards are reproduced in this very special book. The book is divided into themes of Departures, Long Journeys, Arrivals and Hope for the Future. The facsimile postcard text includes personal messages of hope from the illustrators, as well as quotes from writers including Emily Dickinson, WB Yeats, John Clare, and Anita Desai. Robert Macfarlane has written a poem specially for the postcard drawn by Jackie Morris. Illustrators include Christopher Corr, Marie-Louise Gay, Piet Grobler, Petr Horacek, Isol, Jon Klassen, Neal Layton, PJ Lynch, Roger Mello, Jackie Morris, Jane Ray, Chris Riddell, Axel Scheffler and Shaun Tan. In total, illustrators from 28 countries have contributed. Migrations carries a powerful message about human migration, showing how cultures, ideas and aspirations flow despite borders, barriers and bans.
Elgar Research Agendas outline the future of research in a given area. Leading scholars are given the space to explore their subject in provocative ways, and map out the potential directions of travel. They are relevant but also visionary. Evaluating achievements, challenges and future avenues for research, this book explores how new dimensions of knowledge and practice contest, reshape and advance traditional understandings of sustainable consumption governance. By questioning existing academic discourse and advocating collective solutions, up-and-coming and established scholars help readers to understand diverse governance processes through a wide variety of topics. These range from consumption impacts, the circular and sharing economy, sustainable business models, consumer behaviour and work time, to understanding the role of new actors such as prosumers and city governments. The research agenda supports transformative system changes to a more sustainable society. Policy makers at international, national and local levels will benefit from the practical advice offered and forward-thinking policy suggestions. It will also be a timely read for scholars of sustainability studies, sociology of consumption, political economy and political ecology, human geography, wellbeing, environment studies and human ecology looking to gain a more well-rounded understanding of the topic.
By combining recent research (especially that of Piketty and his associates) with established ideas (particularly from Sir Arthur Lewis), Roger McCain proposes policies that, together, would aim to reverse the observed tendency towards the concentration of wealth in market economies, thus 'approach equality.' The shortcomings and dangers of rising wealth inequality are discussed, both from the point of view of increasing instability and of equalitarian values. Drawing on Marxist concepts of class, the book clarifies both the relation of wealth to income inequality and the causal link between wealth inequality and economic instability, exploring practical issues related to the proposed policies. The role of the 'middle class' and the causes of the failure of much of the population to save even for retirement are analyzed. The author goes on to examine the implications for programs of distribution according to need and the role of the corporation, and the possibility of a scheme of economic planning that would retain the known advantages of the market allocation of resources. With inequality still a rising issue for public policy, professionals and students studying policy economics will benefit from the analysis in this book and its tight focus on inequality of wealth, as will interested lay readers with a background in economics and an interest in inequality.
How did an obscure academic idea pave the way to the Holocaust within just fifty years? Why does eugenics still loom large in the 21st century, despite its genocidal past? Did eugenics work? Could it work? Or was it always a pseudoscientific fantasy? Throughout history, people have sought to reduce suffering, eliminate disease and enhance desirable qualities in their children. In the Victorian era eugenics, a full-blooded attempt to impose control over unruly biology, began to grow among the powerful and quickly spread to dozens of countries around the world. But these ideas are not merely historical: today, with new gene editing techniques, conversations are happening about tinkering with the DNA of our unborn children to make them smarter, fitter, stronger. Deeply steeped in contemporary genetics, CONTROL offers a vital account of one of the defining - and most destructive - ideas of the twentieth century.
While a great deal has been written on the topic already, this textbook focuses on introducing human rights law in a comprehensive but easy-to-understand manner to the benefit of both lecturers and students. It is hoped that this work will assist lecturers who teach the subject at first- or second-year level, both in the LLB degree and other university programmes, as well as non-governmental organisations and others parties who train their staff or stakeholders in basic principles of the law. The book should also benefit students by covering the breadth of human rights law directly applicable to students studying law in South Africa. The text contains a number of scenarios to help readers grasp the material being discussed by illustrating relevant constitutional principles and issues. Cases are integrated into the text in a manner that should facilitate an understanding of their application. This book contains complete court judgments, statutes, a bibliography and questions to respective chapters which will assist lecturers and students in finding their way beyond the book at whatever level they deem appropriate.
Provides a critical and comprehensive overview of theorising and debate about the role of race and ethnicity in contemporary societies. This book intends to explore the evolution of race and ethnicity as subjects of both scholarly and political debate. It is of interest to students and scholars of race and ethnicity alike.
In this autobiography by Norma McCorvey, the "Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade," you have the opportunity to read the behind-the-scenes report of one of this century's most surprising and public confessions of faith.
