Triple bill of romantic dramas based on the novels by Nicholas Sparks. In 'Dear John' (2010), while Special Forces Army Sergeant John Tyree (Channing Tatum) is home on leave, he meets beautiful college student Savannah Curtis (Amanda Seyfried) and the two fall in love. When the time comes for Savannah to return to college, she promises to write to John during his 12-month enlistment overseas. However, their budding love affair is put to the test when John decides to re-enlist in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. 'Safe Haven' (2013), follows the fortunes of a guarded young woman who unexpectedly finds love in a North Carolina town. Katie Feldman (Julianne Hough) stands out on arrival in Southport. Beautiful but highly reserved, she makes it clear that she expects to have little involvement in the social life of the town and its inhabitants. However, an unforeseen chain of events brings Katie close to Alex (Josh Duhamel), a widower who runs a store while also attempting to bring up his young children. As she inexorably falls in love with Alex and the children Katie begins to let down her guard, but doing so threatens to raise the dark secret she has been protecting. Will she find a way to reconcile the trauma of her past with the possibility of a brighter future? 'The Best of Me' (2014), charts the relationship between Dawson Cole (Luke Bracey/James Marsden) and Amanda Collier (Liana Liberato/Michelle Monaghan), two people from opposite sides of town, who fall deeply in love as teenagers. However, Amanda's parents don't approve of Dawson and their relationship is short-lived due to a number of unfortunate events outside of their control. 20 years later, the pair are reunited at a mutual friend's funeral and it doesn't take long for their romance to rekindle. But although it seems the universe is conspiring to bring them back together after all this time, it seems there are still other forces at work which are determined to keep them apart...

Double bill featuring movies that focus on America's recent involvement in foreign countries. In 'The Kingdom' (2007), when a terrorist bomb detonates inside a Western housing compound in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, an international incident is ignited. While diplomats slowly debate equations of territorialism, FBI Special Agent Ronald Fleury (Jamie Foxx) quickly assembles an elite team and negotiates a secret five-day trip into Saudi Arabia to locate the madman behind the bombing. Upon landing in the desert kingdom, however, Fleury and his team discover Saudi authorities suspicious and unwelcoming of American interlopers into what they consider a local matter. Hamstrung by protocol, and with the clock ticking on their five days, the FBI agents find their expertise worthless without the trust of their Saudi counterparts who want to locate the terrorist in their homeland on their own terms. Fleury's crew finds a like-minded partner in Saudi Police Captain Al-Ghazi (Ashraf Barhom), who helps them navigate royal politics and unlock the secrets of the crime scene and the workings of an extremist, hell bent on further destruction. 'Jarhead' (2006) is an adaptation of former Marine Anthony Swofford's Gulf War memoir. Young recruit Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) joins up with the US Marines (nicknamed 'Jarheads' because of their distinctive haircuts) on the eve of the 1990 Gulf War. After a brutal spell in boot camp, during which Swofford and his fellow recruits are systematically geared up for the conflict, the Marines are dispatched to the deserts of the Persian Gulf to take part in a war that sees them required to do very little in the way of fighting. Bored and frustrated in the middle of nowhere, the young soldiers resort to a macabre sense of humour as they wait for the war to happen to them.

Pierre Bourdieu is a distinguished French sociologist working today. This study is designed to make his dense and complicated thought easily accessible to a student audience. Written in a clear style, the author adopts a critical stance to Bourdieu, covering the full range of his work from the early Algerian fieldwork, to the massive surveys of French cultural consumption, to his most recent theoretical essays. Placing Pierre Bourdieu's sociological enterprise in its proper context - French intellectual life since the 1950s - Jenkins offers a critique which acknowledges Bourdieu's massive achievement while at the same time recognizing the shortcomings and problems of his work. All of the main substantive areas about which Bourdieu has written are discussed - culture, education, social stratification, language and the ethnography of the Kablyia - but the emphasis is upon his contributions to theory, methodology and epistemology.

