Kategoria BISAC: Social Science >> Sociology - General

Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2008. A Cultural History of Animals in the Age of Empire explores the cultural position of animals in the period from 1800 to 1920. This was a time of extraordinary social, political and economic change as the Western world rapidly industrialised and modernised. The Enlightenment had attempted to define the human self; the Age of Empire pulled animals and humans further apart. As with all the volumes in the illustrated Cultural History of Animals, this volume presents an overview of the period and continues with essays on the position of...

Though archaeologists have long acknowledged the work of social anthropologists, anthropologists have been much less eager to repay the compliment. This volume argues that the time has come to recognise the insights archaeological approaches can bring to anthropology. Archaeology's rigorous approach to evidence and material culture; its ability to develop flexible research methodologies; its readiness to work with large-scale models of comparative social change, and to embrace the latest technology all means that it can offer valuable methods that can enrich and enhance current...

For the first time in the history of social psychology, we have a handbook on the history of social psychology. In it, leading luminaries in the field present their take on how research in their own domains has unfolded, on the scientists whose impact shaped the research agendas in the different areas of social psychology, and on events, institutions and publications that were pivotal in determining the field's history.

Social psychology's numerous subfields now boast a rich historical heritage of their own, which demands special attention. The Handbook recounts the intriguing and...

The complex and hard-fought movement for political freedom in India coincided with the rise of a wealthy capitalist class of Indian industrialists who had profited under British rule. By 1947, these prominent businessmen had forged a partnership with the socialist-led Indian National Congress, and supported Jawaharlal Nehru's implementation of a centrally-planned economy. In this political history of modern India, David Lockwood traces the roots of this capitalist class, concentrated in Bombay, Calcutta and the west Bengal coal mining region, and examines British economic policy in the...

What is Qualitative Interviewing? is an accessible and comprehensive 'what is' and 'how to' methods book. It is distinctive in emphasising the importance of good practice in understanding and undertaking qualitative interviews within the framework of a clear philosophical position. Rosalind Edwards and Janet Holland provide clear and succinct explanations of a range of philosophies and theories of how to know about the social world, and a thorough discussion of how to go about researching it using interviews. A series of short chapters explain and illustrate a range of...

This book introduces the non-specialist reader to the principal ideas, nature and purpose of social network analysis. Social networks operate on many levels, from families up to the level of nations, and play a critical role in determining the way problems are solved, organizations are run, and the degree to which individuals achieve their goals. Social network theory maps these relationships between individual actors. Though relatively new on the scene it has become hugely influential across the social sciences.

Assuming no prior knowledge of quantitative sociology, this book...

Narrative research has become a catchword in the social sciences today, promising new fields of inquiry and creative solutions to persistent problems.

This book brings together ideas about narrative from a variety of contexts across the social sciences and synthesizes understandings of the field. Rather than focusing on theory, it examines how narrative research is conducted and applied. It operates as a practical introductory guide, basic enough for first-time researchers, but also as a window onto the more complex questions and difficulties that all researchers in this area face....

- Is there such a thing as an Australian national identity? Or is Australia just a melting pot of different peoples and cultures without a common culture?

- What is distinctive and what is universal about everyday life in Australia?

In a post-colonial age of globalizing economies, the political quest for national 'identity' is increasingly urgent. This topical book traces the ways in which the Australian state and its people struggle to represent the social and cultural practices of everyday life in an attempt to draw meaning from diverse understandings of pasts, presents and...

Where does 'the self' in 'myself' begin and end? And what do ideas of 'spirit' tell us about the nature of human selfhood? To investigate these poorly understood matters, veteran anthropologist, neo-shaman and paranormal healer Roy Willis spent five months in a remote part of northern Zambia exploring human consciousness in a fascinating and sometimes terrifying series of adventures.

This absorbing book tells the story of Willis' and his three local colleagues' quest, as they participate in and film rituals of ecstatic union with nature spirits and talk in depth with experts in...

In the wake of the American and French revolutions, European culture saw the evolution of a new 'leisure regime' never previously enjoyed. Now we speak of modern leisure societies, but the history of leisure, its experiences and expectations, its scope and variability, still remains largely a matter of conjecture. One message that has emerged from a multiplicity of disciplines is that research on leisure and consumption opens up a hitherto untapped mine of information on the broader issues of politics, society, culture and economics.

How have leisure regimes in Europe evolved since...

The totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century reveal disturbing and uncomfortable facts about human nature, social life, and moral progress. Totalitarianism, ironically, came at a time when the 'spirit of modernity' was in full swing and human potential was supposedly at its peak. Distracted by the wonders of the industrial revolution, few would have guessed the horrors that were just around the corner. Focusing on the historical background to twentieth-century totalitarianism, this book unravels the complexity and mystery behind ideas of domination, leadership, and human development....

Traditionally, diaspora communities have been understood to be pariah communities, and most work on diasporas has focused on specific groups such as the Jewish or African Diaspora. This book is unique in comparing a range of diasporas, including the Jewish, Arab, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Maltese, Greek, and Armenian diasporas. Taking the past four centuries into consideration, the authors examine diaspora trading networks across the globe on both a regional and international level.Through an understanding of diaspora trading networks, we learn not only about diaspora communities but also...