- Table View
- List View
Society of the Spectacle
by Guy DebordThis book talks about political and cultural theory and on modernity, capitalism, and everyday life in the late 20th century.
The Society of Timid Souls
by Polly MorlandA journey into the modern life of an ancient virtue - bravery - and a quest to understand who might possess it and how With The Society of Timid Souls, or How To Be Brave, documentary filmmaker Polly Morland sets out to investigate bravery, a quality that she has always felt she lacked. The book takes inspiration from a vividly eccentric, and radical, self-help group for stage-frightened performers in 1940s Manhattan, which coincided with the terrifying height of World War II and was called The Society of Timid Souls. Seventy years later, as anxiety about everything from terrorism to economic meltdown continues, Morland argues that courage has become a virtue in crisis. We are, she says, all Timid Souls now. Despite a career in which she has filmed in rebel-held Colombian jungles and at the edge of Balkan mass graves, interviewing convicted murderers, drug-traffickers, and terrorists, Morland herself has never felt brave. Often, the very reverse. So she sets out to discover how and why courage is achieved in an age of anxiety and whether it might even be learned. Drawing on her interviews and encounters with soldiers and civilians, bullfighters and big-wave surfers, dissidents fighting for freedom and cancer patients fighting for their lives, Morland examines bravery across the spectrum: from the first childhood act of defiance by Bernard Lafayette, a leader of the civil rights movement who later faced down the KKK in Alabama, or the reflexive will-to-survive of Vjollca Berisha, a Kosovo Albanian who endured a massacre by playing dead among the bodies of her own family, to the small acts of everyday bravery that quietly punctuate our lives, in schoolyards, labor wards, and hospices the world over. Along the way, Morland draws attention to some of the myths of bravery that have been conjured and perpetuated over time and argues that, often, courage exists as much in the telling as in the doing. At once an exploration of what bravery means and a chronicle of the author's personal journey among those who embody it, The Society of Timid Souls is a profound, approachable meditation on this most valued and mysterious of human qualities. In setting off on the trail of the lionhearted, Polly Morland finds out a great deal about what makes some of us extraordinary, and what of the extraordinary we all share.From the Hardcover edition.
A Society Organized for War: The Iberian Municipal Militias in the Central Middle Ages, 1000-1284
by James F. PowersPowers explores the evolution and organization of municipal militias on the Iberian peninsula in the middle ages.
Society the Basics
by John J. MacionisSociety: The Basics, Fifteenth Edition, provides you with comprehensive understanding of how this world works. You will find this title informative, engaging, and even entertaining. Before you have finished the first chapter, you will dis-cover that sociology is both enlightening and useful, and it is also a great deal of fun. Sociology is a field of study that can change the way you see the world and open the door to many new opportunities. What could be more exciting than that?
Society without God
by Phil Zuckerman"Silver" Winner of the 2008 Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Award, Religion CategoryBefore he began his recent travels, it seemed to Phil Zuckerman as if humans all over the globe were "getting religion"--praising deities, performing holy rites, and soberly defending the world from sin. But most residents of Denmark and Sweden, he found, don't worship any god at all, don't pray, and don't give much credence to religious dogma of any kind. Instead of being bastions of sin and corruption, however, as the Christian Right has suggested a godless society would be, these countries are filled with residents who score at the very top of the "happiness index" and enjoy their healthy societies, which boast some of the lowest rates of violent crime in the world (along with some of the lowest levels of corruption), excellent educational systems, strong economies, well-supported arts, free health care, egalitarian social policies, outstanding bike paths, and great beer.Zuckerman formally interviewed nearly 150 Danes and Swedes of all ages and educational backgrounds over the course of fourteen months. He was particularly interested in the worldviews of people who live their lives without religious orientation. How do they think about and cope with death? Are they worried about an afterlife? What he found is that nearly all of his interviewees live their lives without much fear of the Grim Reaper or worries about the hereafter. This led him to wonder how and why it is that certain societies are non-religious in a world that seems to be marked by increasing religiosity. Drawing on prominent sociological theories and his own extensive research, Zuckerman ventures some interesting answers.This fascinating approach directly counters the claims of outspoken, conservative American Christians who argue that a society without God would be hell on earth. It is crucial, Zuckerman believes, for Americans to know that "society without God is not only possible, but it can be quite civil and pleasant."
