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At the beginning of the twenty-first century, a generation of children crossed the border from the United States to begin their lives anew in Mexico. While all were international migrants, their roots spread far and wide. Some were migrant returnees born in Mexico; others had only ever known a life in the United States. Distinguishing returnees from new arrivals seems simple, but defining these youths'affiliations in their new homes in Mexico is much more complex and yields new insights that enrich our contemporary understanding of inclusion and belonging. This book is the product of twenty-five years'worth of fruitful interdisciplinary dialogue and research on these children's trajectories, tracing their journeys and studying integration—or lack thereof—into Mexican society and institutions.

Ländliche Räume sind im Umbruch: Digitalisierung, Agrarwandel und Energiewende verändern Landschaften, Alltagspraktiken und Zukunftsvorstellungen auch jenseits der Städte. Trotzdem erfährt das Land im Vergleich zur Stadt von der Soziologie noch immer zu wenig Aufmerksamkeit. Die Beiträger•innen nehmen sich diesem Desiderat an und liefern kompakt und verständlich wissenschaftliche Erkenntnisse zur ländlichen Transformation. Aus verschiedenen soziologischen Perspektiven betrachten sie u.a. Aspekte wie Digital Farming, Migrationsethik, Mobilität in peripheren Regionen oder die Ästhetik von Landschaften - und geben so Impulse für eine nachhaltige Entwicklung ländlicher Regionen.

This assessment of Britain's influential 14 day rule governing embryo research explores how and why it became the de facto global standard for research into human fertilisation and embryology, arguing that its influence and stability offers valuable lessons for successful biological translation.One of the most important features of the 14 day rule, the authors claim, is its reliance on sociological as well as ethical, legislative, regulatory and scientific principles. The careful integration of social expectations and perceptions, as well as sociological definitions of the law and morality, into the development of a robust legislative infrastructure of ‘human fertilisation and embryology', enabled what has come to be known as the Warnock Consensus – a solid and enduring public acceptance that has enabled successive parliamentary approval for controversial areas of scientific research in the UK, such as stem cell research and mitochondrial donation, for over 30 years. These important sociological insights are increasingly relevant to new biotranslational challenges such as human germline gene editing and the use of AI assisted technologies in human reproduction. As the legislation around the 14 day rule begins to be reviewed worldwide, the important lessons we can learn from its global and enduring significance will apply not only to future legislation governing embryo research, but to the future of biological translation more widely.An important volume for those interested in reproductive studies, biogovernance and biological translation, it is suitable for researchers, clinicians and students in medicine, biosciences, sociology, and science and technology studies.

Discover the exciting future of sports in the digital age with'21st Century Sports: How Technologies Will Change Sports in the Digital Age.'This thought-provoking book, now in its second edition, delves into the transformative power of technology on the world of sports within the next five to ten years and beyond. Written by esteemed academics from prestigious institutions like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Queensland University of Technology, and the University of Cambridge, alongside seasoned practitioners with extensive technological expertise, this collection of essays offers profound insights. Through their comprehensive analysis, the authors explore the profound impacts of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, blockchain, web3 and robotics on sports. Uncover how these technologies will revolutionize not only the nature of sports itself but also consumer behavior and existing business models. Athletes, entrepreneurs, and innovators working in the sports and other industries will find invaluable guidance to identify trendsetting technologies, gain deeper insights into their implications, and stay ahead of the competition, both on and off the field. In this new edition, a special focus is given to technology convergence, featuring chapters on the future of fandom, sports in the third connected age and in new digital worlds like the Metaverse. This book is your gateway to the dynamic world where technology and sports intersect, offering a compelling vision of what lies ahead.

This book details how British Catholic communities view abortion, highlighting the diversity of positions which often contrast with the official line of Catholic Church doctrine. The authors'extensive qualitative investigation involving various Catholic constituents demonstrates the complex ways attitudes are formed. Based on interviews with priests, Catholic parishioners, anti-abortion activists and Catholics living in close proximity to activism, this book takes a lived religion approach to argue that attitudes and approaches to abortion are nuanced and contextual, with the Catholic concept of individual conscience playing a fundamental role in navigating abortion issues. Ultimately, this investigation helps to explore in much greater depth the increased liberalisation in attitudes among Catholics towards abortion, at a time when Catholic activism opposing abortion is growing, and therefore shines a light on the conflicts that are apparent at the heart of Catholic parishes. Thisbook will be of interest to scholars in Gender and Sexuality Studies, Sociology, Theology and Religious Studies.

Abortion and Reproductive Rights in Slovenia: A Case of Resistance provides a detailed and in-depth analysis of the situation of sexual and reproductive rights in Slovenia. This important intervention comes at a time when sexual and reproductive rights in Slovenia and around the world are assailed by populist and neoconservative discourses. The authors provide a detailed account of the history of the struggle for reproductive rights, particularly the struggles for access to safe abortion, insights based on interviews with fellow activists and an analysis of Slovenian public opinion on abortion in a temporal and comparative perspective. The scholar-activist authors put the issue of sexual and reproductive rights at the forefront of the social, political and scientific agenda in the name of collectivity and solidarity, reinforcing the potential apparent within civil society and social movements. This work will be of interest to researchers and activists with an interest in gender and reproductive rights in contemporary Europe.

This book addresses the crisis of sexual abuse in the Roman Catholic Church in Latin America, the region of the world with the highest percentage of Catholics. Bringing together research from across the continent, it demonstrates that abuse within the Church is indeed a global phenomenon, though abuses have taken different forms according to varying sociocultural contexts. With attention to abuses committed against children, women and vulnerable adults – by both men and women – within the settings of parishes, new religious movements and international religious organizations, it also raises questions of justice, asking how to assess the suffering of victims, how to deal with abusers and how to prevent abuses. It will therefore be of interest to scholars of religious studies, sociology, Latin American studies, criminology, theology, and religious leaders with interests in the abuses and scandals that have been revealed in the worldwide Church.

