Social theory Books

Book SynopsisThis work presents analysis of the evolution and development of the social sciences. It reconsiders how knowledge actually changes and advances. Challenging the accepted belief that social sciences are in a perpetual state of progress, this work contends that there is a core set of principles.

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Book SynopsisWhat is the nature of the social sciences? What kinds of knowledge can theyand should theyhope to create? Are objective viewpoints possible and can universal laws be discovered? Questions like these have been asked with increasing urgency in recent years, as some philosophers and researchers have perceived a crisis in the social sciences. Metatheory in Social Science offers many provocative arguments and analyses of basic conceptual frameworks for the study of human behavior. These are offered primarily by practicing researchers and are related to problems in disciplines as diverse as sociology, psychology, psychiatry, anthropology, and philosophy of science. While various points of view are expressed in these nineteen essays, they have in common several themes, including the comparison of social and natural science, the role of knowledge in meeting the demands of society and its pressing problems, and the nature and role of subjectivity in science. Some authors hold that subjectivity

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Book SynopsisGeorg Simmel addressed diverse topics across his essayistic writings, which influenced scholars in aesthetics, epistemology, and sociology. This title features Presented alongside these seminal essays are aphoristic fragments from Simmel's last journal, providing a beguiling look into the mind of one of the twentieth century's greatest thinkers.Trade Review"Simmel is the only social theorist one can read anymore." (Max Horkheimer)

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Book SynopsisAs a philosopher, Richard McKeon spent his career developing Pragmatism in a new key, specifically by tracing the ways in which philosophic problems arise in fields other than philosophyacross the natural and social sciences and aestheticsand showed the ways in which any problem, pushed back to its beginning or taken to its end, is a philosophic problem. The roots of this book, On KnowingThe Social Sciences, are traced to McKeon's classes where he blended philosophy with physics, ethics, politics, history, and aesthetics. This volumethe second in a seriesleaves behind natural science themes to embrace freedom, power, and history, which, McKeon argues, lay out the whole field of human action. The authors McKeon considersHobbes, Machiavelli, Spinoza, Kant, and J. S. Millshow brilliantly how philosophic methods work in action, via analyses that do not merely reduce or deconstruct meaning, but enhance those texts by reconnecting them to the active history of philosophy and to problems o

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Book SynopsisAs a philosopher, Richard McKeon spent his career developing Pragmatism in a new key, specifically by tracing the ways in which philosophic problems arise in fields other than philosophyacross the natural and social sciences and aestheticsand showed the ways in which any problem, pushed back to its beginning or taken to its end, is a philosophic problem. The roots of this book, On KnowingThe Social Sciences, are traced to McKeon's classes where he blended philosophy with physics, ethics, politics, history, and aesthetics. This volumethe second in a seriesleaves behind natural science themes to embrace freedom, power, and history, which, McKeon argues, lay out the whole field of human action. The authors McKeon considersHobbes, Machiavelli, Spinoza, Kant, and J. S. Millshow brilliantly how philosophic methods work in action, via analyses that do not merely reduce or deconstruct meaning, but enhance those texts by reconnecting them to the active history of philosophy and to problems o

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Book SynopsisRecent years have seen a growing impetus to explain social life almost exclusively in biological and mechanistic terms, and to dismiss cultural meaning and difference.Trade Review"Complexities challenges the claim that human behavior is fixed in the human genome. The authors explore the problematic assumptions involved in a 'genes only' approach to human behavior, and they demonstrate that environment and culture are essential ingredients in all efforts to solve human problems. This balanced account of human development is essential reading for policymakers, and the fascinating case studies will provoke lively discussions in undergraduate classrooms across the country." - Elizabeth Brumfiel, Northwestern University"

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Book SynopsisRecent years have seen a growing impetus to explain social life almost exclusively in biological and mechanistic terms, and to dismiss cultural meaning and difference.Trade Review"Complexities challenges the claim that human behavior is fixed in the human genome. The authors explore the problematic assumptions involved in a 'genes only' approach to human behavior, and they demonstrate that environment and culture are essential ingredients in all efforts to solve human problems. This balanced account of human development is essential reading for policymakers, and the fascinating case studies will provoke lively discussions in undergraduate classrooms across the country." - Elizabeth Brumfiel, Northwestern University"

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Book SynopsisUncovering the verbal and nonverbal patterns in the bearing of news on everyday conversations, as well as hospitals and other settings, Maynard shows how people give and receive good or bad news, how they come to realize the news and share it with others.

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Book SynopsisEveryone worries about privacy these days. Packed with stories that are funny and sad, familiar and strange, this book tours the myriad arenas where privacy battles are fought, lost, and won. It explores how we manage our secrets, our phone calls and e-mail, the perimeters of our homes, and our interactions with neighbors.Trade Review"Islands of Privacy is a major work of original research, depicting the processes, exchanges, and concerns involved in the ongoing social negotiation of this thing we call 'privacy.' The strength of Nippert-Eng's closely detailed approach is that it allows us to see that privacy is a complicated value subject to constant change, pressure, defense, and negation. The book is also elegantly written-in admirable Studs Terkel fashion, Nippert-Eng is able to get people to tell some great stories about the things that interest us all." -John Gilliom, author of Overseers of the Poor: Surveillance, Resistance, and the Limits of Privacy"

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Book SynopsisThis text puts Sigmund Freud in dialogue with Franz Rosenzwig in the service of re-imagining ethical and political life. Santner makes an argument for understanding revelation in theraputic terms and offers a look at how this understanding suggests ways of re-conceiving political community.

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Book SynopsisClifford Geertz is the most influential American anthropologist of the past four decades. His writings have defined and given character to the intellectual agenda of a meaning-centered, non-reductive interpretive social science and have provoked much excitement and debate about the nature of human understanding.

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Book SynopsisClifford Geertz is the most influential American anthropologist of the past four decades. His writings have defined and given character to the intellectual agenda of a meaning-centered, non-reductive interpretive social science and have provoked much excitement and debate about the nature of human understanding.

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Book SynopsisCollects autobiographies by an international cross-section of well-known sociologists, all of them children of the '60s. This book illuminates the human experience of living through that decade as apprentice scholars and activists, encountering the issues of class, race, the establishment, feminism, war, and the sexual revolution.

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Book SynopsisCollects autobiographies by an international cross-section of well-known sociologists, all of them children of the '60s. This book illuminates the human experience of living through that decade as apprentice scholars and activists, encountering the issues of class, race, the establishment, feminism, war, and the sexual revolution.

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Book SynopsisPublished in 1918, this title is the author's final work. Composed in the years before his death, it was, according to Simmel, his 'testament', a capstone work of profound metaphysical inquiry intended to formulate his conception of life in its entirety.Trade Review"Simmel is the only social theorist one can read anymore." - Max Horkheimer"