Society without God, Second Edition: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us about Contentment
by Phil ZuckermanAn updated edition showcasing the social health of the least religious nations in the worldReligious conservatives around the world often claim that a society without a strong foundation of faith would necessarily be an immoral one, bereft of ethics, values, and meaning. Indeed, the Christian Right in the United States has argued that a society without God would be hell on earth.In Society without God, Second Edition sociologist Phil Zuckerman challenges these claims. Drawing on fieldwork and interviews with more than 150 citizens of Denmark and Sweden, among the least religious countries in the world, he shows that, far from being inhumane, crime-infested, and dysfunctional, highly secular societies are healthier, safer, greener, less violent, and more democratic and egalitarian than highly religious ones.Society without God provides a rich portrait of life in a secular society, exploring how a culture without faith copes with death, grapples with the meaning of life, and remains content through everyday ups and downs. This updated edition incorporates new data from recent studies, updated statistics, and a revised Introduction, as well as framing around the now more highly developed field of secular studies. It addresses the dramatic surge of irreligion in the United States and the rise of the “nones,” and adds data on societal health in specific US states, along with fascinating context regarding which are the most religious and which the most secular.
Socio-Cultural Mobility and Mega-Events: Ethics and Aesthetics in Brazil’s 2014 World Cup (Routledge Advances in Sociology)
by Rodanthi TzanelliIn June 2014, Brazil opened the twentieth FIFA World Cup with a spectacular ceremony. Hosting the World Cup was a strategic developmental priority for Brazil: mega-events such as these allow the country to be ranked amongst the world’s political and economic leaders, and are supposed to propel the country to its own unique modernity. But alongside the increased media attention and publicity, came accusations of governmental ‘corruption’ and overspending. In Socio-Cultural Mobility and Mega-Events, Tzanelli uses Brazil’s 2014 World Cup to explore how mega-events articulate socio-cultural problems. Critically examining the aesthetics and ethics of mobilities in the mega-event, this book explores these socio-cultural issues and controversies: the background of staging mega-events, including the bidding process and the host’s expectations for returns; ceremonial staging and communications between artistic representations and national symbolism; the clear reaction mega-events almost always generate in national, regional and global activist circles, including accusations of overspending and human rights violations. This interdisciplinary study will appeal to scholars and students of the sociology of mobility, sociology of globalisation, cultural sociology, social and anthropological theory, as well as the sociology of sport, human and cultural geography, and leisure and tourism studies.
Socio-ecological Studies in Natural Protected Areas: Linking Community Development and Conservation in Mexico
by Alfredo Ortega-RubioThis book explores the interactions of local inhabitants and environmental systems in the Protected Natural Areas of Mexico. Its goal is to help understand how social groups contextualize ecological knowledge, how human activities contribute to modifying the environmental matrix, how cultural and economic aspects influence the use, management and conservation of their ecological environment, and how social phenomena are to be viewed against the backdrop of ecological knowledge.The book reviews the epistemological and historical bases of the socio-ecological relationship, and addresses the evolution of human-natural systems. From a methodological standpoint, it assesses the tools required for the integration of “human” and “natural” dimensions in the management of the environmental matrix. Further, in the case studies section, it reviews valuable recent experiences concerning the retro-interactions of local inhabitants with their environmental matrix. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable asset for researchers and professionals all over the world, especially those working in Latin American countries.
Socio-Economic Development in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region: Disparities and Power Struggle in China’s North-West
by Alessandra CappellettiIn an unprecedented exploration of space and power in rural Xinjiang, a Chinese region home to the Muslim population of the Uyghurs, this book adopts a grounded theory approach and a trans-ethnic perspective into the complex and sensitive topic of land issues and agricultural land evictions in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. By exposing the dynamics of land acquisition and power building in the politically contested space of the region, the author shows how state owned land in a key commercial and cultural hub on the new Silk Road became a commodity, in a context of violent human interactions driven by power. Relying on previously undisclosed material and on a unique field research among farmers and local authorities, the author retraces the steps of Uyghur peasant workers, entangled in a suspended situation between abandoned rural villages, migration and urban alienation, in a book which explores agency in violent processes of social change, and adds concepts and insights to the current knowledge of how we become modern citizens. The microcosm of Kashgar, an oasis-city in Xinjiang, acts as a mirror reflecting socio political dynamics framing people’s identity. Shedding light on one of the most inaccessible region in China, this book is a key read for academics and a broader public willing to get a clearer view of one of the sourest power struggle in the most contested region within the next superpower.
