Examining in detail the apparently inexorable polarization of society in such countries as Rwanda, Algeria, and South Africa, the author questions whether current theories correctly explain the past or offer adequate guides for the future. In their place he puts forward an alternative neo-Durkheimian view of the possibility of non-violent revolutionary change, based on the development of such social and cultural continuities as already exist within each plural society. But he warns that "this is an age of passionate commitment to violence in which vicarious killers abound in search of a Vietnam of their own." The aim of this groundbreaking and challenging book is to create theoretical perspectives in which to view the racial conflict of plural societies. Written in the turbulent early 1970s, the book demonstrates the inadequacy of then prevailing views such as Marxist interpretations of racial conflict as class struggle, and the Fanon a priori rejection of non-violent techniques of change, which Kuper holds responsible for the acceptance of what he calls "the platitudes of violence." The book concludes with more personal sections focusing on the author's struggles with the then prevailing South African society, critiques of that, and censorship of his attempts to make these public. In the light of subsequent changes in South Africa many decades later, this book serves not only as an important work of political sociology but as a personal testament to the fight against racism in South Africa. Leo Kuper was professor of sociology and director of the African Studies Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. A South African by birth, he was one of the first writers on genocide as well as other aspects of African studies and urban sociology. His major book, Genocide (Penguin, 1981), remains in print. The Leo Kuper Foundation is a non-governmental organization dedicated to the eradication of genocide through research, advice, and education. It was created in Washington, DC in 1994 following the death of Leo Kuper, with the aim of improving measures to prevent genocide. The main area of work for the past five years has been in support of the creation of an International Criminal Court. Troy Duster is director at the Institute for the History of the Production of Knowledge, New York University.

The English philosopher Jeremy Bentham first defined the term 'mesology,' and its related 'social mesology,' as being the discipline concerned with the effects upon human beings as individuals or in society of meteorological conditions, food and drink, urbanization, sanitation, occupation, domesticity, religion, institutions, laws, and psychological factors. In Radiation and Health, originally published in 1964, William Valentine Mayneord takes this argument one step further by adding 'ionizing radiation' to this formidable catalogue.While many people argue that health is a definable and measurable quantity, characteristically expressing it in a negative way via mortality or morbidity statistics, Mayneord argues that the patterns of life throughout the world vary so greatly that no standard can be set for all people, or even for the same people at different times. Moreover, health status has to be looked at from a community, as well as from a personal, point of view, and social well-being may be regarded as a predisposing condition of individual health.In the search for quantitative criteria, many 'health indicators' have been classified into three groups: those associated with the health status of persons or populations in a given area, those related to physical environmental conditions having a more or less direct bearing on the health status of the population in an area, and those concerned with health-service activities directed to improvement of health conditions. While radiation has many negative effects, it also has positive ones, including curing diseases. Mayneord acknowledges the dangers of radiation, but believes they are manageable if handled responsibly. This classic volume, long unavailable, is much cited in contemporary research on the subject.

The English philosopher Jeremy Bentham first defined the term "mesology," and its related "social mesology," as being the discipline concerned with the effects upon human beings as individuals or in society of meteorological conditions, food and drink, urbanization, sanitation, occupation, domesticity, religion, institutions, laws, and psychological factors. In Radiation and Health, originally published in 1964, William Valentine Mayneord takes this argument one step further by adding "ionizing radiation" to this formidable catalogue.

While many people argue that health is a definable and measurable quantity, characteristically expressing it in a negative way via mortality or morbidity statistics, Mayneord argues that the patterns of life throughout the world vary so greatly that no standard can be set for all people, or even for the same people at different times. Moreover, health status has to be looked at from a community, as well as from a personal, point of view, and social well-being may be regarded as a predisposing condition of individual health.

In the search for quantitative criteria, many "health indicators" have been classified into three groups: those associated with the health status of persons or populations in a given area, those related to physical environmental conditions having a more or less direct bearing on the health status of the population in an area, and those concerned with health-service activities directed to improvement of health conditions. While radiation has many negative effects, it also has positive ones, including curing diseases. Mayneord acknowledges the dangers of radiation, but believes they are manageable if handled responsibly. This classic volume, long unavailable, is much cited in contemporary research on the subject.

Confronting Genocide: Judaism, Christianity, Islam is the first collection of essays by recognized scholars primarily in the field of religious studies to address this timely topic. In addition to theoretical thinking about both religion and genocide and the relationship between the two, these authors look at the tragedies of the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, Rwanda, Bosnia, and the Sudan from their own unique vantage point. In so doing, they supply a much needed additional contribution to the ongoing conversations proffered by historians, political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, and legal scholars regarding prevention, intervention, and punishment.

Confronting Genocide: Judaism, Christianity, Islam is the first collection of essays by recognized scholars primarily in the field of religious studies to address this timely topic. In addition to theoretical thinking about both religion and genocide and the relationship between the two, these authors look at the tragedies of the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide, Rwanda, Bosnia, and the Sudan from their own unique vantage point. In so doing, they supply a much needed additional contribution to the ongoing conversations proffered by historians, political scientists, sociologists, psychologists, and legal scholars regarding prevention, intervention, and punishment.

Examining in detail the apparently inexorable polarization of society in such countries as Rwanda, Algeria, and South Africa, the author questions whether current theories correctly explain the past or offer adequate guides for the future. In their place he puts forward an alternative neo-Durkheimian view of the possibility of non-violent revolutionary change, based on the development of such social and cultural continuities as already exist within each plural society. But he warns that "this is an age of passionate commitment to violence in which vicarious killers abound in search of a Vietnam of their own." The aim of this groundbreaking and challenging book is to create theoretical perspectives in which to view the racial conflict of plural societies. Written in the turbulent early 1970s, the book demonstrates the inadequacy of then prevailing views such as Marxist interpretations of racial conflict as class struggle, and the Fanon "a priori" rejection of non-violent techniques of change, which Kuper holds responsible for the acceptance of what he calls "the platitudes of violence." The book concludes with more personal sections focusing on the author's struggles with the then prevailing South African society, critiques of that, and censorship of his attempts to make these public. In the light of subsequent changes in South Africa many decades later, this book serves not only as an important work of political sociology but as a personal testament to the fight against racism in South Africa. "Leo Kuper" was professor of sociology and director of the African Studies Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. A South African by birth, he was one of the first writers on genocide as well as other aspects of African studies and urban sociology. His major book, "Genocide" (Penguin, 1981), remains in print. The Leo Kuper Foundation is a non-governmental organization dedicated to the eradication of genocide through research, advice, and education. It was created in Washington, DC in 1994 following the death of Leo Kuper, with the aim of improving measures to prevent genocide. The main area of work for the past five years has been in support of the creation of an International Criminal Court. "Troy Duster" is director at the Institute for the History of the Production of Knowledge, New York University.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1965.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1965.