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Julian's Gods
by Rowland B. SmithJulian's brief reign (360-363 AD) had a profound impact on his contemporaries, as he worked fervently for a pagan restoration in the Roman Empire, which was rapidly becoming Christian. Julian's Gods focuses on the cultural mentality of `the last pagan Emperor' by examining a wide variety of his own writings. The surviving speeches and treatises, satires and letters offer a rare insight into the personal attitudes and motivations of a remarkable Emperor. They show Julian as a highly educated man, an avid student of Greek philosophy, and a talented author in his own right. This elegant and closely-argued study will deepen understanding not only of Julian, but of the context of fourth century Neoplatonism.
China's Supreme Court
by Ronald C. Keith and Zhiqiu Lin and Shumei HouThis book examines the learning curve of the People's Supreme Court of China as an expanding Chinese national institution that has played a key role in the struggle for the rule of law in China. Within the unity of state administration and the requirements of the constitution, the court has negotiated the changing tension between politics and law through improvising new formats of interpretation and supervision in response to the changing priorities of revolution and market reform.
The Fifth French Republic
by Philip ThodyThe Fifth French Republic is a study of modern French politics and history, discussing the five presidents who span from 1959 to the present--Charles de Gaulle, Georges Pompidou, Valry Giscard d'Estang, Fran5~ois Mitterand and Jacques Chirac.Philip Thody examines the importance of the similarities between the five men for an understanding of the general and political culture of France; the similarities and differences in the foreign policies pursued by the five presidents, including anti-Americanism; France's role in the European Union and her attitude to the Cold War; French domestic policies and administrative practices, attempts to decentralize the state, the role of the French civil service, the problem of immigration and the rise of the National Front.
Reading Shakespeare through Philosophy
by Peter Kishore SavalReading Shakespeare through Philosophy advocates that the beauty of Shakespearean drama is inseparable from its philosophical power. Shakespeare’s plays make demands on us even beyond our linguistic attention and historical empathy: they require thinking, and the concepts of philosophy can provide us with tools to aid us in that thinking. This volume examines how philosophy can help us to re-imagine Shakespeare’s treatment of individuality, character, and destiny, particularly at certain moments in a play when a character’s relationship to space or time becomes an enigma to us. The author focuses on the dramatization of seemingly magical relationships between the individual and the cosmos, exploring and rethinking the meanings of 'individual', 'cosmos' and 'magic' through a conceptually acute reading of Shakespeare's plays. This book draws upon a variety of thinkers including Plato, Aristotle, Leibniz and Kant, in search of a revitalized philosophical criticism of Julius Caesar, Love’s Labor’s Lost, The Merchant of Venice, Timon of Athens, and Twelfth Night.
Life Story Research in Sport
by Kitrina Douglas and David CarlessWhat is life really like for the elite athlete? How does the experience of being a professional sports person differ from the popular perceptions of fans, journalists or academics? Why might elite sports people experience mental health difficulties away from the public gaze? In the first book-length study of its kind, Kitrina Douglas and David Carless present the life stories of real elite athletes alongside careful analysis and interpretation of those stories in order to better understand the experience of living in sport. Drawing on psychology, sociology, counselling, psychotherapy and narrative theory, and on narrative research in sports as diverse as golf, track and field athletics, judo and hockey, they explore the ways in which the culture of sport interacts with the mental health, development, identity and life trajectories of elite and professional sports people in highly pressurised and sometimes unhealthy environments. By casting light on a previously under-researched aspect of sport, the book makes a call for strategies to be put in place to minimise difficulties or distress for athletes, for support to be tailored across the different life phases, and highlights the potential benefits in terms of athlete well-being and improved performance. The book also considers how these important issues relate to broader cultural and social factors, and therefore represents important reading for any student or professional with an interest in sport psychology, coaching, sport sociology, youth sport, counselling, or exercise and mental health.
Romance
by Barbara FuchsOften derided as an inferior form of literature, 'romance' as a literary mode or genre defies satisfactory definition, dividing critics, scholars and readers alike. This useful guidebook traces the myriad transformations of 'romance' from medieval courtly love to Mills and Boon, and claims that its elusive and complex nature serves as a touchstone for larger questions of literary and cultural theory, such as: How does the history of 'romance' as a category force us to rethink the historicization of literary genres? What definitions can we provide for our own time to help us recognize and analyze new forms of 'romance'? To what extent is the resistance to romance a resistance to the imaginative force of literature? The case for 'romance' as a concept is presented clearly and imaginatively, arguing that its usefulness to contemporary critics can be maintained if it is regarded as a literary strategy rather than a fixed genre. In encouraging the reader to consider the fluidity of literature, Romance will be of equal value to all students of historical and comparative literatures and of modern literary forms.
