Animals are crucial to the functioning of any society: they provide humans with food, labour, raw materials, modes of transport, companionship, scientific knowledge through observation and experimentation, and forms of leisure and entertainment. Given both the wide variety of ways in which animals are involved in human societies, and also the broad range of controversies (from vivisection for scientific and commercial purposes, to factory farming) that have arisen, the study of animals is by its very nature interdisciplinary.

Each social scientific discipline has distinctive and...

In the last five years or so, there has been a huge explosion of scholarly work on the history of food and, likewise, pressing problems such as food scares and genetic modification, as well as anorexia and obesity, have become increasingly present in the public consciousness.

Drawing on a wide variety of disciplines, this fascinating four-volume collection covers anthropology, sociology, psychology, history, cultural history, land economy, and, outside of the arts and social sciences, disciplines such as health sciences and health economics. An engaging and comprehensive reference,...

This new three-volume collection is guided by a broad definition of ‘development’ and does not limit itself to development economics or even to development studies. Papers on development issues by anthropologists, historians, sociologists, geographers, political scientists, as well as by economists are represented. The works are ordered by context and theme, to enable the intellectual progression of debates to be more easily identified.

The structure and range of works included within Southeast Asian Development ensure that it will be an invaluable reference resource...

Edited by two leading scholars in the field, this new title in the Routledge Major Works series, Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences, is a four-volume collection of canonical and cutting-edge research in sustainable tourism.

Under what social conditions do particular sorts of arts and aesthetics arise and flourish, and under what conditions do they decline and disappear? What types of artistic and aesthetic practices exist outside of museums, galleries, and other high-cultural institutions? In what ways are social relations and broader cultural forces embedded within particular artworks, or specific artistic genres and forms? What roles can and do aesthetic orientations and artistic processes and products play in social life? In what ways are arts and aesthetics socially organized, regulated, distributed, and...

Together with a new introduction by the editor to guide the user through its four volumes, this major work of reference provides researchers with all the key writings on social capital in one convenient and unique resource.

Until about two hundred years ago, almost everyone faced the prospect of a life that was poor, nasty, brutish, and short, with few if any prospects for betterment. For example, in today s money, annual average per-capita income during the first millennium was constant at about $500. And most of the next century saw little in the way of expanded opportunities. Indeed, until the early nineteenth century, annual average per-capita income was only a couple of hundred dollars higher, and the average per-capita growth rate barely increased above zero.

Why have societies so...