‘Endangered scholars'is a recently highly relevant, yet historical notion. Embedded in the greater history of the 20th and 21st centuries, it captures the phenomenon of scholars who, after years of intellectual work and integration in their societies of origin, are forced to seek rescue in foreign host societies. The pressing urgency of the topic thus has an important historical background. From escaping Russian intellectuals after 1917 to the protection of Jewish refugees during World War II, Algerian intellectuals in contemporary history, or persecuted academics from Turkey today: Over the course of about a century, categories of inclusion, transnational relations, and forms of agency of scholars at risk remained surprisingly stable (and hence diachronously and synchronously comparable) while they also adjusted flexibly to contemporary conditions. This collective volume carves out this historical development and its recent expressions. It brings together researchers in a vivid yet largely unconnected field of migration and refugee studies. By developing a complex image of the origin of the global history and politics of protecting endangered scholars from the early 20th century until today, the book contributes to research on academics in exile as a part of refugee research, migration studies, the history of higher education, and the contemporary history of societies. The interdisciplinary volume explores the phenomenon as a historical, political and legal subject, brings together scholars of forced migration and intellectual studies, and includes currently affected scholars into those reflections.

Every parent wants the best education for their child. But is there more to education than rows of children listening to a teacher and copying into their notebooks?ALFA: Accelerating Learning for All breaks the shackles of the industrial education system, revolutionizing the school experience through peer-learning and hands-on-activities. The ALFA programme enables children and adults alike to learn foundational literacy and numeracy in months rather than years. Beyond reading, writing and arithmetic, ALFA builds the crucial life skills of collaboration, creativity, citizenship and character.

This book sketches a road map of privatisation, accumulation and dispossession of communal land in the tribal areas of North East India from pre-colonial times to the neo-liberal era.Spread over five chapters, this study unfolds the privatisation of communal land in the backdrop of a larger theoretical and historical canvas. It deals with the different institutional modes of privatisation, accumulation and dispossession of communal land, the changes in land use and cropping patterns, the changes in land relations and the land-based identity of the tribal community as a result. The conclusive chapter makes a broader reflection of the grand narrative of privatisation, accumulation and dispossession of communal land in North East India.This title is co-published with Aakar Books. Print edition not for sale in South Asia (India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Bhutan)

Adam's Bridge offers the first comprehensive transdisciplinary study of the famous eponymous tombolo (also known as Ram Setu) combining its sacral, historical, geological, political, performative, and heritage aspects into one framework, viewed under the critical lenses of island studies and cultural theory.The book elucidates the entanglement of Adam's Bridge's discursive history with India's colonial history, contemporary geology, domestic politics, and the nation's emerging position in a complex geopolitical order in and around the Indian Ocean region, vis-à-vis increasing Sino-American involvement in Indo-Sri Lankan relations. Without foregrounding any absolute scientific claims on the location of the sandbars that inspired sage Valmiki's Ram Setu and the Ramayan legacy or hindering narratives of religious faiths and folklore revolving around the structure, this intellectual historiography traces the parallel evolution of traditions of compassionate questioning and devotion for Indic sacred beliefs among commentators across the millennia from both Indian and non-Indian spectra, seen in juxtaposition with the biotic and abiotic diversity of the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay. Looking beyond secular-versus-religious debates, this book will be of interest to scholars of ocean and island studies, coastal economies, archipelagic geographies, environmental history, heritage studies, colonial studies, and cultural theory.Adam's Bridge unifies a consortium of themes, ranging across ecological and livelihood sustainability, environmentalism, soteriology, economic and geostrategic history, and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in conceptualizing a compellingly nuanced chronicle for India's enchanted ‘bridge.'

This book focuses on the traditional ecological knowledge in addressing the current climate crisis in the Indian Himalayas. Local or indigenous people in the Himalayas, through their low-carbon producing lifestyles, contribute very little to the climate crisis. However, at the same time, they bear the brunt of this crisis way more than many others. It is important to learn about their traditional ways of life and the knowledge that they hold regarding ecology and environment. Traditional ecological knowledge and associated belief systems are given increasing attention across the globe in recent times toward addressing some of the grave environmental concerns. Climate change is one such concern. The rising consideration of concepts such as ethnoecology and ethnobotany signifies the scientific, socio-cultural and economic potential of the traditional ecological knowledge systems. It is indisputable that these knowledge systems have the ability to provide important insights towards tackling many present-day environmental distresses including several climate change challenges. In this book, the authors concentrate on such traditional ecological knowledge systems in the Indian Himalayan region and try to figure out their significance in relation to the modern science. Overall, the authors attempt to write a book where the relevance of traditional ecological knowledge systems could be addressed and communicated to a larger audience—both academic scientific and non-academic.

This volume is comprised of nine chapters that detail advances in sociology research. The first chapter to explores the impact of the new constitutional amendments implemented after the Arab Spring, on the opportunity of establishing a parliamentary government, and questions its application in the Jordanian context. Chapter Two delves into a critical yet often overlooked facet of international relations – the significance of social relationships and friendships among diplomats in the context of UNSC reform. The authors in Chapter Three explore the topic of adolescents'mental health in the United States and China, characterized by increasing rates of anxiety and depression. Chapter Four contributes to the conversation on intimate partner violence and argues that the “achieve gender equality” principle of Sustainable Development Goal Five means that males and females should be treated equally. Chapter Five depicts the preliminary results of the comparative research project “Local Alliance for Integration (LION/GSRI/University of West Attica/81018) Migrant and Refugee integration into local societies during the COVID-I9 Pandemic in Greece and Spain” implementing a qualitative methodology. The aim of Chapter Six is to determine the mediating role of work and family and the satisfaction of marriage, family, and life of women faculty members. Chapter Seven goes on to explore the importance of digital skills and competencies for the workforce in the changing labour market due to technological advancements. Chapter Eight is a research study that examines Greek parents'views on ethnocultural diversity, the impact of attending and socializing with diverse students on their children's performance, and the educational practices implemented for the smooth integration of these students in schools. The final chapter analyses the evolution of the Ukrainian refugee crisis due to the full-scale armed conflict that started on February 24th, 2022.

