Search results for ""author john wiley"

This book is concise, easy -to-use guide to the individuals, peoples, parties, movements, events, decisions and wars that have shaped the history of the United States.

Read more less

The fifth installment of Addiction Reviews provides refereed reviews on learning theory and addition, deep brain stimulation and addiction, novel therapeutic approaches to addiction, developmental studies of reward, genetics and brain imaging in addiction, genetics of alcoholism and its comorbidities, in addition to other state-of-the art topics in addiction science. NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit: http://ordering.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/subs.asp?ref=1749-6632&doi=10.111/(ISSN)1749-6632. ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information on becoming a member.

Read more less

Biomedical research on human subjects is notoriously difficult because of the difficulties in controlling the variables, locating a large enough sample size, and managing the ethical issues that have to be considered for every experiment. This volume contains contributions from scientists who have received grants from the Dana Foundation, and their work in the complex and diverse field of human immunology is notable for both its breadth and its depth. Patient-based research in the areas of cancer, infectious disease, allergy, inflammation, and autoimmunity are summarized. It is through clinical studies that findings in animal models make their way into the arsenal of treatments available for human patients, and this volume demonstrates the progress of translational research in human immunology. NOTE: Annals volumes are available for sale as individual books or as a journal. For information on institutional journal subscriptions, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/nyas. ACADEMY MEMBERS: Please contact the New York Academy of Sciences directly to place your order (www.nyas.org). Members of the New York Academy of Science receive full-text access to the Annals online and discounts on print volumes. Please visit http://www.nyas.org/MemberCenter/Join.aspx for more information about becoming a member.

Read more less

This anthology collects key texts on women in culture and offers an ideal introduction, for students in women's studies and feminism, to the cultural dimensions of women's experience today.

Read more less

With an entire discipline devoted to political science, what is distinctive about political sociology? This concise book explains what a sociological perspective brings to our understanding of the emergence, reproduction, and transformation of different forms of political order. Crucially, political sociology expands the field of view to the politics that happen in other social settings in the family, at work, in civic associations as well as the ways in which social attributes such as class, religion, age, race, and gender shape patterns of political participation and the distribution of political power. Political sociology grapples with these issues across an enormous range of historical and geographic settings, from intimate to geo-political scales. It requires an analytic toolkit that includes concepts of power, identities and inequalities, social closure, civil society, and modes of political action. Using these central concepts, this updated edition ofWhat is Political Sociol

Read more less

The quest for sustainability has generated lifestyle changes for individuals across the globe, transformations within the arts, sciences, business, design, engineering, and agriculture, innovative policies and laws, and historic international agreements. Yet the means to achieving sustainability remain unsettled and disputed, even as its crucial importance in the face of the climate crisis grows. The third edition of this popular and lively text explores the concept and practice of sustainability across a broad range of issues and topics.Fully revised and updated, the book underlines the importance of creativity in the service of conservation within ecological, economic, technological, political, legal, and cultural arenas. Chapters conclude with new Discuss, Explore, and Take Action sections that pose probing questions for review and discussion. A new final chapter presents four practical principles that readers may employ to guide the investigation of sustainability problems and t

Read more less

We are living in turbulent times, witnessing renewed international conflict, resurgent nationalism, declining multilateralism, and a torrent of hostile propaganda. How are we to understand these developments and conduct diplomacy in their presence? Nicholas J. Cull, the distinguished historian of propaganda, revisits the international media campaigns of the past in the light of the challenges of the present. His concept of Reputational Security deftly links issues of national image and outreach to the deepest needs of any state, rescuing them from the list of low-priority optional extras to which they are so often consigned in the West. Reputational Security, he argues, comes from being known and appreciated in the world. With clarity and determination, Cull considers core tasks, approaches, and opportunities available for international actors today, including counterpropaganda, media development, diaspora diplomacy, cultural work, and – perhaps most surprisingly of all – media disarmament. This book is crucial for all who care about responding to the threat of malign media disruption, revitalizing international cooperation, and establishing the Reputational Security we and our allies need to survive and flourish. Reputational Security is enlightening reading for students and scholars of public diplomacy, international relations, security studies, communications, and media, as well as practitioners.

Read more less

Who counts as a woman? This question lies at the heart of many public debates about sex and gender today. While we increasingly recognise the desire of some to eliminate the sex binary in law, a particular boiling point emerges through conflicting demands over women’s spaces. Which should govern access to these – sex or gender identity? Karen Ingala Smith, a veteran campaigner for women’s and girls’ rights, opts for the former. In this trenchant critique of inclusivity politics, she argues that we cannot ignore the wealth of evidence which shows that people of the female sex have a unique set of needs which are often not met by mixed-sex spaces. Drawing on her 30 years of experience in researching and recording men’s violence against women and girls, she outlines how certain spaces, including refuges, benefit from remaining single sex – and what they stand to lose. Written with sensitivity and respect for all concerned, this book nevertheless dismantles the idea that we have reached a post-sex utopia.

