This fascinating book illustrates the importance of analyzing sexuality by examining ways in which stepping outside heterosexuality necessitates and facilitates long-term economic independence. Based on a life-history study, the book charts key stages in the lives of non-heterosexual women, including their experiences of gendering in childhood and their responses to 'the culture of romantic heterosexuality'. In particular it documents the impact of 'coming' out on their lives and the way sexuality has affected their approach both to intimate relationships and paid work.

Living "Difference": Lesbian Perspectives on Work and Family Life examines the roles of lesbians in the home, in the workplace, and as parents. Discussing the advantages of female same-sex relationships, this book suggests that these partnerships are able to facilitate more egalitarian ideals for women than heterosexual relationships. This book will help academics, counselors, and women in same-sex relationships understand the positive aspects of lesbian parenting and the advantages lesbians experience in these households. Without focusing on lesbians as victims or neglecting their differences from other women, Living "Difference" will help you realize that 'living different'can be an empowering experience.Living "Difference" brings together current theoretical and empirical research on lesbian experiences of work and family life and explores the myths and realities of these women. From this book, you will learn about a recent study in Eastern and Western Europe that revealed several advantages for children with lesbian parents, such as an awareness of prejudice against homosexuality and increased moral development. Providing you with case studies of lesbian parents and their children, Living "Difference" offers you insight into the positive and controversial aspects of this family arrangement, including: British tabloid articles that denounce lesbian parenting and discussions of the actual reason for hostility against this type of family the fears, joys, and legal problems that lesbian couples in Europe face when raising children studies that indicate co-mothers take a more active role in the life of their children than do fathers how gender usually determines the division of housework and the differences between lesbian and heterosexual households how society, faculty, and students discriminate against lesbian teachers and how these teachers try to keep their private lives secret for fear of losing their jobsOffering theories that heterosexual households often confine women to gendered roles, this book will help you understand the positive aspects of 'living different'despite societal prejudices. Focusing on the impact gender and sexuality have on societal roles, Living "Difference" seeks to change the practice of treating lesbianism as the 'other'facet of feminism and will prove to you the positive differences of lesbian families.

While recent Labour and coalition governments have insisted that many unemployed people prefer state benefits to a job, and have tightened the rules attached to claiming unemployment benefits, mainstream academic research repeatedly concludes that only a tiny minority of unemployed benefit claimants are not strongly committed to employment. Andrew Dunn argues that the discrepancy can be explained by UK social policy academia leaving important questions unanswered. Dunn presents findings from four empirical studies which, in contrast to earlier research, focused on unemployed people's attitudes towards unattractive jobs and included interviews with people in welfare-to-work organisations. All four studies' findings were consistent with the view that many unemployed benefit claimants prefer living on benefits to undertaking jobs which would increase their income, but which they find unattractive. Thus, the studies gave support to politicians' view about the need to tighten benefit rules.

This book is the first to discuss, in practical and theoretical terms, the pedagogical approach of service-learning to establish partnerships for social good that build disaster resilience. Across 12 chapters a collection of academics and practitioners provide insights on the benefits of utilizing service-learning to address existing needs, build community capacity, and strengthen social networks while enhancing student learning. Key features: Discuss how sustainable service-learning partnerships can contribute to building disaster-resilient communities; Provide practical tools to cultivate and manage collaborative partnerships, and engage in reflective practices; Integrate disciplines to create innovative approaches to complex problems; Share best practices, lessons learned, and case examples that identify strategies for integrating service-learning and research into course design; Offer considerations for ethical decision-making and for the development of equitable solutions when engaging with stakeholders; Identify strategies to bridge the gap between academia and practice while highlighting resources that institutions of higher education can contribute toward disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation. Service-Learning for Disaster Resilience will serve as a user-friendly guide for universities, local government agencies, emergency management professionals, community leaders, and grassroots initiatives in affected communities.

Marveling Religion: Critical Discourses, Religion, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe is an edited volume that explores the intersection of religion and cinema through the lenses of critical discourse. The focus of the shared inquiry are various films comprising the first three phases of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) and corresponding Netflix series. The contributors explore various religious themes and how they intersect with culture through the canon on the MCU. The first part focuses on responses to the societal, governmental, and cultural context that solidified with clarity during the 2016 Presidential Election cycle in the United States and in the following administration. Additionally, it provides lenses and resources for engaging in productive public actions. Part two explores cultural resources of sustaining activism and resistance as well as some of the key issues at stake in public action. The third part centers on militarization and resistance to state violence. Taken in concert, these three sections work together to provide frames for understanding while also keeping us engaged in the concrete action to mobilize social change. The overarching aim of the volume is to promote critical discourse regarding the dynamics of activism and political resistance.