This volume is comprised of seven chapters that detail advances in sociology research. By comparing two tales of the Caucasus and by understanding them within the context of Russian imperialism, the author shows that Hadji Murad is the culmination of Leo Tolstoy's thinking on civilization and man, of nature and of natural morality. Chapter two proposes a systematization of modernization tendencies affecting secularization, and extensively discusses predictors of religiosity. The author of chapter three discusses some of the cognitive foundations that underlie vaccine hesitancy. The aim of chapter four is to closely examine the effects COVID-19 response has had on gender equity as well as on the disabled employees in the tourism sector in Zimbabwe and to suggest strategies that can be employed to mitigate these effects. In chapter five, the main objective of the study is to reduce poverty in Zimbabwe through informal sector support. Chapter six discusses agroforestry practices based on local wisdom of the indigenous people on the island of Java. In the final chapter, the author provides an examination of an international historiography on legal history, the two World Wars and the Cold War.

This book offers an interdisciplinary analysis of current formations of publics that is informed by in-depth knowledge of affect and emotion theory.Using empirical case studies from contexts as diverse as India, Pakistan, Tanzania, and the Americas as well as Europe, the book challenges dichotomous distinctions between private and public. Instead, publics are understood as a relational structure that encompasses both people and their physical and mediatized environment. While each kind of public is affectively constituted, the intensity of its affective attunement varies considerably.The volume is aimed at academic readers interested in understanding the dynamic and fluid forms of contemporary formation of publics—be it digital or face-to-face encounters as well as in the intersection of both forms. This includes researchers from media and communication studies, social anthropology, theatre or literary studies. It is aimed at advanced students of these disciplines who are interested in the unfolding of contemporary publics.

In the last four decades, Australia has resettled thousands of African refugees. As a visibly different minoritised group, Black African youth are often represented as disengaged, dangerous, and undesirable. Even so, rarely are generative mechanisms that negatively affect the life-courses of the youth critically examined. Drawing on a wide range of theoretical resources, policy reviews, longitudinal statistical data, and in-depth interviews, this book reports on the educational attainment and integration outcomes of African heritage Australian youth from refugee backgrounds. The book also identifies intersectional factors of educational disadvantage, analyses equity provisions, and outlines policy ideas for improved educational attainment and integration of refugee youth. It is unique in its scope and focus and contributes to knowledge in African Australian studies.The book will appeal to researchers, postgraduate students, and policymakers interested in understanding the dynamics of refugee resettlement and integration.

Die visuelle Kommunikation von Entwicklungsorganisationen ist geprägt von Spendenplakaten. Anhand einer eingängigen Bildsprache wird Aufmerksamkeit generiert. Mit einer postkolonialen Perspektive zeigt die Autorin auf, wie das vermittelte Afrikabild visuellen Stereotypen folgt, die bis in die Kolonialzeit zurückreichen. So werden Personen und Landschaften entsprechend tradierter Muster dargestellt und rassistisch geprägtes visuelles Wissen reproduziert. In der Analyse der Bildmaterialien wendet die Autorin die Methodologie der Diskursanalyse, und hierbei eine wissenssoziologische Perspektive an. Über das Zusammenspiel von Form und Inhalt arbeitet sie visuelle Repräsentationspraktiken und darin manifeste Wissensordnungen heraus.

What is the value of comparison for research in historical sociology? Today, social scientists regularly express doubt about the positivist premises that have long justified comparison's use: that cases can be unproblematically compared as though they are independent of one another, that comparison can reliably yield valid causal inference, and that comparative methods can grapple with questions of meaning, sequence, and process that are central to historical explanation. Yet they remain reluctant to abandon comparison altogether, not least because comparisons are still manifestly useful in the research process.After Positivism presents a bold new set of warrants and methodologies for comparison that takes these criticisms fully into account. The contributors to this book marshal a wide array of postpositivist approaches to knowledge to reconstruct the analytic potential of comparison for a new generation of social scientists. In addition to providing fresh answers to classic questions about case selection and causal inference, authors ponder the role comparison plays in a world where social phenomena are demonstrably time-, space-, and concept-dependent; where causation is typically conjunctural; where social structures and groups emerge and die; and where important objects of inquiry can be understood only in terms of relationships, emergent properties, or contingent and irregular effects. Engaging and timely, this book will be of interest to all those who seek to improve our explanations of historical change in social-scientific research.

While trauma and loss can occur anywhere, most suffering is experienced as personal tragedy. Yet some tragedies transcend everyday life's sad but inevitable traumas to become notorious public events: de facto'public'tragedies. In these crises, suffering is made publicly visible and lamentable. Such tragedies are defined by public accusations, social blame, outpourings of grief and anger, spontaneous memorialization, and collective action. These, in turn, generate a comparable set of political reactions, including denial, denunciation, counterclaims, blame avoidance, and a competition to control memories of the event. Disasters and crises are no more or less common today than in the past, but public tragedies now seem ubiquitous. After Tragedy Strikes argues that they are now epochal—public tragedies have become the day's definitive social and political events. Thomas D. Beamish deftly explores this phenomenon by developing the historical context within which these events occur and the role that political elites, the media, and an emergent ideology of victimhood have played in cultivating their ascendence.

