Psychology: An introduction is a comprehensive first-year psychology textbook written for South African students.

Interest is engaged through narrative introductions, research findings and relevant case studies, giving students the tools to develop their own ideas and to engage critically with the content.

The fifth edition engages more reflectively on the discipline with a greater focus on developing a decolonial and African-centred psychology, thus supporting universities with the transformation of curricula.

The most significant French sociologist since Durkheim, Pierre Bourdieu's influence on intellectual life shows no sign of abating. He was a prolific and consequential scholar whose impact can be measured by the Social Science Citation Index and international surveys of academics. Conceptualizations, such as habitus and field, his heuristic treatment of cultural, economic, political, social and symbolic capital to analyze the uses of power, and his insistence upon melding the usually separated micro and macro levels of societal theorizing are now embedded in the basic vocabulary of sociology and anthropology. Whether or not in accord with his outlook, serious scholars are obliged to test themselves against his challenges.

Bourdieu also played a considerable role as a public intellectual, taking positions on questions vital to France and to the world more generally. Many of his contributions stem from his important research projects: colonialism, educational inequality, the social foundations of taste in the arts and life styles, social reproduction of status relationships, and more recently, the impact of unchecked globalism on the disadvantaged. The articles in this book represent a sampling of the most recent and durable of the ongoing conversations, debates, and research orientations that Bourdieu launched.

This collection offers insight into central features of Bourdieu's sociology as well as examples of original research inspired by Bourdieua (TM)s work. It will be of great relevance to students of social theory, French culture and theory, political sociology, sociology of culture and education.

This volume is based in large part on a special issue of the journal Theoryand Society [The sociology of Symbolic Power: A Special Issue in Memory of Pierre Bourdieu] edited by David L. Swartz, with the editorial collaboration of Vera L. Zolberg Vol. 332/5-6 (December 2003) Kluwer Academic Publishers.

This volume provides a thorough examination of the interplay between individuals and their environment in the development and maintenance of problem behaviors, and delineates procedures for conducting assessment, intervention, and prevention within the child's ecosystem. As individuals structure, change, and organize their environments, their environments work to do the same. Environmental or contextual and individual variables act reciprocally to shape an individual's behavior. For school-aged youth, this reality necessitates an ecological approach to assessment, intervention, and prevention. Specifically, problem behaviors are partly developed and maintained by a combination of factors present in the child's psychosocial ecosystem -- home, school, and community. Although there is an abundance of theoretical applications and research supporting this concept, the predominant trend has been to emphasize the properties of the person. As a result, one is left to assume that the genesis of difficulties in adaptation lies in internal or personal states and traits of the individual. In contrast to traditional psychology theories which focus primarily on the individual, incorporation of ecological psychology concepts allows for a more comprehensive and in-depth analysis of sources contributing to the individual's ability to adapt to their psychosocial environment. Ecological theories which drive assessment, intervention, and prevention efforts provide the necessary framework for assisting school-aged youth and their associated ecological networks to cope with and overcome the multidetermined, multifaceted concerns that arise during the school years. However, this is an often difficult and cumbersome task for educators, parents, and school systems to undertake. To this end, this volume focuses on the functional application of ecological psychology for schools within communities. Each of the 10 chapters -- written by key figures in school, family, counseling, and community psychology -- explores the use of ecological theory from a different perspective, ranging from focus on the child, the child within the classroom, the classroom teacher, and the community to considerations in working with special populations such as juvenile delinquents and in planning for developmental issues such as school-to-work-transition. The final chapter summarizes and integrates the previous chapters and provides suggestions for future directions in the field.

In recent years, mental health professionals who have traditionally focused on the emotional state of the individual have come to realize that problems arise from the unique interactions between particular individuals and environments. From necessity, they are beginning to look at context; no longer can they place the responsibility for mental health on the shoulders of the person alone. Most attention has been paid to the impact of educational and work settings, but it is clear that all life settings contribute meaningfully to positive psychological adaptation and must be considered in any attempt to understand a person's difficulties. This book explores the crucial ramifications of new theory and research in person-environment psychology for assessment and intervention. All practitioners seeking to deliver effective mental health services to adolescents and adults will learn from it.

In recent years, mental health professionals who have traditionally focused on the emotional state of the individual have come to realize that problems arise from the unique interactions between particular individuals and environments. From necessity, they are beginning to look at "context;" no longer can they place the responsibility for mental health on the shoulders of the person alone. Most attention has been paid to the impact of educational and work settings, but it is clear that all life settings contribute meaningfully to positive psychological adaptation and must be considered in any attempt to understand a person's difficulties.
This book explores the crucial ramifications of new theory and research in person-environment psychology for assessment and intervention. All practitioners seeking to deliver effective mental health services to adolescents and adults will learn from it.

Multilingual communication within the world community is important for economic, political, and cultural interactions. In a global environment where other languages are increasing in importance in addition to recognized intemational standards (i. e., English and French), language learning is becoming more important for improved international relations. At the same time, recent advances in instructional technology make the promise of building intelligent tutoring systems in advanced technology laboratories to teach these language skills a reality in the near future. These tutoring systems, therefore, may help us foster improved methods for acquiring languages. As active language learners and instructional technology researchers, we felt an international meeting with similar individuals was needed to discuss how such advanced tutoring systems are to be designed and implemented. We held such a meeting, the results of which are presented in this volume. The purpose of this Advanced Workshop, sponsored by the NATO Scientific Affairs Division, was to bring together a multidisciplinary group of researchers who were active in the development of intelligent tutoring systems for foreign language learning. Participants came from computer science, computational linguistics, psychology, and foreign language learning. Washington, D.C. was selected for the Workshop site since it is Merryanna's home city, the capitol of the United States, and an international, multilingual community in its own right. Masoud agreed to the location (with a promise to be shown the White House!) and graciously volunteered to coordinate activities from the European side.

The most significant French sociologist since Durkheim, Pierre Bourdieu's influence on intellectual life shows no sign of abating. He was a prolific and consequential scholar whose impact can be measured by the Social Science Citation Index and international surveys of academics. Conceptualizations, such as habitus and field, his heuristic treatment of cultural, economic, political, social and symbolic capital to analyze the uses of power, and his insistence upon melding the usually separated micro and macro levels of societal theorizing are now embedded in the basic vocabulary of sociology and anthropology. Whether or not in accord with his outlook, serious scholars are obliged to test themselves against his challenges.

Bourdieu also played a considerable role as a public intellectual, taking positions on questions vital to France and to the world more generally. Many of his contributions stem from his important research projects: colonialism, educational inequality, the social foundations of taste in the arts and life styles, social reproduction of status relationships, and more recently, the impact of unchecked globalism on the disadvantaged. The articles in this book represent a sampling of the most recent and durable of the ongoing conversations, debates, and research orientations that Bourdieu launched.

This collection offers insight into central features of Bourdieu's sociology as well as examples of original research inspired by Bourdieua (TM)s work. It will be of great relevance to students of social theory, French culture and theory, political sociology, sociology of culture and education.

This volume is based in large part on a special issue of the journal Theoryand Society [The sociology of Symbolic Power: A Special Issue in Memory of Pierre Bourdieu] edited by David L. Swartz, with the editorial collaboration of Vera L. Zolberg Vol. 332/5-6 (December 2003) Kluwer Academic Publishers.