In this illuminating examination of our national welfare policy, award-winning veteran reporter and writer LynNell Hancock offers an intimate, heart-wrenching, and beautifully rendered portrait of three women and their families as they struggle to find their way through the new rules and regulations of the public assistance system. Hands to Work takes us on a journey within the day-to-day struggles of these women, describing their hopes, regrets, and deepest dreams. Hancock demystifies contemporary misconceptions of poverty and illustrates how welfare policy and reform have been conceived, offering a thought-provoking look at the most divisive questions about America's neediest citizens.
A New York Times and Washington Post Notable Book A Best Book of 2021 by BuzzFeed and Real Simple An "unmissable" (Vogue), "exceptional" (The Washington Post), and "evocative" (Chicago Tribune) memoir about three Black girls from the storied Bronzeville section of Chicago that offers a penetrating exploration of race, opportunity, friendship, sisterhood, and the powerful forces at work that allow some to flourish...and others to falter. They were three Black girls. Dawn, tall and studious; her sister, Kim, younger by three years and headstrong as they come; and her best friend, Debra, already prom-queen pretty by third grade. They bonded-fervently and intensely in that unique way of little girls-as they roamed the concrete landscape of Bronzeville, a historic neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, the destination of hundreds of thousands of Black folks who fled the ravages of the Jim Crow South. These third-generation daughters of the Great Migration come of age in the 1970s, in the warm glow of the recent civil rights movement. It has offered them a promise, albeit nascent and fragile, that they will have more opportunities, rights, and freedoms than any generation of Black Americans in history. Their working-class, striving parents are eager for them to realize this hard-fought potential. But the girls have much more immediate concerns: hiding under the dining room table and eavesdropping on grown folks' business; collecting secret treasures; and daydreaming about their futures-Dawn and Debra, doctors, Kim a teacher. For a brief, wondrous moment the girls are all giggles and dreams and promises of "friends forever." And then fate intervenes, first slowly and then dramatically, sending them careening in wildly different directions. There's heartbreak, loss, displacement, and even murder. Dawn struggles to make sense of the shocking turns that consume her sister and her best friend, all the while asking herself a simple but profound question: Why? In the vein of The Other Wes Moore and The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace, Three Girls from Bronzeville is a "deeply personal" (Real Simple) memoir that chronicles Dawn's attempt to find answers. It's at once a celebration of sisterhood and friendship, a testimony to the unique struggles of Black women, and a tour-de-force about the complex interplay of race, class, and opportunity, and how those forces shape our lives and our capacity for resilience and redemption.
In Jerusalemites, Dr. Nusseibeh tells of growing up in British Mandate Palestine and recalls the pain inflicted on the Palestinians by the creation of Israel. He describes how he dedicated his professional life to the service of the Palestinian people and the goal of restoring their basic human rights. Dr. Nusseibeh also provides unique inside accounts of some of the major events in contemporary Arab and international history. Throughout Hazem Nusseibeh 's long and illustrious career as a senior politician and diplomat, the lure of Jerusalem, the city of his birth, remained strong.See a video preview of the book:
A Deafblind writer and professor explores how the misrepresentation of disability in books, movies, and TV harms both the disabled community and everyone else. As a Deafblind woman with partial vision in one eye and bilateral hearing aids, Elsa Sjunneson lives at the crossroads of blindness and sight, hearing and deafness-much to the confusion of the world around her. While she cannot see well enough to operate without a guide dog or cane, she can see enough to know when someone is reacting to the visible signs of her blindness and can hear when they're whispering behind her back. And she certainly knows how wrong our one-size-fits-all definitions of disability can be. As a media studies professor, she's also seen the full range of blind and deaf portrayals on film, and here she deconstructs their impact, following common tropes through horror, romance, and everything in between. Part memoir, part cultural criticism, part history of the Deafblind experience, Being Seen explores how our cultural concept of disability is more myth than fact, and the damage it does to us all.
In this fascinating follow-up to the bestselling Information is Beautiful and Knowledge is Beautiful, the king of infographics David McCandless uses spectacular visuals to give us all a bit of good news. We are living in the Information Age, in which we are constantly bombarded with data - on television, in print and online. How can we relate to this mind-numbing overload? Enter David McCandless and his amazing infographics: simple, elegant ways to understand information too complex or abstract to grasp any way but visually. In his unique signature style, he creates dazzling displays that blend facts with their connections, contexts and relationships, making information meaningful, entertaining - and beautiful. In his highly anticipated third book, McCandless illustrates positive news from around the world, for an informative, engaging and uplifting collection of new infographic art.