The Structural Prevention of Mass Atrocities
by Stephen McLoughlinThis book offers a different approach to the structural prevention of mass atrocities. It investigates the conditions that enable vulnerable countries to prevent the perpetration of such violence. Structural prevention is commonly framed as the identifying and ameliorating of the ‘root causes’ of violent conflict, a process which typically involves international actors determining what these root causes are, and what the best courses of action are to deal with them. This overlooks why mass atrocities do not occur in countries that contain the presence of root causes. In fact, very little research has been conducted on what the causes of peace and stability are, particularly in relatively countries located in regions marred by civil war and mass atrocities. To better understand how such vulnerable countries prevent the commission of mass atrocities, this book proposes an analytical framework which enables not only an understanding of risk which arises from the presence of root causes, but also of the factors that build resilience in countries, and consequently mitigate and manage such risk. Using this framework, three countries – Botswana, Zambia and Tanzania, are analysed to account for their long term stability despite their location in neighbourhoods characterised by decades of civil war, ethnic repression and mass atrocities. This work is a significant contribution to the field of genocide studies and crimes against humanity and will be of interest to students and scholars alike.
Fifty Key Figures in Twentieth Century British Politics
by Keith LaybornThis guidebook provides a complete overview of the lives and influence of fifty major figures in modern British political history. Reflecting the changes within British society and politics over the past century, the entries chart the development of key contemporary issues such as women's rights, immigration and the emergence of New Labour. Figures covered include:* Winston Churchill* Tony Blair* Emmeline Pankhurst* David Lloyd George* Margaret Thatcher* John Maynard Keynes* Enoch Powell* Barbara CastleWith cross-referenced entries and helpful suggestions for further reading, this book is an essential guide for all those with an interest in understanding the dominating issues of modern British politics.
Sovereignty and Liberty
by Amnon LevThe attitude we take to power is almost invariably one of distrust, never more so than when it claims to be sovereign. And yet, we have always been drawn to sovereignty. Out of fear or fascination, we accepted that it was a condition of our liberty; that to assert ourselves as free, we would have to work not against but through sovereign power. This book retraces the history of the implication of sovereignty and liberty, an implication that has shaped the way we live together, as individuals and as political beings. Shedding new light on the work of key political and constitutional thinkers, including Marsilius of Padua, Hobbes, Hegel, Kelsen, and Schmitt, it identifies the conceptual operations that created sovereignty and shows how subjection to an absolute and undivided power came to be a source of meaning. At the heart of the analysis is the idea that sovereignty made reference to and relied upon a form of faith which aligned man’s political existence on law. Offering new and often controversial insights into the grounds of our attachment to sovereign power and into the crisis that is currently affecting its institutions, this book will appeal to students and scholars of law, politics, history of philosophy, and the social sciences.
Liquid Organization
by Monika Kostera and Jerzy KociatkiewiczWidely known as a leading intellectual, Zygmunt Bauman’s thinking is often categorized as sociology or philosophy. But his work has been hugely influential in other fields as well, not least within organization studies. From increasing management control and growing standardization of work activities, to the increase in uncertainty and insecurity experienced by contemporary workers, organizations themselves are becoming ever more ephemeral entities. Bauman’s themes: globalization, liquid modernity and postmodern ethics are arguably fundamental to contemporary notions of organization and management and his thinking has never been more relevant. However, despite the obvious and continuing influence of Bauman’s ideas on business studies, there has been no comprehensive attempt to chart his impact on organization theory. In this innovative and insightful collection, an international selection of leading management scholars explore key topics in current organizational discourse, including networked organizations, control and ambiguity, technologies, work and responsibility, extending Bauman’s liquid modernity to the "liquid organization". The book will be essential reading for scholars and academics and students in management and organizational theory, and also sociology, managing culture and organizational ethnography.
Masses, Classes, Ideas
by Etienne BalibarFirst published in 1994. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.
Rethinking Identity in Modern Japan
by Yumiko IidaThis volume is a major reconsideration of Japanese late modernity and national hegemony which examines the creative and academic works of a number of influential Japanese thinkers. The author situates the process of Japanese knowledge production in the interface between the immediate historical and the wider socio-economic and politico-cultural contexts accompanying the Japanese post-war experience of modernity.This book will be of great value to anyone interested in the history of contemporary Japanese culture and society.
Globalization and Language Teaching
by Deborah Cameron and David BlockThis book considers the issues globalization raises for second language learning and teaching. Block and Cameron's collection shows how, in an economy based on services and information, the linguistic skills of workers becomes increasingly important. New technologies make possible new kinds of language teaching, and language becomes an economic commodity with a value in the global marketplace. This has implications for how and why people learn languages, and for which languages they learn.Drawing together the various strands of the globalization debate, this rich and varied collection of contributions explores issues such as:*The commodification of language(s) and language skills*The use of new media and new technologies in language learning and teaching*The effects of globalization on the language teaching industry*New forms of power and resistance.
