As the European Union continues to struggle to establish a common agenda on tackling social problems, this compelling book presents a set of comparative sociological studies in southern European countries from leading scholars working in the region. While political and sociological discussion is frequently focused on northern EU member states, this book widens the debate by looking at a series of specific social problems of southern Europe. Contributors examine pressing social issues, such as social unrest, Islamophobia, childhood and educational needs, deindustrialization, unemployment and environmental degradation, addressing not only the implications of these issues but also their societal perception and their impact on national and regional identities. Chapters highlight shared trends and critical regional disparities that may improve our understanding of social problems in Mediterranean welfare states. Featuring key research from leading academics in the field, this book is crucial reading for scholars of sociology and social policy working in the field of social problems, particularly those focused on southern Europe. It will also be beneficial to policymakers working in the region who are in need of fresh empirical insights into the social fabric of southern European societies. Contributors include: T. Alvarez Lorente, H. Baldan, A. Barros Cardoso, F. Barros Rodriguez, J.F. Bejarano Bella, I. Benali Tahiri, S. Bertolini, F.J. Canton Correa, P. Cardon, F.F. Castano, E. Dominguez, R. Duque-Calvache, F. Entrena-Duran, M. do Nascimento Esteves Mateus, R. Fajardo Fernandez, C. Fuentes-Lara, N. Fuster, P. Galindo Calvo, J.M. Garcia Moreno, A. Gentile, S.M.A. Gozzo, J. Iglesias de Ussel, E. Igorra Canillas, B. Jimenez Roger, J. Lopez Doblas, L.F. Lopez Garcia, B. Mahmud, R. Manzanera Ruiz, C. Marciano, A. Martinez Lopez, R. Martinez Martin, I. Palomares-Linares, L. Pellizzoni, T.T. Rodriguez Molina, F. Sadio Ramos, M. Sanchez Martinez, M.J. Santiago Segura, R.M. Soriano Miras, J.L. Sousa Soares de Oliveira Braga, J. Susino, J.M. Torrado, A. Torres Rodriguez, A. Trinidad Requena, J.M. Valdera-Gil

This book brings together a selection of studies written by specialists from universities and/or research institutions from every continent. The processes of change in systems of production, commercialisation, and consumption of food, as well as the problems and nutritional habits analysed here, develop within the framework of the technological and socio-productive transformations experienced in many parts of the world as a consequence of the transition from traditional rural societies to the predominantly urban and industrial societies of our time. Many of these societies are affected by the fluctuations, questions, or socio-economic uncertainties caused principally by what is named globalisation. The authors involved in this volume are from a variety of backgrounds and their theoretical-analytical focuses regarding eating habits are quite diverse. However, independent of their different perspectives and scientific disciplines (Anthropology, Communication, Economy, Marketing, Medicine, Nursing, Psychology and Sociology), all of these authors are united in their concerns regarding similar food processes and problems, such as the industrialisation of food production, junk food, fast food, eating disorders, overeating, obesity, the impacts of ideal body images on eating behaviours, lifestyles and feeding, anorexia, bulimia, organic foods, healthy foods, functional foods, and so on. Moreover, in a time shaped by a worldwide standardisation of eating habits, the search for identity, specificity, or distinction through the acquisition and consumption of foods is commonplace in many chapters of the book. Likewise, these chapters show a generalised interest on the negative effects of the advertising and communications media that often drive patterns of food consumption and provoke desires for ideals of beauty and body forms prejudicial to health. As the editor states in the preface, all this occurs in an ever more modernised and globalised world in which artificial procedures of the production of industrial foods that are quite opaque to the general public become increasingly widespread. In such a world, while people's concerns over the healthiness of foods increase, we are witnessing a non-stop expansion of markets for organic food, as well as the repeated manipulation of growing consumers' preferences for certain foodstuffs that they believe are healthy or have specific natural qualities. This manipulation frequently takes place through a variety of advertisements that announce a series of industrial foods as supposedly possessing these qualities. Obviously, a priority objective of these and other advertising strategies is to increase sales in the agro-alimentary sector in a context of obvious over-production and over-supply, which in turn is translated into the stimulation of food consumption. This would help explain such developments in the current consumer society, which is explored in further detail in many chapters of this book.

This book brings together a selection of studies written by specialists from universities and/or research institutions from every continent. The processes of change in systems of production, commercialisation, and consumption of food, as well as the problems and nutritional habits analysed here, develop within the framework of the technological and socio-productive transformations experienced in many parts of the world as a consequence of the transition from traditional rural societies to the predominantly urban and industrial societies of our time. Many of these societies are affected by the fluctuations, questions, or socio-economic uncertainties caused principally by what is named globalisation. The authors involved in this volume are from a variety of backgrounds and their theoretical-analytical focuses regarding eating habits are quite diverse. However, independent of their different perspectives and scientific disciplines (Anthropology, Communication, Economy, Marketing, Medicine, Nursing, Psychology and Sociology), all of these authors are united in their concerns regarding similar food processes and problems, such as the industrialisation of food production, junk food, fast food, eating disorders, overeating, obesity, the impacts of ideal body images on eating behaviours, lifestyles and feeding, anorexia, bulimia, organic foods, healthy foods, functional foods, and so on. Moreover, in a time shaped by a worldwide standardisation of eating habits, the search for identity, specificity, or distinction through the acquisition and consumption of foods is commonplace in many chapters of the book. Likewise, these chapters show a generalised interest on the negative effects of the advertising and communications media that often drive patterns of food consumption and provoke desires for ideals of beauty and body forms prejudicial to health. As the editor states in the preface, all this occurs in an ever more modernised and globalised world in which artificial procedures of the production of industrial foods that are quite opaque to the general public become increasingly widespread. In such a world, while people's concerns over the healthiness of foods increase, we are witnessing a non-stop expansion of markets for organic food, as well as the repeated manipulation of growing consumers' preferences for certain foodstuffs that they believe are healthy or have specific natural qualities. This manipulation frequently takes place through a variety of advertisements that announce a series of industrial foods as supposedly possessing these qualities. Obviously, a priority objective of these and other advertising strategies is to increase sales in the agro-alimentary sector in a context of obvious over-production and over-supply, which in turn is translated into the stimulation of food consumption. This would help explain such developments in the current consumer society, which is explored in further detail in many chapters of this book.