A powerful portrait of the greatest humanitarian emergency of our time, from the director of Human Flow In the course of making Human Flow, his epic feature documentary about the global refugee crisis, the artist Ai Weiwei and his collaborators interviewed more than 600 refugees, aid workers, politicians, activists, doctors, and local authorities in twenty-three countries around the world. A handful of those interviews were included in the film. This book presents one hundred of these conversations in their entirety, providing compelling first-person stories of the lives of those affected by the crisis and those on the front lines of working to address its immense challenges. Speaking in their own words, refugees give voice to their experiences of migrating across borders, living in refugee camps, and struggling to rebuild their lives in unfamiliar and uncertain surroundings. They talk about the dire circumstances that drove them to migrate, whether war, famine, or persecution; and their hopes and fears for the future. A wide range of related voices provides context for the historical evolution of this crisis, the challenges for regions and states, and the options for moving forward. Complete with photographs taken by Ai Weiwei while filming Human Flow, this book provides a powerful, personal, and moving account of the most urgent humanitarian crisis of our time.
SOME THINGS ARE TOO PERFECT TO BE TRUE... 'A sharp, compelling take on modern motherhood' HEAT 'A nail-biting, dark thriller' PLATINUM 'Fiendishly entertaining... A suspenseful and unsettling cautionary tale' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY *** Rose O'Connell aspires to be the perfect mother. And when she receives an unexpected invitation into The Circle, an elite clique of beautiful, wealthy and connected mums at her son's exclusive school, it seems her dreams are about to come true. Every mother would kill for an invitation, and once she joins, Rose's social status soars. But what is each woman hiding beneath her immaculate exterior? Why did a previous member take their own life? And why have they singled out unassuming Rose to take her place? Rose is about to find out that darkness lies at the heart of The Circle. And it's far too late to run... From the author of That Woman comes a razor-sharp, dark and nail-bitingly gripping new thriller. Dare you enter The Circle? -- Readers LOVE Such a Good Mother 'Enthralling, chilling, compulsive... keeps the reader gripped from start to finish, an absolute must-read for fans of thrillers' 'You will be hanging off every word as the story evolves and goes from dark to pitch black' 'A deliciously wicked ride' 'The ending is just brilliant, I was completely shocked... You will be hanging on every word as the story unfolds. I couldn't put it down. A great page turner!' 'A well-written dark read with plenty of twists' 'This will have you on the edge of your seat for sure!' 'Oh my goodness, not for the faint-hearted. A must-read for anyone who loves the thriller genre' 'Will leave you itching to get to the end. There are so many twists & turns you don't see coming as it's a story of manipulation & deceit on a whole new other level!'
Aid agencies increasingly consider anti-corruption activities important for economic development and poverty reduction in developing countries. In the first major comparative study of work by the World Bank, the European Commission and the UNDP to help governments in fragile states counter corruption, Jesper Johnson finds significant variance in strategic direction and common failures in implementation. In a refreshing departure from existing literature on corruption, Anti-Corruption Strategies in Fragile States takes a public administration perspective, studying the role of organisational factors in the success of anti-corruption strategies. It is widely acknowledged that governance and anti-corruption interventions play a crucial role in reducing fragility and building legitimate and resilient institutions. Policy makers have re-framed development goals for fragile states to achieve stability by addressing their special characteristics: weak institutions and governance; low capacity and legitimacy in government; and vulnerability to violence. This book shows how anti-corruption and state-building policies are often disconnected or incoherent, and how executional challenges prevent strategies from translating into results. This book will be of interest to researchers and students studying (anti-)corruption, aid, international organisations or fragile states. It will be an invaluable resource for staff in aid agencies and NGOs in the fields of governance, accountability and transparency.
After two decades of feminist challenges to mainstream theorising, gender has become a central element of social policy and the welfare state. A new literature has widened the focus of social policy from state and economy to a three-sided discourse encompassing the state, the market and the family. The Handbook on Gender and Social Policy provides a comprehensive introduction to this field with up-to-date accounts of debates and innovative original research by leading international authors. The Handbook covers the key areas of social policy that relate to the inequalities between men and women in the developed and developing world. It presents original research on contemporary issues at national and transnational levels across the central policy terrain of income, employment, care and family policy, including family policy models, same-sex marriage and child protection. It features chapters on key perspectives on gender and policy and six original studies of the state of play in different regions of the world. The Handbook on Gender and Social Policy is an excellent resource for advanced students and postgraduate students of sociology, political science, women?s studies, policy studies and related areas. It will also be of interest for practitioners and scholars of social policy seeking up-to-date coverage of how gender affects the contours of social policy and politics. Contributors include: E. Adamson, C. Arza, D. Balkmar, M. Bernstein, M. Blaxland, M. Brady, D. Brennan, R. Daiger von Gleichen, M. Daly, A.L. Ellingsaeter, V. Esquivel, H. Figueiredo, K.R. Fisher, L. Foster, J. Ginn, S. Harkness, B. Harvey, J. Hearn, B. Hewitt, J. Jenson, T. Knijn, R. Mahon, L. Marg, J. Martinez Franzoni, J. McCoy, S. Meyer, J. Outshoorn, K. Pringle, S. Razavi, E. Reese, J.l. Rubery, M. Seeleib-Kaiser, X. Shang, S. Shaver, S. Staab, C. Valiente, F. Williams, A. Yeatman
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