The first wide-ranging, organic analysis of the sociology of unmarkedness and taken-for-grantedness, this volume investigates the asymmetry between how we attend to the culturally emphasized features of social reality and ignore the culturally unmarked ones. Concerned with the structures of cultural invisibility, unconscious rules of irrelevance, automatic frames of meaning, and collective attention patterns, it brings together scholarship spanning sociology, anthropology, and social psychology, to cover various aspects of humdrum, unglamorous, nondescript, nothing-to-write-at-home-about social phenomena, developing the key assumptions, underpinnings, and implications of this field of study.As comprehensive analysis of unremarked features of our social existence, this book will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in social theory and the sociology of everyday life.

The ‘baby boom'generation, born between the 1940s and the 1960s, is often credited with pioneering new and creative ways of relating, doing intimacy and making families. With this cohort now entering mid and later life in Britain, they are also said to be revolutionising the experience of ageing. Are the romantic practices of this ‘revolutionary cohort'breaking with tradition and allowing new ways of understanding and doing ageing and relating to emerge? Based on an innovative combination of sensory ethnography in salsa classes and life history interviews, this book documents the meanings of desire and romance, and ‘new'– or renewed - intimacies, among women in mid and later life.Beginning with women at a transition point, when newly single or newly dating in midlife, the chapters look back over life histories to examine prior relationship experiences at different life stages, and look forward to hopes for future intimacies. In the navigation of romance and new relationships we see the sensory, sensual and affective nature of heteronormativity, and gendered practices that are informed by memories of the past, the imagination of previous generations and class-based desires. Challenging conventional notions of the baby boomers, this book illuminates the intersections of age, class, and white normativity, making important contributions to our understanding of ageing and generation, intimacy and gender.

This book explores how neoliberalism and austerity have affected older people living within a deindustrialised town, utilising a Foucauldian approach and an ethnographic methodology.It seeks to bridge the gap between high sociological theory and a research focus upon older people. The link between the micro (real people, within a real place) and macro (abstract processes) is examined, and a mid-range theory of change is innovatively developed to highlight how older people are having to negotiate national transformations at the everyday level. Key themes within this book include the recreation of human subjectivity, antiwelfarism, the stigmatisation and exclusion of the poor, the fragmentation of the working class, and nostalgia. Innovative terms such as ‘stigma-adaptation'and ‘abnormal abnormality'are included to help deepen our knowledge and understanding of the social sciences, to highlight the injustices caused by current global processes, and to ultimately inform change.This book will be of interest to scholars and students across the social sciences, particularly those studying inequalities in the modern world, neoliberalism and the economy, social theory, ageing and older people and community studies, and postgraduates who are seeking to undertake applied research. It would also be valuable for policymakers and service providers.

Ageing in Place in Urban Environments considers together two major trends influencing economic and social life: population ageing on the one side and urbanisation on the other. Both have been identified as dominant demographic trends of the twenty-first century. Cities are where the majority of people of all ages now live and where they will spend their old age. Nevertheless, cities are typically imagined and structured with a younger, working-age population in mind while older people are rarely incorporated into the mainstream of thinking and planning around urban environments. Cities can contribute to vulnerability arising from high levels of population turnover, environmental problems, gentrification, and reduced availability of affordable housing. However, they can also provide innovative forms of support and services essential to promoting the quality of life of older people. Policies in Europe have emphasised the role of the local environment in promoting “ageing in place”, a term used to describe the goal of helping people to remain in their own homes and communities for as long as they wish. However, while this has been the dominant approach, the places in which older people are ageing have often proved to be challenging environments. The book explores the forces behind these developments and how older people have responded. Drawing upon approaches from social gerontology, urban studies, geography, and sociology, this book will be essential reading for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners searching for innovative ways to improve the lives of older people living in urban environments.

As the world experiences a rapid increase in the aging population, it is essential to address the challenges and opportunities that arise as a result. This book explores the significant impact of aging on individual well-being, societal welfare systems, and the global economy. By examining the multifaceted aspects of aging, demography and welfare, the book aims to provide a comprehensive and critical narrative to navigating these challenges and achieving better outcomes for both older individuals and society as a whole. The book has a critical approach running through it; despite this, there is a need to do something with the critical questions and focus on sustainable solutions to problems and issues an aging population poses to researchers, policy makers and older people themselves. In essence, the primary purpose of this book is to shed light on the complexities surrounding aging, demography and its intersection with welfare systems. By delving into various perspectives, such as social, economic, and healthcare considerations, this book highlights the holistic understanding needed to address the challenges associated with an aging population effectively.

Common sense is the endless frontier in the development of artificial intelligence, but what exactly is common sense, can we replicate it in algorithmic form, and if we can – should we?Bauer, Schiele and their contributors from a range of disciplines analyse the nature of common sense, and the consequent challenges of incorporating into artificial intelligence models. They look at different ways we might understand common sense and which of these ways are simulated within computer algorithms. These include sensory integration, self-evident truths, rhetorical common places, and mutuality and intentionality of actors within a moral community. How far are these possible features within and of machines? Approaching from a range of perspectives including Sociology, Political Science, Media and Culture, Psychology and Computer Science, the contributors lay out key questions, practical challenges and'common sense'concerns underlying the incorporation of common sense within machine learning algorithms for simulating intelligence, socialising robots, self-driving vehicles, personnel selection, reading, automatic text analysis, and text production.A valuable resource for students and scholars of Science–Technology–Society Studies, Sociologists, Psychologists, Media and Culture Studies, human–computer interaction with an interest in the post-human, and programmers tackling the contextual questions of machine learning.