Socio-Economic Foundations of the Russian Post-Soviet Regime: The Resource-Based Economy and Estate-Based Social Structure of Contemporary Russia (Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society #152)
by Simon KordonskySimon Kordonsky divides the social structure of contemporary Russia into distinct estates or social groups and describes each organization's unique resource-based political and economic nature. As he guides readers through Russia's peculiar service and support estate system, Kordonsky reveals how remarkably effective inventing and institutionalizing threats can be in the distribution of scarce resources in a social system of this kind. His book emphasizes the fundamental differences between resource-based economies and traditional risk-based economies and their role in Russia's future.
Socio-Economic Impact Assessment of Genetically Modified Crops: Global Implications Based on Case-Studies from India
by Sachin Chaturvedi Krishna Ravi SrinivasThis book provides a comprehensive overview of socio-economic impact assessments for genetically modified organisms, including genetically modified crops. It features case studies involving Bt cotton and other selected crops with improved traits from six major institutions in India and combines field data with surveys on stakeholder perceptions. It also discusses global trends in the socio-economic assessment of GMOs and reviews the available literature on the economic assessment of GM crops and how various countries have implemented Article 26.1 of the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety. Further, it explores cost–benefit analyses and sociological aspects of socio-economic assessments.Based on this, the book proposes a framework and offers guidelines for socio-economic assessment that can be adapted for various GM crops. Lastly, it examines the relevance of socio-economic impact assessment in light of new applications such as GM mosquitoes and gene drives. Given its scope, the book is of interest to all academics, policymakers, regulators, and general readers concerned about the broader impacts of GM crops and applications like gene drives.
Socio-economics of Personalized Medicine in Asia
by Shirley SunThe second decade of the twenty-first century has witnessed a surging interest in personalized medicine with the concomitant promise to enable more precise diagnosis and treatment of disease and illness, based upon an individual’s unique genetic makeup. In this book, my goal is to contribute to a growing body of literature on personalized medicine by tracing and analyzing how this field has blossomed in Asia. In so doing, I aim to illustrate how various social and economic forces shape the co-production of science and social order in global contexts. This book shows that there are inextricable transnational linkages between developing and developed countries and also provides a theoretically guided and empirically grounded understanding of the formation and usage of particular racial and ethnic human taxonomies in local, national and transnational settings.
Socio-gerontechnology: Interdisciplinary Critical Studies of Ageing and Technology (Routledge Advances in Sociology)
by Alexander PeineSocial change in the twenty-first century is shaped by both demographic changes associated with ageing societies and significant technological change and development. Outlining the basic principles of a new academic field, Socio-gerontechnology, this book explores common conceptual, theoretical and methodological ideas that become visible in the critical scholarship on ageing and technology at the intersection of Age Studies and Science and Technology Studies (STS).Comprised of 15 original chapters, three commentaries and an afterword, the book explores how ageing and technology are already interconnected and constantly being intertwined in Western societies. Topics addressed cover a broad variety of socio-material domains, including care robots, the use of social media, ageing-in-place technologies, the performativity of user involvement and public consultations, dementia care and many others. Together, they provide a unique understanding of ageing and technology from a social sciences and humanities perspective and contribute to the development of new ontologies, methodologies and theories that might serve as both critique of and inspiration for policy and design.International in scope, including contributions from the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, Australia, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden, Socio-gerontechnology is an agenda-setting text that will provide an introduction for students and early career researchers as well as for more established scholars who are interested in ageing and technology. Chapters 3, 5, and 15 of this book are freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
Socio-Legal Generation: Essays in Honour of Michael Adler (Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies)
by Sharon Cowan Simon HallidayThis book honors the diverse and path-breaking work of Michael Adler, a pioneer of socio-legal scholarship in the UK. The book brings together an international group of scholars—established and emerging researchers from across the globe—to develop key ideas generated by Adler’s scholarship. Building on his rich portfolio of creative work at the interface of law and social science, the book explores themes that continue to resonate in contemporary debates about how best to understand the relationship between justice, fairness, and the modern administrative state. Specifically, the book re-examines core issues which Adler, as a key figure of the first generation of UK socio-legal scholars, explored, including: the relationship between official discretion and the rule of law; the justice of internal administrative processes; the importance of a ‘bottom up’ perspective on justice; power and accountability in the prison sector; access to justice for social welfare claimants; and the promise of viewing law through the lens of social science.
