Social and ethical issues Books

Book SynopsisBased on the experiences of workers, this book analyzes the reasons behind the unexpected growth of the ''great resignation'' and demonstrates how resigning today not only prevents exploitative conditions from deteriorating our health and relationships, but also allows us to reclaim time for ourselves and our lives.We have always been told that work defines us, and serves as the foundation of our dignity as human beings. So why, all over the world, are more and more people quitting their jobs? In recent years, we have had several opportunities to ask ourselves whether the life we are living is the one we truly desire. For many, the answer has been no. This is due to a growing unwillingness to submit to the toxic and vexatious rules imposed by many work contexts. Even prior to the pandemic, a survey conducted in 140 countries revealed that 80 percent of the employed population disliked their jobs. And so, after months of reflection on quality of life, many exhausted, exasperated, and financially strained individuals have organized to collectively resign from their jobs in various sectors such as catering, healthcare, retail, culture, and others, shaping what has been termed the ''great resignation'' phenomenon. Francesca Coin offers insights from extensive fieldwork, including surveys and in-depth interviews with 200 workers who have resigned across various sectors such as healthcare, retail, catering, and publishing. Featuring topics such as burnout, gender and essential workers, Coin examines the phenomenon from a global viewpoint, featuring case studies from Italy, China and the US.

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Book SynopsisThis engaging reader asks provocative questions about the issues around social problems, allowing students to see the topic from a wide range of perspectives and to think critically about the subjects that matter to them.Table of ContentsAnnotated Contents Preface Contributors THE BASES OF INEQUALITY Social Class and Poverty 1. Global Food Crisis: What′s Causing the Rising Prices? - Marcia Clemmitt Race and Ethnicity 2. Affirmative Action: Is It Time to End Racial Preferences? - Peter Katel Gender 3. Gender Pay Gap: Are Women Paid Fairly in the Workplace? - Thomas J. Billitteri Sexual Orientation 4. Gay Marriage Showdowns: Will Voters Bar Marriage for Same-Sex Couples? - Kenneth Jost Age and Aging 5. Aging Baby Boomers: Will the ′Youth Generation′ Redefine Old Age? - Alan Greenblatt OUR SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS Families 6. Future of Marriage: Is Traditional Matrimony Going Out of Style? - David Masci Education 7. Student Aid: Will Many Low-Income Students Be Left Out? - Marcia Clemmitt Work and the Economy 8. Public-Works Projects: Do They Stimulate the Economy More Than Tax Cuts? - Marcia Clemmitt Health and Medicine 9. Universal Coverage: Will All Americans Finally Get Health Insurance? - Marcia Clemmitt The Media 10. Television′s Future: Will TV Remain the Dominant Mass Medium? - Alan Greenblatt OUR SOCIAL AND PHYSICAL WORLDS Alcohol and Drug Abuse 11. Drinking on Campus: Have Efforts to Reduce Alcohol Abuse Failed? - Barbara Mantel Crime and Criminal Justice 12. Juvenile Justice: Are Sentencing Policies Too Harsh? - Peter Katel Cities and Suburbs 13. Rebuilding New Orleans: Should Flood-Prone Areas Be Redeveloped? - Peter Katel The Environment 14. Regulating Toxic Chemicals: Do We Know Enough About Chemical Risks? - Jennifer Weeks War and Terrorism 15. Cost of the Iraq War: Are Economic Woes a Casualty of Unexpectedly High Costs? - Peter Katel INDIVIDUAL ACTION AND SOCIAL CHANGE Social Problems and Social Action 16. The Obama Presidency: Can Barack Obama Deliver the Change He Promises? - Kenneth Jost and the CQ Researcher Staff