Read more less

Most theories of modernity are based, explicitly or implicitly, on the development of Western societies since the late medieval period, but these theories are of limited value for understanding the development of societies in Asia and other parts of the world, where the process of modernization took place under different circumstances and often in a rapid and highly compressed fashion – not over centuries but in decades. Asian societies have been propelled into modernity too, but theirs is a compressed modernity, which displays very different traits. In this important book, Chang Kyung-Sup provides a systematic account of this compressed modernity and uses it to analyse the extreme social changes, complexities and imbalances found in South Korea and other East Asian societies. While these changes enabled South Korea to modernize very quickly and achieve high levels of economic growth, they also created a society that is haunted by various developmental and civilizational costs, such as endemic generational conflicts, overloaded family responsibilities and exceptionally high suicide rates. As with other societies that have experienced compressed modernity, the South Korean “miracle” is replete with extreme and contradictory social traits. This pioneering work of the nature and consequences of compressed modernity will be of great interest to students and scholars of sociology, politics and development studies, as well as anyone interested in South Korea, Asia and postcolonial societies.

Read more less

In this third edition of his widely acclaimed survey, historian Randall D. Law makes sense of the history of terrorism by examining it within its broad political, religious and social contexts from the ancient world to the present day. InTerrorism: A History, Law reveals how the very definition of the word has changed, how the tactics and strategies of terrorism have evolved, and how those who have used it have adapted to revolutions in technology, communications, and political ideologies.Terrorism: A Historyextensively covers topics as wide-ranging as jihadist violence, state terror, the Israeli/Palestianian conflict, Northern Ireland, anarcho-terrorism, and racist violence, plus lesser-known movements in Uruguay and Algeria, as well as pre-modern uses of terror in the ancient world, medieval Europe, and the French Revolution.This brand-new revision edition features up-to-the-moment analysis of: The state of al-Qaeda, its franchises, and glo

Read more less

History lies beneath our feet and in the landscapes around us. In contrast to the history that comes from studying texts, archaeology is the study of history through objects, monuments, and other traces of past lives: history that extends beyond the earliest writings into the deep past, revealing the varied pathways that led to the present, and the challenges – often similar to those we face today – that confronted our ancestors. Ann Stahl argues that archaeology is unique in its focus on the everyday lives of all peoples in all places and times. From ancient temples to humble homes, archaeologists piece together worlds that would otherwise be lost: knowledge that shows us how routine actions have shaped societies, how and why societies have changed in light of environment, politics, and culture – and perhaps what the future holds for our societies too. Using compelling examples from a storied international career, Stahl provides the perfect summary of why archaeology is both a vitally important and enjoyable subject to study.

Read more less

Since the early days of the internet, there have been questions about how emerging technologies might one day liberate or further harm communities of color that already face structural inequalities of racism. As reliance on computing technologies increases, it is also important to address questions about racial bias in the design of digital platforms, labor inequalities in tech industries, and digital surveillance on Black and Brown communities. This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to the theory and research on race and digital media. Focusing on the experiences of people of color in the United States, it explores the various ways that racism and white supremacy have shaped aspects of our digital world ‒ from the infrastructures and policies that support technological development, to algorithms and the collection of data, to the interfaces that shape engagement. Yet it also reveals how communities of color have deployed digital media in ways that expand the public sphere, contest the status quo, and give voice to creativity and joy. Race and Digital Media provides an essential resource for students of communication, media, technology, and society. It shows how to make sense of our ever-changing digital media landscape in a way that centers the continued impact of institutionalized racism and the potential for anti-racist futures.

Read more less

Is the goal of a transition to clean energy at all realistic? If so, how could it be accomplished? Climate change poses a formidable challenge for twenty-first-century governments. Unless they can move to a clean energy system built on efficiency, renewables, electrification, and possibly complementary technologies like nuclear energy and carbon capture and storage, it will be all but impossible to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. In this book, Daniel Fiorino provides a comprehensive introduction to the politics and policies of a clean energy transition and how it may unfold nationally and globally. Across its nine chapters, he explores the current energy landscape and the different pathways and pitfalls on the road to decarbonization. All scenarios for decarbonizing, he argues, rely on aggressive efficiency, the rapid scale-up of renewables, and the electrification of most of what is left. Yet this transition has to be accelerated and done effectively. There is little time left for second chances if we are to decarbonize later this century. The Clean Energy Transition will be an indispensable resource for students of energy politics, environmental studies, and public policy, as well as anyone interested in the energy issues of the day.

