Samfundsteori

Seven decades since Indian Independence, education takes the centre stage in every major discussion on development, especially when we talk about social exclusion, Dalits and reservations today. This book examines social inclusion in the education sector in India for Scheduled Castes (SCs).The volume:· Foregrounds the historical struggles of the SCs to understand why the quest for education is so central to shaping SC consciousness and aspirations;· Works with exhaustive state-level studies with a view to assessing commonalities and differences in the educational status of SCs today;· Takes stock of the policymaking and extent of implementations across Indian states to understand the challenges faced in different scenarios;· Seeks to analyse the differential in existing economic conditions, and other structural constraints, in relation to access to quality educational facilities;· Examines the social perceptions and experiences of SC students as they live now.A major study, the volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of education, sociology and social anthropology, development studies and South Asian studies.

This book sets out to define and consolidate the field of bioinformation studies in its transnational and global dimensions, drawing on debates in science and technology studies, anthropology and sociology. It provides situated analyses of bioinformation journeys across domains and spheres of interpretation. As unprecedented amounts of data relating to biological processes and lives are collected, aggregated, traded and exchanged, infrastructural systems and machine learners produce real consequences as they turn indeterminate data into actionable decisions for states, companies, scientific researchers and consumers. Bioinformation accrues multiple values as it transverses multiple registers and domains, and as it is transformed from bodies to becoming a subject of analysis tied to particular social relations, promises, desires and futures. The volume harnesses the anthropological sensibility for situated, fine-grained, ethnographically grounded analysis to develop an interdisciplinary dialogue on the conceptual, political, social and ethical dimensions posed by bioinformation.

A unified theory of reasonableness - and how to be unreasonable for the right reasons. We're living in an age of division. From abortion rights to immigration, gun control to climate change, civil debate has gone out the window. Manners, order, and respect are being eroded. Why can't we all be reasonable?>The trouble is, what's "reasonable" to one person is outrageous to another. Is it okay to let children play in the backyard while others are working from home? To do your makeup on a train, or recline your seat on an airplane? What's the right way to breastfeed? To protect your neighborhood? To protest against injustice and oppression? In a world where we all think we're being reasonable, how can we figure out what's right? Looking back through history and around the world, Kirsty Sedgman set out to discover how unfairness and discrimination got baked into our social norms, dividing us along lines of gender, class, disability, sexuality, race... Instead of measuring human behavior against outdated standards of rules and reason, On Being Unreasonable argues that sometimes we need to act unreasonably to bring about positive change.

Tracing the complexity and contradictory nature of work throughout history

Alt for mange unge mistrives. De kæmper med angst, depression og ensomhed. Livet er blevet en evig eksamen. Døgnet rundt skal der præsteres og performes både menneskeligt og fagligt. Men du er allerede bestået er budskabet fra højskoleforstander Bjørn Bredal.Vi er i en ond cirkel, hvis vi tror, at mistrivsel skyldes noget, som er gået i stykker i den enkelte. Bredal forsøger at bryde cirklen ved at fokusere mere på trivsel end på mistrivsel og mere på fællesskabet end på den enkelte. Bliver vi bedre til at hjælpe hinanden, bliver vi nok også bedre til at hjælpe os selv. Med udsyn til europæiske ideer om krop, sjæl og tvivl er Du er bestået et bud på et samfund, som tænker i helhed.Bjørn Bredal (f. 1956) er forstander for Johan Borups Højskole i København. Tidligt formet af livet omkring en cykelforretning i Herlev. Udbryder fra et missionsk, kristent miljø. Cand.mag. i fransk og musik fra Københavns Universitet med efteruddannelser i Paris og Oxford. Tidligere redaktør på Gyldendal, Weekendavisen og Politiken. Siden oversætter, forfatter, underviser og nu: højskolemenneske.

Written by leading experts from across Europe, this book provides a grounded exploration of innovation in the practice, research and education of social work. It focuses on the role of participation, collaboration and co-creation as key drivers of social innovation within these fields, providing practical examples of social entrepreneurship, people-centred design and participatory led innovation. The positive outcomes of local social innovations are analysed in the wider European framework, with reflections and recommendations for advancing innovation in policy, service provision, education and research.