Aktuelle zentrale Fragen der Sozialwirtschaft und des Sozialmanagements werden auch 2022 und 2023 auf Tagungen der in Deutschland Ton angebenden wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft, der „Bundesarbeitsgemeinschaft Sozialmanagement / Sozialwirtschaft BAG SMSW“ diskutiert.Die vorliegende Publikation dokumentiert die Beiträge der Tagungen:· Sozialunternehmen im internationalen Vergleich (In Zusammenarbeit mit der Hochschule XXX)· Gender und Sozialwirtschaft (In Zusammenarbeit mit der Hochschule XXX)· Digitalisierung in der Sozialwirtschaft (In Zusammenarbeit mit der Hochschule XXX)Die Zielgruppen· Studierende und Lehrende der Sozialen Arbeit/der Sozialwirtschaft/des Sozialmanagements· Fach- und Führungskräfte aus dem Bereich der Sozialen Arbeit/der Sozialwirtschaft/des Sozialmanagements

In recent decades, the historical social sciences have moved away from deterministic perspectives and increasingly embraced the interpretive analysis of historical process and social and political change. This shift has enriched the field but also led to a deadlock regarding the meaning and status of subjective knowledge. Cultural interpretivists struggle to incorporate subjective experience and the body into their understanding of social reality. In the early twentieth century, philosopher Alfred Schutz grappled with this very issue. Drawing on Edmund Husserl's phenomenology and Max Weber's historical sociology, Schutz pioneered the interpretive analysis of social life from an embodied perspective. However, the recent interpretivist turn, influenced by linguistic philosophies, discourse theory, and poststructuralism, has overlooked the insights of Schutz and other phenomenologists. This book revisits Schutz's phenomenology and social theory, positioning them against contemporary problems in social theory and interpretive social science research. The book extends Schutz's key concepts of relevance, symbol relations, theory of language, and lifeworld meaning structures. It outlines Schutz's critical approach to the social distribution of knowledge and develops his nascent sociology and political economy of knowledge. This book will appeal to readers with interests in social theory, phenomenology, and the methods of interpretive social science, including historical sociology, cultural sociology, science and technology studies, political economy, and international relations.

Algorithms: Technology, Culture, Politics develops a relational, situated approach to algorithms. It takes a middle ground between theories that give the algorithm a singular and stable meaning in using it as a central analytic category for contemporary society and theories that dissolve the term into the details of empirical studies.The book discusses algorithms in relation to hardware and material conditions, code, data, and subjects such as users, programmers, but also “data doubles”. The individual chapters bridge critical discussions on bias, exclusion, or responsibility with the necessary detail on the contemporary state of information technology. The examples include state-of-the-art applications of machine learning, such as self-driving cars, and large language models such as GPT.The book will be of interest for everyone engaging critically with algorithms, particularly in the social sciences, media studies, STS, political theory, or philosophy. With its broad scope it can serve as a high-level introduction that picks up and builds on more than two decades of critical research on algorithms.

In diesem Buch wird die Fragestellung untersucht, inwiefern Schwarze Menschen soziale Missachtung erfahren und welche Bewältigungs- und Widerstandspraktiken sie dabei entwickeln. Die Studie wurde in Deutschland, Frankreich und Kanada durchgeführt, drei Rechtsstaaten im Globalen Norden. Die der Untersuchung zugrundeliegende Vorannahme bestand darin, dass sich Missachtungserfahrungen Schwarzer Menschen von Land zu Land unterscheiden sowie in Abhängigkeit von den jeweiligen politischen Normen zu verstehen sind, welche ihren Ausdruck unter anderem in der aktuellen Gesetzgebung zu Antidiskriminierung und Gleichbehandlung finden. Die Studie arbeitet mit der Theorie der Anerkennung nach Axel Honneth. Diskriminierungserfahrungen werden im Anschluss an diese Theorie als Erfahrungen sozialer Missachtung verstanden. Diesem Verständnis nach ist die Missachtung nicht möglich, ohne zuvor gesehen zu werden – jedoch nicht adäquat gemäß den durch gelungene Sozialisation erworbenen normierten Regelnsozialer Interaktion, sondern als „Wahrnehmungsdeformation“. Missachtung wird folglich als negative Form der Anerkennung verstanden. Den Kern der Arbeit bildet eine eigene empirische Studie, die auf einer Reihe ausführlicher Gruppendiskussionen und biographisch-narrativer Interviews mit Schwarzen Menschen basiert.

Modern social movements frequently serve as a space to voice concerns in a supportive and collective context and thus are an important venue for individuals to learn how to speak up for themselves. With the rise of new generations and advancement of technology such as digital networks, contemporary Japanese social movements and activism have transformed significantly in recent years, now with more flexibility and less reliance on ideology and institutional foundations. The new patterns provide individuals different spaces and ways to get involved in “politics,” which have shed the traditional settings and expectations. This transformation carries both advantages and risks. In Alternative Politics in Contemporary Japan, twelve original ethnographic studies illustrate how social movements are creating new alternatives for Japan in the current century. The term “alternative” has a double meaning. First, it refers to forms of political engagement that are outside the standard politics of political parties and institutional forums. Second, it engages with contemporary movements seeking an alternative politics that is culturally specific and historically embedded, an alternative to past periods of activism in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s often characterized as tainted, and causing the decline of social movement activity for nearly two decades.The introduction written by Slater and Steinhoff places the volume in historical, social, and methodological context and analyzes the main characteristics of the new social movements. Each chapter provides a rich description of a particular movement active between 1990 and 2020, showing what the participants wanted to achieve, how they tried to distance themselves from earlier movements, and how they used new social media and other innovations to do so. The accounts preserve the immediacy of the period when the fieldwork was conducted, but each end with a postscript bringing the movement up to date. Engagingly written by an international community of Japan specialists committed to doing extended fieldwork with small social movement groups, Alternative Politics will appeal to social scientists interested in activism and Japan specialists in sociology, anthropology, and other disciplines, as well as undergraduates in a wide range of courses.

