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This Open Access book shows how expert consensus pervades all areas of science. It explores, in particular, the role of consensus in establishing scientific truth, in guiding professional practice and policy and agreeing on what are acceptable scientific methodologies. For some scientific issues, a consensus forms spontaneously among scientists working on a topic, while for others, where the issues are complex, a formal deliberative consensus process is commonly needed. Deliberative consensus processes are becoming more important as scientists increasingly deal with complex multi-disciplinary issues of policy importance such as climate change due to human activity. While deliberative consensus processes are commonly used, they often lead to criticism from consensus skeptics. The book argues that deliberative consensus processes in science can be improved and proposes a number of realistic ways forward, ending with a discussion of whether communicating the scientific consensus on a topic is a good way to persuade the public.

This book offers an examination of Africa's scientific landscape based on extensive empirical data encompassing fifty-four African countries. It traces the evolution of science on the continent, highlighting research areas, global partnerships, funding sources, research capacity, and the impact of science policies. Acknowledging that Africa relies heavily on external sources, particularly from the Global North, for scientific research, the book identifies and addresses obstacles hindering self-reliance and underscores the urgent need for revitalized partnerships and cooperation to bolster Africa's scientific autonomy. It offers valuable recommendations to promote self-reliance, making it an indispensable resource for scholars, policymakers, and practitioners.

This book, as part of a two volume set, provides a broad overview of the current state of research on conflict management in law enforcement contexts globally, with a focus on training and education. They cover a wide range of interactions between police and the public. This volume (II) focusses on training and education and the learning settings that play a prominent role in providing police officers with the knowledge structures, competencies, attitutes, and values that they need to professionally tackle contemporary challenges. Volume I focusses on the contemporary challenges and opportunities in policing and ethical considerations. These books bring together leading research that is determining the state of the art in communication, de-escalation, use of force, and other contemporary issues in policing, with practical Key Takeaways in each chapter. They broaden the field by focussing on research which goes beyond the US, including in Scandinavia, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany, the Republic of South Africa and Russia.

This book explores the interconnection of care, gender and migration regimes and their impact on ‘migrant domestic work'in Europe, in a comparative perspective. The research presented in this book aims to understand the reasons not only of the increased concentration of migrants in the domestic and care sector, but also of the significant differences between European countries. Care, gender and migration regimes are first operationalised in the form of three typologies. Then, the three typologies are used to investigate the ethnicisation of the domestic sector (the proportion of migrants in the domestic sector, compared to natives) and the domesticisation of migrants (the proportion of migrants in the domestic sector, compared to other sectors). The findings suggest that the three regimes have an effect and that this effect is greater when they are taken into account simultaneously.

The field of sustainability continues to evolve as a discipline. The world is facing multiple sustainability challenges such as climate change, water depletion, ecosystem loss, and environmental racism. The Handbook of Sustainability will provide a comprehensive reference for the field that examines in depth the major themes within what are known as the three E's of sustainability: environment, equity, and economics. These three themes will serve as the main organizing body of the work. In addition, the work will include sections on history and sustainability, major figures in the development of sustainability as a discipline, and important organizations that contributed or that continue to contribute to sustainability as a field. The work is explicitly global in scope as it considers the very different issues associated with sustainability in the global north and south

This book examines energy transition issues within the Central and Eastern European (CEE) region. The European Union is aiming for an almost complete decarbonization of its energy sector by 2050. However, the path towards a carbon-free economy is full of challenges that must be solved by individual EU members. Across 18 chapters, leading researchers explore challenges related to energy transition and analyse individual EU members from Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the region as a whole. To further explore this complex issue, the volume also includes several countries from South East Europe in its analysis. As perspective members, these countries will be important contributors to the EU's mid- and long-term climate and energy goals. The focus on a variety of issues connected to energy transition and systematic analyses of the different CEE countries make it an ideal reference for anyone with a general interest in the region or European energy transition. It will alsobe a useful resource for students looking for an accessible overview of the field.