This book offers insights into the development of social welfare policies by exploring the interconnections between policies and practice throughout history. It challenges tacitly accepted arguments that favour particular approaches to welfare, such as conditionality and eligibility. It provides examples of enduring social assumptions which influence the way we perform social welfare, such as the equivocal position of women in social welfare and the unintended consequences of reforms such as Universal Credit. By identifying continuities in welfare policy, practice and thought, it offers the potential for the development of new thinking, policy making and practice.

Mutual Aid explore the role of mutually-beneficial cooperation and reciprocity in the animal kingdom and human societies both past and present. Supporting the theory and foundation for anarchist communism, Peter Kropotkin presents an altruistic view of society, comparing it to the natural laws of biology and evolution. Kropotkin argued that it is our innate instinct for mutual aid - rather than mutual struggle - which enables societies to survive and flourish. From the earliest days of evolution through to medieval guilds, indigenous nomads and modern voluntary organisations, Kropotkin's vision of small-scale, ecologically sustainable, collective communities challenged the orthodoxies of his age, whether individualism or Marxism. Mutual Aid offers instead a radical, and prescient, rewriting of the whole of human history.

It is increasingly recognized that, to achieve social justice, policies and organizations need to apply an intersectional approach, rather than addressing inequalities separately. However, intersectionality is a challenging theory to apply, as policy makers and practitioners often navigate the confines of divided policy areas. This book examines the use of intersectionality in UK policy and practice, with a specific focus on NGOs, outlining five distinct interpretations of intersectional practice and their implications. Drawing from extensive fieldwork with a diverse range of equality organizations, this book offers invaluable insights into how policy and practice can be organized in more (and less) intersectional ways.

At the heart of capitalism lies the idea of 'homo economicus': an ever-rational human being motivated by self-interest which arguably leads societies to economic prosperity. Drawing on French sociologist Marcel Mauss' influential theory of 'the gift', Frank Adloff shatters this fallacy to show mutual trust is the only glue that holds societies together; people are giving beings and they can cooperate for the benefit of all when the logic of maximizing personal gain in capitalism is broken. Acknowledging the role of women, nature, and workers in the Global South in transforming society, this book proposes a politics of conviviality, (from the Latin con-vivere: living together) for global and environmental justice as an alternative to the pursuit of profit, growth, and consumption.

"Leading migration researcher Louise Ryan's topical and intersectional book provides rich insights into migrants' social networks. It draws on more than 200 interviews with migrants who followed various transnational routes in every decade since the 1940s, in order to build valuable longitudinal perspectives and comparisons. With a particular focus on London, it charts how social networks are formed and sustained, how trust is developed and how social support is accessed, and explores the key opportunities and obstacles that migrants encounter. This is a seminal fusion of migration studies and social network analysis that casts new light on both subjects, essential for those interested in immigration, ethnicity, diversity and inequalities."--

Written by leading social scientists, this ambitious volume asks what individuals' "handling" of bodies reveal about inequality, social order and cultural change in societies.

In this work, often overshadowed by his seminal treatise 'The Wealth of Nations,' Adam Smith probes:The complex nature of human moralityThe inherent human capacity for empathyThe intricate interplay of passion and reason, andHow our moral thinking shapes our social lives, relationships, and societal structures. Smith proposes that our sense of morality arises from empathy rather than on a religious doctrine or abstract reasoning. In doing so, it provides a basis for understanding the moral underpinnings of economic behavior and sheds light on the social bonds that hold societies together. It also offers insights into issues of social justice, welfare, and how we should treat others.As a complement to "The Wealth of Nations," this book hasprofoundly impacted the current understanding of capitalism and morality, togetherwith societal structures and norms. Long considered a foundational text formoral philosophers and social scientists, Smith's book is still read widelytoday.

This book revisits the modern history of Poland, from the perspective of its social sciences. The book makes this case study a model for the application of Bourdieüs approach to the historical analysis of non-core Western societies. The book is, in other words, a reflexive study of the application of Bourdieüs social theory. At the same time, it also critically studies the application of Western social theory in Poland, which is largely seen as a peripheral country. The study of Polish social sciences, with particular emphasis on linguistics and literary studies, points to the peculiar dynamics of peripheral intellectual and academic fields and their external dependencies. These insights offer a critical extension of Bourdieüs theory of state and social elites beyond the Western core focusing on how the theories can be used in the reinterpretation and expansion of post-colonial theory, global history and comparative studies of post-communism. The book will be suitable for scholars and students of all those interested in the social theory of Pierre Bourdieu, global historical sociology, societies in Central and Eastern , socio-linguistics, literary studies and political sociology.