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Book SynopsisDescribed by some as a "necropolis for babies," the province of Quebec in the early twentieth century recorded infant mortality rates, particularly among French-speaking Catholics, that were among the highest in the Western world. This "bleeding of the nation" gave birth to a vast movement for child welfare that paved the way for a medicalization of childbearing. In Babies for the Nation , basing her analysis on extensive documentary research and more than fifty interviews with mothers, Denyse Baillargeon sets out to understand how doctors were able to convince women to consult them, and why mothers chose to follow their advice. Her analysis considers the medical discourse of the time, the development of free services made available to mothers between 1910 and 1970, and how mothers used these services. Showing the variety of social actors involved in this process (doctors, nurses, women's groups, members of the clergy, private enterprise, the state, and the mothers themselves), this study delineates the alliances and the conflicts that arose between them in a complex phenomenon that profoundly changed the nature of childbearing in Quebec. Un Québec en mal d'enfants: La médicalisation de la maternité 1910â1970 was awarded the Clio-Québec Prize, the Lionel Groulx-Yves-Saint-Germain Prize, and the Jean-Charles-Falardeau Prize. This translation by W. Donald Wilson brings this important book to a new readership.Trade Review"Originally published in 2004, Denyse Baillargeon's Un Quibec en mal d'enfonu has finally been translated for an English-speaking audience. Babies for the Nation offers a riveting study of the medicalisation of maternity and maternal discourses in Quebec over the course of the twentieth century, bringing attention to an issue largely elided within existing studies of Quebec. Babies for the Nation is an indispensable resource for social historians interested in the growth of maternal and medical ideologies in French-Canada across the twentieth century, shedding light on an issue left largely unexplored until now. Similarly, Baillargeon's focus on the political movements and welfare groups that arose to help Structure and safeguard new procedures and discourses also make this an interesting read for political historians concerned with the rise of state intervention in the home." - Sarah Galletly, University of Strathclyde, British Journal of Canadian Studies, Volume 23 (Number 2), 2010"This is an academically ambitious book, broad in scope and thoroughly researched [yet] it manages to be quite readable.... [I]s it relevant to a contemporary readership in Canada where infant mortality is much decreased, and the notion of a dictatorial and male-dominated medical system is increasingly archaic? The answer is yes: Baillargeon's book depicts the conflicts among the groups involved in public health and politics that is likely no different today." -- Paul Moorehead MD, Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario -- Canadian Medical Association Journal, 182 (11), 201009"Originally published in 2004, Denyse Baillargeon's Un Quèbec en mal d'enfants has been carefully translated by D. Donald Wilson and republished as Babies for the Nation. It is a welcome translation and will ensure that the work of Baillargeon gets a wider reading.... The book is full of rich themes. While much of the literature on women and the medicalization of birth and motherhood addresses the issue of control by physicians, Baillargeon is more interested in how the discourses of medicalization created self-regulation within the women themselves.... [The book's] appendices are quite wonderful--among them a Timeline of Infant Feeeding in Canada, a listing of the various editions of The Canadian Mother's Book with author/editor and distribution figures, a listing of National Surveys of Breastfeeding Practices and summaries of each of them, and the Evolution of Canadian Infant Feeding Guidelines (1923--2004). Each tells us much about the infant feeding habits of women and the advice given to them and how both changed over time." -- Wendy Mitchinson, University of Waterloo -- Scientia Canadensis, Vol 35, no. 1-2, 201305"Babies for the Nation is a book of extraordinary historical detail and fine analytic insight. Through remarkably thorough historical research, Denyse Baillargeon has effectively opened to newcomers the empirical field of the history of maternity in Quebec. English-speaking Canadian historians are lucky to have the translation available. The writing in the book is smooth and elegant, and attribute for which we owe the translator, W. Donald Wilson, as much as we owe the original author. The book demonstrates Baillargeon's mastery not only of the field and its analysis but also of the writer's craft." -- Robyn Braun, University of Alberta -- H-Canada, 201002``In 1927, Canadian Child Welfare News reported that 'Canada enjoys the apparently unenviable distinction of attaining the highest infant mortality rate in recent years.' The journal placed the blame for this shameful achievement entirely on the province of Quebec, whose startlingly high rate of infant deaths had been added to the national registry of births and deaths for the first time, raising the national average of infant mortality from 78.6 to 101.9 per one thousand live births (p. 17). Denyse Baillargeon's absorbing Babies for the Nation: The Medicalization of Motherhood in Quebec, 1910-1970 uses extensive archival research and oral history to interrogate the reasons for Quebec's notorious ranking and how this changed the way pregnancy, childcare, and motherhood were conceptualized. Building on previous work in the history of health, children, and women by Wendy Mitchson, Cynthia Comacchio, and Andrée Lévesque, Babies for the Nation offers a complex analysis of the constellation of stakeholders--physicians and nurses, the government, insurance agents, women's groups, and mothers--dedicated to solving Quebec's infant mortality crisis for the sake of children and their families and, by proxy, for improving the province's reputation as a vital nation.... What is really remarkable about Baillargeon's study is that she does not only pay attention to the prescriptive side of how the 'experts' thought mothers should act. Through extensive oral history, she shows how women digested and adapted the medical advice and services offered to them and contributed in their own ways to raising health children.... Babies for the Nation is a multifaceted analysis of the ways Quebec confronted infant mortality throughout the twentieth century. Baillargeon's study would appeal to anyone interested in understanding the role child welfare plays in characterizing not only the role and responsibility of women, but also the destiny of an entire province.'' -- Tarah Brookfield, Wilfrid Laurier University -- Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth, Vol. 4, no. 2, Spring 2011, 201207"[A] passionate work of social history.... It also has particular relevance at a time when many women are turning to midwives and choosing to have their babies at home--a modern-day challenge to the now hegemonic status of medicalized childbirth." -- Kate Forrest -- Montreal Review of Books, 200910"An indispensable work for scholars and students at the graduate level.... This dense and scholarly work, based on exhaustive original research, will probably remain the definitive work on the topic. It makes a contribution not only to the history of health and of women, but also to Quebec political history." -- Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique française, 200804Table of ContentsTable of Contents for Babies for the Nation: The Medicalization of Motherhood in Quebec, 1910â1970 by Denyse Baillargeon List of Tables List of Acronyms Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter 1: A âBad Motherâ Called Quebec An Early Death Dying While Giving Life Chapter 2: A Very National Infant Mortality Rate The Nation in Peril, 1910â1940 A National Dearth of Children, 1940â1970 Chapter 3: Let Us Have the Mother and the Child Is Ours The Ignorance of Mothers Teach Over and Over Chapter 4: A School for Mothers Clinics for Newborns Home Care The Victorian Order of Nurses The Nurses from the âMetâ The Assistance maternelle Services for Mothers Outside the Major Cities Prenatal Clinics Public Lectures and the Distribution of Documents Chapter 5: Bitter Struggles All for One General Practitioners and Public Health Officials General Practitioners and the Assistance maternelle de Montréal Doctors and Nurses Physicians and âMaternalistâ Feminists Church and State Chapter 6: The Quebec Mother and Child Care for Expectant Women Care for Babies To Read While Caring for Baby Relations with Doctors and Nurses Epilogue: To Have or Not To Have Appendix 1: Sources Appendix 2: Infant Mortality Rates, Canada and the Provinces, 1926â1965 Notes Bibliography Index