Cultural Studies
by Simon DuringCultural Studies: A Critical Introduction is a wide-ranging and stimulating introduction to the history and theory of Cultural Studies from Leavisism, through the era of the Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies, to the global nature of contemporary Cultural Studies. Cultural Studies: A Critical Introduction begins with an introduction to the field and its theoretical history and then presents a series of short essays on key areas of Cultural Studies, designed to provoke discussion and raise questions. Each thematic section examines and explains a key topic within Cultural Studies.Sections include:* the discipline* time* space* media and the public sphere* identity* sexuality and gender* value
Sound Moves
by Michael BullThis innovative study opens up a new area in sociological and urban studies: the aural experience of the social, mediated through mobile technologies of communication. Whilst we live in a world dominated by visual epistemologies of urban experience, Michael Bull argues that it is not surprising that the Apple iPod, a sound based technology, is the first consumer cultural icon of the twenty-first century. This book, in using the example of the Apple iPod, investigates the way in which we use sound to construct key areas of our daily lives. The author argues that the Apple iPod acts as an urban Sherpa for many of its users and in doing so joins the mobile army of technologies that many of us habitually use to accompany our daily lives. Through our use of such mobile and largely sound based devices, the book demonstrates how and why the spaces of the city are being transformed right in front of our ears.
Shame in Shakespeare
by Ewan FernieOne of the most intense and painful of our human passions, shame is typically seen in contemporary culture as a disability or a disease to be cured. Shakespeare's ultimately positive portrayal of the emotion challenges this view. Drawing on philosophers and theorists of shame, Shame in Shakespeare analyses the shame and humiliation suffered by the tragic hero, providing not only a new approach to Shakespeare but a committed and provocative argument for reclaiming shame.The volume provides:· an account of previous traditions of shame and of the Renaissance context· a thematic map of the rich manifestations of both masculine and feminine shame in Shakespeare· detailed readings of Hamlet, Othello, and King Lear· an analysis of the limitations of Roman shame in Antony and Cleopatra and Coriolanus· a polemical discussion of the fortunes of shame in modern literature after Shakespeare.The book presents a Shakespearean vision of shame as the way to the world outside the self. It establishes the continued vitality and relevance of Shakespeare and offers a fresh and exciting way of seeing his tragedies.
Democracy, Media and Law in Malaysia and Singapore
by Andrew T. Kenyon and Tim Marjoribanks and Amanda WhitingCommentators on the media in Southeast Asia either emphasise with optimism the prospect for new media to provide possibilities for greater democratic discourse, or else, less optimistically, focus on the continuing ability of governments to exercise tight and sophisticated control of the media. This book explores these issues with reference to Malaysia and Singapore. It analyses how journalists monitor governments and cover elections, discussing what difference journalism makes; it examines citizen journalism, and the constraints on it, often self-imposed constraints; and it assesses how governments control the media, including outlining the development and current application of legal restrictions.
Fragments of Modernity
by David FrisbyFragments of Modernity, first published in 1985, provides a critical introduction to the work of three of the most original German thinkers of the early twentieth century. In their different ways, all three illuminated the experience of the modern urban life, whether in mid nineteenth-century Paris, Berlin at the turn of the twentieth century or later as the vanguard city of the Weimar Republic. They related the new modes of experiencing the world to the maturation of the money economy (Simmel), the process of rationalization of capital (Kracauer) and the fantasy world of commodity fetishism (Benjamin). In each case they focus on those fragments of social experience that could best capture the sense of modernity.
The Mysticism of Saint Augustine
by John Peter KenneyAugustine's vision at Ostia is one of the most influential accounts of mystical experience in the Western tradition, and a subject of persistent interest to Christians, philosophers and historians. This book explores Augustine's account of his experience as set down in the Confessions and considers his mysticism in relation to his classical Platonist philosophy. John Peter Kenney argues that while the Christian contemplative mysticism created by Augustine is in many ways founded on Platonic thought, Platonism ultimately fails Augustine in that it cannot retain the truths that it anticipates. The Confessions offer a response to this impasse by generating two critical ideas in medieval and modern religious thought: firstly, the conception of contemplation as a purely epistemic event, in contrast to classical Platonism; secondly, the tenet that salvation is absolutely distinct from enlightenment.
Science, Women and Revolution in Russia
by KoblitzWhile the women's movement might seem like a relatively new concept, Russian women of the 1860s deserve to be acknowledged as individuals who changed the direction of science and opened the doors of higher education to women throughout Europe. The 1860's and 1870's witnessed a rise in women's consciousness and the beginnings of the Russian revolutionary movement that saw women pursue and receive doctorates in many areas of science. These same women went on to become some of the brightest in their fields. This book provides a look at Russian women scientists of the 1860's, their personal independence, and technical and literary achievements that made science the popular social movement of the time and changed the face of the Russian intellectual culture.