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christina Hendricks, Richard Jenkins and John Turturro star in this comedy drama directed by John Slattery and adapted from the novel by Pete Dexter. In the 1970s in the working-class town of God's Pocket, troubled 20-something Leon (Caleb Landry Jones) is seemingly accidentally killed on a building site. At the request of Leon's mother Jeannie (Hendricks), who is convinced there was some foul play, her husband, small-time criminal Mickey Scarpato (Hoffman), investigates the death with the help of his friend Arthur 'Bird' Capezio (Turturro). Meanwhile, the well-known journalist Richard Shellburn (Jenkins) is also searching for the truth behind the incident and gets close to Jeannie in the process.

Brad Pitt stars in this darkly comic thriller based on a 1974 George V. Higgins crime novel. Jackie Cogan (Pitt) is a professional 'point man' - that is, the investigator who prepares the way for a hitman - who is assigned to track down a pair of junkies who have ripped off a mob-protected poker game. The star-studded supporting cast includes Ray Liotta, James Gandolfini, Scoot McNairy and Sam Shepard.

Social Identity explains how identification, seen as a social process, works: individually, interactionally and institutionally. Building on the international success of previous editions, this fourth edition offers a concise, comprehensive and readable critical introduction to social science theories of identity for advanced undergraduates and postgraduates. All the chapters have been updated, and extra new material has been added where relevant, integrating the most recent critical publications in the field. As with the earlier editions, the emphasis is on sociology, anthropology and social psychology; on the interplay between relationships of similarity and difference; on interaction; on the categorisation of others as well as self-identification; and on power, institutions and organisations. Written in clear, accessible language, and informed by relevant topical examples throughout, this fully updated new edition will be useful for students interested in social identity throughout the social sciences and humanities.

Contents:
Acknowledgements Preface to the 2002 Edition 1. A Book for Reading 2. Anthropology and Structuralism 3. Experiments in Epistemology 4. Practice, Habitus and Field 5. Symbolic Violence and Social Reproduction 6. Culture, Status and Distinction 7. Uses of Language 8. Using Bourdieu, Reading Bourdieu Name Index. Subject Index

Although the symbolic and political importance of flags has often been mentioned by scholars of nationalism, there are few in-depth studies of the significance of flags for national identities.

This multi-disciplinary collection offers case studies and comparisons of flag history, uses and controversies.

This book brings together a dozen scholars, from varying national and disciplinary backgrounds, to offers a cluster of close readings of flags in their social contexts, mostly contemporary, but also historical. Case studies from Denmark, England, Northern Ireland, Norway, Sweden, and the United States explore ways in which flags are contested, stir up powerful emotions, can be commercialised in some contexts but not in others, serve as quasi-religious symbols, and as physical boundary markers; how the same flag can be solemn and formal in one setting, but stand for domestic bliss and informal cultural intimacy in another.

Contents:
Acknowledgements Preface to the 2002 Edition 1. A Book for Reading 2. Anthropology and Structuralism 3. Experiments in Epistemology 4. Practice, Habitus and Field 5. Symbolic Violence and Social Reproduction 6. Culture, Status and Distinction 7. Uses of Language 8. Using Bourdieu, Reading Bourdieu Name Index. Subject Index

This short critical introduction to Pierre Bourdieu's thought is a model of clarity and insight. Where Bourdieu's own writings are often complex, even ambiguous, Richard Jenkins is direct, concise and to the point. He emphasizes Bourdieu's contributions to theory and methodology while also dealing in detail with his substantive studies of education, social stratification and culture. His book provides the best short English-language introduction to Bourdieu's work. 'As Jenkins points out in the final pages of his book, criticism can be the sincerest form of flattery. I particularly relished his critical approach to the work of Bourdieu and believe that he has written a timely introduction which both undergraduates and experienced teachers will find stimulating and enjoyable.'- Mike Hepworth, University of Aberdeen