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Book Synopsis Understanding and Addressing Girls' Aggressive Behaviour Problems reflects a major shift in understanding children's aggressive-behaviour problems. Researchers used to study what went wrong with a troubled child and needed to be fixed; we now aim to understand what is going wrong in children's relationships that might create, exacerbate, and maintain aggressive-behaviour problems in childhood and adolescence. In this volume, leading researchers in the aggression field examine how problems develop for boys and girls in relationships and how we can help children to develop healthy relationships. Individual chapters explore biological and social contexts, including physical health and relationship problems that might underlie the development of aggressive behaviour problems. The impact of relationships on girls' development is illustrated to be particularly important for Aboriginal girls. Contributors discuss prevention and intervention strategies that help aggressive children build the requisite skills and relationship capacities and also shift dynamics within critical social contexts, such as the family, peer group, classroom, and school. The support of healthy development not only of children but of their parents and other important adults in their lives, including teachers has been shown to be effective in reducing the burden of suffering associated with aggression among children and adolescents - for youth themselves as well as their families, peers, schools, communities, and society. Table of Contents Understanding and Addressing Girls' Aggressive Behviour Problems, edited by Debra J. Pepler and H. Bruce Ferguson Introduction: A Focus on Relationships Debra J. Pepler and H. Bruce Ferguson 1. Different Paths to Aggression for Girls and Boys Dale F. Hay, Lisa Mundy, and Kathryn Hudson 2. Adult Health Outcomes of Girls with Anti-Social Behaviour Problems Candice L. Odgers 3. Commentary: The Development of Girls' Aggression in Different Stages M. Stouthamer-Loeber 4. Some Key Issues in the Early Development of Aggression in Girls Rolf Loeber, Magda Stouthamer-Loeber, Alison E. Hipwell, Jeffrey D. Burke, and Deena R. Battista 5. Webs of Strength and Resistance: Hearing Aboriginal Adolescent Girls Telling Their Stories Susan D. Dion 6. Commentary: The Role of Anger in Aggression Wendy M. Craig 7. Using Evidence to Reduce the Bullying Behaviour Experienced by Girls Donna Cross, Therese Shaw, Helen Monks, Stacey Waters, and Leanne Lester 8. Matching the Prevention of Interpersonal Aggression to Critical Developmental and Contextual Transitions in Middle School Bonnie Leadbeater 9. Commentary: School-Based Interventions Leena Augimeri and Margaret Walsh 10. Understanding Relational Aggression in Elementary School Girls: Implications for Intervention Tina Daniels and Danielle Quigley 11. Reducing Risk of Adolescent Aggression and Violence: A Brief Attachment-Focused Treatment Program for Parents and Caregivers Marlene M. Moretti and Ingrid Obsuth 12. Commentary: Common and Unique Intervention Targets for Girls' Aggression Isabela Granic Conclusion: The Capacity of Relationships and Capacity for Relationships Debra Pepler and Bruce Ferguson Index