The Limits of Russian Democratisation
by Alexander DomrinWritten by an established scholar in the field, this text examines the nature of emergency powers and their use in the Russian constitution. It explores the use of such powers in Russian history, comparing the Russian situation with those that exist in other countries and discussing the legal thought underpinning such powers. The practicalities and theories of emergency orders are traced throughout history with Dormin arguing that the longer an emergency regime lasts, the less effective the measure becomes. With original research and remarkable insight, this text will be of interest to scholars examining the new Russia, its rulers, conflicts and motives, as well as its political systems.
A Sociological History of the British Sociological Association
by Jeniffer PlattThis book is about the development of sociology in Britain told through the story of its learned society, The British Sociological Association. Learned societies have been neglected in the history of the discipline, though they are a vital part of the social structure of academic life. The BSA has had its internal dynamics, but it has also been affected by external factors relevant to wider academic life, which range from government policies to the rise of feminism. These have had an important effect on all the social sciences, but their impact upon sociology has been particularly marked. The first two chapters of the book give a general historical overview, starting with the range of predecessor organisations, and going on to how the BSA came to be founded, the major changes in educational policy and structures which have formed much of the context for its activities, and how it has, in response to both internal and external pressures, changed over time. Against that background, the remaining chapters look in more analytical detail at particular issues across the whole time-span. These include the role of the BSA in the intellectual life of the discipline, the nature of the membership and activists, the role of feminism, case studies of key issues of controversy and politics arising from individual cases, and consideration of how the association has been run and its relationship with other organisations such as the International Sociological Association and the ESRC (a key government funding body). The book concludes with an overview of the history of the BSA and its role as a professional association. The book will be of interest to sociologists, and to others interested in the history and sociology of the social sciences and the professions
Social Work and Child Abuse
by Dave MerrickWhile social work practice with child abuse is a well-documented topic, this revised edition of Social Work and Child Abuse actually challenges and changes the focus of existing literature. Instead of concerning itself with the ways in which the task of preventing and detecting child abuse can be more effectively undertaken, it presents a critical analysis of the task itself. There has been much new guidance and regulation since the first edition of Social Work and Child Abuse was published in 1996, making this a timely new edition. With a brand new introduction and conclusion, this fully revised text discusses: the implications of the Victoria Climbié Inquiry, the Laming Report, the Green Paper Every Child Matters and the 2004 Children Act the 1989 Children Act and the conflicting duties of the social worker to prevent and intervene in child abuse and also to promote 'the family' the emergence of official discourses of prevention, treatment and punishment the 1975 Children Act and the role of moral panic. Concluding with a call for the full implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to strengthen the child protection system by giving children and young people a much stronger voice, this book is essential reading for all professionals in social and probation work, and for students in social work, social policy and criminology.
Zygmunt Bauman
by Tony BlackshawThis timely book provides the definitive concise introduction to the phenomenon of Zygmunt Bauman. After introducing the man, his major influences and his special way of 'thinking sociologically', author Blackshaw traces the development of Bauman's project by identifying and explaining the major shifts of emphasis in his work – the break with Marxism and the postmodern 'turn', and the subsequent refocusing on 'liquid' modernity – as well as offering a clear and accessible guide to the key conceptual hinges which move the reader on. This book, the only concise introduction to Bauman's work on the market, goes on to explain the importance of the full range of persistent themes concerning Bauman, dealing specifically with individualization, freedom, identity, community, social control, consumption and waste, building a penetrating understanding of why these issues matter for this Key Sociologist. Bauman's ideas have impacted beyond sociology into criminology, political theory, cultural studies, leisure studies and so forth, and have also now penetrated outside the walls of the academy into social policy, welfare reform, social work and politics. Making use of pedagogical features such as boxed sections, chapter summaries, an annotated bibliography and links to further reading, this well-written text assumes no prior familiarity with Bauman's work and will appeal to anyone in any of these fields wishing to get acquainted with the ideas of one of the world's most wide-ranging thinkers.
Erving Goffman
by Greg SmithDecades after his death, the figure of Erving Goffman (1922–82) continues to fascinate. Perhaps the best-known sociologist of the second half of the twentieth century, Goffman was an unquestionably significant thinker whose reputation extended well beyond his parent discipline. A host of concepts irrevocably linked to Goffman's name – such as 'presentation of self', 'total institutions', 'stigma', 'impression management' and 'passing' – are now staples in a wide range of academic discourses and are slipping into common usage. Goffman's writings uncover a previously unnoticed pattern and order in the minutiae of everyday interaction. Readers are often shocked when they recognize themselves in his shrewd analyses of errors, awkwardness and common predicaments. Greg Smith's book traces the emergence of Goffman as a sociological virtuoso, and offers a compact guide both to his sociology and to the criticisms and debates it has stimulated.