As a director, writer, and producer, Christopher Nolan has substantially impacted contemporary cinema through avant garde films, such as Following and Memento, and his contribution to wider pop culture with his Dark Knight trilogy. His latest film, Interstellar, delivered the same visual qualities and complex, thought-provoking plotlines his audience anticipates. The Philosophy of Christopher Nolan collects sixteen essays, written by professional philosophers and film theorists, discussing themes such as self-identity and self-destruction, moral choice and moral doubt, the nature of truth and its value, whether we can trust our perceptions of what's "real," the political psychology of heroes and villains, and what it means to be a "viewer" of Nolan's films. Whether his protagonists are squashing themselves like a bug, struggling to create an identity and moral purpose for themselves, suffering from their own duplicitous plots, donning a mask that both strikes fear and reveals their true nature, or having to weigh the lives of those they love against the greater good, there are no simple solutions to the questions Nolan's films provoke; exploring these questions yields its own reward.

This book outlines the changes in military strategy, policy, and force structure that prominent civilian and military experts in defense believe the United States must adopt if it is to cope successfully with threats to national security in the 1980s and 1990s.

This book examines the proposal by Samuel Huntington, who advocates that NATO adopt a conventional counter-retaliatory strategy based on offensive military actions deep into Eastern Europe. Using Huntington's concept, it addresses several issues associated with defense and deterrence in the 1980s.

This book is about the strategic importance of NATO-Europe and why Western Europe should continue to remain the primary geographic area of importance in U.S. national security planning. It argues that making fundamental changes in U.S. security commitment to Europe would not be in U.S. interests.

In Rene Girard, Theology, and Popular Culture, fifteen contributors consider how Girard's mimetic theory can be used to uncover and probe the theological depths of popular culture. Creative and critical engagement with Girard's theory enables the contributors to offer fresh and exciting interpretations of movies (The Devil Wears Prada, Mean Girls, Star Wars), television (Hoarders, Cobra Kai), classical literature and graphic novels, and issues ranging from anorexia to social media. The result is a volume that establishes Girard as an innovative interpreter of culture and shows him as an invaluable guide for theologically reflecting on desire, violence, redemption, and forgiveness. Written in fresh and lively prose, the contributors demonstrate not only that Girard provides a powerful lens through which to view culture but also-and more provocatively-challenge readers to consider what popular culture reveals about them. Readers looking for an accessible introduction to mimetic theory and exploring its theological application will find this a welcome resource.

Current NATO military strategy is based on the policy of flexible response that U.S. and European politicians endorsed in 1967; for over 15 years, no fundamental changes in NATO's defense strategy have occurred. If NATO cannot stop a Warsaw Pact aggression conventionally, it continues to threaten a gradual and controlled nuclear escalation of both theater and strategic nuclear weapons. Many analysts now question the fundamental principles underlying NATO's policy and strategy, given the enormous changes that have occurred in the strategic environment between 1967 and 1984. The contributors to this book examine the recent proposal by Samuel Huntington, who advocates that NATO adopt a conventional counter-retaliatory strategy based on offensive military actions deep into Eastern Europe. In evaluating this new proposal, the authors analyze the potential impact that it would have on U.S. and NATO military doctrine, assess probable European and Soviet reactions to NATO adopting a conventional counter-retaliatory strategy, and address the linkages existing between conventional and nuclear strategy. In the final chapter, the editors consider the policy, strategy, and force structure questions raised in the book and recommend policy options for the United States.

In this volume, prominent civilian and military experts in defense, representing the maritime-continental coalition, military reform, and noninterventionist schools of thought, outline the changes in military strategy, policy, and force structure that they believe the United States must adopt if it is to cope successfully with threats to national security in the 1980s and 1990s. The authors analyze US interests and objectives, the changing strategic environment, and the major security threats facing the United States in the coming decades. They also discuss what they believe is the proper mix of political, economic, and military instruments for dealing with fixture threats. The alternative strategies they present are wide-ranging and comprehensive, running the gamut from a strategic withdrawal from global commitments to proposals for increasing US power projection and forcible entry capabilities in the Third World. In many ways the chapters are critical of current and past approaches to military strategy. The authors believe it is essential that strategists understand the existing critiques of current U.S. military strategy in order to make the correct policy decisions for the future.