American Borders: Inclusion and Exclusion in US Culture provides an overview of American culture produced in a range of contexts, from the founding of the nation to the age of globalization and neoliberalism, in order to understand the diverse literary landscapes of the United States from a twenty-first century perspective. The authors confront American exceptionalism, discourses on freedom and democracy, and US foundational narratives by reassessing the literary canon and exploring ethnic literature, culture, and film with a focus on identity and exclusion. Their contributions envision different manifestations of conviviality and estrangement and deconstruct neoliberal slogans, analyzing hospitable inclusion in relation to national history and ideologies. By looking at representations of foreignness and conditional belonging in literature and film from different ethnic traditions, the volume fleshes out a new border dialectic that conveys the heterogeneity of American boundaries beyond the opposition inside/outside.

This volume is a thorough re-examination of civil unrest and discontent in the United States, particularly the intersection of democracy and violence. The work argues that unrest and violence are embedded rituals of social and political'disconsent'and are constitutive features of citizen-based democracy.As such, they are part of how democratic life works: unrest is the eruptive, visible grammar of citizens in a democratic society. Democracy and citizen unrest and violence in the United States are set within a deeper history. The author traces the roots of American democracy – and the rituals of disconsent – to their sources in ancient Mediterranean political society, demonstrating that early democratic theory and practice understood unrest and revolt as morally grounded. Featuring case studies of recent episodes of political and social'disconsent'in the United States, the volume contextualizes the Black Lives Matter protests, unrest around police and institutional violence, and the Capitol insurrection on January 6.Through this, the book provides an important social theoretical lens through which to understand American discontent around racial injustice, political suppression, and citizen disillusionment.

Moral outrage is one of the most compelling, complex, and powerful emotional responses. It is the affective currency that drives collective action in a democracy, where it can rally constituents, incentivize legislation, affect how we vote, and catalyze individual anger into righteous protests or mob rule. In recent years, outrage has bolstered extremism and political polarization, and it spurred thousands of self-prescribed'patriots'to storm the U.S. capitol. But it also gave birth to new social justice groups such as Black Lives Matter and March for Our Lives, and what began as an outraged tweet ultimately grew into the global #MeToo movement. This book offers the first interdisciplinary study of the myriad ways moral outrage is articulated, invoked, and mediated in contemporary U.S. society, from feminist and indigenous politics, climate activism, and school curriculum debates, to book banning, alt-right rhetoric, literature and entertainment venues. Setting its focus on the social dynamics and cultural effects of collective outrage, these timely essays underscore its vital function as a galvanizing force in identity politics, social change, policymaking and civic engagement.

Today's parents routinely consult pediatricians for care of sick youngsters, information on child development, and advice on problems of child management. Yet only a hundred years ago, special medical services for children barely existed. During the intervening century, physicians defined a new field and built occupational structures that established pediatrics as a permanent division of medical practice. Professor Halpern traces the development of American pediatrics over the last century and identifies social processes underlying its evolution. How did the pediatric specialty arise? Through what processes did it emerge? What forces shaped its changing scope and organization? In addressing these questions, the author draws on a rich combination of primary and secondary historical sources, unpublished documents, and interview data. She shows how successive generations of specialists redefined pediatrics and created a series of occupational institutions, including professional societies, academic divisions, training programs, and certifying boards. American Pediatrics offers an original approach to the study of medical specialties and professions and contributes a new perspective on professionalism. Showing specialties to be both products and agents of societal change, the book highlights multiple and interrelated forces contributing to the rise of new professions and documents the influence of surrounding occupations on the shape specialties assume. Halpern enriches our understanding of American medicine and clarifies the origins of expert services for children and families. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1988.

Today's white supremacist activism originated in carefully cultivated homes, parties, rituals, music festivals, and digital media and went on to reshape the U.S. political landscape. With powerful case studies, interviews, and first-person accounts, the third edition of American Swastika guides readers through these hidden enclaves of hate to link past circumstances to present conditions. It discusses new players in the world of white power and offers a vital perspective on how white supremacy persists and why we must be vigilant if we want to check its influence. American Swastika is essential reading for anyone hungry to understand the threat of white supremacist extremism to American society.New to the Third EditionDiscussion of white extremists'“surprise” return to the American political landscape counters claims that this is “new” by explaining that it emanates from networks and ideas long nurtured outside the public eye An investigation of new hate music genres and changes in the white power music festival scene expands the discussion of how music is essential to white supremacist identity Research on new digital spaces where white supremacists connect and cultivate their culture, including mainstream and fringe networking platforms, retail sites, and video gaming sites demonstrates how online mechanisms serve as entry points for radicalization Discussion of new attention from the Biden administration on domestic terror offers hope for confronting and constraining white supremacy, while also defining many challenges involved

Virtually every problem with the modern American mode of living stems from three major cultural characteristics: a pathological attachment to the automobile, a horrifying apathy toward the obesity epidemic, and a deeply engrained fetishization of employment. This should be plain to anyone paying attention, but it's especially clear if you sell your car and spend six gruelling months riding public transit in Dallas, Texas, arguably the nation's most regrettable example of urban dysfunction.For half a year, I got on the train in one of the biggest cities in the wealthiest nation of all time, only to find myself surrounded by people who are either homeless or commuting to a job that hardly keeps them above the poverty line. Most of them are morbidly obese, and those who aren't are only slim because of heroin or some other destructive analgesic.This country is in shambles for reasons that are material and obvious, but if you turn on the TV, the only issues our political and media intelligentsia find time to talk about are drag queens, QAnon crackpots, the sexual misadventures of partisan pseudo-celebrities, and other such sparkly hysterias. It's all ludicrous political stagecraft that has absolutely nothing to do with the lives of normal Americans, to say nothing of the weakest and most miserable. These conditions, which constitute a clear cultural disease, are so ugly and glaring that a diagnostic report like this really shouldn't be necessary.