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Book SynopsisAn insightful examination of how intersecting individual motivations and social structures mobilize spontaneous mass protests. Between 15 and 26 million Americans participated in protests surrounding the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and others as part of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, which is only one of the most recent examples of an immense mobilization of citizens around a cause. In The Rise of the Masses, sociologist Benjamin Abrams addresses why and how people spontaneously protest, riot, and revolt en masse. While most uprisings of such a scale require tremendous resources and organizing, this book focuses on cases where people with no connection to organized movements take to the streets, largely of their own accord. Looking to the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and the Black Lives Uprising, as well as the historical case of the French Revolution, Abrams lays out a theory of how and why massive mobilizations arise without the large-scalTrade Review“Skillfully drawing on and synthesizing an impressive range of theoretical perspectives, Benjamin Abrams has fashioned a highly original theory of spontaneous mass mobilization. As if that weren’t enough, he goes on to make a compelling, empirically informed case for the application of his affinity-convergence theory to four iconic mass movements, ranging from the French Revolution to the George Floyd Protests of 2020. Anyone interested in the dynamics of spontaneous mass action will want to read this book.” -- Doug McAdam, Ray Lyman Wilbur Professor of Sociology, Stanford University“Drawing on four diverse cycles of contention. . . . Abrams shows how much of the process of mobilization can be explained as the product of affinities and convergence on the part of unorganized groups—the 'masses' in his title—while their failures can be explained as their inability to create viable and robust structures around their affinities. His book should be read by social movement specialists and by general readers concerned with the current waves of mass mobilization alike. While the book is based on immense reading and research, it is Abrams's deep thinking that I admire most. A very readable and engaging book." -- Sidney Tarrow, author of Power in Movement“Social movements and revolutions are enormously consequential. Yet, their confounding and elusive mysteries are not fully understood. How do they burst forth, who brings them into being, and why do they fail or succeed? Do they spring from spontaneity or organization? The Rise of the Masses squarely confronts these fundamental questions through careful analysis, copious evidence, and enthralling narratives of historic movements. In so doing, Abrams illuminates how these engines of social change operate. This book is a rich fount of knowledge that should be widely read.” -- Aldon Morris, author of The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement"This book will be important reading for those interested in explaining mobilization generally and delving into how we can better understand more spontaneous mobilizations. In addition, it would be of interest to any scholars or publics interested in the four core cases of analysis. I found the book compelling, beautifully written, and convincing." -- Catherine Corrigall-Brown * Social Forces *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I: Theorizing Mobilization 1. What We Know about Mobilization, and What We Need To 2. Affinity-Convergence Theory Part II: The Egyptian Revolution, 2011 3. Egypt on the Eve of Revolution 4. The Anatomy of a Revolutionary Moment 5. The Fall and Fall of Revolutionary Egypt Part III: Occupy Wall Street 6. Globalizing the Revolution 7. Enter the Occupiers 8. The End of the Extraordinary Part IV: The Black Lives Uprising, 2020 9. From Tragedy to Uprising 10. Mass Mobilization for Black Lives Part V: The French Revolution, 1789 11. Mass Mobilization against the Ancien Régime 12. The Development of Revolutionary Mobilization Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisAn insightful examination of how intersecting individual motivations and social structures mobilize spontaneous mass protests. Between 15 and 26 million Americans participated in protests surrounding the murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and others as part of the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, which is only one of the most recent examples of an immense mobilization of citizens around a cause. In The Rise of the Masses, sociologist Benjamin Abrams addresses why and how people spontaneously protest, riot, and revolt en masse. While most uprisings of such a scale require tremendous resources and organizing, this book focuses on cases where people with no connection to organized movements take to the streets, largely of their own accord. Looking to the Arab Spring, Occupy Wall Street, and the Black Lives Uprising, as well as the historical case of the French Revolution, Abrams lays out a theory of how and why massive mobilizations arise without the large-scalTrade Review“Skillfully drawing on and synthesizing an impressive range of theoretical perspectives, Benjamin Abrams has fashioned a highly original theory of spontaneous mass mobilization. As if that weren’t enough, he goes on to make a compelling, empirically informed case for the application of his affinity-convergence theory to four iconic mass movements, ranging from the French Revolution to the George Floyd Protests of 2020. Anyone interested in the dynamics of spontaneous mass action will want to read this book.” -- Doug McAdam, Ray Lyman Wilbur Professor of Sociology, Stanford University“Drawing on four diverse cycles of contention. . . . Abrams shows how much of the process of mobilization can be explained as the product of affinities and convergence on the part of unorganized groups—the 'masses' in his title—while their failures can be explained as their inability to create viable and robust structures around their affinities. His book should be read by social movement specialists and by general readers concerned with the current waves of mass mobilization alike. While the book is based on immense reading and research, it is Abrams's deep thinking that I admire most. A very readable and engaging book." -- Sidney Tarrow, author of Power in Movement“Social movements and revolutions are enormously consequential. Yet, their confounding and elusive mysteries are not fully understood. How do they burst forth, who brings them into being, and why do they fail or succeed? Do they spring from spontaneity or organization? The Rise of the Masses squarely confronts these fundamental questions through careful analysis, copious evidence, and enthralling narratives of historic movements. In so doing, Abrams illuminates how these engines of social change operate. This book is a rich fount of knowledge that should be widely read.” -- Aldon Morris, author of The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement"This book will be important reading for those interested in explaining mobilization generally and delving into how we can better understand more spontaneous mobilizations. In addition, it would be of interest to any scholars or publics interested in the four core cases of analysis. I found the book compelling, beautifully written, and convincing." -- Catherine Corrigall-Brown * Social Forces *Table of ContentsIntroduction Part I: Theorizing Mobilization 1. What We Know about Mobilization, and What We Need To 2. Affinity-Convergence Theory Part II: The Egyptian Revolution, 2011 3. Egypt on the Eve of Revolution 4. The Anatomy of a Revolutionary Moment 5. The Fall and Fall of Revolutionary Egypt Part III: Occupy Wall Street 6. Globalizing the Revolution 7. Enter the Occupiers 8. The End of the Extraordinary Part IV: The Black Lives Uprising, 2020 9. From Tragedy to Uprising 10. Mass Mobilization for Black Lives Part V: The French Revolution, 1789 11. Mass Mobilization against the Ancien Régime 12. The Development of Revolutionary Mobilization Conclusion Acknowledgments Notes Index

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Book SynopsisRichard L. Wood spent several years working with two local groups in Oakland, California, one faith-based, the other race-based. Comparing their activist techniques and acheivements, Wood argues that their alternative cultures offer a more democratic future for all Americans.Trade Review"Faith in Action is a timely and intelligent work - a penetrating look at the efficacy of faith-based community activism. Wood's creative new study will appeal to sociologists of culture, politics, and religion and to anyone interested in how social movements work and continue to prosper." - Christian Smith, author of American Evangelicalism

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Book SynopsisRichard L. Wood spent several years working with two local groups in Oakland, California, one faith-based, the other race-based. Comparing their activist techniques and acheivements, Wood argues that their alternative cultures offer a more democratic future for all Americans.Trade Review"Faith in Action is a timely and intelligent work - a penetrating look at the efficacy of faith-based community activism. Wood's creative new study will appeal to sociologists of culture, politics, and religion and to anyone interested in how social movements work and continue to prosper." - Christian Smith, author of American Evangelicalism

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Book SynopsisIn the first comprehensive and critical assessment of Zygmunt Bauman's work on culture, Dariusz Brzeziński offers a comparative analysis of the theories of one of the most influential intellectuals of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Foregrounding the sociologist and philosopher's Polish period, Brzeziński introduces Bauman to a new international audience.Trade Review"In this first comprehensive and critical assessment of Bauman’s lifelong work on culture, Brzeziński includes Bauman’s Polish-language papers and books, as well as his works discovered only posthumously, presenting them to an international audience." Polish Sociological Review“Brzezinski has produced a valuable and original text which provides new resources for scholars interested in Bauman’s work. It is true to Bauman’s overall goal in his sociology which always sought a critical perspective which, in defamiliarizing the familiar, encouraged his readers to think afresh about what is and what could be. … Brzezinski shows how this key trait of Bauman’s sociology, expressed in his hyperbolizing texts, can be traced back to his earliest consideration of culture in the 1960s and forward into his final pieces. In doing so, he shows how the Bauman pre-exile should count in our consideration of his sociology.” European Journal of Social Theory“Brzeziński skilfully guides the reader through much material not published in English, together with some unpublished and difficult-to-obtain material.” European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology

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Book SynopsisOne of the most influential intellectuals of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Bauman (19252017) made reflection on culture a fundamental part of his academic work. He published a substantial number of papers on the topic, and many of his concepts would go on to significantly influence the social sciences and humanities. Bauman began his theoretical studies on culture when working at the University of Warsaw and continued them all his life. Inspired by the many intellectual currents he encountered over his more than six decades of work, Bauman wrote on culture in the contexts of such issues as Marxism and socialism, modernity and the Holocaust, postmodernity and liquid modernity, and contemporary nostalgia. In Zygmunt Bauman and the Theory of Culture Dariusz Brzezinski uses the evolution of Bauman's theory of culture as a prism through which to offer a comparative analysis, putting Bauman's work in conversation with the writinTrade Review"In this first comprehensive and critical assessment of Bauman’s lifelong work on culture, Brzeziński includes Bauman’s Polish-language papers and books, as well as his works discovered only posthumously, presenting them to an international audience." Polish Sociological Review“Brzezinski has produced a valuable and original text which provides new resources for scholars interested in Bauman’s work. It is true to Bauman’s overall goal in his sociology which always sought a critical perspective which, in defamiliarizing the familiar, encouraged his readers to think afresh about what is and what could be. … Brzezinski shows how this key trait of Bauman’s sociology, expressed in his hyperbolizing texts, can be traced back to his earliest consideration of culture in the 1960s and forward into his final pieces. In doing so, he shows how the Bauman pre-exile should count in our consideration of his sociology.” European Journal of Social Theory“Brzeziński skilfully guides the reader through much material not published in English, together with some unpublished and difficult-to-obtain material.” European Journal of Cultural and Political Sociology

