Where are we today and what is to be done? Slavoj ?i?ek ponders these questions in this unique and timely book. Based on live interviews, the book captures ?i?ek at his irrepressible best, elucidating such topics as the uprisings of the Arab Spring, the global financial crisis, populism in Latin America, the rise of China and even the riddle of North Korea. ?i?ek dazzles readers with his analyses of Hollywood films, Venezuelan police reports, Swedish crime fiction and much else. Wherever the conversation turns, his energetic mind illuminates unexpected horizons. While analyzing our present predicaments, ?i?ek also explores possibilities for change. What sort of society is worth striving for? Why is it difficult to imagine alternative social and political arrangements? What are the bases for hope? A key obligation in our troubled times, argues ?i?ek, is to dare to ask fundamental questions: we must reflect and theorize anew, and always be prepared to rethink and redefine the limits of the possible. These original and compelling conversations offer an engaging and accessible introduction to one of the most important thinkers of our time.
The most up-to-date and thorough compendium of scholarship on social movements This second edition of The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Social Movements features forty original essays from the field. With contributions from both established and ascendant scholars, the Companion seeks to present current research on social movements in all its diversity. It is the most up-to-date, comprehensive volume of social science research on social movements available today. The essays address: facilitative and constraining contexts and conditions; social movement organizations, fields, and dynamics; strategies and tactics; micro-structural and social psychological dimensions of participation; consequences and outcomes; and various thematic intersections, including the intersection of social movements and social class, gender, race and ethnicity, religion, human rights, globalization, political extremism and more. Offers an illuminating guide to understanding the dynamics and operation of social movements within the modern, global world Covers a diverse range of topics in the field of social movement studies Offers original, state-of-the-art essays by internationally recognized scholars The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Social Movements is recommended for graduate seminars on social movement and for scholars of social movements worldwide. It is also an excellent text for college and university libraries, especially with graduate programs in the social sciences.
Much orthodox economic theory is based on assumptions which are treated as self-evident: supply and demand are regarded as independent entities, the individual is assumed to be a rational agent who knows his interests and how to make decisions corresponding to them, and so on. But one has only to examine an economic transaction closely, as Pierre Bourdieu does here for the buying and selling of houses, to see that these abstract assumptions cannot explain what happens in reality. As Bourdieu shows, the market is constructed by the state, which can decide, for example, whether to promote private housing or collective provision. And the individuals involved in the transaction are immersed in symbolic constructions which constitute, in a strong sense, the value of houses, neighbourhoods and towns. The abstract and illusory nature of the assumptions of orthodox economic theory has been criticised by some economists, but Bourdieu argues that we must go further. Supply, demand, the market and even the buyer and seller are products of a process of social construction, and so-called ‘economic' processes can be adequately described only by calling on sociological methods. Instead of seeing the two disciplines in antagonistic terms, it is time to recognize that sociology and economics are in fact part of a single discipline, the object of which is the analysis of social facts, of which economic transactions are in the end merely one aspect. This brilliant study by the most original sociologist of post-war France will be essential reading for students and scholars of sociology, economics, anthropology and related disciplines.
Anthropology conducted in Africa has been central to the methodological and theoretical development of the discipline since it was first institutionalized in the late 19th century. Written and edited by a team of leading cultural anthropologists on the subject, A Companion to the Anthropology of Africa compiles a collection of insightful essays that address all aspects of life on the continent of Africa. Chapters within explore the extent to which anthropological thinking on this topic has been, or remains, influenced by the theoretical traditions, whilst others consider the extent to which anthropological thinking has been transformed by growing interest in using anthropological knowledge to critically address practical concerns and public problems such as war, poverty, and public health. This Companion is presented in four parts. The first part looks at enduring themes—tracing the development of anthropological thinking and the current debates about themes such as witchcraft, kinship, law and justice that have demonstrated remarkable staying power in the anthropology of Africa. The second section considers topics that began to garner attention during decolonization and in its immediate aftermath. Such topics include mobility and displacement, urbanism, and political violence. The third part comprises topics such as trauma, social justice, sex and sexuality that have become the central concern of anthropologists of Africa since its many nations gained their independence. It also looks at ‘hot topics’ like social media, humanitarianism, and environmentality. The final section considers the role that Africanist anthropology has played in informing other Africanist disciplines, and reflects on the politics of representation within the discipline as well. Filled with a wide variety of expert opinions and observations across chapters which are highly sophisticated in their coverage, A Companion to the Anthropology of Africa is an essential reference resource for undergraduate and graduate students, as well as researching anthropologists.