Read more less

The first book of its kind, Decolonizing Geography offers an indispensable introductory guide to the origins, current state and implications of the decolonial project in geography. Sarah A. Radcliffe recounts the influence of colonialism on the discipline of geography and introduces key decolonial ideas, explaining why they matter and how they change geography’s understanding of people, environments and nature. She explores the international origins of decolonial ideas, through to current Indigenous thinking, coloniality-modernity, Black geographies and decolonial feminisms of colour. Throughout, she presents an original synthesis of wide-ranging literatures and offers a systematic decolonizing approach to space, place, nature, global-local relations, the Anthropocene and much more. Decolonizing Geography is an essential resource for students and instructors aiming to broaden their understanding of the nature, origins and purpose of a geographical education.

Read more less

The first book of its kind, Decolonizing Geography offers an indispensable introductory guide to the origins, current state and implications of the decolonial project in geography. Sarah A. Radcliffe recounts the influence of colonialism on the discipline of geography and introduces key decolonial ideas, explaining why they matter and how they change geography’s understanding of people, environments and nature. She explores the international origins of decolonial ideas, through to current Indigenous thinking, coloniality-modernity, Black geographies and decolonial feminisms of colour. Throughout, she presents an original synthesis of wide-ranging literatures and offers a systematic decolonizing approach to space, place, nature, global-local relations, the Anthropocene and much more. Decolonizing Geography is an essential resource for students and instructors aiming to broaden their understanding of the nature, origins and purpose of a geographical education.

Read more less

The birth of democracies owes much to the interventions and mobilizations of ordinary people. Yet many feel as though they have inherited democratic institutions which do not deliver for the people – that a rigid democratic process has been imposed from above, with increasing numbers of people feeling left out or left behind. In this well-researched volume, leading political sociologist Donatella della Porta rehabilitates the role social movements have long played in fostering and deepening democracy, particularly focusing on progressive movements of the Left which have sought to broaden the plurality of voices and knowledge in democratic debate. Bridging social movement studies and democratic theory, della Porta investigates contemporary innovations in times of crisis, particularly those in the direction of participatory and deliberative practices – ‘crowd-sourced constitutions’, referendums from below and movement parties – and reflects on the potential and limits of such alternative politics. In a moment in which concerns increase for the potential disruption of a Great Regression led by xenophobic movements and parties, the cases and analyses of resistance in this volume offer important material for students and scholars of political sociology, political science and social movement studies.

Read more less

Over its long history, the concept of ideology has acquired a vast and at times incommensurable roster of meanings: positive and negative, analytic and critical, philosophical, psychological and scientific. But how precisely should we understand and study ideology today? What is its connection to key issues in social life and social research, such as capitalism and class, democracy and partisanship, nationality, sex and gender, race and ethnicity? In this book, Marius S. Ostrowski navigates a path through the complex maze of ideology’s rival interpretations, tracing the shifting fortunes of ideology analysis from its classical origins to its recent renaissance. The result is a concise interdisciplinary overview of how ideologies combine and arrange ideas and how they manifest in our psychology and behaviour. Drawing on a wide array of examples from across the world, the book outlines the historical preconditions that allowed modern ideologies to emerge and illuminates how we experience ideology’s influence in our day-to-day lives. Ideology will be an indispensable resource for students and scholars across the social sciences and anyone seeking to understand the way ideology shapes how we understand the world around us.

Read more less

Over its long history, the concept of ideology has acquired a vast and at times incommensurable roster of meanings: positive and negative, analytic and critical, philosophical, psychological and scientific. But how precisely should we understand and study ideology today? What is its connection to key issues in social life and social research, such as capitalism and class, democracy and partisanship, nationality, sex and gender, race and ethnicity? In this book, Marius S. Ostrowski navigates a path through the complex maze of ideology’s rival interpretations, tracing the shifting fortunes of ideology analysis from its classical origins to its recent renaissance. The result is a concise interdisciplinary overview of how ideologies combine and arrange ideas and how they manifest in our psychology and behaviour. Drawing on a wide array of examples from across the world, the book outlines the historical preconditions that allowed modern ideologies to emerge and illuminates how we experience ideology’s influence in our day-to-day lives. Ideology will be an indispensable resource for students and scholars across the social sciences and anyone seeking to understand the way ideology shapes how we understand the world around us.

Read more less

Sustainability is one of the buzzwords of our times and a key imperative for economic growth, technological development, social equity, and environmental quality. But what does it really mean and how is it being implemented around the world? In this clear-eyed book, Maurie Cohen introduces students to the concept of sustainability, tracing its history and application from local land-use practices, construction techniques and reorientation of business models to national and global institutions seeking to foster sustainable practices. Examining sustainable development in scientific, technological, social and political terms, he shows that it remains an elusive concept and evidence of its unambiguous achievements can be difficult to ascertain. Moreover, developed and developing countries have formulated divergent agendas to engage the notion of sustainability, further complicating its application and progress across the world. Innovative and readily accessible to students from a range of disciplines, this primer takes us on a journey to show that sustainability is as much about unchartered waters as it is about formulating answers to urgent global issues.