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Book SynopsisKAREN O'REILLY is Professor of Sociology at Loughborough University, UK. She has vast experience of teaching sociological theory and international migration, and has published widely in the field of sociology. Her previous publications include Ethnographic Methods, Key Concepts in Ethnography and The British on the Costa del Sol.Trade Review'An engaging, well-organized, and easy to follow text which covers migration theories from a new perspective.' - Matthew Sanderson, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Kansas State University, USA 'A valuable contribution to scholarship in both the migration and social theory fields, written with exemplary clarity.' - David Bartram, Senior Lecturer in Sociology, University of Leicester, UK 'A useful overview of the theories and concepts within migration studies. It provides a thought provoking and helpful framework for understanding migration, and is a valuable tool for both researchers and lecturers.' - Louise Ryan, Reader in Gender and Migration, Middlesex University, UKTable of ContentsIntroduction Practice Theory: A Framework for International Migration Research Theories and Perspectives in Migration Lifestyle Migration: British Migration to Spain's Coastal Areas Labour Migration: Mexican Labour Migration to the United States Domestic Labour Migration: Filipina Domestic Labour Migration to Hong Kong Refugees and Forced Migration: Refugee Children in the United Kingdom Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisEncompassing management approaches such as Theory Z, and research of nonprofit studies, this book addresses ways in which skills and activities of social administration can further social work practice in the areas of social justice, confronting oppression, and dealing with institutional "isms".Trade ReviewA major contribution to social work administration literature. -- Lawrence Martin Administration in Social Work A diligently researched, articulately presented, well-organized, lengthy, and scholarly book... valuable. Journal of Community PracticeTable of ContentsThe Ecology of Social Administration Introduction Social Administration and Community The Social Agency Social Administration and Organization Elements of Social Administration Leadership and Decision-Making The Process of Management Management Models The Process of Institutionalization Policy, Institutions, and Strategic Action Administrative Planning Implementation Operations Accountability Program Evaluation Communications and Information Administrative Communication Administrative Information Systems Empowerment Administrative Authority Power and Influence Marketing, Public Relations, and Advertising Personnel Systems Human Resources Financial Management Financial Inflows Budgeting Social Administration and Purchase of Service Contracts Ethics and Administration Human Diversity and Administrative Justice Governance Issues: Boards and Directorates Afterword

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Book SynopsisUsing a biophysical perspective, this text aims to demonstrate that there are many ways of knowing, methods of inquiry, and perspectives that can guide one's understanding of human behaviour. It encourages the development of critical thinking as opposed to memorization of theories.Trade ReviewSaleebey is telling an evocative story of how we "become human" through the lifecycle. -- Michael Hayes Clinical Social Work JournalTable of ContentsPreface Introduction Philosophical principles Conceptual frameworks Integrative themes Paradigms, postmodernism, and possibilities M & M dialogue Meaning-making Self Culture Story, connection, ritual and myth M & M dialogue Strengths and Resilience Strengths and resilience: images of altruism and humanity Power in the people: Strengths and hope M & M dialogue Biopsychosocial Understanding Human nature and the human condition Genes and experience: The case of temperament The brain and behavior: The biopsychosocial view M & M dialogue Nature and Nurture; Neurons and Narratives Nature and nurture: How necessary are parents? Nature Nurture Neurons and narratives: A biopsychosocial understanding of mental illness M & M dialogues Theories: Part I The elements of theory Part/whole analysis Psychodynamic theory Critique of psychodynamic theory M & M dialogues Theories: Part II Ecological theory Critique of ecological theory Cognitive theory Cognitive theories and the environment Critique of cognitive approaches Radical/critical theory The terms and conditions of radical/critical theory Critique of radical/critical theory Conclusion M & M dialogues Families: The Variety of Us The family and society today: What's up? The family and community What are families for? The care and feeding of infants Socialization What is a family? Nuclear family A note on social class and family Single-parent families Extended families Dual earner families Remarried families Couples Gay and lesbian families Family resilience Conclusion M & M Dialogue Growing Up in the Community and World: Part I A contextual model of family transition and adaptation Becoming partners and being a couple I love your genes A new human being joins the family Culture: Africentric childrearing The early processes that make us human Culture, again Where's dad? When things go awry Being homeless Conclusion M & M dialogue Growing up in the Family and Community: Part II Middle childhood: The forgotten years Moral development Peers and groups Siblings School and family; play and work Meaning and community A note on ADHD Conclusion M & M dialogue Growing Up in the Family and Community: Part III Sturm and drang or "the romance of risk" Identity formation: Gender and culture Gender and identity Sexuality Risks and resiliency: The family and community Violence and the neighborhood Adolescents and community Adolescents and family Family and community and understanding and intervening Conclusion M & M dialogue Coming of Age and Old Age in Family and Community Maturity: Love, work, connection, and closure Theories of the adult development of maturity Borysenko Levinson Contextual/constructionist view Generational differences Some important moments in adult life Leaving home Boomerang babies Love and work together Love and mating: the coming together of body, mind and culture Work Becoming a citizen: family and community Coming of (older) age in America Successful aging Dying and death Conclusion M & M dialogue Reprise, Vision and the Final Conversation Reprise Spirituality The ordinariness of everyday life Multiculturalism Technology The global village Organizations: Culture and behavior Context So what is the good life, anyway? The heroic and the common Some elements of a life worth living Conclusion The final M & M dialogue

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Book SynopsisSaari posits that human beings may first construct a picture of their immediate environment and then construct their identity within that environment. She argues that the psychotherapeutic profession must extend its range to include socio-cultural-economic factors and she includes ample case studies to support her position.Trade ReviewConsistent with the paradigmatic emphases, dialogue and narrative are seen as crucial to this process. This material resonates so loudly and validates my own developing views of what great clinical practice is about. -- Kia J. Bentley Clinical Social Work JournalTable of ContentsPart 1 Theory 1. The Environment in Emotional Experience 2. The Development of Meaning 3. Culture and Social Control Part 2 Domination or Liberation? 4. Inner Life and the Possibility of Freedom 5. Person and Environment Interactions 6. Culture, Sexuality, and Impingement Part 3 Implications for Practice 7. Concordance: The Therapeutic Culture 8. The Importance of Relationships 9. Symbolization: Connections Between Internal and External Worlds

