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A Shamanic Pneumatology in a Mystical Age of Sacred Sustainability: The Spirit of the Sacred Earth
by Jojo M. FungThis book represents a germinal effort that urges all religious and world leaders to savor the mystical spirituality, especially the cosmology and spirituality of sacred sustainability of the indigenous peoples. The power of indigenous spirit world is harnessed for the common good of the indigenous communities and the regenerative power of mother earth. This everyday mysticism of the world as spirited and sacred serves to re-enchant a world disillusioned by the unsustainability of destructive economic systems that have spawned the current ecological crises. Author Jojo Fung offers insight from his lived-experience and this book represents his effort to correlate the indigenous spirit world with Catholic Pneumatology and articulate the activity of God’s Spirit as the Spirit of Sacred Sustainability.
A Shared Future: Faith-Based Organizing for Racial Equity and Ethical Democracy
by Richard L. Wood Brad R. FultonFaith-based community organizers have spent decades working for greater equality in American society, and more recently have become significant players in shaping health care, finance, and immigration reform at the highest levels of government. In A Shared Future, Richard L. Wood and Brad R. Fulton draw on a new national study of community organizing coalitions and in-depth interviews of key leaders in this field to show how faith-based organizing is creatively navigating the competing aspirations of America's universalist and multiculturalist democratic ideals, even as it confronts three demons bedeviling American politics: economic inequality, federal policy paralysis, and racial inequity. With a broad view of the entire field and a distinct empirical focus on the PICO National Network, Wood and Fulton's analysis illuminates the tensions, struggles, and deep rewards that come with pursuing racial equity within a social change organization and in society. Ultimately, A Shared Future offers a vision for how we might build a future that embodies the ethical democracy of the best American dreams.
A Shoppers’ Paradise: How the Ladies of Chicago Claimed Power and Pleasure in the New Downtown
by Emily RemusPopular culture assumes that women are born to shop and that cities invite their trade. But downtowns were not always welcoming to women. Emily Remus turns to Chicago at the turn of the last century to chronicle an unheralded revolution in women’s rights that took place not at the ballot box but in the streets and stores of the business district.
A Short Course in Intellectual Self Defense: Find Your Inner Chomsky
by Andrea Schmidt Normand Baillargeon CharbWhat is the relationship between democracy and critical thinking? What must a citizen in a democracy know to make the word democracy meaningful? In A Short Course in Intellectual Self-Defense, historian and educator Normand Baillargeon provides readers with the tools to see through the spin and jargon of everyday politics and news reporting in order to decide for themselves what is at stake and how to ask the necessary questions to protect themselves from the manipulations of the government and the media. Whether the issue be the call to what we're told will be a bloodless war, the "debate" around Intelligent Design, or the meaning of a military expenditure, Baillargeon teaches readers to evaluate information and sort fact from official and media spin.
A Short Guide to Item Response Theory Models (Statistics for Social and Behavioral Sciences)
by Gerhard TutzThis book presents foundational concepts, essential principles, and practical applications of Item Response Theory (IRT). It provides a structured survey of diverse models that have been put forth, emphasizing both their differences and commonalities. The main focus is on modern latent trait theory models which provide measurement tools that clearly separate between person abilities and item parameters. The topics covered include the binary Rasch model, its extensions and alternative binary models, ordinal models and their extensions that account for response styles, the thresholds model, classical test theory, response models for count data, differential item functioning, and explanatory item response models. Tree-based item response models, typically not found in classical IRT textbooks, are also addressed. Applications of the models are illustrated on several data sets from differing areas, showing how models can be fitted and compared. All examples have been computed using R. Code snippets are provided, and the full R code for most of the examples is available online. The book is aimed at graduate students, applied statisticians, and researchers working in psychometrics, educators, and anyone curious about modeling strategies that enhance the precision and validity of their measurement tools. It serves as an introductory guide for beginners while also providing a resource for those seeking an overview of the plethora of available IRT models.
A Short History of Sociology (International Library of Sociology)
by Heinz MausOriginally published in English in 1962, this book presents in clear language an account of the growth of sociology from its earliest roots in the Enlightenment, through the 19th century philosophers in Germany, positivists in France, social workers in England, the theorists in America, through the pioneering days of the early and middle part of the 20th century.
