The greatest problems facing humanity today are climate change, poverty, and the increasing separation between the rich and poor. The aim of this book is to examine the social constructions that have led to these breakdowns, and provide potential solutions that are based on a fundamental change in the structure of society and the values on which a new and better social system can be built. Unless we as a society set a drastically different course soon, human life as we know it will suffer greatly, perhaps even cease altogether. Excess consumption is becoming anti-social as the effects of global warming and increasing poverty become apparent. What, then, will form the new social values on which society replaces the present emphasis on work and material consumption that now prevail? This book's answer to that question is accomplishment and aesthetic consumption. This proposed refocused existence will necessitate a new economic order that provides access to a livelihood beyond the market system. This groundbreaking book will appeal to students and scholars of sociology, leisure studies, political science, and social work.

Social Progress and the Authoritarian Challenge to Democracy examines the authoritarian challenge to present-day democracy through a framing of social progress theory and the idea of the social contract. Building on the author's previous work, this book discusses whether social progress is linear and on a continual upward trajectory to human betterment, or if there are peaks and troughs along the way. More importantly, it questions that, if social progress exists, is it compatible with social and environmental sustainability? At the outset the book introduces the concepts of social contract theory and the idea of human social progress, long considered to be settled conditions, now ripe for further examination. Each chapter carefully analyses the contemporary struggle between democracy and authoritarianism, using examples from the USA as a foundation to discuss and compare democracies from around the world encountering the pressures of rising authoritarianism, including anti-immigration, xenophobia and anti-institutionalism. It argues that if the climate crisis is to be urgently addressed as required, the rise in authoritarian thinking, with its focus on maintaining power and the creation of individual wealth, presents a challenge to both our societal foundations and environmental sustainability. Highlighting and analysing topics of critical importance to today's society, this book will have widespread appeal to academics, researchers and postgraduate students throughout the social sciences including sociology, political science, philosophy, environmental sustainability and development studies.

A New World-System: From Chaos to Sustainability examines the present crisis in the social and ecological environment that is producing profound, potentially catastrophic challenges to the planet and humanity and outlines a process for moving forward to address these critical issues. This book is a cautionary interpretation of the present and vision for the future. Unlike other books on this or allied subjects that are focused singularly, Part 1 surveys the five major threats facing humanity today: climate change, inequality and poverty, new technologies, migration, and globalization. It approaches the challenge of integrating these phenomena into a global picture from a systems perspective rather than taking a purely reductionist approach to understanding what is occurring in the world today. Part 2 moves from identifying the problems to solving them, with chapters examining the ability of the present world-system to address these issues and outlining a process for action. The book concludes by discussing what could follow capitalism as a social organizing strategy and, perhaps more importantly, the consequences to the planet if we do not construct a new world-system. This book is essential reading for students and scholars of sustainable development, climate change, environmental studies, rural and urban planning, environmental psychology, political economy, sociology, social policy, leisure studies, and environmental politics. More broadly, it is a vital resource for all those interested in building a sustainable society.

The greatest problems facing humanity today are climate change, poverty, and the increasing separation between the rich and poor. The aim of this book is to examine the social constructions that have led to these breakdowns, and provide potential solutions that are based on a fundamental change in the structure of society and the values on which a new and better social system can be built. Unless we as a society set a drastically different course soon, human life as we know it will suffer greatly, perhaps even cease altogether. Excess consumption is becoming anti-social as the effects of global warming and increasing poverty become apparent. What, then, will form the new social values on which society replaces the present emphasis on work and material consumption that now prevail? This book's answer to that question is accomplishment and aesthetic consumption. This proposed refocused existence will necessitate a new economic order that provides access to a livelihood beyond the market system. This groundbreaking book will appeal to students and scholars of sociology, leisure studies, political science, and social work.