This book provides an insight into the everyday lives and experiences of people who live with dogs as companions; and glimpses aspects of the lives of the dogs who share their homes. It is framed sociologically and as such, considers the various forms of power relations which shape the lives of those kept as pets and their human owners. In recounting stories of companion humans and dogs, the co-constituted quality of life is clear. However, while dogs – as agential beings with needs, desires and a point of view – are able to shape outcomes and change aspects of their lived experience, the world they inhabit is profoundly geared to human inhabitants; and the most privileged ones at that. The book revisits the notion of pet keeping as the interplay between domination and affection arguing that these do not exist as a continuum, but a mesh of complex relations played out in the use of homespace, in the kitchen, the bedroom, the in the public world of park and the street. Those living with dog companions, as well as the dogs themselves, find their lives are muddied, both literally and figuratively; boundaries are tested and recast and the complications of inter-species cohabitation negotiated by all parties. Through an innovative theoretical contribution, Cudworth conceptualizes human relations with companion dogs in terms of complex social relations that involve both systemic forms of domination as well as nonhuman agency in shaping social relations and social forms.

Chi sono i creativi nell'epoca della conoscenza? Un viaggio nel tempo e nello spazio per capire come la creatività ha dato forma al mondo. Chi sono i creativi oggi, da dove vengono? Questo libro li colloca in una precisa genealogia: sono gli eredi di Prometeo e Faust, dell'uomo creatore di Nietzsche e dell'imprenditore innovativo di Schumpeter, delle avanguardie europee novecentesche e della grande migrazione in America, fino ai tecnologi visionari della Silicon Valley. In epoca recente, siamo rapidamente passati dall'uomo creatore, che inventa opere d'arte e d'ingegno singolari e risponde solo a sé stesso, alla classe creativa, che innova disegnando prodotti per i mercati da cui noi tutti dipendiamo. I creativi non sono una categoria privilegiata, piuttosto sono portatori di una condizione dello spirito che produce effetti universali e può dare speranza al mondo. Tuttavia, oggi non sanno di appartenere a tale tradizione e mancano di un canone. Come evitare che questa massima diffusione della creatività si trasformi in banalità, in serialità, nel vuoto creativo?

This volume of the Annual Review for the Sociology of Religion adresses the challenges of the diversity and complexity of sociological approaches to Asian forms and dynamics of Asian or Asian-inpired ascetic ideas and practices. Eleven papers, written by scholars conducting researches in different geographic and cultural contexts, all contribute to enrich discussion on the relevance of sociological studies of Yoga, meditation and other ascetic techniques and traditions. Contributors are: Zuzana Bártová, Loïc Bawidamann, Jørn Borup, Sally SJ Brown, Ugo Dessì, Marianne Qvortrup Fibiger, Marc Lebranchu, Patrick S.D. McCartney, Lionel Obadia, Matteo Di Placido, Alexandros Sakellariou, João Paulo P. Silveira, and Rafael Walthert.

This book seeks to identify the main threads of a resolutely complex course of thought which has contributed greatly to sociology. Although he founded no “school,” Raymond Boudon certainly made original contributions to the discipline in his own time, including his theory of rationality, his interpretation of the work of the founders of sociology, and his explanation of educational inequalities. He also presented convincing arguments about how the overly narrow utilitarianism of mainstream economists was incomplete and betrayed major theoretical gaps. It is true in any case that his thought laid the groundwork for many theoretical and empirical social studies. Through an analysis of the most important parts of this thought, each of the chapters will not merely demonstrate the scientific rigor which can be associated to his work, but also show how it remains relevant to our understanding of contemporary society and how it can hence be used for future research projects. There can be no doubt, Boudon's thought has for various reasons undergone new assessments. Chapters of this book hence reflect a variety of points of view on how his work can be understood, criticized, and used for future research endeavors.

This book analyses the complex social and ecological processes of the Great Acceleration, the Great Transformation, and sustainable development that shape the future of the global society in the twenty-first century. The first process takes place for a longer time, the second over the past thirty years, with attempts to build a sustainable economy and society in the global policy of sustainable development. The processes and their interaction will be discussed with knowledge from inter- and transdisciplinary transformation research, social and political ecology, and theories of modern society. The guiding theoretical concepts for the social-ecological transformation will be clarified: the concepts of acceleration, transformation, and sustainable development, and the societal and ecological processes they include. To obtain a more detailed picture of the changes in the global social-ecological system, different parts of the global transformation, the digital transformation, the transformation of food systems, and the transformation of modes of living in the social lifeworld are described to show the complex changes in the epoch of the Anthropocene more concretely. The global change processes in society and nature are caused by human forces but are difficult to control through policy and governance. With the interdisciplinary integration of concepts and knowledge, it becomes possible to provide a more detailed picture, of the difficulties to achieve a sustainable future society.

As the first of a two-volume set on the anthropology of cultural transformation, this book discusses the manifestations of cultural transformation in the modern world and explores the re-establishment of cultural consciousness.Anthropology in the 21st century is confronted with a worldview of cultural transformation based on communication, collision, and interaction among cultures around the globe. This two-volume set aims to reorient the role and function of anthropology by focusing on the reconstruction of knowledge and cultural consciousness in order to better imagine and realize the synergetic interaction between different cultures and civilizations. In this first volume, the author provides an overview of the key issues and stances of anthropology in the face of cultural transformation. The book examines the trend of social and cultural transformation in the modern world and in China. It analyzes how the technology of separation brought about by modernity shapes family function and education. As a promising solution to this predicament, the book elucidates the importance of cultural consciousness in resisting disasters and social syndromes.The title will appeal to anthropologists, students, and general readers interested in anthropology, sociology, and ethnography.

This book is the second of a two-volume set on the anthropology of cultural transformation. It examines how cultural consciousness enriches and reshapes the vision of anthropology and ethnographic writing.Anthropology in the twenty-first century is confronted with a worldview of cultural transformation based on communication, collision, and interaction among cultures around the globe. This two-volume set aims to reorient the role and function of anthropology by focusing on reconstructing knowledge and cultural consciousness to better imagine and realize the synergetic interaction between different cultures and civilizations. The second volume begins with a case study of the demolition of urban areas in Beijing, revealing a reinvention of public cultural representation. It then explores the new paths and missions of Chinese anthropological studies and ethnographic writing, which should be grounded in China's indigenous consciousness and cultural reservoir.The title will appeal to anthropologists, students, and general readers interested in anthropology, sociology, and ethnography.