A Shot Story: From Juvie to Ph.D.
by David BorkowskiThe botched robbery didn’t do it. Neither did the three gunshots. It wasn’t until he was administered last rites that David Borkowski realized he was about to die, at age fifteen. A Shot Story: From Juvie to Ph.D. is a riveting account of how being shot saved his life and helped a juvenile delinquent become an esteemed English professor.Growing up in a working-class section of Staten Island, David and his friends thought they had all the answers: They knew where to hang out without being hassled, where to get high, and what to do if the cops showed up. But when David and his friend called in a pizza order so they could rob the delivery man, things didn’t turn out as they’d planned. Staring down the barrel of a gun, David and his friend panicked and took off as the cop fired. Convinced the cop was shooting harmless “salt” bullets, David darted through lawns as the cop gave chase. Much later, when David was bleeding to death, did the cops realize they had hit one of their own—the son of a fellow cop.Borderline illiterate at the time of the shooting, David took his future into his own hands and found salvation in books. But his attempts to improve his life were stymied by lack of familial support. Bound on all sides by adults who had no faith in his ability to learn or to succeed, David persevered and earned his Ph.D..Funny and poignant, but always honest and reflective, A Shot Story tracks David Borkowski’s life before and after the “accident” and tells how his having been a rather unremarkable student may have been a blessing in disguise. A wonderful addition to the working-class narrative genre, A Shot Story presents a gripping account of the silences of working-class culture as well as the male subculture of Staten Island. Through his heartfelt memoir, Borkowski explores the universal lesson of turning a wrong into a rite of passage.
A Shrinking Society: Post-Demographic Transition in Japan (SpringerBriefs in Population Studies)
by Toshihiko HaraThis is the book to focus on a new phenomenon emerging in the twenty-first century: the rapidly aging and decreasing population of a well-developed country, namely, Japan. The meaning of this phenomenon has been successfully clarified as the possible historical consequence of the demographic transition from high birth and death rates to low ones. Japan has entered the post-demographic transitional phase and will be the fastest-shrinking society in the world, leading other Asian countries that are experiencing the same drastic changes. The author used the historical statistics, compiled by the Statistic Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications in 2006 and population projections for released in 2012 by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research, to show the past and future development of the dependency ratio from 1891 to 2060. Then, utilizing the population life table and net reproduction rate, the effects of increasing life expectancy and declining fertility on the dependency ratio were observed separately. Finally, the historical relationships among women's survival rates at reproductive age, the theoretical fertility rate to maintain the replacement level and the recorded total fertility rate (TFR) were analyzed. Historical observation showed TFR adapting to the theoretical level of fertility with a certain time lag and corresponding to women's survival rates at reproductive age. Women's increasing lifespan and survival rates could have influenced decision making to minimize the risk of childbearing. Even if the theoretical fertility rate meets the replacement level, women's views of minimizing the risk may remain unchanged because for women the cost-benefit imbalance in childbearing is still too high in Japan. Based on the findings, the author discusses the sustainability of Japanese society in relation to national finances, social security reform, family policies, immigration policies and community polices.
A Silvan Tomkins Handbook: Foundations for Affect Theory
by Elizabeth A. Wilson Adam J. FrankAn accessible guide to the work of American psychologist and affect theorist Silvan Tomkins The brilliant and complex theories of psychologist Silvan Tomkins (1911–1991) have inspired the turn to affect in the humanities, social sciences, and elsewhere. Nevertheless, these theories are not well understood. A Silvan Tomkins Handbook makes his theories portable across a range of interdisciplinary contexts and accessible to a wide variety of contemporary scholars and students of affect. A Silvan Tomkins Handbook provides readers with a clear outline of Tomkins&’s affect theory as he developed it in his four-volume masterwork Affect Imagery Consciousness. It shows how his key terms and conceptual innovations can be used to build robust frameworks for theorizing affect and emotion. In addition to clarifying his affect theory, the Handbook emphasizes Tomkins&’s other significant contributions, from his broad theories of imagery and consciousness to more focused concepts of scenes and scripts. With their extensive experience engaging and teaching Tomkins&’s work, Adam J. Frank and Elizabeth A. Wilson provide a user-friendly guide for readers who want to know more about the foundations of affect studies.