Originally published in 1984, this book was the first broad review of the development of business among ethnic minorities in Britain. Chapters describing business performance among established groups such as Jews and Italians were accompanied by accounts of business development among minorities from the Caribbean and the Indian subcontinent. Reviews of parallel trends in the United States and Western Europe underlined the important role of ethnic businesses in capitalist societies as a whole. At the time, ways of encouraging business development among minorities were raising important questions. Was this the way to give new life to the economy in the inner city? Could involvement in business provide opportunities for economic advance and increase stability in ethnic communities? Or was it simply an attempt to make the best of the increasingly marginal social and economic situation in which they found themselves in the 1980s? This book allowed for a clearer assessment of ethnic business development as a strategy for economic survival.

This collection argues for a new conceptualization of intellectual disability that stresses its cultural variability and social construction, and deemphasizes its medicalized, physiological nature. It is aimed at disability specialists in social anthropology, sociology, social policy, and psychology, and at the broader health/medical anthropology audience. It is novel and radical in its treatment of intellectual disability not purely as an inherent property of individuals, but also as a social phenomenon.

This edition, first published in 1989, looks at the problems of racism and equal opportunity in employment and government policies towards them in Britain. It brings together a group of specialist contributors and covers the major areas of debate, including the law, policies towards unemployment, job training and the labour market, the role of the public and private sectors, the role of trade unions, the gap between policies and pronouncements on equal opportunity and their implementation, and the related issue of sectarian discrimination in Northern Ireland. It looks at the future prospects for equal opportunities and provides conclusions for policy. In particular, it aims to address important topics such as the assumptions underlying policies and whether they realistically reflect reality, the actual effect of legislation, and the relationship between power disparities in society as a whole and racial inequality.

Social Identity explains how identification, seen as a social process, works: individually, interactionally and institutionally. Building on the international success of previous editions, this fourth edition offers a concise, comprehensive and readable critical introduction to social science theories of identity for advanced undergraduates and postgraduates. All the chapters have been updated, and extra new material has been added where relevant, integrating the most recent critical publications in the field. As with the earlier editions, the emphasis is on sociology, anthropology and social psychology; on the interplay between relationships of similarity and difference; on interaction; on the categorisation of others as well as self-identification; and on power, institutions and organisations. Written in clear, accessible language, and informed by relevant topical examples throughout, this fully updated new edition will be useful for students interested in social identity throughout the social sciences and humanities.

This book, first published in 1986, focuses upon the processes whereby black workers were systematically disadvantaged in the recruitment and selection process. Based on research into forty organisations in the public, manufacturing and retailing sectors in Britain, the book argues that straightforward, racist, direct discrimination was still a major problem during the mid-1980s. In addition the book identifies a range of more subtle processes, involving stereotypes of acceptability and ethnic stereotypes, informal social networks and 'word of mouth' contacts, which also constitute a barrier for black job seekers. These processes are documented on the basis of extensive quotations from interviews. Using detailed case-study material from two organisations the author draws attention to the importance of organisational politics and their impact upon the recruitment of black workers and the formulation and implementation of equal opportunity policies. Finally the implications of unemployment and recession for the prospects of black workers are discussed and the feasibility and desirability of a range of policy options are assessed.

Intellectual disability - ranging from what is more commonly described as 'mental retardation' to 'learning difficulties' - is a socially constructed phenomenon that varies in important respects cross-culturally. This collection of original essays examines the classification of people as competent and incompetent in the United States, England, Wales, Greece, Greenland, Uganda, and Belize. The contributors, anthropologists and sociologists, argue that it is time for a new understanding of intellectual disability. In contrast to medical and psychological models, a social model of intellectual disability emphasises the cultural and individual variability of incompetence, the intimate relationship between cultural categories of competence and incompetence, and the role of social interaction and networks in its social construction. This book Is an original contribution to ongoing theoretical and policy debates about disability.