This book is about the strategic importance of NATO-Europe and why Western Europe should continue to remain the primary geographic area of importance in U.S. national security planning. It argues that making fundamental changes in U.S. security commitment to Europe would not be in U.S. interests.

Disabling Characters provides detailed analyses of selected young adult (YA) novels and short stories. It looks at the relative agency of the disabled character, the behavior of the other characters, the environment in which the character must live, the assumptions that seem to be underlying certain scenes, and the extent to which the book challenges or perpetuates an unsatisfactory status quo. Class discussions about disability-themed literature, however well intentioned, have the potential to reinforce harmful myths or stereotypes about disability. In contrast, discussions informed by a critical disability studies perspective can help readers develop more sophisticated views of disability and contribute to a more just and inclusive society. The book examines discussion questions, lesson plans, study guides, and other supplemental materials aimed at students studying these texts, and it suggests more critical questions to pose about these texts and the positive and/or negative work they do, perhaps subliminally, in our culture. This book is a much-needed addition to college classes in YA literature, literary analysis, methods of teaching literature, disability studies, cultural studies, contemporary criticism, special education, and adolescent literacy.

Disabling Characters provides detailed analyses of selected young adult (YA) novels and short stories. It looks at the relative agency of the disabled character, the behavior of the other characters, the environment in which the character must live, the assumptions that seem to be underlying certain scenes, and the extent to which the book challenges or perpetuates an unsatisfactory status quo. Class discussions about disability-themed literature, however well intentioned, have the potential to reinforce harmful myths or stereotypes about disability. In contrast, discussions informed by a critical disability studies perspective can help readers develop more sophisticated views of disability and contribute to a more just and inclusive society. The book examines discussion questions, lesson plans, study guides, and other supplemental materials aimed at students studying these texts, and it suggests more critical questions to pose about these texts and the positive and/or negative work they do, perhaps subliminally, in our culture. This book is a much-needed addition to college classes in YA literature, literary analysis, methods of teaching literature, disability studies, cultural studies, contemporary criticism, special education, and adolescent literacy.

In Rene Girard, Theology, and Popular Culture, fifteen contributors consider how Girard's mimetic theory can be used to uncover and probe the theological depths of popular culture. Creative and critical engagement with Girard's theory enables the contributors to offer fresh and exciting interpretations of movies (The Devil Wears Prada, Mean Girls, Star Wars), television (Hoarders, Cobra Kai), classical literature and graphic novels, and issues ranging from anorexia to social media. The result is a volume that establishes Girard as an innovative interpreter of culture and shows him as an invaluable guide for theologically reflecting on desire, violence, redemption, and forgiveness. Written in fresh and lively prose, the contributors demonstrate not only that Girard provides a powerful lens through which to view culture but also-and more provocatively-challenge readers to consider what popular culture reveals about them. Readers looking for an accessible introduction to mimetic theory and exploring its theological application will find this a welcome resource.

While recent Labour and coalition governments have insisted that many unemployed people prefer state benefits to a job, and have tightened the rules attached to claiming unemployment benefits, mainstream academic research repeatedly concludes that only a tiny minority of unemployed benefit claimants are not strongly committed to employment. Andrew Dunn argues that the discrepancy can be explained by UK social policy academia leaving important questions unanswered. Dunn presents findings from four empirical studies which, in contrast to earlier research, focused on unemployed people's attitudes towards unattractive jobs and included interviews with people in welfare-to-work organisations. All four studies' findings were consistent with the view that many unemployed benefit claimants prefer living on benefits to undertaking jobs which would increase their income, but which they find unattractive. Thus, the studies gave support to politicians' view about the need to tighten benefit rules.

A practical and insightful guide, Holistic Healing investigates the practices, theories, research, and history of holistic approaches as it relates to a wide range of health care and human service professionals. This text offers a uniquely comparative and integrated understanding of both ancient and modern Indigenous, Eastern, and Western traditional practices, including bodywork, expressive arts, energy medicine, eco-psychology, transpersonal psychology, naturopathy, homeopathy, Ayurveda, traditional Chinese medicine, and Indigenous healing practices. Practitioners and scholars in health, nutrition, psychology, and social work contribute to research that focuses on individual, organizational, national, and global holistic intervention applications. Chapters in this collection address critical issues such as colonization, human rights, the environment, peace and conflict, and equity and inclusion. This collection is a timely and practical resource for students of undergraduate health, social work, sociology, holistic healing, and psychology programs and is also a great resource for professional practitioners.