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewA work to be celebrated--an exciting feast of challenging, passionate, and informative contributions to social work practice. Here we move away from the traditional regimentation of relationship--along with its categories, testing, and measurements--to working pragmatically and resourcefully with clients in context. These offerings illuminate and expand upon the rich potentials of a constructionist orientation to relating effectively with challenges to change. I am deeply impressed. -- Kenneth J. Gergen, president, The Taos Institute This book provides a solid overview of social constructionism and social work, both as academic traditions and as professional practices. It also invites the reader to share, debate, and argue with these dedicated authors and their insights. The book demonstrates in the very way it has been written that social work from the point of view of social constructionism is about people in relations. Everyone interested in social work should have the privilege to share in the stories this book has to tell. -- Tarja Poso, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Tampere From the first words of Chapter 1, "Humans cannot live alone," this book reflects how all of our understanding springs from our relationship experiences. This readable, appealing book has important insights for everyone in the human services. Students and practitioners will find it revitalizing: examples from practice are experience-near and bound to provoke new ideas about how to be more helpful to clients. For faculty, the book is a treasure-trove helping students develop their critical thinking and presenting innovative ideas, especially in the substantive areas of practice and research. A very important component is the volume's global reach. The future of social work is international, and this book reaches right into that future and helps bring it about with fidelity to the most innovative and original concepts of contemporary social work. This volume will help readers generate creative and original insights for many years to come! -- Katherine Tyson McCrea, Ph.D., professor, Loyola University of Chicago School of Social Work, editor in chief of Illinois Child Welfare, and clinical social worker As a teacher, I strongly recommend the book -- Joe Smeeton British Journal of Social Work Social Construction and Social Work Practice is more than a social work textbook. It is a resource tool that will enrich and support the practitioner in their practice within any setting. -- Christine Harris Irish Social Worker Written in a style which is both scholarly and accessible, both professional and personal, it should be of value to students, practicioners, and educators. -- Carol R. Swenson Families in Society This exciting contribution remakes the world and practice of social work... It is a wonderful book for classroom use and should find its way into many courses in social work education as well as other fields - sociology, women's studies, cultural studies, philosophy Qualitative Social WorkTable of ContentsForeword, by W. David Harrison Preface 1. Autoethnography: The Opening Act, by Stanley L Witkin 2. Where's Beebee? The Orphan Crisis in Global Child Welfare, by Katherine Tyson McCrea 3. A Finn in India: From Cultural Encounters to Global Imagining, by Satu Ranta-Tyrkko 4. Being of Two Minds: Creating My Racialized Selves, by Noriko Ishibashi Martinez 5. Learning From and Researching (My Own) Experience: A Critical Reflection on the Experience of Social Difference, by Jan Fook 6. What Remains? Heroic Stories in Trace Materials, by Karen M. Staller 7. What Matters Most in Living and Dying: Pressing Through Detection, Trying to Connect, by Brenda Solomon 8. Will You Be with Me to the End? Personal Experiences of Cancer and Death, by Johanna Hefel 9. Holding on While Letting Go: An Autoethnographic Study of Divorce in Ireland, by Orlagh Farrell Delaney and Patricia Kennedy 10. The Pretty Girl in the Mirror: A Gender Transient's Tale, by Allan Irving 11. Reality Isn't What It Used to Be: An Inquiry of Transformative Change, by Stanley L Witkin 12. From Advising to Mentoring to Becoming Colleagues: An Autoethnography of a Growing Professional Relationship in Social Work Education, by Zvi Eisikovits and Chaya Koren List of Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisWrestling with the Angel is a meditation on contemporary political, legal, and social theory from a psychoanalytic perspectiveTrade ReviewA stellar piece of scholarship whose timely intervention into controversies at the very heart of today's theoretical humanities undoubtedly will draw the admiring attention of large audiences in multiple fields. -- Adrian Johnston, University of New Mexico A very exciting book, stunningly intelligent and beautifully written. It makes strong, original interventions in a number of current debates and engages with theoretical arguments in a way that is always rigorous and wonderfully lucid and accessible. -- Elizabeth Weed, Brown University. Co-editor, differences. A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies In Wrestling with the Angel, Tracy McNulty examines the political theologies of the 'exception,' ranging from Carl Schmitt to Walter Benjamin, from Alain Badiou to Giorgio Agamben. She shows how they contradict themselves if they avoid grappling with the Symbolic order. Arguing that the force of the Symbolic must be experienced concretely via positive constraints, McNulty pushes Lacanian theory to an unprecedented sophistication and highlights its relevance for ethical activism. Wrestling with the Angel is a major book that redefines the foundations of contemporary political theory. -- Jean-Michel Rabate, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of Pennsylvania This provocative and original defense of law and the symbolic order in psychoanalysis is distinguished by McNulty's attention to clinical work, her supple readings of both Freudian and literary texts, and the trenchant case she makes for the ongoing relevance of psychoanalysis to the practice of human freedom, action, and creativity today. McNulty's command of the notoriously complex and difficult Lacanian corpus is matched by the fluency of her engagement with adjoining and competing discourses, including political theology; experimental poetics and aesthetics; political theory and critical legal studies; and religious studies and the legacy of Judaism. Arguing that novelty, invention, and renewal occur not despite but because of processes of symbolization, Wrestling with the Angel recalls us to our limits to remind us of our capacities. -- Julia Reinhard Lupton, author of Thinking with Shakespeare: Essays on Politics and Life In Wrestling with the Angel, McNulty shows how the traditional reduction of Lacan's symbolic register to the Oedipus complex falsifies the complexity and disturbing incompleteness inherent to this crucial aspect of his theory. Her insight opens the way for a fundamental reassessment and reunderstanding of Lacan's work, and is, by itself, worth the price of admission. But she goes much farther, tracing out the implications of her rereading on a series of social thinkers, notably the influential conservative German political theorist Carl Schmitt, the German cultural critic Walter Benjamin, the philosopher Immanuel Kant, and the French Marxist philosopher, Alain Badiou. With the exception of Carl Schmitt, these analyses revolve around two principal collections of seminal legal texts: the Hebrew Decalogue and Saint Paul's discussions of the "new law" of Christianity. Essentially, she argues that in each case an imaginary version of the law is juxtaposed to a more complex and "liberatory" symbolic version of it. Rich, densely thought, and provocative, this book will reorient studies on Lacan and will excercise an enduring influence on how his writings are used in other fields and disciplines. -- Jonathan Strauss, Miami University As a reading of the French psychoanalytic thinker Jacques Lacan, the book makes an invaluable contribution to the rich discussion of the symbolic register and its relation to the real. CHOICETable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Enabling Constraints Part 1. Reinventing the Symbolic 1. Inventions of the Symbolic: Lacan's Reading of Freud 2. Demanding the Impossible: Desire and Social Change Part 2. Political Theology and the Question of the Written 3. Wrestling with the Angel 4. The Gap in the Law and the Unwritable Act of Decision: Carl Schmitt's Political Theology 5. The Event of the Letter: Two Approaches to the Law and Its Real 6. The Commandment Against the Law: Writing and Divine Justice in Walter Benjamin's "Critique of Violence" and Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgment Coda: Toward an Aesthetics of Symbolic Life 7. Freedom Through Constraints: On the Question of Will Notes Index

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Book SynopsisWrestling with the Angel is a meditation on contemporary political, legal, and social theory from a psychoanalytic perspectiveTrade ReviewA stellar piece of scholarship whose timely intervention into controversies at the very heart of today's theoretical humanities undoubtedly will draw the admiring attention of large audiences in multiple fields. -- Adrian Johnston, University of New Mexico A very exciting book, stunningly intelligent and beautifully written. It makes strong, original interventions in a number of current debates and engages with theoretical arguments in a way that is always rigorous and wonderfully lucid and accessible. -- Elizabeth Weed, Brown University. Co-editor, differences. A Journal of Feminist Cultural Studies In Wrestling with the Angel, Tracy McNulty examines the political theologies of the 'exception,' ranging from Carl Schmitt to Walter Benjamin, from Alain Badiou to Giorgio Agamben. She shows how they contradict themselves if they avoid grappling with the Symbolic order. Arguing that the force of the Symbolic must be experienced concretely via positive constraints, McNulty pushes Lacanian theory to an unprecedented sophistication and highlights its relevance for ethical activism. Wrestling with the Angel is a major book that redefines the foundations of contemporary political theory. -- Jean-Michel Rabate, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of Pennsylvania This provocative and original defense of law and the symbolic order in psychoanalysis is distinguished by McNulty's attention to clinical work, her supple readings of both Freudian and literary texts, and the trenchant case she makes for the ongoing relevance of psychoanalysis to the practice of human freedom, action, and creativity today. McNulty's command of the notoriously complex and difficult Lacanian corpus is matched by the fluency of her engagement with adjoining and competing discourses, including political theology; experimental poetics and aesthetics; political theory and critical legal studies; and religious studies and the legacy of Judaism. Arguing that novelty, invention, and renewal occur not despite but because of processes of symbolization, Wrestling with the Angel recalls us to our limits to remind us of our capacities. -- Julia Reinhard Lupton, author of Thinking with Shakespeare: Essays on Politics and Life In Wrestling with the Angel, McNulty shows how the traditional reduction of Lacan's symbolic register to the Oedipus complex falsifies the complexity and disturbing incompleteness inherent to this crucial aspect of his theory. Her insight opens the way for a fundamental reassessment and reunderstanding of Lacan's work, and is, by itself, worth the price of admission. But she goes much farther, tracing out the implications of her rereading on a series of social thinkers, notably the influential conservative German political theorist Carl Schmitt, the German cultural critic Walter Benjamin, the philosopher Immanuel Kant, and the French Marxist philosopher, Alain Badiou. With the exception of Carl Schmitt, these analyses revolve around two principal collections of seminal legal texts: the Hebrew Decalogue and Saint Paul's discussions of the "new law" of Christianity. Essentially, she argues that in each case an imaginary version of the law is juxtaposed to a more complex and "liberatory" symbolic version of it. Rich, densely thought, and provocative, this book will reorient studies on Lacan and will excercise an enduring influence on how his writings are used in other fields and disciplines. -- Jonathan Strauss, Miami University As a reading of the French psychoanalytic thinker Jacques Lacan, the book makes an invaluable contribution to the rich discussion of the symbolic register and its relation to the real. CHOICETable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Enabling Constraints Part 1. Reinventing the Symbolic 1. Inventions of the Symbolic: Lacan's Reading of Freud 2. Demanding the Impossible: Desire and Social Change Part 2. Political Theology and the Question of the Written 3. Wrestling with the Angel 4. The Gap in the Law and the Unwritable Act of Decision: Carl Schmitt's Political Theology 5. The Event of the Letter: Two Approaches to the Law and Its Real 6. The Commandment Against the Law: Writing and Divine Justice in Walter Benjamin's "Critique of Violence" and Immanuel Kant's Critique of Judgment Coda: Toward an Aesthetics of Symbolic Life 7. Freedom Through Constraints: On the Question of Will Notes Index