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Book SynopsisOften thought of as impoverished, backward, and victimized, the people of the southern mountains have long been prime candidates for development projects conceptualized and controlled from outside the region. This book, breaking with old stereotypes and the strategies they spawned, proposes an alternative paradigm for development projects in Appalachian communities-one that is far more inclusive and democratic than previous models.Emerging from a critical analysis of the modern development process, the participatory development approach advocated in this book assumes that local culture has value, that local communities have assets, and that local people have the capacity to envision and provide leadership for their own social change. It thus promotes better decision making in Appalachian communities through public participation and civic engagement.Filling a void in current research by detailing useful, hands-on tools and methods employed in a variety of contexts and settings, the book combines relevant case studies of successful participatory projects with practical recommendations from seasoned professionals. Editor Susan E. Keefe has included the perspectives of anthropologists, sociologists, and others who have been engaged, sometimes for decades, in Appalachian communities. These contributors offer hopeful new strategies for dealing with Appalachia's most enduring problems-strategies that will also aid activists and researchers working in other distressed or underserved communities.Susan E. Keefe is professor of anthropology at Appalachian State University. She is the editor of Appalachian Mental Health and Appalachian Cultural Competency: A Guide for Medical, Mental Health, and Social Service Professionals.

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Book SynopsisIn 1900, the Appalachian region of northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia began to change. The inhabitants were dependent on the resources of the rural land, but the arrival of railroads spawned industrialization. Over the next several decades, families moved down from the mountains into the valley of East Tennessee as workers took jobs in the developing urban centers. Country stores, two-lane roads, and cornfields would eventually give way to cities, multi-lane highways, and new housing. The Tri-Cities—Kingsport, Johnson City, and Bristol—were starting to form. In this carefully documented book, Tom Lee uses archival material, newspapers, memoirs, and current scholarship in Appalachian studies to examine the economic changes that took place in the Tri-Cities region from 1900 to 1950. With modernization and urbanization, an urban-industrial strategy of economic development evolved. The entry of extractive industry into the mountains established the power of the urban elite to shape rural life. Local businessmen saw the route to financial strength in the recruitment of low-wage industry. Workers left struggling farms for factory jobs. This urban-rural relationship supported the Tri-Cities’ manufacturing economy and gave power to the area’s elite. The New Deal and the Second World War broadened this relationship as federal funding sustained the economy. The advantages of urban centers after decades of development left rural communities on the verge of disappearance and dependent on the jobs, opportunities, and economic vision of the cities. By 1950, the power of Appalachia’s elite over the people of the region had extended beyond urban boundaries and brought about the conditions necessary for the creation of the metropolitan Tri-Cities area of today. Readers will gain a better understanding of the complexity of modernization in Appalachia and the rural South from this engaging book.Tom Lee earned a PhD in history from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and is assistant professor of history at Hiwassee College in Madisonville, Tennessee.

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Book SynopsisMountain Homespun will be of special interest to those studying southern Appalachian handicrafts, the 1890s handicraft revival, and northern Protestant missionary work in turn-of-the-century Appalachia. - North Carolina Historical Review ""Mountain Homespun is much more than a memoir. It offers unrivaled specific information on the processes of mountain crafts- not only on weaving, spinning, and dyeing, the author's primary interest, but also on basketry, quilting, and other pursuits. All in all, the book is an important publishing event."" - Berea College Newsletter ""This is a wonderful book. It belongs at the bedside of every spinner and weaver everywhere."" - Jude Daurelle, Handwoven

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Book SynopsisFeaturing the work of twenty-five fiction writers and poets, this anthology is a captivating introduction to the finest of contemporary Appalachian literature. Here are short stories and poems by some of the region’s most dynamic and best-loved authors: Barbara Kingsolver, Ron Rash, Nikki Giovanni, Robert Morgan, Lisa Alther, and Lee Smith among others. In addition to compelling selections from each writer’s work, the book includes illuminating biographical sketches and bibliographies for each author.These works encompass a variety of themes that, collectively, capture the essence of Appalachia: love of the land, family ties, and the struggle to blend progress with heritage. Readers will enjoy this book not just for the innate value of good literature but also for the insights it provides into this fascinating area. This book of fiction is an enlightening companion to non-fiction overviews of the region, including the Encyclopedia of Appalachia and A Handbook to Appalachia: An Introduction to the Region, both published by the University of Tennessee Press in 2006. In fact the five sections of this book are the same as those of the Encyclopedia. Educators and students will find this book especially appropriate for courses in creative writing, Appalachian studies and Appalachian literature. Editor George Brosi’s foreword presents an historical overview of Appalachian Literature, while Kate Egerton and Morgan Cottrell’s afterword offers a helpful guide for studying Appalachian literature in a classroom setting.

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