Read more less

Austerity has been at the center of political controversy following the 2008 financial crisis, invoked by politicians and academics across the political spectrum as the answer to, or cause of, our post-crash economic malaise. However, despite being the cause of debate for more than three centuries, austerity remains a poorly understood concept. In this book, Suzanne J. Konzelmann aims to demystify austerity as an economic policy, a political idea, and a social phenomenon. Beginning with an analysis of political and socioeconomic history from the seventeenth century, she explains the economics of austerity in the context of the overall dynamics of state spending, tax, and debt. Using comparative case studies from around the world, ranging from the 1930s to post-2008, she then evaluates the outcomes of austerity in light of its stated objectives and analyzes the conditions under which it doesn’t – and occasionally does – work. This accessible introduction to austerity will be essential reading for students and scholars of political economy, economics, and politics, as well as all readers interested in current affairs.

Read more less

Contrary to optimistic visions of a free internet for all, the problem of the ‘digital divide’ – the disparity between those with access to internet technology and those without – has persisted for close to twenty-five years.In this textbook, Jan van Dijk considers the state of digital inequality and what we can do to tackle it. Through an accessible framework based on empirical research, he explores the motivations and challenges of seeking access and the development of requisite digital skills. He addresses key questions such as: Does digital inequality reduce or reinforce existing, traditional inequalities? Does it create new, previously unknown social inequalities? While digital inequality affects all aspects of society and the problem is here to stay, Van Dijk outlines policies we can put in place to mitigate it.The Digital Divide is required reading for students and scholars of media, communication, sociology, and related disciplines, as well as for policymakers.

Read more less

Why is it so difficult to control, or fix, pollution? How can we justify harvesting the world’s natural resources at unsustainable rates, even though these activities cause known harm to both people and ecosystems? Scientific knowledge and technological advances alone cannot tackle these environmental challenges; they also involve difficult political choices and trade-offs both locally and globally. What is Environmental Politics? introduces students to the different ways society attempts to deal with the political decisions needed to prevent or recover from environmental damage. Across its six chapters leading environmental scholar Elizabeth DeSombre explains what makes environmental problems, such as climate change, overfishing or deforestation, particularly challenging to address via political processes, what types of political structures are more or less likely to prioritize protecting the environment, and how effective political intervention can improve environmental conditions and the lives of people who depend on them.It will be a vital resource for students new to the field of environmental politics as well as readers interested in protecting the future of our planet.

Read more less

We make sense of love with fantasies, stories that shape feelings that are otherwise too overwhelming, incoherent, and wayward to be tamed. For love is a complex, bewildering, and ecstatic emotion covering a welter of different feelings and moral judgments. Drawing on poetry, fiction, letters, memoirs, and art, and with the aid of a rich array of illustrations, historian Barbara H. Rosenwein explores five of our most enduring fantasies of love: like-minded union, transcendent rapture, selfless giving, obsessive longing, and insatiable desire. Each has had a long and tangled history with lasting effects on how we in the West think about love today. Yet each leads to a different conclusion about what we should strive for in our relationships. If only we could peel back the layers of love and discover its “true” essence. But love doesn’t work like that; it is constructed on the shards of experience, story, and feeling, shared over time, intertwined with other fantasies. By understanding the history of how we have loved, Rosenwein argues, we may better navigate our own tumultuous experiences and perhaps write our own scripts.

Read more less

Ethics is a field of study that we all need. This is because we all make choices, and ethics is about the general norms that govern how we should make those choices. Not surprisingly, there is disagreement over what the “norms” are, but by working through such disagreement, we can learn how to make better choices. James P. Sterba presents a general overview of ethics, using relevant examples and accessible arguments. He takes up the question of why we should be ethical or moral, discusses competing ethical theories and proposes a way to reconcile them, and considers the relationship between ethics and religion. Ultimately, he reveals how the material discussed in the book can be used to make better ethical choices in our day-to-day lives. What is Ethics? is a book you can rely on to improve your ability to make ethical choices.

Read more less

Urban planning is not just about applying a suite of systematic principles or plotting out pragmatic designs to satisfy the briefs of private developers or public bodies. Planning is also an activity of imagination, with a stock of wisdom and an array of useful methods for making decisions and getting things done. This critical introduction uncovers and celebrates this imagination and its creative potential. Nicholas A. Phelps explores the key themes and driving questions in the circulation of planning ideas and methods over time and across spaces, identifying the contrasts and commonalities between urban planning systems and cultures. He argues that the tools for inclusive urban planning are today, more than ever, not solely restricted to the hands of planning bodies, but are distributed across citizens, a variety of organizations (what Phelps calls ‘clubs’) and states. As a result, the book sets the ground for the new arrangements between these groups and actors which will be central to the future of urban planning. By unsettling standard accounts, this book compels us towards more critical and creative thinking to ensure that the imagination, wisdom and methods of urban planning are mobilized towards achieving the aspiration of shaping better places.