A New World-System: From Chaos to Sustainability examines the present crisis in the social and ecological environment that is producing profound, potentially catastrophic challenges to the planet and humanity and outlines a process for moving forward to address these critical issues. This book is a cautionary interpretation of the present and vision for the future. Unlike other books on this or allied subjects that are focused singularly, Part 1 surveys the five major threats facing humanity today: climate change, inequality and poverty, new technologies, migration, and globalization. It approaches the challenge of integrating these phenomena into a global picture from a systems perspective rather than taking a purely reductionist approach to understanding what is occurring in the world today. Part 2 moves from identifying the problems to solving them, with chapters examining the ability of the present world-system to address these issues and outlining a process for action. The book concludes by discussing what could follow capitalism as a social organizing strategy and, perhaps more importantly, the consequences to the planet if we do not construct a new world-system. This book is essential reading for students and scholars of sustainable development, climate change, environmental studies, rural and urban planning, environmental psychology, political economy, sociology, social policy, leisure studies, and environmental politics. More broadly, it is a vital resource for all those interested in building a sustainable society.

Rural tourism represents a merging of perhaps two of the most influential yet contradictory features of modern life. Not only are the forces of economic, social, cultural, environmental and political change working to redefine rural spaces the world over, but broad global transformations in consumption and transportation patterns are reshaping leisure behaviour and travel. For those concerned with both the nature of change in rural areas and tourism development, the dynamics and impacts of integrating these two dramatic shifts are not well known but yet are becoming increasingly provocative discourses for study. This book links changes at the local, rural community level to broader, more structural considerations of globalization and allows for a deeper, more theoretically sophisticated consideration of the various forces and features of rural tourism development. While Canadian in content, the cases and discussions presented in this book can be considered generally relevant to any rural region, continentally and globally, that has undertaken or is considering rural tourism development.

Tourism is booming world wide - it makes up a massive part of the global economy. Donald G. Reid's book focuses on tourism in developing and less-developed countries. He examines its social and environmental impact and offers a timely critical analysis of the part it plays in globalisation. Many of the world's poorest countries rely on the tourist trade for the major part of their income. However, all too often, the local communities involved do not reap the benefits of this trade. Developers often exclude local communities from the initial planning and decision-making process, viewing them either as a benign resource to be exploited, or as an impediment. This is a rigourous critique of corporate-led tourism development, which lays out alternatives for planning and control to the local communities. It argues that only in this way can the vastly differing requirements of each community be addressed, and social and environmental issues can be dealt with properly. The book includes a discussion of macro planning theory, and offers three case studies of locally controlled projects that show clearly how communities developing a tourist trade can benefit.

Tourism is increasingly viewed by African governments and others as an economic sector which has great unexplored potential for earning foreign currency. It is also recognised that uncontrolled tourism development has the potential to affect the environment and local communities adversely. This book reports on a series of research case studies from Eastern and Southern Africa that explore the benefits of tourism to local communities while protecting their environmental resource. Each chapter includes a short description of the methodology which provides a guide for those contemplating future research projects in ecotourism in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Tourism is booming world wide - it makes up a massive part of the global economy. Donald G. Reid's book focuses on tourism in developing and less-developed countries. He examines its social and environmental impact and offers a timely critical analysis of the part it plays in globalisation. Many of the world's poorest countries rely on the tourist trade for the major part of their income. However, all too often, the local communities involved do not reap the benefits of this trade. Developers often exclude local communities from the initial planning and decision-making process, viewing them either as a benign resource to be exploited, or as an impediment. This is a rigourous critique of corporate-led tourism development, which lays out alternatives for planning and control to the local communities. It argues that only in this way can the vastly differing requirements of each community be addressed, and social and environmental issues can be dealt with properly. The book includes a discussion of macro planning theory, and offers three case studies of locally controlled projects that show clearly how communities developing a tourist trade can benefit.

Rural tourism represents a merging of perhaps two of the most influential yet contradictory features of modern life. Not only are the forces of economic, social, cultural, environmental and political change working to redefine rural spaces the world over, but broad global transformations in consumption and transportation patterns are reshaping leisure behaviour and travel. For those concerned with both the nature of change in rural areas and tourism development, the dynamics and impacts of integrating these two dramatic shifts are not well known but yet are becoming increasingly provocative discourses for study. This book links changes at the local, rural community level to broader, more structural considerations of globalization and allows for a deeper, more theoretically sophisticated consideration of the various forces and features of rural tourism development. While Canadian in content, the cases and discussions presented in this book can be considered generally relevant to any rural region, continentally and globally, that has undertaken or is considering rural tourism development.