This book analyses the Spanish parliamentary elites in a comparative perspective within southern Europe. What has been the impact of the Great Recession on the configuration of parliaments and the diversity of legislators? Have new parties delivered better representation of citizens in terms of demographics (gender, age, social class), ideology or political attitudes and beliefs? This original research is based on a 2018 survey on members of two national chambers and 17 regional parliaments. Comparing these data with those of a simultaneous survey carried out on Spanish citizens and with data from previous research a decade ago, the book examines the changes that have occurred in representation during the course of the Great Recession and provides evidence of the growing distance between citizens and parliamentary elites. Additionally, using data from the Comparative Candidates Survey, the book compares the ideological congruence between citizens and their representatives in Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece.

This book explores how structures of social inequality are linked to the social connections that people hold. The authors focus upon occupational inequalities where they see, for example, that the typical friendship patterns of people from one occupation are often very different to those of people from another. Social Inequalities and Occupational Stratification leverages empirical data about differences in social connections to chart structures of social distance and social inequality. Several of its chapters provide coverage of the long-standing Cambridge Social Interaction and Stratification scale (CAMSIS) project and its approach to analysing social interaction patterns in terms of a single dimension related to social inequality.

This book brings together current research on stigma, stigma management, and stigma theory as applied to business and management at the micro, meso, and macro levels. It provides a comprehensive perspective of the literature on stigmas and is relevant to those working in organizational behavior, human resource management, and management studies more broadly. The book includes chapters covering topics at the individual level (e.g., religious belief, illness, obesity, and sexual preference), occupational level (e.g., healthcare workers, garbage collectors, butchers, medical doctors), and organizational level (e.g., organizational image, multinational organizations). It offers readers a truly international perspective on this growing area of study.

This volume presents evidence-based research on citizens'experiences and reactions to the Great Recession in Europe. How did European citizen experience and react to the crisis? How are the experiences of crisis and political responses socially differentiated? Are some social classes and more deprived groups particularly hard hit? How did the crisis impact on political choices? What types of political action did citizens engage in and why? What were the drivers of populist attitudes and protest participation? This country-based book explores these important dynamics as expressed in diverse national contexts, namely France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and UK. Each chapter focuses on one of these countries and employs data from the same survey fielded in 2015. This volume is of particular relevance for scholars, students, and practitioners interested in political sociology, comparative politics and European politics.

This book critically analyses user-firm technology relationships and socioeconomic structures at the crossroads of community and commerce. It investigates businesses that let users participate in platform development on the internet. An empirical study of the online world Second Life is used as an early illustration of the pivotal role of user participation in design, development and sustainability of digital platforms. Van der Graaf sheds light on aspects of the ongoing platformization of the internet and on new norms and mechanisms for user participation which are linked to values of creativity, community and labour. ComMODify makes clear that robust theoretical and empirical investigation of the integration of user participation into mainstream business models and its implications for platform development is key to understanding contemporary businesses like Facebook, that sustain the internet of today. This book will be of interest to those wanting to learn more about the socio-economic implications of user participation associated with user-generated content, particularly within the 3D software and game industry.

When strangers meet in social clubs, watch reality television, or interact on Facebook, they contribute to the social glue of mass society—not because they promote civic engagement or democracy, but because they enact the sacred promise of friendship. Where most theories of nationalism focus on issues of collective identity formation, Kaplan's novel framework turns attention to compatriots'experience of solidarity and how it builds on interpersonal ties and performances of public intimacy. Combining critical analyses of contemporary theories of nationalism, civil society, and politics of friendship with in-depth empirical case studies of social club sociability, Kaplan ultimately shows that strangers-turned-friends acquire symbolic, male-centered meaning and generate feelings of national solidarity.