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Book SynopsisAnalyzing the afterimage of revolutionary violence in contemporary culture and politics.Utopia or Auschwitz: Germany’s 1968 Generation and the HolocaustTrade ReviewThe saga of the Red Army Faction's decades-long war with the West German state hardly ended when the shooting stopped, as Charity Scribner's superb book explains. Instead, the conflict captured and even haunted the imagination of generations of German novelists, filmmakers, and visual artists, whose diverse works are themselves an integral part of the RAF's legacy. Scribner offers both incisive and inventive readings of an array of texts, showing how they labored - and often struggled - to articulate a post-militant politics to move beyond the moral hazards of armed struggle. After the Red Army Faction dramatically expands our understanding of what it means to "read" violence and come to terms with its many wounds. -- Jeremy Varon, New School for Social Research, author of Bringing the War Home: The Weather Underground, the Red Army Faction, and Revolutionary Violence in the Sixties and Seventies The most innovative discussion of the RAF to date. This book provides a much-needed, nuanced understanding of the influence of the RAF on German cultural memory and will revolutionize the study of militant politics and aesthetics. -- Sabine von Dirke, University of Pittsburgh, author of "All Power to the Imagination!": Art and Politics in the West German Counterculture Charity Scribner's After the Red Army Faction will be an important contribution to our understanding of the impact of the left-wing terrorism of 1970s West Germany, and in particular the Baader-Meinhof Group or Red Army Faction (RAF), on culture in West Germany and beyond. -- Hans Kundnani, editorial director at the European Council on Foreign Relations, author of Utopia or Auschwitz: Germany's 1968 Generation and the Holocaust How can 'postmilitancy' offer clues to understanding West Germany's RAF and its afterlives, all the more after 9/11? How might it suggest new directions for resistance when everyday life remains saturated with violence? Charity Scribner provides searching and compelling answers in this study that reaches across disciplines. -- Belinda Davis, Rutgers University, University, editor of Changing the World, Changing Oneself: Political Protest and Collective Identities in West Germany and the U.S. in the 1960s and 1970s Poised between an increasingly nostalgic tendency to romanticize the violent struggles of 1970s militants and our own deeply troubled response to the brutality of contemporary fundamentalisms, After the Red Army Faction provides us with an invaluable reflection on the complexities of past leftist terrorism and its continuing ramifications. With a keen eye for the ambiguities and blind spots of ideological extremism, Scribner examines German postmilitant culture through literature, film, dance, and the visual arts. Shunning easy cliche and superficial spectacle, she reminds us of the intellectual and human costs of the German armed struggle and of the ways gender and sexuality inflected its attitudes and representation in the media. A brilliant piece of cultural history. -- Tom McDonough, Binghamton University, State University of New York, editor of The Situationists and the CityTable of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction: Beyond Militancy Part 1. Militant Acts 1. The Red Decade and Its Cultural Fallout 2. Damaged Lives of the Far Left: Reading the RAF in Reverse 3. Buildings on Fire: The Situationist International and the Red Army Faction Part II. Postmilitant Culture 4. The Stammheim Complex in Marianne and Juliane 5. Violence and the Tendenzwende: Engendering Victims in the Novel and Film 6. Anatomies of Protest and Resistance: Meinhof, Fischer 7. Regarding Terror at the Berlin Kunst-Werke Afterword: Signs of a New Season Notes Works Cited Index

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Book SynopsisRoberto Simanowski takes Facebook as a starting point to investigate our social-media society—and its insidious consequences for our concept of the self. Presenting a creative, philosophically informed perspective that speaks to a shared reality, Facebook Society asks us to come to terms with the networked world.Trade ReviewFacebook Society arrives at the moment when the idea that 'Facebook is us' is front page news. Just in time, Roberto Simanowski gives us a theory as to how it is that Facebook produces the very subjects who cannot feel shortchanged by what it offers. But he delivers more. Here is the crucial test of the philosophy of history and Frankfurt School critical theory brought to bear on the phenomenon defining the sociality of our time. -- Jane M. Gaines, author of Pink-Slipped: What Happened to Women in the Silent Film Industries?Facebook Society is a wonderfully rich and deeply thought extended essay on a symptomatic social medium of our day. With his focus on autobiography, friendship, memory, and narrative Simanowski outlines ways in which digital media have the power to change human perception and social relations. A broad historical, literary, and critical perspective on social media such as Simanowski’s is very much needed both in the humanities and in the social sciences. -- Andreas Huyssen, author of Twilight Memories: Marking Time in a Culture of AmnesiaWho says Facebook can only lead to a flattening of intellectual life and political discourse? In a series of intriguing readings, Simanowski offers a compelling assessment of Zuckerberg’s empire without capitulating before its celebration of ceaseless connectivity and frenzied interaction. Whether it draws on Schopenhauer, Kracauer, or Nancy, Facebook Society brilliantly exemplifies why thought and theory remain essential to gauge the impact of social media on our imagination, our sense of self and community, and our ability to engage the past as a medium to shape different futures. -- Lutz Koepnick, author of On Slowness: Toward an Aesthetic of the ContemporaryFrom Pascal to Butler, Goethe to Baudrillard, Facebook Society offers a rich philosophical engagement with one of the most important platforms of our time. Simanowski's skillful text demonstrates how the mundane nature of Facebook includes a long media ecology of issues which bind us to others as communities and through friendship while defining what we are as subjects. This book offers coordinates to nothing less than the transformation of this political field. -- Jussi Parikka, author of Digital Contagions and A Geology of MediaVery readable book, I am sure that you will find it very captivating and absolutely informative. I just can tell you that I read it in a few hours. Highly recommended. -- Anna Maria Polidori, freelance journalist * Storie, racconti, recensioni Blog by Anna Maria Polidori *Table of ContentsPreface1. Stranger Friends2. Automatic Autobiography3. Digital NationAfterwordEpilogue to the English EditionNotesBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisHow has the way we spend our time changed over the last fifty years?Are we really working more, sleeping less and addicted to our phones?What does this mean for our health, wealth and happiness?Everything we do happens in time and it feels like our lives are busier than ever before. Yet a detailed look at our daily activities reveals some surprising truths about the social and economic structure of the world we live in. This book delves into the unrivalled data collection and expertise of the Centre for Time Use Research to explore fifty-five years of change and what it means for us today.Trade ReviewSurprising truths about modern life . . . a fascinating analysis * The Guardian *This book is brilliant at busting myths about how we spend our time . . . its insight into what we do is illuminating . . . it's impossible not to see your life - and those of your parents and children - reflected in the data . . . And that makes reading it an excellent use of time. * Literary Review *Fascinating data, revealing much about our lives in the 21st century * iNews *

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewThis century's most compelling theorist of racism and colonialism -- Angela DavisFanon is our contemporary because when he psychoanalysed the way the French coloniser looked at Arabs, he is also describing the way the police looked at Stephen Lawrence. In clear language, in words that can only have been written in the cool heat of rage, Fanon showed us the internal theatre of racism, and how some of us have been staged in its psychodrama -- Deborah Levy * Independent *A brilliant, vivid and hurt mind, walking the thin line that separates effective outrage from despair. . . He demonstrates how insidiously the problem of race, of color, connects with a whole range of words and images. . . It is Fanon the man, rather than the medical specialist or intellectual, who makes the book so hard to put down -- Robert Coles * New York Times Book Review *