Collins Shorts – insight in an instant.The swarm behaviour of ant colonies has inspired computer programs for streamlining factory processes, telephone networks, and truck routes – find out how in this enlightening short that introduces a new take on the concept of collective intelligence and how it can be used to solve some of our most complex problems in business, science and technology.Collins Shorts are a fresh look at the ebook short, with the emphasis on vibrant design, animated content and expert authors who can provide accessible insight. They satisfy your thirst for knowledge without the need for time commitment.This ebook will work on all e-readers but delivers its full punch on devices that support colour and animation. Please note the extent is between 20 to 40 pages, depending on your settings.
Collins Shorts – insight in an instant.This is an extract taken from the full version of THE FIX by Damian Thompson.When does your casual habit become an addictive obsession? Damian Thompson, who has himself struggled with a range of addictions, suggests that our increasing use of gadgets and mobiles, painkillers, cupcakes, alcohol and sex are fast becoming addictions taking over our lives.Collins Shorts are a fresh look at the ebook short, with the emphasis on vibrant design, animated content and expert authors who can provide accessible insight. They satisfy your thirst for knowledge without the need for time commitment.This ebook will work on all e-readers but delivers its full punch on devices that support colour and animation. Please note the extent is between 20 to 40 pages, depending on your settings.
Уникальность книги заключена в глубокой междисциплинарной трактовке существующих двух подходов образования. Один из них, монологичный, является причиной «потери» человека, второй – диалогичный, при котором происходит открытие ученика, наполнение им мира своим содержанием. Автор на материалах многолетней практики убедительно показывает, зачем и как учить сегодня не столько знанию и правильным ответам, сколько незнанию и умению задавать вопросы, указывает на необходимость создания условий для самореализации ученика, что позволит ему выйти за свои пределы и посмотреть на себя глазами других людей. Представлен оригинальный взгляд на новые направления научного знания: социологию педагогики и дидактику молчания. Адресуется широкому кругу читателей.
A new vocabulary for Asian American studies Born out of the Civil Rights and Third World Liberation movements of the 1960s and 1970s, Asian American Studies has grown significantly over the past four decades, both as a distinct field of inquiry and as a potent site of critique. Characterized by transnational, trans-Pacific, and trans-hemispheric considerations of race, ethnicity, migration, immigration, gender, sexuality, and class, this multidisciplinary field engages with a set of concepts profoundly shaped by past and present histories of racialization and social formation. The keywords included in this collection are central to social sciences, humanities, and cultural studies and reflect the ways in which Asian American Studies has transformed scholarly discourses, research agendas, and pedagogical frameworks. Spanning multiple histories, numerous migrations, and diverse populations, Keywords for Asian American Studies reconsiders and recalibrates the ever-shifting borders of Asian American studies as a distinctly interdisciplinary field. Visit keywords.nyupress.org for online essays, teaching resources, and more.
Refuge in a Moving World draws together more than thirty contributions written from multiple disciplines and fields of research and practice to discuss different ways of engaging with, and responding to, migration and displacement. The volume combines critical reflections on the complexities of conceptualizing processes and experiences of (forced) migration, with detailed analyses of these experiences in contemporary and historical settings around the world. Through interdisciplinary approaches and methodologies – including participatory research, poetic and spatial interventions, ethnography, theatre, discourse analysis and visual methods – the volume documents the complexities of refugees’ and migrants’ journeys. This includes a particular focus on how people inhabit and negotiate everyday life in cities, towns, camps and informal settlements across the Middle East and North Africa, Southern and Eastern Africa, and Europe. A key dynamic documented throughout the book is the multiple ways that responses to displacement are enacted by people with personal or family experiences of (forced) migration. These people appear in many roles: as researchers, writers and artists, teachers, solidarians, first responders, NGO practitioners, neighbours and/or friends. Through the application of historically and spatially sensitive, intersectional and interdisciplinary lenses, the contributors explore the ways that different people – across axes of religion, race, sexuality, gender and age – experience and respond to their own situations and to those of other people, in the context of diverse power structures and structural inequalities on the local, national and international level. Ultimately, Refuge in a Moving World argues that working collaboratively through interdisciplinary approaches and methodologies has the potential to develop nuanced understandings of processes of migration and displacement, and, in turn, to encourage more sustainable modes of responding to our moving world.