Focusing on society, culture, the individual, and collectivity, the author builds a powerful case for an overhaul of the basic concepts of sociology, offering a unified model of the subject matter of sociology as 'the human world' - understood as individual, interactional and institutional orders - which is part of the "natural world." Written in a straightforward and accessible style, this is a powerful restatement of the value of sociological sense as a necessary critique of common sense, and its relevance to an audience far beyond academia.

A detective novel set in the Medway Towns. A body is found in the lighthouse, but who is the killer, and why, In this whodunnit, Inspector Partridge has to battle against illness and fatigue to find the killer fast , before they strike again.

This is an analysis of a popular scare about black magic and Satanism in the North of Ireland between 1972 and 1974. The book gives an insight into a particularly grim period during the early 1970s in Northern Ireland, using an extremely unusual episode - the black magic rumours - as a privileged window onto a world that may now be behind us, but which continues to fascinate many readers. The book provides a fascinating insight into some of the problems and procedures of social history. The author demonstrates that phenomena like the black magic rumours cannot be understood without taking a multidisciplinary approach, taking in perspectives and comparative evidence from anthropology, sociology, folklore and media studies.

Although the symbolic and political importance of flags has often been mentioned by scholars of nationalism, there are few in-depth studies of the significance of flags for national identities.

This multi-disciplinary collection offers case studies and comparisons of flag history, uses and controversies.

This book brings together a dozen scholars, from varying national and disciplinary backgrounds, to offers a cluster of close readings of flags in their social contexts, mostly contemporary, but also historical. Case studies from Denmark, England, Northern Ireland, Norway, Sweden, and the United States explore ways in which flags are contested, stir up powerful emotions, can be commercialised in some contexts but not in others, serve as quasi-religious symbols, and as physical boundary markers; how the same flag can be solemn and formal in one setting, but stand for domestic bliss and informal cultural intimacy in another.

This book is a major contribution to the sociology and anthropology of identity and to debates about identity in Denmark and elsewhere in Europe. Using extensive archival material alongside ethnographic fieldwork, the book explores being Danish, the meanings and practices which produced and reproduced Danishness in an ordinary Danish town during the 1990s. Among the many issues explored are attitudes to the European Union, the symbolism of the royal house and the flag, the States contribution to personal identity, the place of Christianity in Danishness, and the impact on Danes of the recent arrival of mainly Islamic immigrants. Bringing the story up to date with a discussion of the national political shift to the right since the late 1990s, the book concludes with a critical examination of the future of Danishness. Since 1992 and the Danish rejection of the EUs Maastricht Treaty, through the affair of the Mohammed cartoons in 2005, Denmark, although only a small country, has occupied a disproportionately visible place in European and global politics. The only detailed ethnographic study of the full spectrum of modern Danish identity, this book will find a wide market in anthropology, sociology, political science, international relations and European studies. This second edition brings the book further up to date with a discussion of recent developments, including the 2011 Danish general elections which saw a political shift back to the left. The author furthermore reflects on the responses and reviews that that the publication of the first edition fostered.

Cannabis is at the centre of ongoing controversial and often confused debate. Opinions on its potential impact on health are sharply divided: some argue that it poses serious risks to mental health and that adolescent use may lead to psychotic illness in young adulthood, or that it acts as a gateway to hard drugs such as cocaine or opiates. Conversely, others point to alcohol or tobacco being far more harmful yet entirely legal. Cannabis and Young People aims to shed light on the current debates by reviewing all the available evidence on a range of issues relating to the use of cannabis among children and adolescents and summarizing the main conclusions in clear, jargon-free language. Areas covered include: * Patterns of cannabis use * Changes in usage * Young people's views on cannabis * The potential harmful effects, including mental health problems, educational attainment, antisocial behaviour * The family and social factors that can initiate cannabis use * The progression to regular use * The effects of decriminalization This book will be an essential read for anyone needing informed, authoritative information about cannabis and its effects.