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Book SynopsisAt its core this book is intellectual history, tracing the work of progressive historians as they in turn wrote the history of progressivism.In Progressivism: The Strange History of a Radical Idea, Bradley C. S. Watson presents an intellectual history of American progressivism as a philosophical-political phenomenon, focusing on how and with what consequences the academic discipline of history came to accept and propagate it. This book offers a meticulously detailed historiography and critique of the insularity and biases of academic culture. It shows how the first scholarly interpreters of progressivism were, in large measure, also its intellectual architects, and later interpreters were in deep sympathy with their premises and conclusions. Too many scholarly treatments of the progressive synthesis were products of it, or at least were insufficiently mindful of two central facts: the hostility of progressive theory to the Founders' Constitution and the tension Trade Review“Progressivism is novel because neither is it in thrall to progressivism nor does it consider progressivism as inevitable and inevitably domesticated. Rather, the author is capable of criticizing progressivism at a fundamental level.” —Johnathan O’Neill, author of Originalism in American Law and Politics“This is a singularly original contribution. I know of no such comprehensive review of the historiography of progressivism.” —Paul Moreno, author of Black Americans and Organized Labor“Watson has crafted, not so much a historical genealogy of Progressivism, as its historiography. . . . Along the line of Watson’s march appear some of the brightest stars in the firmament of American historical writing (and political-history writing) in the 20th century: Richard Hofstadter, . . . Henry Steele Commager, Daniel Boorstin, C. Vann Woodward, David Potter, Louis Hartz, Arthur Link, Gabriel Kolko, Henry F. May, and Robert Wiebe.” —Claremont Review of Books"The book is more than an extended review of the literature . . . ; it is an indictment. And it is hard not to agree with Watson’s assessment that these historians were guilty of obscuring as much as they illuminated about the Progressives." —Law and Liberty"Bradley C. S. Watson’s new book Progressivism: The Strange History of a Radical Idea points scholars in new and productive directions regarding the political thought of the Progressive Era. Watson writes with vigor and verve, making the book of great appeal to anyone trying to take the true measure of the legacy of Progressive political thought in American history." —Public Discourse"In this new offering from Watson, Progressivism is put under the microscope and examined during its 20th-century development. . . . The book proceeds chronologically through the 20th century to the current day, which gives readers a solid accounting of how Progressive ideas evolved and then merged with still later ideas." —Choice"This book leaves the reader with a deep suspicion of several generations of progressive historians who wrote without being fully honest or fully aware of the tensions between progressivism and the American founders. Beyond that, [it] requires us to think about the challenges of progressive thought to the legitimacy of American institutions and to the American regime as a whole. By provoking these questions, Watson leads us to the deepest level of American politics which is nothing other than a continuous dialogue and critical engagement with the American Founders." —VoegelinViewTable of ContentsForeword by Charles R. Kesler Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The Revolt against the Constitution 2. The Real Presence of Christ 3. Gray in Gray: The Strange History of Progressive History in the 1940s and 1950s 4. Progressive Historiography in a Countercultural Age 5. Intellectual Consolidation and Counterattack: Conservatism and Revisionism from the 1980s to the Present 6. The Shades of History Notes Index

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Book SynopsisAt its core this book is intellectual history, tracing the work of progressive historians as they in turn wrote the history of progressivism.In Progressivism: The Strange History of a Radical Idea, Bradley C. S. Watson presents an intellectual history of American progressivism as a philosophical-political phenomenon, focusing on how and with what consequences the academic discipline of history came to accept and propagate it. This book offers a meticulously detailed historiography and critique of the insularity and biases of academic culture. It shows how the first scholarly interpreters of progressivism were, in large measure, also its intellectual architects, and later interpreters were in deep sympathy with their premises and conclusions. Too many scholarly treatments of the progressive synthesis were products of it, or at least were insufficiently mindful of two central facts: the hostility of progressive theory to the Founders' Constitution and the tension Trade Review“Progressivism is novel because neither is it in thrall to progressivism nor does it consider progressivism as inevitable and inevitably domesticated. Rather, the author is capable of criticizing progressivism at a fundamental level.” —Johnathan O’Neill, author of Originalism in American Law and Politics“This is a singularly original contribution. I know of no such comprehensive review of the historiography of progressivism.” —Paul Moreno, author of Black Americans and Organized Labor“Watson has crafted, not so much a historical genealogy of Progressivism, as its historiography. . . . Along the line of Watson’s march appear some of the brightest stars in the firmament of American historical writing (and political-history writing) in the 20th century: Richard Hofstadter, . . . Henry Steele Commager, Daniel Boorstin, C. Vann Woodward, David Potter, Louis Hartz, Arthur Link, Gabriel Kolko, Henry F. May, and Robert Wiebe.” —Claremont Review of Books"The book is more than an extended review of the literature . . . ; it is an indictment. And it is hard not to agree with Watson’s assessment that these historians were guilty of obscuring as much as they illuminated about the Progressives." —Law and Liberty"Bradley C. S. Watson’s new book Progressivism: The Strange History of a Radical Idea points scholars in new and productive directions regarding the political thought of the Progressive Era. Watson writes with vigor and verve, making the book of great appeal to anyone trying to take the true measure of the legacy of Progressive political thought in American history." —Public Discourse"In this new offering from Watson, Progressivism is put under the microscope and examined during its 20th-century development. . . . The book proceeds chronologically through the 20th century to the current day, which gives readers a solid accounting of how Progressive ideas evolved and then merged with still later ideas." —Choice"This book leaves the reader with a deep suspicion of several generations of progressive historians who wrote without being fully honest or fully aware of the tensions between progressivism and the American founders. Beyond that, [it] requires us to think about the challenges of progressive thought to the legitimacy of American institutions and to the American regime as a whole. By provoking these questions, Watson leads us to the deepest level of American politics which is nothing other than a continuous dialogue and critical engagement with the American Founders." —VoegelinViewTable of ContentsForeword by Charles R. Kesler Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The Revolt against the Constitution 2. The Real Presence of Christ 3. Gray in Gray: The Strange History of Progressive History in the 1940s and 1950s 4. Progressive Historiography in a Countercultural Age 5. Intellectual Consolidation and Counterattack: Conservatism and Revisionism from the 1980s to the Present 6. The Shades of History Notes Index

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Book SynopsisAn introduction to the work of critical theorist Rahel Jaeggi for English-speaking audiences. Essays by scholars in Continental and analytic philosophy assess and critique her efforts to revitalize critical theory.Table of ContentsContentsAcknowledgments 1. Introduction (Amy Allen and Eduardo Mendieta)2. “Resistance to the Perpetual Danger of Relapse”: Moral Progress and Social Change (Rahel Jaeggi)3. Decentered Social Selves: Interrogating Alienation in Conversation with Rahel Jaeggi (John Christman)4. The Normativity of Forms of Life (Frederick Neuhouser)5. In Search of the Negative in Rahel Jaeggi’s Kritik von Lebensformen (Max Pensky)6. What’s Critical about Critical Theory?—Redux (Rocío Zambrana)7. On the Politics of Forms of Life (Daniel Loick)8. Forms of Life, Progress, and Social Struggle: On Rahel Jaeggi’s Critical Theory (Robin Celikates)9. Progress, Normativity, and the Dynamics of Social Change: An Exchange between Rahel Jaeggi and Amy Allen (Conducted by Eva von Redecker)10. Reply to my Critics (Rahel Jaeggi)ContributorsIndex