A Socio-Legal Study of Hacking: Breaking and Remaking Law and Technology (Law, Science and Society)
by Michael Anthony DizonThe relationship between hacking and the law has always been complex and conflict-ridden. This book examines the relations and interactions between hacking and the law with a view to understanding how hackers influence and are influenced by technology laws and policies. In our increasingly digital and connected world where hackers play a significant role in determining the structures, configurations and operations of the networked information society, this book delivers an interdisciplinary study of the practices, norms and values of hackers and how they conflict and correspond with the aims and aspirations of hacking-related laws. Describing and analyzing the legal and normative impact of hacking, as well as proposing new approaches to its regulation and governance, this book makes an essential contribution to understanding the socio-technical changes, and consequent legal challenges, faced by our contemporary connected society.
The Socio-spatial Design of Community and Governance: Interdisciplinary Urban Design in China
by Sam Jacoby Jingru Cyan ChengThis book proposes a new interdisciplinary understanding of urban design in China based on a study of the transformative effects of socio-spatial design and planning on communities and their governance. This is framed by an examination of the social projects, spaces, and realities that have shaped three contexts critical to the understanding of urban design problems in China: the histories of “collective forms” and “collective spaces”, such as that of the urban danwei (work-unit), which inform current community building and planning; socio-spatial changes in urban and rural development; and disparate practices of “spatialised governmentality”. These contexts and an attendant transformation from planning to design and from government to governance, define the current urban design challenges found in the dominant urban xiaoqu (small district) and shequ (community) development model. Examining the histories, transformations, and practices that have shaped socio-spatial epistemologies and experiences in China – including a specific sense of community and place that is rather based on a concrete “collective” than abstract “public” space and underpinned by socialised governance – this book brings together a diverse range of observations, thoughts, analyses, and projects by urban researchers and practitioners. Thereby discussing emerging interdisciplinary urban design practices in China, this book offers a valuable resource for all academics, practitioners, and stakeholders with an interest in socio-spatial design and development.
Socio-Spatial Inequalities in Contemporary Cities (SpringerBriefs in Geography)
by Alfredo Mela Alessia ToldoThe book explores social inclusion/exclusion from a socio-spatial perspective, highlighting the active role that space assumes in shaping social phenomena. Unlike similar books, it does not discuss exclusion and inclusion in particular geographical contexts, but instead explains these phenomena starting from the dense and complex set of relationships that links society and space. It particularly focuses on social differences and how the processes of exclusion and inclusion can produce a highly spatialized understanding of them, for example when particular groups of people are perceived as being out of place.At the same time, within the context of the different approaches that policies adopt to contrast the phenomena of social exclusion, it examines the role of participation as an instrument to promote bottom-up inclusion and cohesion processes.
Socio-Spatial Theory in Nordic Geography: Intellectual Histories and Critical Interventions
by Henrik Gutzon Larsen Peter Jakobsen Erik JönssonThis open access book is about socio-spatial theory in, and the nature of, Nordic geography. From both historical and contemporary perspectives, the book engages with theorisations of geography in the Nordic countries. Including chapters by geographers from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, it reflects how theories about the relations between the social and the spatial have been developed, adopted and critiqued in Nordic human geography in relation to a wide range of themes, concepts and approaches. The book also traces institutional developments, distinct geographical traditions and intellectual histories, as well as authors’ own experiences as geographers in and beyond the Nordic area. The chapters together introduce and engage with debates and discussions that permeate Nordic geography and allows readers a glimpse of geographical thinking and the role of socio-spatial theory in the Nordic countries. By providing insights into how geographical ideas emerge, travel and are translated and adapted in specific contexts, the book contributes to debates about historical-geographical situatedness and theorisations of geography.
Socio-Technical Aspects in Security: 11th International Workshop, STAST 2021, Virtual Event, October 8, 2021, Revised Selected Papers (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #13176)
by Simon Parkin Luca ViganòThis book constitutes revised selected papers from the refereed conference proceedings of the 11th International Workshop on Socio-Technical Aspects in Security and Trust, STAST 2021, held in conjunction with ESORICS, the European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, as a virtual event, in October 2021. The 10 full papers included in this book were carefully reviewed and selected from 25 submissions. They were organized in topical sections as follows: web and apps; context and modelling; and from the present to the future.