This book explores whether individual attitudes and behaviors are swayed by global developments in a world increasingly populated by organizations, treaties, and other institutions that focus on environmentalism and human rights. It uses the sociological approach of World Society theory to investigate the effects of global ideas on individual environmentalism, xenophobia, and homophobia while drawing its data from a variety of international public opinion surveys.The Influence of Global Ideas on Environmentalism and Human Rights questions the dominant narrative of World Society related research as a positive influence of global ideas on various outcomes. Hadler demonstrates the complexity of this issue through empirical analyses revealing mixed trends in attitudes and behaviors from around the world.This book will be of interest to academics seeking to critically engage with World Society theory through two of its core topics: human rights and environmentalism.

This book explores the forces that shape Latino political preferences, arguing that social identities are at the center of Latino partisanship. Despite hopes of the Republican Party for bringing in Latinos through religious and moral issues, Latinos in America consistently side with the Democratic Party. Two possible explanations based on social identity emerge as theories of Latino partisanship. The first possibility is that Latinos behave as a single-issue public driven politically by the issue of immigration. A thorough exploration of this possibility in part two of the book finds very little evidence to justify treating Latinos as a single-issue public. The second explanation, presented in part three, relies more heavily on the concept of social identities. Latino pan-ethnic identity emerges as one of multiple identities available to Latinos in America. These multiple, diverse, and overlapping identities are the force behind Latino partisanship. Latino ethnic identity trumps the impact of religious identities in making Latinos more Democratic.

This book traces changes in the social and political orientations of the publics of Britain, France, Italy, Spain, West Germany, Ireland, Denmark, Portugal, Belgium, The Netherlands, Greece and Luxembourg from 1970 to 1988. It charts the persistence of distinctive national outlooks in many domains, alongside the emergence of a European consensus within the framework of an increasingly integrated European Community. Written by leading social scientists from Western Europe and the United States, this book helps chart the future for Europe after 1992.

This international collection studies how the financial crisis of 2007 and the ensuing economic and political crises in Europe and North America have triggered a process of change in the field of economics, law and politics. Contributors to this book argue that both elites and citizens have had to rethink the nature of the market, the role of the state as a market regulator and as a provider of welfare, the role of political parties in representing society's main political and social cleavages, the role of civil society in voicing the concerns of citizens, and the role of the citizen as the ultimate source of power in a democracy but also as a fundamentally powerless subject in a global economy.The book studies the actors, the areas and the processes that have carried forward the change and proposes the notion of ‘incomplete paradigm shift'to analyse this change. Its authors explore the multiple dimensions of paradigm shifts and their differentiated evolution, arguing that today we witness an incomplete paradigm shift of financial regulations, economic models and welfare systems, but a stillbirth of a new political and economic paradigm.

Effective leadership requires many skills, but foremost among them is the capacity to successfully deal with conflict. Any disruption that creates a lack of alignment can trigger the conflict cycle, such as differences of opinion, competition for scarce resources and interpersonal enmity. Leading through Conflict brings together recent theory and research on interpersonal conflict and its resolution by examining the causes and consequence of conflict in groups, organizations and communities, and identifying ways that conflict can be managed and resolved. It analyzes conflict in a multi-disciplinary way, from clashes within communities to interpersonal and professional encounters. Written in an accessible way by top scholars in the field, Leading through Conflict is a must-read for academics, graduate students, undergraduates and MBA students across leadership, organizational behavior, psychology and sociology.