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Book SynopsisIn this sensitive investigation into Benin's occult world, Douglas Falen wrestles with the challenges of encountering a reality in which magic, science, and the Vodun religion converge into a single universal force. He takes seriously his Beninese interlocutors' insistence that the indigenous phenomenon of àze (“witchcraft”) is an African science.Trade ReviewA stunning achievement in the anthropology of religion. Weaving together narrative and analysis, Falen provides a gripping account of the imponderables that constitute the occult in Benin. He demonstrates how African science can refine our comprehension of fidelity and betrayal, health and illness, science and religion, and life and death- the philosophical themes that define our humanity."" - Paul Stoller, author of In Sorcery's Shadow, ""Guides readers straight into the untranslatable Beninois world of àze on its own terms. Falen's sensitivity and commitment to local framings and his accessible experiential narratives make this an ideal ethnography with which to explore the ontological turn, as well as a marvelously provocative challenge to the bulwarked categories separating science from magic and religion."" - Sasha Newell, author of The Modernity BluffTable of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Note on Fon Transcription and Pronunciation Introduction 1 Àzě and Bǒ: Witchcraft and Sorcery in Benin 2 Black and White: Witchcraft, Science, and Identity 3 Whose Reality? 4 Religion and the Occult: Opposition and Connection 5 Healing and the Globalization of Witchcraft Conclusion Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisArgues that public higher education institutions remain a bastion of collaborative problem solving. The contributors to this volume restore the value of state universities and humanities education as a public good, contending that they deserve renewed and robust support.Trade ReviewGoldberg situates the Wisconsin Idea in its historical, educational, institutional, and political context in ways that enlighten its original impulses, illuminating its significant contributions to rural and urban areas and to the very nature of the University of Wisconsin as a university of the people." - Michael Apple, University of Wisconsin-Madison"An important look back at the progressive Wisconsin Idea and a look forward to its possible renewal. The authors take us through numerous ideas and practices that came to be known as the Wisconsin Idea and chart out a civic vision of higher education that is badly in need of being reinvented today." - Kevin Mattson, Ohio University

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Book SynopsisAcknowledgements - Notes on the Contributors - Introduction; S.Wolton - The Three Sources and Component Parts of Marxism; G.A.Cohen - Marxism and Social Construction; J.Heartfield - Uncertain Judgement: A Critique of the 'Culture of Crime'; A.Calcutt - Racial Identities: the Degradation of Human Constructions; S.Wolton - Marxism and Feminist Theory; E.Lee - The Return of the Sacred; L.Revell - Determined to be Different: Social Constructionism and Homosexuality; P.Ray - Political Internet? What a Wondrous Web we weave; K.Teare - IndexTable of ContentsAcknowledgements - Notes on the Contributors - Introduction; S.Wolton - The Three Sources and Component Parts of Marxism; G.A.Cohen - Marxism and Social Construction; J.Heartfield - Uncertain Judgement: A Critique of the 'Culture of Crime'; A.Calcutt - Racial Identities: the Degradation of Human Constructions; S.Wolton - Marxism and Feminist Theory; E.Lee - The Return of the Sacred; L.Revell - Determined to be Different: Social Constructionism and Homosexuality; P.Ray - Political Internet? What a Wondrous Web we weave; K.Teare - Index

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Book SynopsisALAN SWINGEWOOD lectures in sociology at the London School of Economics. He is also the author of Cultural Theory and the Problem of Modernity.

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Book SynopsisThe British Migrant Experience 1700-2000 is a wide-ranging collection of first person accounts together with introductory essays, capturing varied aspects of the British migrant story from the eighteenth to the twentieth century.Trade Review'The descriptions of communities and individuals - I lived on turnips, mainly - are useful, but it is the thoughts and feelings, from anxiety to luck, that stand out. They also help to make the book enlightening: for alongside material on the familiar Irish, Jewish and black migrants, there are accounts of Latvians in Bedford, Lithuanians in Lanarkshire and a Moroccan in Exeter who sells rhubarb. And these tales add up to a striking view of Britain.' - Daniel Crewe, Times Literary SupplementTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Preface; Professor C.K.Steedman Anthology Introduction; P.J.Leese Introduction to Part I: Migrant Life Stories in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century; B.Piatek PART I: MIGRANT LIFE STORIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURY Transition I Settlement and Work I Childhood and Home Life I Community I Another Culture I Searching for a Place I PART II: MIGRANT LIFE STORIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH AND NINETEENTH CENTURY Transition 2 Settlement and Work 2 Childhood and Home Life 2 Community 2 Another Culture 2 PART III: MIGRANT PLACE STORIES FROM THE EIGHTEENTH TO THE TWENTIETH CENTURY The South The Midlands and East Anglia North West England North East England Scotland Wales Biography and Further Reading Index Searching for a Place 2

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Book Synopsis"Of the several discussions of the American poverty theorists I have read, this is easily the best. Anyone interested in that debate should begin here." - Professor Lawrence M. Mead, New York University"...a compelling guide to the ideas that have shaped and seek to re-shape welfare provision. This is a student text that teachers will want to read first." - Professor Robert Walker, University of Nottingham* How do welfare benefits and services shape the attitudes, behaviour and character of claimants? Should entitlement be dependent upon good behaviour?* What are the major intellectual influences upon current welfare reforms in the UK and the US?* Is it possible to reform welfare in ways which tackle both social inequality and welfare dependency?This lucid and engaging book provides an introduction to the current debates about the future direction of welfare reform on both sides of the Atlantic. The first part outlines a range of different perspectives oTrade Review"...the book succeeds in shifting the analysis of welfare into the twenty-first century by offering well-focussed discussions of the moral debates of the new social policy and the prescriptive ways in which governments now seek to achieve compliance to their new designs." - Martin HewittTable of ContentsSeries editor's forewordAcknowledgementsList of abbreviationsIntroductionPart oneWelfare and equalityWelfare and self interestWelfare and paternalismWelfare and obligationWelfare as temporary supportPart twoEnding dependency? welfare reform in the United StatesA new deal for welfare? New Labour and the reform of welfare in BritainConclusionGlossaryBibliographyIndex.

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Book Synopsis"...effectively demonstrates the enduring importance of 'classical' social movement theory...and provides a cutting edge critical review of recent theoretical developments. This is one of the most important general theoretical texts on social movements for some years." - Paul Bagguley, University of Leeds Why and how do social movements emerge? In which ways are social movements analysed? Can our understanding be enhanced by new perspectives? Making Sense of Social Movements offers a clear and comprehensive overview of the key sociological approaches to the study of social movements. The author argues that each of these approaches makes an important contribution to our understanding of social movements but that none is adequate on its own. In response he argues for a new approach which draws together key insights within the solid foundations of Pierre Bourdieu's social theory of practice.This new approach transcends the barriers which sTrade Review'...a clear and accessible overview of both classical and more recent theoretical approaches in social movement research. ...a well written book that makes a persuasive case for revisiting the work of classical social movement theorists, and a stimulating reflection on the applicability of Bourdieu theory of practice within social movement research. ...an important and thought-provoking contribution to the to the social movements literature' - Robert GibbTable of ContentsAcknowlegementsIntroductionSocial unrest, movement culture and identitythe symbolic interactionistsSmelser's value-added approachRational actor theoryResources, networks and organizationsOpportunities, cognition and biographyRepertoires, frames and cyclesNew social movementsSocial movements and the theory of practicea new synthesisBibliographyIndex.

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Book SynopsisTHE STATE WE'RE IN affected government policy, THE WORLD WE'RE IN affects us all as we decide on Britain's future.'Will Hutton's ability to articulate contemporary anxieties borders on genius' Martin Wolf, PROSPECTTrade ReviewA timely and forward-looking book...Hutton's powerful and flawlessly argued assertion is that to opt for dependence upon America is madness * Independent on Sunday *The book skilfully charts its way through the different historical, economic and philosophical approaches to land, law and profit that have defined the European and American traditions -- Jerry BrottonWritten with typical passion and command of a battery of facts, Will Hutton's The World We're In is a fierce attack on the politics of Euroscepticism and US economic conservatism. Hutton has already established his credentials as one of the leading liberal economic thinkers on the British State with his bestselling The State We're In. In The World We're In he widens his focus to discuss the global economy and the fraught relations between the US and Europe in the aftermath of September 11. * Hutton argues that "if the rest of the world is not careful, our future will be to accept globalisation almost entirely on American conservative terms." He believes that the great tradition of liberalism in the US is in retreat, that "America is the most *The book skilfully charts its way through the different historical, economic and philosophical approaches to land, law and profit that have defined the European and American traditions, concluding that Europe offers a better "scope within globalisation fo * Jerry Brotton *a timely and forward-looking book...Hutton's powerful and flawlessly argued assertion is that to opt for dependence upon America is madness' - Independent on Sunday