A Simple Guide to Technology and Analytics
by Brian J. EvansEveryday technology is constantly changing, and it’s hard to keep up with it at times. What is all this talk about automation, STEM, analytics and super-computers, and how will it really affect my daily life at work and in the home? This book is a simple guide to everyday technology and analytics written in plain language. It starts with explaining how computer networks are increasing in speed so fast that we can do more in less time than ever before. It explains the analytical jargon in plain English and why robotics in the home will be aided by the new technology of the quantum computer. Richly furnished with over 200 illustrations, photos and with minimal equations, A Simple Guide to Technology and Analytics is a ready reference book for those times when you don’t really understand the technology and analytics being talked about. It explains complicated topics such as automated character recognition in a very simple way, and has simple exercises for the reader to fully understand the technology (with answers at the back). It even has explanations on how home appliances work, which are very useful the next time you go shopping for a microwave or TV. Even the Glossary at the back can be used as a quick look-up explanation for those on the go.
A Sister's Memories: The Life and Work of Grace Abbott from the Writings of Her Sister, Edith Abbott
by John SorensenAmong the great figures of Progressive Era reform, Edith and Grace Abbott are perhaps the least sung. Peers, companions, and coworkers of legendary figures such as Jane Addams and Sophonisba Breckinridge, the Abbott sisters were nearly omnipresent in turn-of-the-century struggles to improve the lives of the poor and the working-class people who fed the industrial engines and crowded into diverse city neighborhoods. Grace's innovative role as a leading champion for the rights of children, immigrants, and women earned her a key place in the history of the social justice movement. As her friend and colleague Eleanor Roosevelt wrote, Grace was "one of the great women of our day . . . a definite strength which we could count on for use in battle. " A Sister's Memories is the inspiring story of Grace Abbott (1878-1939), as told by her sister and social justice comrade, Edith Abbott (1876-1957). Edith recalls in vivid detail the Nebraska childhood, impressive achievements, and struggles of her sister who, as head of the Immigrants' Protective League and the U. S. Children's Bureau, championed children's rights from the slums of Chicago to the villages of Appalachia. Grace's crusade can perhaps be best summed up in her well-known credo: "Justice for all children is the high ideal in a democracy. " Her efforts saved the lives of thousands of children and immigrants and improved those of millions more. These trailblazing social service works led the way to the creation of the Social Security Act and UNICEF and caused the press to nickname her "The Mother of America's 43 Million Children. " She was the first woman in American history to be nominated to the presidential cabinet and the first person to represent the United States at a committee of the League of Nations. Edited by Abbott scholar John Sorensen, A Sister's Memories is destined to become a classic. It shapes the diverse writings of Edith Abbott into a cohesive narrative for the first time and fills in the gaps of our understanding of Progressive Era reforms. Readers of all backgrounds will find themselves engrossed by this history of the unstoppable, pioneer feminist Abbott sisters.
A Small Farm Future: Making the Case for a Society Built Around Local Economies, Self-Provisioning, Agricultural Diversity and a Shared Earth
by Chris SmajeIn a time of looming uncertainties, what would a truly resilient society look like? In a groundbreaking debut, farmer and social scientist Chris Smaje argues that organising society around small-scale farming offers the soundest, sanest and most reasonable response to climate change and other crises of civilisation—and will yield humanity’s best chance at survival. Drawing on a vast range of sources from across a multitude of disciplines, A Small Farm Future analyses the complex forces that make societal change inevitable; explains how low-carbon, locally self-reliant agrarian communities can empower us to successfully confront these changes head on; and explores the pathways for delivering this vision politically. Challenging both conventional wisdom and utopian blueprints, A Small Farm Future offers rigorous original analysis of wicked problems and hidden opportunities in a way that illuminates the path toward functional local economies, effective self-provisioning, agricultural diversity and a shared earth.
A Small Farm Future: Making the Case for a Society Built Around Local Economies, Self-Provisioning, Agricultural Diversity and a Shared Earth
by Chris SmajeA modern classic of the new agrarianism"Chris Smaje...shows that the choice is clear. Either we have a small farm future, or we face collapse and extinction."—Vandana Shiva"Every young person should read this book."—Richard HeinbergIn a groundbreaking debut, farmer and social scientist Chris Smaje argues that organizing society around small-scale farming offers the soundest, sanest and most reasonable response to climate change and other crises of civilisation—and will yield humanity&’s best chance at survival.Drawing on a vast range of sources from across a multitude of disciplines, A Small Farm Future analyses the complex forces that make societal change inevitable; explains how low-carbon, locally self-reliant agrarian communities can empower us to successfully confront these changes head on; and explores the pathways for delivering this vision politically.Challenging both conventional wisdom and utopian blueprints, A Small Farm Future offers rigorous original analysis of wicked problems and hidden opportunities in a way that illuminates the path toward functional local economies, effective self-provisioning, agricultural diversity and a shared earth.Perfect for readers of both Wendell Berry and Thomas Piketty, A Small Farm Future is a refreshing, new outlook on a way forward for society—and a vital resource for activists, students, policy makers, and anyone looking to enact change.