This open access book provides a unique perspective on the relationship between immigration, culture, and health. It presents a cross-cultural perspective between culture and illness. It touches upon identity struggles, the notion of not feeling “safe, understood, accepted,” and its relation to Arab American health. The book provides a comprehensive review of the history of Muslims in America and discusses better healthcare services for chronic illness—diabetes. It provides an ethnographic framework for building cultural belief models of illness, which helps study any illness among any population. It is a must-read for everyone interested in understanding the relationship among culture, health, and immigration, as well as the importance of building cultural belief models of illness and their possible impact on providing better healthcare services. The book is of interest to scholars, caregivers, and those living with diabetes.

Eduardo Wassim Aboultaif critically analyzes civil–military relations and the way armies are constructed in divided societies. To achieve that, the book looks at four case studies with deep divisions and whose armed forces have been reconstructed after civil wars. Lebanon and Bosnia-Herzegovina represent two examples of consociational power-sharing arrangements with functioning armed forces that enjoy wide popular support and neutral in internal affairs. Iraq and Burundi, however, have semi-consociational provisions that have politicized the army and made it a partisan military that has either led to disintegration (as in the case of Iraq) or politicization and loss of legitimacy (as in Burundi).

This book covers various topics and trends regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and their applications in society, industry, and environment for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) suggested by the United Nations. Additionally, it discusses their advancements and fusion as well as the realization of Artificial Intelligence of Things (AIoT). The book aims to provide an overview and recent research into the fusion, integration, advancements, and impact of these technologies in the context of SDGs achievement. The topics include the applications of AI, IoT, big data, AI-based and IoT-based cloud computing, machine learning and deep learning techniques, and blockchain among others for achieving SDGs. It also presents findings and discussions on potential application domains, addresses open issues and challenges, offers solutions, and provides suggestions for future research for achieving SDGs. The chapters are clustered, according to particular SDGsor areas of focus, into: i) the realization of AIoT for SDGs, ii) the role of AIoT in achieving society and wellbeing-related SDGs, iii) the fulfillment of industrial sectors, infrastructure, and economy-related SDGs through AIoT, and iv) the use of AIoT to aid natural resources and environment-related SDGs. The book assists researchers, practitioners, professionals, and academicians of various scientific fields in exploring and better understanding these state-of-the-art technologies, their advancements, impact, future potentials and benefits, and their role in successfully achieving SDGs.The book:· Offers an in-depth overview of AIoT for achieving SDGs.· Presents the fusion of AI and IoT for bringing a significant change in everyday life and fulfilling SDGs.· Highlights innovative solutions and results of AIoT integration in several domains for achieving SDGs.· Showcases the influence of AIoT on promoting and improving sustainability in the context of SDGs.· Discusses the issues, benefits, solutions, and impact of AIoT in society, industry, and environment for achieving SDGs.

Artists have worked from home for many reasons, including care duties, financial or political constraints, or availability and proximity to others.From the'home studios'of Charles and Ray Eames, to the different photographic representations of Robert Rauschenberg's studio, this book explores the home as a distinct site of artistic practice, and the traditions and developments of the home studio as concept and space throughout the 20th and into the 21st century.Using examples from across Europe and the Anglophone world between the mid-20th century and the present, each chapter considers the different circumstances for working at home, the impact on the creative lives of the artists, their identities as artists and on the work itself, and how, sometimes, these were projected and promoted through photographs and the media. Key themes include the gendered and performative aspects of women practising'at home', collaborative studio communities of the 1970s – 90s including the appropriation of abandoned spaces in East London, and the effects of Covid on artistic practices and family life within the spaces of'home'. The book comprises full-length chapters by artists, architects, art and design historians, each of whom bring different perspectives to the issues, interwoven with short interviews with artists to enrich and broaden the debates. At a time when individual relationships to home environments have been radically altered, The Artist at Home considers why some artists in previous decades either needed to or chose to work from home, producing work of vitality and integrity. Tracing this long tradition into the present, the book will provide a deeper understanding of how the home studio has affected the practices and identity of artists working in different countries, and in different circumstances, from the mid-20th century to the present.

'As the Oracles of God'examines how Quakers in colonial America sought to control both the written and spoken word in their religious communities. It looks at the ways in which American Friends set up committees to censor texts deemed heterodox, as well as the ways Quakers sought to moderate the words of believers through encouraging self-censorship as a way to access personal revelation, while also paying particular attention to the experiences of those who ran afoul of Friends'rules in these regards, either by publishing works without the consent of their meetings or speaking in un-Quakerly fashion. Debates over freedom of speech, the work asserts, defined early modern religious communities just as much as it did more formal legal institutions.

As one of the first book-length collections of critical essays on the topic of asexuality, Asexualities: Feminist and Queer Perspectives became a foundational text in the burgeoning field of asexuality studies. This revised and expanded ten-year anniversary edition both celebrates the book's impact and features new scholarship at the vanguard of the field.While this edition includes some of the most-cited original chapters, it also features critical updates as well as new, innovative work by both up-and-coming and established scholars and activists from around the world. It brings in more global perspectives on asexualities, engages intersectionally with international formations of race and racialization, critiques global capital's effects on identity and kinship, examines how digital worlds shape lived realities, considers posthuman becomings, experiments with the form of the manifesto, and imagines love and relation in ecologies that exceed and even supersede the human.This cutting-edge, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary book serves as a valuable resource for everyone—from those who are just beginning their critical exploration of asexualities to advanced researchers who seek to deepen their theoretical engagements with the field.