Written by over 200 leading experts from over seventy countries, this handbook provides a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of the latest theory and research on volunteering, civic participation and nonprofit membership associations. The first handbook on the subject to be truly multinational and interdisciplinary in its authorship, it represents a major milestone for the discipline. Each chapter follows a rigorous theoretical structure examining definitions, historical background, key analytical issues, usable knowledge, and future trends and required research. The nine parts of the handbook cover the historical and conceptual background of the discipline; special types of volunteering; the major activity areas of volunteering and associations; influences on volunteering and association participation; the internal structures of associations; the internal processes of associations; the external environments of associations; the scope and impacts of volunteering and associations; and conclusions and future prospects. This handbook provides an essential reference work for third-sector research and practice, including a valuable glossary of terms defining over eighty key concepts. Sponsored by the International Council of Voluntarism, Civil Society, and Social Economy Researcher Associations (ICSERA; www.icsera.org), it will appeal to scholars, policymakers and practitioners, and helps to define the emergent academic discipline of voluntaristics.

hat is fun? How is it distinct from happiness or pleasure? How do we know when we are having it? This book is the first to provide a comprehensive sociological account of this taken for granted social phenomenon. Fincham investigates areas such as our memories of fun in childhood, the fun we have as adults, our muted experiences of fun at work and our lived experiences of having fun. Using first-hand accounts and a new approach to interpreting fun, the paradox of fun as not serious or unimportant whilst at the same time essential for a happy life is exposed. Addressing questions of control, transgression and the primacy of social relationships in fun, The Sociology of Fun is intended to provoke discussion about how we want to have fun and who determines the fun we have.

This book applies the psychopathy concept toward the understanding of crime. Drawing on hundreds of studies and his own clinical, research, and practitioner experience working with the most antisocial and violent offenders, the author demonstrates that psychopathy can explain all forms of crime across the life course, and also examines the biosocial foundations of the disorder. With an abundance of case studies and historical references, written in a distinctive writing style, the book is equally fascinating to the academic scholar and the true crime buff alike.

This book presents a new and nuanced exploration of the position of women in Muslim countries, based on research involving more than 300,000 women in 28 Muslim countries. It addresses topical debates on the role of Islam, modernization, globalization, neocolonialism, educational inequalities, patriarchy, household hierarchies, and more.

This book analyzes the Artists'House, a cultural center in Tehran, to place Iran's social and cultural transformation in a local-global context. The text addresses the interaction of Iranian youth with technology and mass communications, law, tradition, and contemporary questions concerning body, identity, and lifestyle.

Migrant Capital covers a broad range of case studies and, by bringing together leading and emerging researchers, presents state-of-the-art empirical, theoretical and methodological perspectives on migration, networks, social and cultural capital, exploring the ways in which these bodies of literature can inform and strengthen each other.

This book looks at the historic and contemporary links between music's connection to emotions and men's supposed discomfort with their own emotional experience. Looking at music tastes and distaste, it demonstrates how a sociological analysis of music and gender can actually lead us to think about emotions and gender inequalities in different ways.

Volunteering and its nonprofit organizations have commonly been analyzed in economic terms, with volunteering being referred to as'unpaid (productive) work'. This economic definition has been around far longer than that of volunteering conceived of as leisure, which is discussed as the volitional definition. By means of a lengthy literature review, this book sets out the theoretical and empirical contributions of the serious leisure perspective to understanding volunteer motivation. This second approach began more than 40 years ago. It answers the key motivational question of why people engage in unpaid productive work, laborious or not. Since in this conception payment in cash or in kind is not an incentive to perform such work, what encourages people to volunteer? The serious leisure perspective, unlike mainstream economics, can shed considerable light on this question.

This book provides critically examines how recent international developments in victims theory and policy are experienced within specific local contexts. The chapters approach key criminological issues including the experience of criminal justice agencies, policy formulation, the construction of victim identities and the'discovery'of new victims.

Through detailed analyses of major and newly available datasets, this study examines the utility of a public probity-focused approach to understanding citizen disaffection with politicians. It shows that perceptions of public probity are coherent, substantively meaningful, responsive, and, most importantly, that they do matter.

Citizen Satisfaction investigates the topic of satisfaction with government services from a variety of perspectives, using case studies and empirical results from satisfaction studies at the federal level.