A Small Gathering Of Bones
by Patricia Powell foreword by Thomas GlaveIt's 1978, and Dale Singleton is becoming alarmed as his friend, Ian Kaysen, is afflicted with a mysterious and seemingly untreatable illness characterized by pneumonia, lesions, and dementia. This novel of the first days of AIDS is viscerally affecting, as it conveys the shocked puzzlement of those troubled by Ian's condition while simultaneously documenting Jamaican society's struggle to accept the dignity of gay love. Dale's world collapses, yet his experience of being gay in a middle-class culture circumscribed by church, family, and compulsory heterosexuality is hauntingly memorable-and familiar.
A Smarter Toronto: Some Reassembly Required
by Bob HankeThis book bridges media, technocultural, urban, and journalism studies to examine the role of journalism in relation to a smart city project on Toronto’s waterfront. From the announcement of the public-private partnership called Sidewalk Toronto to the project’s termination, a mediatized controversy unfolded. Through an assemblage approach to this project and a case study of The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, it follows the actors and chronicles the Quayside project story as a conversation about the promise and perils of a future “smart” neighbourhood. In the news of Waterfront Toronto, Sidewalk Labs, other actors, events, and developments, there were multiple voices and views, interpretations and arguments, that manifested conflicting interests and values. As a locally situated actor, journalism produced a porous discourse that expressed a proposeand- public pushback movement. This work of articulating mediation conditioned the project’s alteration and dissolution within asymmetrical relations of power. In addition to a wave of opposition that inflected the project’s enactment, a time lag between project time and governmental policymaking made the controversy over this future urban space intractable. With their residual symbolic power, quality journalism contributed to dialogical urban learning.
A Social History Of Women And Gender In The Modern Middle East
by Margaret Lee Meriwether Judith TuckerIn this important new work, Margaret Meriwether and Judith Tucker synthesize and make accessible the results of the extensive research on women and gender done over the last twenty years. Using new theoretical approaches and methodologies as well as nontraditional sources, scholars studying women and gender issues in Middle Eastern societies have made great progress in shedding light on these complex subjects. A Social History of Women and Gender in the Modern Middle East provides an overview of this scholarship on women and gender in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century Middle East. The book is organized along thematic lines that reflect major focuses of research in this area--gender and work, gender and the state, gender and law, gender and religion, and feminist movements--and each chapter is written by a scholar who has done original research on the topic. Although structured around the individual author’s own work, the chapters also include overviews and assessments of other research, highlights of ongoing debates and key issues, and comparisons across regions of the Middle East. An insightful introduction centers the various chapters around key theoretical, methodological, and historical issues and makes connections with other areas of social historical research on the Middle East and with research on gender and women’s history in other parts of the world. Although there are many studies available on women and gender, A Social History of Women and Gender in the Modern Middle East provides a breadth of coverage and assessment of the field that is not found elsewhere.
A Social History of England, 1500–1750
by Keith WrightsonThe rise of social history has had a transforming influence on the history of early modern England. It has broadened the historical agenda to include many previously little-studied, or wholly neglected, dimensions of the English past. It has also provided a fuller context for understanding more established themes in the political, religious, economic and intellectual histories of the period. This volume serves two main purposes. Firstly, it summarises, in an accessible way, the principal findings of forty years of research on English society in this period, providing a comprehensive overview of social and cultural change in an era vital to the development of English social identities. Second, the chapters, by leading experts, also stimulate fresh thinking by not only taking stock of current knowledge but also extending it, identifying problems, proposing fresh interpretations and pointing to unexplored possibilities. It will be essential reading for students, teachers and general readers.