Read more less

Why has the chicken become the meat par excellence, the most plentifully eaten and popular animal protein in the world, consumed from Beijing to Barcelona? As renowned historian Paul Josephson shows, the story of the chicken's rise involves a whole host of factors; from art, to nineteenth-century migration patterns to cold-war geopolitics. And whereas sheep needed too much space, or the cow was difficult to transport, these compact, lightweight birds produced relatively little waste, were easy to transport and could happily peck away in any urban back garden. Josephson tells this story from all sides: the transformation of the chicken from backyard scratcher to hyper-efficient industrial meat-product has been achieved due to the skill of entrepreneurs who first recognized the possibilities of chicken meat and the gene scientists who bred the plumpest and most fertile birds. But it has also been forced through by ruthless capitalists and lobbyists for “big farmer”, at the expense of animal welfare and the environment. With no sign of our lust for chicken abating, we're now reaching a crisis point: billions of birds are slaughtered every year, after having lived lives that are nasty, brutish and short. The waste from these victims is polluting rivers and poisoning animals. We’re now plunging “egg-first” into environmental disaster. Alongside this story Josephson tells another, of an animal with endearing characteristics who, arguably, can lay claim to being man’s best friend long before the dog reared its snout or the cat came in from the cold. Lionized in medieval romances and modern cartoons, the chicken’s relationship to humanity runs deep; by treating these animals as mere food products, we become less than human.

Read more less

The world almost conquered famine. Until the 1980s, this scourge killed ten million people every decade, but by early 2000s mass starvation had all but disappeared. Today, famines are resurgent, driven by war, blockade, hostility to humanitarian principles and a volatile global economy. In Mass Starvation, world-renowned expert on humanitarian crisis and response Alex de Waal provides an authoritative history of modern famines: their causes, dimensions and why they ended. He analyses starvation as a crime, and breaks new ground in examining forced starvation as an instrument of genocide and war. Refuting the enduring but erroneous view that attributes famine to overpopulation and natural disaster, he shows how political decision or political failing is an essential element in every famine, while the spread of democracy and human rights, and the ending of wars, were major factors in the near-ending of this devastating phenomenon. Hard-hitting and deeply informed, Mass Starvation explains why man-made famine and the political decisions that could end it for good must once again become a top priority for the international community.

Read more less

The story of gay rights has long been told as one of single-minded focus on the fight for sexual freedom. Yet its origins are much more complicated than this single-issue interpretation would have us believe, and to ignore gay liberation's multidimensional beginnings is to drastically underestimate its radical potential for social change. Ferguson shows how queer liberation emerged out of various insurgent struggles crossing the politics of race, gender, class, and sexuality, and deeply connected to issues of colonization, incarceration, and capitalism. Tracing the rise and fall of this intersectional politics, he argues that the one-dimensional mainstreaming of queerness falsely placed critiques of racism, capitalism, and the state outside the remit of gay liberation. As recent activism is increasingly making clear, this one-dimensional legacy has promoted forms of exclusion that marginalize queers of color, the poor, and transgender individuals. This forceful book joins the call to reimagine and reconnect the fight for social justice in all its varied forms.

Read more less

Throughout the Western world, a whole generation is being priced out of the housing market. For millions of people, particularly millennials, the basic goal of acquiring decent, affordable accommodation is a distant dream. Leading economist Josh Ryan-Collins argues that to understand this crisis, we must examine a crucial paradox at the heart of modern capitalism. The interaction of private home ownership and a lightly regulated commercial banking system leads to a feedback cycle. Unlimited credit and money flows into an inherently finite supply of property, which causes rising house prices, declining home ownership, rising inequality and debt, stagnant growth and financial instability. Radical reforms are needed to break the cycle. This engaging and topical book will be essential reading for anyone who wants to understand why they can’t find an affordable home, and what we can do about it.

Read more less

Some analysts have called distrust the biggest governmental crisis of our time. It is unquestionably a huge problem, undermining confidence in our elected institutions, shrinking social capital, slowing innovation, and raising existential questions for democratic government itself. What’s behind the rising distrust in democracies around the world and can we do anything about it? In this lively and thought-provoking essay, Donald F. Kettl, a leading scholar of public policy and management, investigates the deep historical roots of distrust in government, exploring its effects on the social contract between citizens and their elected representatives. Most importantly, the book examines the strategies that present-day governments can follow to earn back our trust, so that the officials we elect can govern more effectively on our behalf.

