Redrawing the Boundaries of the Social Sciences


Book Description

Leading historians trace the changing fortunes of the social science of social problems since World War II.




Lived Citizenship on the Edge of Society


Book Description

This edited collection presents the concept of lived citizenship as a fruitful avenue for exploring the role played by social work practices in the lives of people in vulnerable positions. The book centres on the everyday experiences through which people practice, negotiate, understand and feel their citizenship. The authors offer both empirical analyses of how social work influences the rights, obligations, identities and belongings of children, homeless people, migrants, ethnic minorities, and young people with mental disabilities; and a theoretical framework for analysing the complexities of social work. Drawing on the notion of intimate citizenship and an understanding of citizenship as socio-spatial, the theoretical framework addresses the challenges of enhancing the agency of social work clients and of promoting inclusive citizenship, and how these challenges are shaped by emotions, affect, rationality, materiality, power relations, policies and managerial strategies. Lived Citizenship on the Edge of Society will be of interest to students and scholars across a range of disciplines including social policy and social work.




Dancing at the Edge


Book Description

Maureen O'Hara and Graham Leicester explore the competencies - the ways of being, doing, knowing and organising - that can help us navigate in complex and powerful times. They argue that these competencies are innate and within reach of all of us - given the right setting, plenty of practice and some gentle guidance. But they are seldom seen because they are routinely undervalued in today's culture. That must change, the authors insist, and this book is intended to begin that change.The book is based on the authors' extensive research and their practical experience observing the qualities demonstrated by some of today's most successful cultural, political and business leaders. They write of 'persons of tomorrow' that they have witnessed:"e;We find that people who are thriving in the contemporary world, who give us the sense of having it all together and being able to act effectively and with good spirit in challenging circumstances, have some identifiable characteristics in common... They are the people already among us who inhabit the complex and messy problems of the 21st century in a more expansive way than their colleagues. They do not reduce such problems to the scale of the tools available to them, or hide behind those tools when they know they are partial and inadequate. They are less concerned with 'doing the right thing' according to standard procedure than they are with really doing the right thing in the moment, in specific cases, with the individuals involved at the time. In a disciplined yet engaging way they are always pushing boundaries, including their own. They dance at the edge."e;




America on the Edge


Book Description

Henry Giroux's latest work is a compelling collection of new and classic essays. Key topics such as education and democracy, terrorism and security, and media and youth culture are critiqued in Giroux's signature style. This is a fascinating collection for Giroux fans and educators alike.




Housing in Post-Growth Society


Book Description

In a globalising world, many mature economies share post-growth characteristics such as low economic growth, low fertility, declining and ageing of the population and increasing social stratification. Japan stands at the forefront of such social change in the East Asian region as well as in the Global North. It is in this context of ‘post-growth society’ that housing issues are examined, using the experiences of Japan at the leading edge of social transition in the region. The post-war housing system was developed during the golden age of economy and welfare, when upward social trajectories such as increasing population, high-speed economic growth with rising real incomes, housing construction driven by high demands, increasing rates of home ownership supported by generous government subsidies generated new housing opportunities and accompanying issues. As we have entered the post-growth phase of socio-economic development, however, it requires a re-examination of such structure, policy and debates. This volume explores what roles housing plays in the reorganisation and reconstruction of economic processes, social policy development, ideology and identity, and intergenerational relations. The volume offers a greater understanding of the characteristics of post-growth society – changing demography, economy and society – in relation to housing. It considers how a definitive shift to the post-growth period has produced new housing issues including risks as well as opportunities. Through analysis of the impact on five different areas: post-crisis economy, urban and regional variations, young adults and housing pathways, fertility and housing, and ageing and housing wealth, the authors use policy and institutions as overarching analytical tools to examine the contemporary housing issues in a post-growth context. It also considers any relevance from the Japanese experiences in the wider regional and global context. This original book will be of great interest to academics and students as well as policy makers and practitioners internationally in the fields of housing studies, urban studies, social policy, sociology, political economy, comparative analysis, and East Asian Studies.




Art on the Edge and Over


Book Description

Recognizing that art at the end of the twentieth century changes too quickly and is too multifaceted and unfamiliar to be automatically understood, Art on the Edge and Over: Searching for Art's Meaning in Contemporary Society explains the intractably avant-garde art of the 1970s, 80s and 90s by searching for art's meaning within the context of popular culture and the common trends that have led to such new forms of expression. This one-of-a-kind resource is composed of 35 easy-to-read, chapter-long essays that each cover a particular deviation from conventional art practices (such as smell as an aesthetic ingredient, shopping as a creative process or blood, pollen, discarded dolls and toxic earth as a medium of expression.) Within each chapter, the theme discussed is illuminated by and elucidates the work of one particular artist (such as Laurie Simmons, Wolfgang Laib, On Kawara, Marina Abramovic, Gilbert and George, David Hammons, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, David Salle, Janine Antoni, Rosemarie Trockel, Andres Serrano, Carolee Schneemann, Barbara Kruger, Vito Acconci, and Mike Kelley). An easy-to-follow guide to the unconventional art of our contemporaries, Art on the Edge and Over is a vital resource for all those interested in art history, studio art, aesthetics, and contemporary society.




Life on the Edge


Book Description

New York Times bestseller • Life on the Edge alters our understanding of our world's fundamental dynamics through the use of quantum mechanics. Life is the most extraordinary phenomenon in the known universe; but how did it come to be? Even in an age of cloning and artificial biology, the remarkable truth remains: nobody has ever made anything living entirely out of dead material. Life remains the only way to make life. Are we still missing a vital ingredient in its creation? Using first-hand experience at the cutting edge of science, Jim Al-Khalili and Johnjoe Macfadden reveal that missing ingredient to be quantum mechanics. Drawing on recent ground-breaking experiments around the world, each chapter in Life on the Edge illustrates one of life's puzzles: How do migrating birds know where to go? How do we really smell the scent of a rose? How do our genes copy themselves with such precision? Life on the Edge accessibly reveals how quantum mechanics can answer these probing questions of the universe. Guiding the reader through the rapidly unfolding discoveries of the last few years, Al-Khalili and McFadden describe the explosive new field of quantum biology and its potentially revolutionary applications, while offering insights into the biggest puzzle of all: what is life? As they brilliantly demonstrate in these groundbreaking pages, life exists on the quantum edge. Winner, Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication




EDGE OF FOREST


Book Description




On the Edge of Anarchy


Book Description

This book completes A. John Simmons's exploration and development of Lockean moral and political philosophy, a project begun in The Lockean Theory of Rights (Princeton paperback edition, 1994). Here Simmons discusses the Lockean view of the nature of, grounds for, and limits on political relations between persons. Originally published in 1993. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.




Third Culture


Book Description

This eye-opening look at the intellectual culture of today--in which science, not literature or philosophy, takes center stage in the debate over human nature and the nature of the universe--is certain to spark fervent intellectual debate.