Socio-technical Design of Ubiquitous Computing Systems
by Klaus David Kurt Geihs Jan Marco Leimeister Alexander Roßnagel Ludger Schmidt Gerd Stumme Arno WackerBy using various data inputs, ubiquitous computing systems detect their current usage context, automatically adapt their services to the user's situational needs and interact with other services or resources in their environment on an ad-hoc basis. Designing such self-adaptive, context-aware knowledge processing systems is, in itself, a formidable challenge. This book presents core findings from the VENUS project at the Interdisciplinary Research Center for Information System Design (ITeG) at Kassel University, where researchers from different fields, such as computer science, information systems, human-computer interaction and law, together seek to find general principles and guidelines for the design of socially aware ubiquitous computing systems. To this end, system usability, user trust in the technology and adherence to privacy laws and regulations were treated as particularly important criteria in the context of socio-technical system design. During the project, a comprehensive blueprint for systematic, interdisciplinary software development was developed, covering the particular functional and non-functional design aspects of ubiquitous computing at the interface between technology and human beings. The organization of the book reflects the structure of the VENUS work program. After an introductory part I, part II provides the groundwork for VENUS by presenting foundational results from all four disciplines involved. Subsequently, part III focuses on methodological research funneling the development activities into a common framework. Part IV then covers the design of the demonstrators that were built in order to develop and evaluate the VENUS method. Finally, part V is dedicated to the evaluation phase to assess the user acceptance of the new approach and applications. The presented findings are especially important for researchers in computer science, information systems, and human-computer interaction, but also for everyone working on the acceptance of new technologies in society in general.
Socio-Technical Futures Shaping the Present: Empirical Examples and Analytical Challenges (Technikzukünfte, Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft / Futures of Technology, Science and Society)
by Andreas Lösch Armin Grunwald Martin Meister Ingo Schulz-SchaefferThe exploration of ways to conceptualize the shaping of the present by socio‐technical futures is the aim of this volume. Therefore it brings together contributions from Science and Technology Studies and Technology Assessment, which focus all on the question how socio-technical images of the future shape present processes of innovation and transformation starting from empirical case studies and generalizing specific findings or by tackling conceptual questions from the outset. A white paper of 23 authors, which aims to sensitize researchers and practitioners completes the volume.
A Sociocognitive Approach to Social Norms (Routledge Research International Series in Social Psychology #Vol. 5)
by Nicole DuboisSocieties and groups attribute greater value to some behaviours and some judgments. These 'norms' are what is most important for understanding how behaviours and judgments are socially regulated. The approach presented examines in particular the social foundations of our judgments.
The Sociocultural Activity of High Stakes Standardised Language Testing: Toeic Washback In A South Korean Context (English Language Education #12)
by Dawn Karen BoothThis book explores the influence of high stakes standardised testing within the context of South Korea. South Korea is regarded as a shining example of success in educational achievement and, as this book reveals, pressurised standardised testing has been a major contributing factor to its success. This unique country provides an excellent setting from which to explore the powerful relationship that exists between testing and learning and can advance our understanding of which factors and test conditions will positively and negatively influence learning. This book follows the test activity of a group of Korean university students preparing for the TOEIC (Test of English for International Communication) and posits a revised model of the influence of testing on learning. It calls for a more socially situated view of tests and test-takers considered in relation to the sociocultural, historical, political and economic contexts in which they are embedded.
Sociocultural Approaches to STEM Education: An ISCAR International Collective Issue (Sociocultural Explorations of Science Education #21)
by Katerina Plakitsi Sylvie BarmaThis book is a contribution to the sociocultural approaches to Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Education. It offers a new interpreting theoretical framework coming from the Cultural Historical Psychology. The authors highlight some serious elements of the sociocultural context that mediates learning on STEM or with STEM adds. The book brings together the work of researchers interested in developmental psychology and childhood, with a special focus on using Activity theory and Cultural-historical research approach to unite these two opposing approaches to the study of children. The authors reconsider our relationship and experiencing with technology. It moves the attention from the pure instrumental aspect of technology to a deep human and societal approach. Moreover, the book focuses on the issue of teachers' continuing education in both formal and informal settings is being seen under a sequential system of expansive cycles and the key role of contradictions in transformative educational settings. Overall, this book encourages the academic society to open dialogue with other societies and enhance interdisciplinary research in times of crisis.
Sociocultural Differences between American-born and West Indian-born Elderly Blacks: A Comparative Study of Health and Social Service Use (Garland Studies on the Elderly in America)
by Beverly P. LyonsSociocultural differences between elderly American-born and West Indian-born Blacks: A comparative study o f health and social service use, represents an important contribution to the available knowledge on Black elderly and the diversity found within the Black community. It is an outgrowth of a larger scale study of older people in New York City—"Growing older in New York in the 1990s" (M.Cantor and B. Gurland, principal investigators).