Read more less

With more than 500,000 people killed and at least half the population displaced, Syria's conflict is the most deadly of the twenty-first century. Russia's decision to join the war has broken the long military and political stalemate but it looks unlikely to deliver any of the core demands that spawned the original uprising against the Ba'athist regime. In this fully revised second edition of his acclaimed text, Samer Abboud provides an in-depth analysis of Syria's descent into civil war, the subsequent stalemate, and the consequences of Russian military involvement after 2015. He unravels the complex and multi-layered drivers of the conflict and demonstrates how rebel fragmentation, sustained regime violence, international actors, and the emergence of competing centers of power tore Syria apart in wholly irreversible ways. A resolution to the Syrian catastrophe seems to have emerged in the aftermath of Russia's intervention, but, as Abboud argues, this "authoritarian peace" contains the seeds of continued and future conflict in Syria. While the Assad regime has so far survived, the instability, violence, and insecurity that continue to shape everyday life for the Syrian people portend an uncertain future that will have repercussions on the wider Middle East for years to come.

Read more less

What is civil disobedience? Although Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King helped to bring the idea to prominence, even today it remains unclear how we should best understand civil disobedience. Why have so many different activists and intellectuals embraced it, and to what ends? Is civil disobedience still politically relevant in today's hyper-connected world? Does it make sense, for example, to describe Edward Snowden's actions, or those of recent global movements like Occupy, as falling under this rubric? If so, how must it adapt to respond to the challenges of digitalization and globalization and the rise of populist authoritarianism in the West?In this elegantly written introductory text, William E. Scheuerman systematically analyzes the most important interpretations of civil disobedience. Drawing out the striking differences separating religious, liberal, radical democratic, and anarchist views, he nonetheless shows that core commonalities remain. Against those who water down the idea of civil disobedience or view it as obsolescent, Scheuerman successfully salvages its central elements. The concept of civil disobedience, he argues, remains a pivotal tool for anyone hoping to bring about political and social change.

Read more less

In this book Jeffrey Alexander develops the view that cultural sociology and “cultural pragmatics” are vital for understanding the structural turbulence and political possibilities of contemporary social life. Central to Alexander’s approach is a new model of social performance that combines elements from both the theatrical avant-garde and modern social theory. He uses this model to shed new light on a wide range of social actors, movements, and events, demonstrating through striking empirical examples the drama of social life. Producing successful dramas determines the outcome of social movements and provides the keys to political power. Modernity has neither eliminated aura nor suppressed authenticity; on the contrary, they are available to social actors who can perform them in compelling ways. This volume further consolidates Alexander’s reputation as one of the most original social thinkers of our time. It will be of great interest to students and scholars in sociology and cultural studies as well as throughout the social sciences and humanities.

Read more less

Power is a pervasive phenomenon yet there is little consensus on what it is and how it should be understood. In this book the cultural theorist Byung-Chul Han develops a fresh and original perspective on the nature of power, shedding new light on this key feature of social and political life. Power is commonly defined as a causal relation: an individual’s power is the cause that produces a change of behaviour in someone else against the latter’s will. Han rejects this view, arguing that power is better understood as a mediation between ego and alter which creates a complex array of reciprocal interdependencies. Power can also be exercised not only against the other but also within and through the other, and this involves a much higher degree of mediation. This perspective enables us to see that power and freedom are not opposed to one another but are manifestations of the same power, differing only in the degree of mediation. This highly original account of power will be of great interest to students and scholars of philosophy and of social, political and cultural theory, as well as to anyone seeking to understand the many ways in which power shapes our lives today.

Read more less

Who are Latinos? What’s the difference between Hispanic and Latino – or indeed Latina, Latina/o, Latin@, Latinx? Beyond the political rhetoric and popular culture representations, how can we explore what it means to be part of the largest minority group in the United States? This compelling book acts as an illuminating primer introducing the multidisciplinary field of Latina/o Studies. Bringing together insights from a wide variety of communities, the book covers topics such as the history of Latinos in the United States, gender and sexuality, popular culture, immigration patterns, and social movements. Mize traces the origins of the field from the history of Latin American revolutionary thought, through the Chicano and Puerto Rican movements, and key disruptions from Latina feminisms, queer studies, and critical race theory, right up to the latest developments and interventions. Combining analysis and advocacy, Latina/o Studies is an accessible yet theoretically sophisticated introduction to the communities charting the future of the United States of America and the Américas writ large.