Cultural Processes of Inequality: A Sociological Perspective show how systemic inequality is produced and reproduced through mundane, routine actions based on taken-for-granted assumptions. The book ties such cultural assumptions to personal and institutional behavior, drawing connections between individuals, culture (as meaning systems) and larger social structures.

It is not a book on, or about, religion -that's best left to experts. It's not for "mature" Christians -who will, no doubt, find it extremely lacking -perhaps completely "falling short of the mark". It is simply intended to assist three groups who are open to pursuing the Christian path: a) non-believers, b) pseudo-believers and c) believers with limited historical knowledge and/or context. It's about creating communities of kinship as the foundation for a strong Christian life

Is mankind alone in the universe? Will we ever encounter intelligent life beyond Earth? These questions have been asked for centuries. Recent advances in the fields of astrophysics, astronomy and astrobiology make it more likely than ever before, that Earth may not be the only inhabited planet, and that humanity may not the only intelligent species in the universe.What would be the consequences of contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence? This question is at the heart of the emerging discipline of exosociology. According to the authors, first contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence poses enormous risks for humanity. These risks come not only from extraterrestrials, but above all from ourselves. We should be prepared.Michael Schetsche and Andreas Anton's comprehensive introduction to exosociology was first published in German in 2019. The book has been widely acclaimed in Germany and internationally. It is now available in English for the first time.

Wenn man die Fehlleistungen des Menschen der Gegenwart betrachtet und sieht, in welchen Zustand er die Welt versetzt hat oder zu versetzen im Begriff ist, kann man nur den Kopf schütteln. Wie kann es sein, dass wir die Natur, in deren Schoß wir leben, wie Unkraut überwuchern und mit schädlichen Technologien so stressen, dass wichtige Ökosysteme zusammenbrechen? Wie kann es sein, dass wir uns vom Kapitalismus so beherrschen lassen, als stünden wir in Las Vegas vor einem Spielautomaten, von dem wir nicht mehr loskommen? Wie kann es sein, dass wir Kultur aufbauen und unseren Mitmenschen doch auch immer wieder mit Hass, Hetze und Gewalt gegenübertreten? "Etwas ist faul im Staate Dänemark" (Shakespeare: "Hamlet").Will man dem nachgehen, kommt man am Gehirn des Menschen, das sein Steuerorgan, Erkenntnisinstrument und seine Kognitionsmaschine ist, nicht vorbei. Es ist jedoch extrem schwierig, die Arbeitsweise des Gehirns zu begreifen. Noch schwieriger ist es, daraus Erkenntnisse für die psychische Verfassung und das Verhalten des Menschen zu gewinnen. Dann noch die Brücke zur Gesellschaft schlagen zu wollen - mit der gesamten Bandbreite an phantastischen, gewöhnlichen und desaströsen Phänomenen, die in Geschichte und Gegenwart zu verzeichnen sind - ist schier unmöglich. Aber das Unmögliche wird in diesem Buch versucht. Es wird nach systemischen Zusammenhängen zwischen Nervensystem, Mensch, Gesellschaft und dem "menschheitlichen Superorganismus" gefahndet.Hierbei streng wissenschaftlich und evidenzbasiert vorzugehen, muss das letztendliche Ziel sein. Doch vorläufig fehlen dazu die nötigen Daten und Ressourcen. Also wird nur das bruchstückhaft vorhandene Material zusammengetragen und das Puzzle so gut wie möglich zusammengesetzt, was ohne Synthese und Thesenbildung nicht leistbar ist. Die Methoden, mit denen vorgegangen wird, könnte man "analytische Modellbildung" und "interdisziplinäre Mustererkennung" nennen. Bei der Komplexität des Themas muss klar sein, dass ein Erkenntniswunder nicht zu erwarten ist. Dieses Buch versteht sich als ein (weiterer) Anfang.