What is'addiction'? What does it say about us, our social arrangements and our political preoccupations? Where is it going as an idea and what is at stake in its ongoing production? Drawing on ethnographic research, interviews and media and policy texts, this book traces the remaking of addiction in contemporary Western societies.

This book explores the material and everyday intersections between popular culture and new media. Using a range of interdisciplinary resources the chapters open up various hidden dimensions, including objects and infrastructures, archives, algorithms, data play and the body that force us to rethink our understanding of culture as it is today.

This book gives a novel understanding of the globalization debate as well as the structure of world politics. Drawing on Foucault and Waltz it suggests'polity'as a third model of political structure beyond hierarchy and anarchy.

This book provides comprehensive coverage of the models of contemporary democracy; its social, cultural, economic and political prerequisites; its empirically existing varieties and its two major challenges - globalization and mediatization. The book also covers the global spread of democracy and its spread into supranational democracies.

This book is about the mundane, local, every day practices that constitutes democracy. Focusing on France and Finland, the book defines politicization as the key process in understanding democracy in different cultural contexts and shows a nuanced picture of two opposite models of European politics.

This collection sets out the latest research on the concept of'social quality', developing its theoretical foundations and applying it to pressing policy issues such as the future of the European Union and sustainable global development.

How can European societies more effectively promote the active engagement of immigrants and their children in the political and civic life of the countries where they live? This book examines the effect of migrants'individual attributes and resources, their social capital and the political opportunities on their political integration.

Unique in the multiple approaches that it encompasses, this book includes discussions of both older and younger workers, employer and employee perspectives, generational and age diversity and international comparisons. It includes both conceptual argument and empirical research in order to provide insights into this important area.

In recent years children have become an increasingly important consumer market, and there is growing concern about the'commercialisation'of childhood. This book sheds light on these debates, offering new empirical data and challenging critical perspectives on children's engagement with consumer culture from a wide range of international settings.

The decline of citizen involvement affects two key elements of democratic government: elections and political parties. Activating the Citizen examines the reasons underlying citizen withdrawal and explores and assesses innovative approaches on both sides of the Atlantic to try to counter these phenomena.

The BSE epidemic, GM foods, avian flu, the growth of supermarkets and the crisis in obesity have shaken consumer trust in food. Uncovering surprising differences between countries, Trust in Food examines this and challenges the idea of the consumer as a sovereign individual, demonstrating how consumption is institutionalized within society.

This book explains how and why cities on the African continent have grown at such a rapid pace, how municipal authorities have tried to cope with this massive influx of people, and how long-time urban residents and newcomers interact, negotiate, and struggle over access to limited resources.

Have de-industrialization, expanding services and occupational upgrading put an end to class divisions? Drawing on extensive empirical research, this book adds new insights to the debate about the end of class and shows that Western European societies remain decidedly stratified with respect to material advantages and citizenship rights.

Control Systems Theory, a newly developing theoretical perspective, starts from an important insight into human behaviour: that people attempt to control the world around them as they perceive it. This book brings together for the first time the work of prominent sociologists contributing to the development of this wideranging theoretical paradigm.

Western societies are becoming increasingly complex and challenging to govern, yet the modern state continues to play a central role in governance. This book presents a detailed analysis of the challenges confronting the contemporary state and the processes through which the state addresses those challenges. The notion of'governing without government'is critiqued; instead, Pierre and Peters argue that what is happening a more a matter of state transformation than state decline.

This book examines recent developments in Brazilian labour relations. Analysing the current state of labour relations in Brazil, the author shows how the proposals advanced by the new unionism have put strong pressure on the corporate system still legally enforced and have successfully developed a new political culture he terms the'political culture of active citizenship'.

This book tells the story of changes in the social structure of Britain from 1900 to the mid 1980s. It incorporates and is a sequel to Trends in British Society since 1900, a compilation by a distinguishd group of social scientists at the University of Oxford, and the only comprehensive collection of British social statistics for the twentieth century as a whole.