A Social History of France, 1789–1914
by Peter McpheeThis volume provides a lively and authoritative synthesis of recent work on the social history of France and is now thoroughly updated to cover the 'long nineteenth century' from 1789-1914. Peter McPhee offers both a readable narrative and a distinctive, coherent argument about this remarkable century and explores key themes such as: - peasant interaction with the environment - the changing experience of work and leisure - the nature of crime and protest - changing demographic patterns and family structures - the religious practices of workers and peasants - the ideology and internal repercussions of colonisation. At the core of this social history is the exercise and experience of 'social relations of power' - not only because in these years there were four periods of protracted upheaval, but also because the history of the workplace, of relations between women and men, adults and children, is all about human interaction. Stimulating and enjoyable to read, this indispensable introduction to nineteenth-century France will help readers to make sense of the often bewildering story of these years, while giving them a better understanding of what it meant to be an inhabitant of France during that turbulent time.
A Social History of Indian Football: Striving to Score (Sport in the Global Society)
by Boria Majumdar Kausik BandyopadhyayA Social History of Indian Football covers the period 1850-2004. It considers soccer as a derivative sport, creatively and imaginatively adapted to suit modern Indian socio-cultural needs - designed to fulfil political imperatives and satisfy economic aspirations. The book is concerned with the appropriation, assimilation and subversion of sporting ideals in colonial and post-colonial India for nationalist needs. The book assesses the role of soccer in colonial Indian life, to delineate the inter-relationship between those who patronised, promoted, played and viewed the game, to analyse the impact of the colonial context on the games evolution and development and shed light on the diverse nature of trysts with the sport across the country. Throughout this book, soccer is the lens that illuminates India's colonial and post-colonial encounter.This volume was previously published as a special issue of the journal Soccer and Society.
A Social History of Ottoman Istanbul
by Ebru Boyar Kate FleetUsing a wealth of contemporary Ottoman sources, this book recreates the social history of Istanbul, a huge, cosmopolitan metropolis and imperial capital of the Ottoman Empire. Seat of the Sultan and an opulent international emporium, Istanbul was also a city of violence shaken regularly by natural disasters and by the turmoil of sultanic politics and violent revolt. Its inhabitants, entertained by imperial festivities and cared for by the great pious foundations which touched every aspect of their lives, also amused themselves in the numerous pleasure gardens and the many public baths of the city. While the book is focused on Istanbul, it presents a broad picture of Ottoman society, how it was structured and how it developed and transformed across four centuries. As such, the book offers an exciting alternative to the more traditional histories of the Ottoman Empire.
A Social History of Racial Violence
by Allen D. GrimshawNo topic has been discussed at greater length or with more vigor than the racial confrontations of the 1960s. Events of these years left behind hundreds dead; thousands injured and arrested, property damage beyond toll, and a population both outraged and conscience stricken. Researchers have offered a variety of explanations for this largely urban violence. Although many Americans reacted as if the violence was a new phenomenon, it was not. Racial Violence in the United States places the events of the 1960s into historical perspective. The book includes accounts of racial violence from different periods in American history, showing these disturbing events in their historical context and providing suggestive analyses of their social, psychological, and political causes and implications.Grimshaw includes reports and studies of racial violence from the slave insurrections of the seventeenth century to urban disturbances of the 1960s. The result is more than a descriptive record. Its contents not only demonstrate the historical nature of the problem but also provide a review of major theoretical points of view. The volume defines patterns in past and present disturbances, isolates empirical generalizations, and samples the substantial body of literature that has attempted to explain this ultimate form ofsocial conflict. It includes selections on the characteristics of rioters, on the ecology of riots, and on the role of law in urban violence, as well as theoretical interpretations developed by psychologists, sociologists, political scientists, and other observers. The resulting volume will help interested readers better understand the violence that accompanied the attempts of black Americans to gain for themselves full equality.
A Social History of Sheffield Boxing, Volume I: Rings of Steel, 1720–1970 (Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology)
by Gary Armstrong Matthew BellA Social History of Sheffield Boxing combines urban ethnography and anthropology, sociological theory and place and life histories to explore the global phenomenon of boxing. Raising many issues pertinent to the social sciences, such as contestations around state regulation of violence, commerce and broadcasting, pedagogy and elite sport and how sport is delivered and narrated to the masses, the book studies the history of boxing in Sheffield and the sport’s impact on the cultural, political and economic development of the city since the 18th century. Interweaving urban anthropology with sports studies and historical research the text expertly examines a variety of published sources, ranging from academic papers to biographies and from newspaper reports to case studies and contemporary interviews. In Volume I, Bell and Armstrong construct a vivid history of boxing and probe its cultural acceptance in the late 1800s, examining how its rise was inextricably intertwined with the industrial and social development of Sheffield. Although Sheffield was not a national player in prize-fighting’s early days, throughout the mid-1800s, many parochial scores and wagers were settled by the use of fists. By the end of the century, boxing with gloves had become the norm, and Sheffield had a valid claim to be the chief provincial focus of this new passion—largely due to the exploits of George Corfield, Sheffield’s first boxer of national repute. Corfield’s deeds were later surpassed by three British champions: Gus Platts, Johnny Cuthbert and Henry Hall. Concluding with the dual themes of the decline of boxing in Sheffield and the city's changing social profile from the 1950s onwards, the volume ends with a meditation on the arrival of new migrants to the city and the processes that aided or frustrated their integration into UK life and sport.