Read more less

After the Cold War, Africa earned the dubious distinction of being the world's most bloody continent. But how can we explain this proliferation of armed conflicts? What caused them and what were their main characteristics? And what did the world's governments do to stop them? In this fully revised and updated second edition of his popular text, Paul Williams offers an in-depth and wide-ranging assessment of more than six hundred armed conflicts which took place in Africa from 1990 to the present day - from the continental catastrophe in the Great Lakes region to the sprawling conflicts across the Sahel and the web of wars in the Horn of Africa. Taking a broad comparative approach to examine the political contexts in which these wars occurred, he explores the major patterns of organized violence, the key ingredients that provoked them and the major international responses undertaken to deliver lasting peace. Part I, Contexts provides an overview of the most important attempts to measure the number, scale and location of Africa's armed conflicts and provides a conceptual and political sketch of the terrain of struggle upon which these wars were waged. Part II, Ingredients analyses the role of five widely debated features of Africa's wars: the dynamics of neopatrimonial systems of governance; the construction and manipulation of ethnic identities; questions of sovereignty and self-determination; as well as the impact of natural resources and religion. Part III, Responses, discusses four major international reactions to Africa's wars: attempts to build a new institutional architecture to help promote peace and security on the continent; this architecture's two main policy instruments, peacemaking initiatives and peace operations; and efforts to develop the continent. War and Conflict in Africa will be essential reading for all students of international peace and security studies as well as Africa's international relations.

Read more less

Seven decades after its establishment, the United Nations and its system of related organizations and programs are perpetually in crisis. While the twentieth-century’s world wars gave rise to ground-breaking efforts at international organization in 1919 and 1945, today’s UN is ill-equipped to deal with contemporary challenges to world order. Neither the end of the Cold War nor the aftermath of 9/11 has led to the “next generation” of multilateral institutions. But what exactly is wrong with the UN that makes it incapable of confronting contemporary global challenges and, more importantly, can we fix it? In this revised and updated third edition of his popular text, leading scholar of global governance Thomas G. Weiss takes a diagnose-and-cure approach to the world organization’s inherent difficulties. In the first half of the book, he considers: the problems of international leadership and decision making in a world of self-interested states; the diplomatic complications caused by the artificial divisions between the industrialized North and the global South; the structural problems of managing the UN’s many overlapping jurisdictions, agencies, and bodies; and the challenges of bureaucracy and leadership. The second half shows how to mitigate these maladies and points the way to a world in which the UN’s institutional ills might be “cured.” Weiss’s remedies are not based on pious hopes of a miracle cure for the UN, but rather on specific and encouraging examples that could be replicated. With considered optimism and in contrast to received wisdom, he contends that substantial change is both plausible and possible.

Read more less

As the world faces another water crisis, it is easy to understand why this precious and highly-disputed resource could determine the fate of entire nations. In reality, however, water conflicts rarely result in violence and more often lead to collaborative governance, however precarious. In this comprehensive and accessible text, David Feldman introduces readers to the key issues, debates, and challenges in water politics today. Its ten chapters explore the processes that determine how this unique resource captures our attention, the sources of power that determine how we allocate, use, and protect it, and the purposes that direct decisions over its cost, availability, and access. Drawing on contemporary water controversies from every continent – from Flint, Michigan to Mumbai, Sao Paulo, and Beijing –the book argues that cooperation and more equitable water management are imperative if the global community is to adequately address water challenges and their associated risks, particularly in the developing world. While alternatives for enhancing water supply, including waste-water re-use, desalination, and conservation abound, without inclusive means of addressing citizens' concerns, their adoption faces severe hurdles that can impede cooperation and generate additional conflicts.

Read more less

This timely book takes seriously the idea of understanding how our social world – and not individual responsibility or the healthcare system – is the primary determinant of our health. Kathryn Strother Ratcliff puts into practice the "upstream" imagery from public health discourse, which locates the causes (and solutions) of health problems within the social environment. Each chapter explains how the policies, politics, and power behind corporate and governmental decisions and actions produce unhealthy circumstances of living – such as poverty, pollution, dangerous working conditions, and unhealthy modes of food production – and demonstrates that putting profit and politics over people is unhealthy and unsustainable. While the book examines how these unhealthy conditions of life generate significant class and ethnic health disparities, the focus is on everyone's health. Arguing that none of us should be placed in health-threatening situations that could have been prevented, Ratcliff's provocative analysis uses social justice and human rights lenses to guide the discussion "upstream," toward possible changes that should produce a healthier world for us all. Using data and ideas from many disciplines, the book provides a synthesis of invaluable information for activists and policymakers, as well as for professionals and students in sociology, public health, and other fields related to health.

Read more less

A new industrial revolution. The age of making. From bits to atoms. Many people are excited by the possibilities offered by new fabrication technologies like 3D printers, and the way in which they are being used in hacker and makerspaces. But why is the power of hacking and making an idea whose time has come? Hackerspaces: Making the Maker Movement takes the rise of the maker movement as its starting point. Hacker and makerspaces, fab labs, and DIY bio spaces are emerging all over the world. Based on a study of hacker and makerspaces across the US, the book explores cultures of hacking and making in the context of wider social changes, arguing that excitement about the maker movement is not just about the availability of new technologies, but the kinds of citizens we are expected to be.