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Book SynopsisThis book develops and presents a general social theory explaining social, cultural and economic ontology and, as a by-product, the ontology of other social institutions and structures. This theory is called social transaction theory. Using the framework of the complex adaptive systems model, this transdisciplinary social theory proposes that society, culture and economy are emergent from social and environmental transaction and negotiation. Each transaction contains an element of negotiation. With each transaction, there is continual renegotiation, however small or large. Even if the result is no change, renegotiation takes place. Thus, there is a constant emergence of social constructions and a continuous reconstruction of society in the specious present.' Practices, beliefs, explanations, and traditions become part of the accepted canon of a group through continual social transaction. Deviations from canon and expected outcomes are managed through narrative. Narrative can be eithTable of ContentsList of Tables, List of Figures, Preface. Why Do We Need Another Social Theory? Acknowledgments Chapter 1. An invitation to a social journey Where Have We Been? What is the Question? Where am I Taking You? Overview of the Book, Part I: Laying the Foundation, Chapter 2. Philosophy of Science, The Validity of Social Science, Explaining Human Experience, Critical Realism, Chapter 3. A Rubric for Evaluating Social Theory, The Epistemological Continuum, Objectivism, Subjectivism, Critical Realism, Constructionism, The Ontological Continuum, The Applicability Continuum, Agency, Interaction, System, Structure, Plausibility, Mechanism, My Assumptions, Chapter 4. Scientific Method and Theory, Scientific Paradigms, Theoretical Methods, Thought Experiments, Chapter 5. Other Building Blocks, Limitations, Initial Definitions, Culture, Adaptation versus Evolution, Ethics and Morality, Chapter 6. Situating the Theory, Reflective Human Consciousness, Consciousness as Emergent Process, Awareness and Self-awareness, Consciousness and Temporality, Reflection, Sociality, The Unity of Conscious Experience, Human Experience, Initial Mediations, Socially Constructed Mediations, The Environment, Situating the Theory, Part II. Developing a Theory of Social Ontology, Chapter 7. Complex Adaptive Systems, Nonadaptive versus Adaptive Systems, Chaos Theory, Dissipative Structures, Complex Adaptive and Nonadaptive Systems, Complex Adaptive Systems, Chapter 8. Emergence Theory, Defining Emergence, Mead’s Emergence Theory, Social Phenomena as Emergents, Complexity-Based Emergence Theory, Chapter 9. Applicable Social Theory, Mead and Social Interaction, Self and Mind, Past Experience and Contemplation of the Future, Giddens and Structuration, Needs and Motivation, Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Chapter 10. Dewey and Bentley’s Transactional Approach, Emirbayer and relational sociology Chapter 11. Negotiation, Negotiated Order Theory, and Game Theory, Negotiation, Game Theory, John Nash, Thomas Schelling, Cooperation v. Non-cooperation, Folk theorem, Negotiated Order Theory, Chapter 12. Meaning, Meaning Making, Language, and Symbols, Definitions, Peirce, Signs, and Semeiotics, Mead and the Significant Symbol, Ricoeur’s Interpretation Theory, Narrative and Meaning as Social Canon, Chapter 13. Environmental Considerations, Ecological Anthropology, Ecological Psychology, Chapter 14. A Theory of Social Ontology, A General Social Theory, Complex Adaptive Systems Repositioned, Adding Social Transaction, Adding Negotiation and Emergence, Meaning and Negotiation, Structuration, Narrative and Folk Psychology, A Thought Experiment, Chapter 15. Applying the Theory in the Practical World, The Theory’s Relationship to Social Systems and Structure, Explaining Social Power, Implications for Culture Study, Ontological Implications in Economic Theory, Rules and Rule Making, The Golden Rule and Reciprocity, Social Contract Theory, The Relationship to Political Organization,Ontological Implications in Moral Philosophy, Moral Realism, Moral Relativism Implications for Moral Philosophy Chapter 16. Conclusions and Further Research Significance for Leadership and Management, Further Research, Closing Thoughts References Index

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Book SynopsisDespite noteworthy exceptions, nursing's literature largely disregards the ways in which social and sociological theory permeates, guides and shapes research, education, and practice. Likewise, social theory's ability to position nursing within wider structures of healthcare and educational provision is similarly and puzzlingly downplayed. The questions nurses ask and the problems they face cannot however, adequately be addressed without engaging with social and sociological theory and, to progress this engagement, contributors to this book explore how social theories are used by and might apply to nursing and nursing practice. The book draws on a wide range of perspectives philosophical, theoretical, empirical and political to offer a robust and wide-ranging critique and analysis. Social Theory and Nursing is essential reading for nursing researchers, academics and educators, as well as scholars and researchers in medical sociology, medicine and allied health.Trade Review‘This text provides a timely resource for nurses undertaking research with a social theoretical dimension. All too frequently social theory receives insufficient attention in nursing research. Or, when discussed, very specific (often simplistic or incomplete) interpretations of social theory are offered. Contributors to this volume seek to redress this imbalance with concise explanations of key theorists and theories and, also, examples of the relevance of social theory to and in nursing practice. The book is highly recommended.’ - Bernie Garrett, University of British Columbia, Canada 'The strengths of the book include the diversity of scholarship involved from well-known contributors. The attempt to address theoretical misconceptions as they apply to nursing is to be highly commended. There is an urgent need for a much wider understanding of critical concepts to allow nurses to critique contextualise their practice, and this book goes a long way to doing so. I found myself highlighting sections and inwardly nodding away, for example Rolfe on C Wright Mills, Aranda on Feminism, Nairn on the Purpose and Scope of nursing and Porter on Critical Realism. It is about time! Those without any social science grounding might find this literature difficult, which is however kind of one of the points being addressed – the need for a more critical and deeper understanding of social theory and nursing. There was a recognition of the existence of an ‘alien’ literature in its preparation so this is a challenge. However, the chapters are diverse enough to allow readers to start where they feel comfortable before engaging in more challenging material. The wish to stimulate inquiry and discussion is laudable. This is a must read for those interested in the social sciences and nursing, and should be read more widely by the nursing community in general' - Benny Goodman, Plymouth University, UK‘This text provides a timely resource for nurses undertaking research with a social theoretical dimension. All too frequently social theory receives insufficient attention in nursing research. Or, when discussed, very specific (often simplistic or incomplete) interpretations of social theory are offered. Contributors to this volume seek to redress this imbalance with concise explanations of key theorists and theories and, also, examples of the relevance of social theory to and in nursing practice. The book is highly recommended.’ - Bernie Garrett, University of British Columbia, Canada 'The strengths of the book include the diversity of scholarship involved from well-known contributors. The attempt to address theoretical misconceptions as they apply to nursing is to be highly commended. There is an urgent need for a much wider understanding of critical concepts to allow nurses to critique contextualise their practice, and this book goes a long way to doing so. I found myself highlighting sections and inwardly nodding away, for example Rolfe on C Wright Mills, Aranda on Feminism, Nairn on the Purpose and Scope of nursing and Porter on Critical Realism. It is about time! Those without any social science grounding might find this literature difficult, which is however kind of one of the points being addressed – the need for a more critical and deeper understanding of social theory and nursing. There was a recognition of the existence of an ‘alien’ literature in its preparation so this is a challenge. However, the chapters are diverse enough to allow readers to start where they feel comfortable before engaging in more challenging material. The wish to stimulate inquiry and discussion is laudable. This is a must read for those interested in the social sciences and nursing, and should be read more widely by the nursing community in general' - Benny Goodman, Plymouth University, UKTable of ContentsForeword Introduction 1. Nursing Theory, Social Theory and Nursing Practice 2. Mechanistic Social Science and Middle Range Theory 3. Sociological Theory in Nursing Literature: A Threat to Professional Identity? 4. Lies, Damned Lies and Stories: Nursing and the Need for Border Controls 5. The Purpose and Scope of Social Theory: Implications for Nursing 6. Critical Realism: A Perspective Worthy of Consideration 7. Foucault, Social Theory and Nursing Research: A Critique 8. Accounting for Knowledgeable Practice 9. C Wright Mills: Lessons for Nurse Researchers 10. Feminist Theories: Silences and Absences 11. Contemporary Political Debates, Social Theory and Nursing Practice in Mental Healthcare 12. Triangulation, Sociological Theory and Nursing 13. Genre and the Nursing Research Article

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