A Social History of Sheffield Boxing, Volume II: Scrap Merchants, 1970-2020 (Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology)
by Gary Armstrong Matthew BellA Social History of Sheffield Boxing combines urban ethnography and anthropology, sociological theory and place and life histories to explore the global phenomenon of boxing. Raising many issues pertinent to the social sciences, such as contestations around state regulation of violence, commerce and broadcasting, pedagogy and elite sport and how sport is delivered and narrated to the masses, the book studies the history of boxing in Sheffield and the sport’s impact on the cultural, political and economic development of the city since the 18th century. Interweaving urban anthropology with sports studies and historical research the text expertly examines a variety of published sources, ranging from academic papers to biographies and from newspaper reports to case studies and contemporary interviews. In Volume II, Bell and Armstrong examine the revival of Sheffield boxing after the decline of the 1950s and 1960s outlined in Volume I. Instigated by two men from outside the city—Brendan Ingle and Herol Graham—this renaissance became known as the ‘Ingle style,’ which between 1995 and 2014 produced four world champions: Naseem Hamed, Johnny Nelson, Junior Witter and Kell Brook. These successes inspired others and raised Sheffield’s profile as a boxing city, which in the 1990s and 2000s produced two more world champions in Paul ‘Silky’ Jones and Clinton Woods. In this second volume, Bell and Armstrong track the resurgence of boxing to the present day and consider how the game and its players have changed over time.
A Social History of Tennis in Britain (Routledge Research in Sports History)
by Robert J. LakeWinner of the Lord Aberdare Literary Prize 2015- from the British Society for Sports History. From its advent in the mid-late nineteenth century as a garden-party pastime to its development into a highly commercialised and professionalised high-performance sport, the history of tennis in Britain reflects important themes in Britain’s social history. In the first comprehensive and critical account of the history of tennis in Britain, Robert Lake explains how the game’s historical roots have shaped its contemporary structure, and how the history of tennis can tell us much about the history of wider British society. Since its emergence as a spare-time diversion for landed elites, the dominant culture in British tennis has been one of amateurism and exclusion, with tennis sitting alongside cricket and golf as a vehicle for the reproduction of middle-class values throughout wider British society in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Consequently, the Lawn Tennis Association has been accused of a failure to promote inclusion or widen participation, despite steadfast efforts to develop talent and improve coaching practices and structures. Robert Lake examines these themes in the context of the global development of tennis and important processes of commercialisation and professional and social development that have shaped both tennis and wider society. The social history of tennis in Britain is a microcosm of late-nineteenth and twentieth-century British social history: sustained class power and class conflict; struggles for female emancipation and racial integration; the decline of empire; and, Britain’s shifting relationship with America, continental Europe, and Commonwealth nations. This book is important and fascinating reading for anybody with an interest in the history of sport or British social history.
A Social Philosophy of Housing (Routledge Revivals Ser.)
by Peter KingThis title was first published in 2003. This text seeks to show the importance of housing to individuals and in the broader context of social welfare. It offers a universal philosophical justification for housing provision based on a detailed theoretical consideration of need, choice, rights and responsibility. The implications of basing housing policies on these concepts are considered. Dr Peter King suggests that we should see housing as, above all, a pre-requisite for human flourishing. As such it is an essentially private activity. As a consequence, he argues, housing policy should be limited to a consideration of the enhancement of the personal fulfilment of individuals rather than seeking to further collective or utilitarian ends. Dr King's purpose in this book is to explore housing using the techniques and methods of social philosophy. He seeks to combat relativist approaches to housing discourse with a theoretical appreciation of housing based on universalist principles derived from Kant and Nozick. The book therefore addresses housing issues with a philosophical rigour, but without ignoring key policy debates.