Read more less

A Companion to the Meuse-Argonne Campaign explores the single largest and bloodiest battle in American military history, including its many controversies, in historiographical essays that reflect the current state of the field. Presents original essays on the French and German participation in ‒ and perspectives on ‒ this important event Makes use of original archival research from the United States, France, and Germany Contributors include WWI scholars from France, Germany, the United States, and the United Kingdom Essays examine the military, social, and political consequences of the Meuse-Argonne and points the way for future scholarship in this area

Read more less

Greek Sculpture presents a chronological overview of the plastic and glyptic art forms in the ancient Greek world from the emergence of life-sized marble statuary at the end of the seventh century BC to the appropriation of Greek sculptural traditions by Rome in the first two centuries AD. Compares the evolution of Greek sculpture over the centuries to works of contemporaneous Mediterranean civilizations Emphasizes looking closely at the stylistic features of Greek sculpture, illustrating these observations where possible with original works rather than copies Places the remarkable progress of stylistic changes that took place in Greek sculpture within a broader social and historical context Facilitates an understanding of why Greek monuments look the way they do and what ideas they were capable of expressing Focuses on the most recent interpretations of Greek sculptural works while considering the fragile and fragmentary evidence uncovered

Read more less

Alexander’s Heirs offers a narrative account of the approximately forty years following the death of Alexander the Great, during which his generals vied for control of his vast empire, and through their conflicts and politics ultimately created the Hellenistic Age. Offers an account of the power struggles between Alexander’s rival generals in the forty year period following his death Discusses how Alexander’s vast empire ultimately became the Hellenistic World Makes full use of primary and secondary sources Accessible to a broad audience of students, university scholars, and the educated general reader Explores important scholarly debates on the Diadochi

Read more less

This accessible cultural history explores 400 years of British imperial adventure in India, developing a coherent narrative through a wide range of colonial documents, from exhibition catalogues to memoirs and travelogues. It shows how these texts helped legitimize the moral ambiguities of colonial rule even as they helped the English fashion themselves. An engaging examination of European colonizers’ representations of native populations Analyzes colonial discourse through an impressive range of primary sources, including memoirs, letters, exhibition catalogues, administrative reports, and travelogues Surveys 400 years of India’s history, from the 16th century to the end of the British Empire Demonstrates how colonial discourses naturalized the racial and cultural differences between the English and the Indians, and controlled anxieties over these differences

Read more less

Subprime Cities: The Political Economy of Mortgage Markets presents a collection of works from social scientists that offer insights into mortgage markets and the causes, effects, and aftermath of the recent 'subprime' mortgage crisis. Provides an even-handed and detailed analysis of mortgage markets and the recent housing crisis Features contributions from various social scientists with expertise in critical social theories who have assembled and analyzed detailed empirical information Offers a unique and powerful rebuttal to many of the misleading popular explanations of the crisis and its aftermath Reveals how racial minorities and the neighbourhoods inhabited by them are more likely to be targeted by subprime and predatory lenders

Read more less

Moral Struggle and Religious Ethics offers a comparative discussion of the challenges of living a moral religious life. This is illustrated with a study of two key thinkers, Bonaventure and Buddhaghosa, who influenced the development of moral thinking in Christianity and Buddhism respectively. Provides an important and original contribution to the comparative study and practice of religious ethics Moves away from a comparison of theories by discussing the shared human problem of moral weakness Offers an fresh approach with a comparison of the understanding of the problem of moral weakness between the two key thinkers, Bonaventure and Buddhaghosa Written by a highly respected academic in the dynamic and fast-growing field of comparative religious ethics

Read more less

Epidemiology Kept Simple introduces the epidemiological principles and methods that are increasingly important in the practice of medicine and public health. With minimum use of technical language it fully explains terminology, concepts, and techniques associated with traditional and modern epidemiology. Topics include disease causality, epidemiologic measures, descriptive epidemiology, study design, clinical and primary prevention trials, observational cohort studies, case-control studies, and the consideration of random and systematic error in studies of causal factors. Chapters on the infectious disease process, outbreak investigation, and screening for disease are also included. The latter chapters introduce more advanced biostatistical and epidemiologic techniques, such as survival analysis, Mantel-Haenszel techniques, and tests for interaction. This third edition addresses all the requirements of the American Schools of Public Health (ASPH) Epidemiological Competencies, and provides enhanced clarity and readability on this difficult subject. Updated with new practical exercises, case studies and real world examples, this title helps you develop the necessary tools to interpret epidemiological data and prepare for board exams, and now also includes review questions at the end of each chapter. Epidemiology Kept Simple continues to provide an introductory guide to the use of epidemiological methods for graduate and undergraduate students studying public health, health education and nursing, and for all practicing health professionals seeking professional development.

Read more less

Why Plato Wrote argues that Plato was not only the world’s first systematic political philosopher, but also the western world’s first think-tank activist and message man. Shows that Plato wrote to change Athenian society and thereby transform Athenian politics Offers accessible discussions of Plato’s philosophy of language and political theory Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2011

Read more less