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"Thomas Carlyle's political philosophy and social criticism is applied to contemporary politics and political philosophy in the 21st century. His theory and conceptualization of transcendentalism is defended and promoted as a long-ignored political ideology that can potentially resolve the political, economic, religious, cultural, and moral crises of our time"--

This edited collection brings together theoretical and empirical reflections on the role played by new technology and digital platforms in the provision of food. The way food is produced, distributed, consumed and disposed has significant consequences for the environment, affecting soil fertility, water and air quality, the state of the climate and the loss of biodiversity. Such negative effects are strictly related to the agro-industrial system of production and consumption, based on logic of low prices, high availability and high waste. This collection brings together a carefully curated range of insights from a team of twenty researchers coming from different fields working in different European universities engaged in the same project for more than three years. As a result, this book will appeal to people working on food studies and on sustainable food production and consumption, offering both conceptual-theoretical insights into contemporary food issues alongside empirical illustrations. Arne Dulsrud is Research Professor at Consumption Research Norway (SIFO), OsloMet,Norway. He has published widely on consumer policy issues, economic sociology and food policy both in books and journals. Francesca Forno is Associate Professor of Sociology at the Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Trento, Italy. She has published on civic participation and social movements

The Xi Jinping Effect explores the relationship between the People's Republic of China's current ""paramount leader""—arguably the most powerful figure since Mao Zedong (1893–1976)—and multiple areas of political and social transformation. It illuminates not just policy arenas in which his leadership of China has had an outsized impact but also areas where his initiatives have faltered due to unintended consequences, international pushback, or the divergence of local priorities from those of the central government. Collectively, the book's chapters document the ways in which Xi's neo-totalitarianism has dismantled Reform Era legacies, while reconfiguring governance and rewiring China's global connections. Contributions by anthropologists, historians, sociologists, and political scientists consider such issues as Xi's anticorruption campaign and obsession with ideological governance, state surveillance, the status of ethnic minorities and migrants, income inequality, and China's relations with Taiwan and Southeast Asia.

Open access edition: DOI 10.6069/9780295752822

"This book aims to change the way we think about politics, talk about politics, and vote. It does this in two ways. First, it shows it's impossible for a Republican, Democrat, or voter in any political party to possess a significant level of knowledge of facts that would help their party secure or maintain political power. It calls this knowledge "political knowledge" and shows how unfeasible it is for anyone to have it. Second, it explains how we might best be politically engaged, given that we have virtually no political knowledge. To argue that it is impossible for any person to possess a significant amount of political knowledge, the book depends on two empirically verified facts. The first is that we have virtually no means of acquiring political information except by believing what other people say. The second is that, when people start talking about politics, they become highly unreliable. They're very likely to say false things when voicing political opinions because they employ a belief forming process that psychologists call "identity protective cognition." This is a type of reasoning aimed, not at truth, but at preserving one's membership in some identity-defining group. In combination, these two observations cast serious doubt on all of our political beliefs. As the book explains, however, the proper response to this doubt is not to simply avoid politics. Rather the best response is a kind of humble but real engagement with politics that constantly manifests one's awareness that one is, at best, making educated guesses rather than speaking and acting from knowledge"--

"This book explores the long-term origins of populist Euroscepticism. Taking a historical perspective to move beyond explaining present-day expressions of opposition to the European Union in isolation, this book reveals the historical sedimentation of the several ways and forms taken over decades by opposition towards European integration. As such, this approach - with contributions from across disciplines - explains not just the past of Euroscepticism, but also its current nature and future prospects. This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European History, European Politics and Studies and more broadly to Political Science, International Relations, the Humanities and Social Sciences"--

Feminism in the United States: A Concise Introduction presents readers with the key debates and ideas central to contemporary US feminism. With a focus on intersectionality, the book highlights the goals, tactics, and varieties of feminism, and is ideal for students enrolled in introductory classes in feminist and gender studies

Proper Women tells the unprecedented story of an NGO-led "women's empowerment" program in Tehran that was created to serve young, impoverished Iranians and Afghan refugees. Fae Chubin recounts the well-intentioned efforts of cosmopolitan NGO administrators whose loyalty to liberal feminist principles of individualism, sexual autonomy, and anti-traditionalism complicated their objective of empowering marginalized women.Chubin brings attention to the varying class, ethnic, religious, and national identities of NGO staff and clients that shaped their differing understandings of oppression and justice. Her examination of the tensions within the organization reveals why the efforts of the NGO workers failed to gain purchase among the intended beneficiaries.Proper Women concludes by encouraging feminist activists to not only examine the role of local politics and transnational connections in shaping their definitions of empowerment, but also consider the advantages of a justice-enhancing practice as opposed to justice monism for their target populations.

Implementing national policies is a crucial function of the local Chinese bureaucracy and an indispensable part of Beijing's overall state capacity. Yet the specifics of how and why local officials interpret and implement such policies have so far escaped detailed attention. In Redeveloping China's Villages in the Twenty-First Century, Lior Rosenberg fills this gap by examining the national Village Redevelopment Program, one of China's most significant policies of recent decades to promote rural change. Based on Rosenberg's on-site research, Redeveloping China's Villages in the Twenty-First Century investigates the Village Redevelopment Program's implementation in both the industrialised county of Chenggu, in Shandong province, and the predominantly agricultural county of Beian, in Anhui province. At the book's heart is a puzzle: the program was supposed to prioritise poorer villages, but in both Chenggu and Beian—despite being carried out in surprisingly divergent ways—it has subsidised improved infrastructure and services in already industrialised and prosperous villages, while leaving behind poorer ones. In explaining this outcome, Rosenberg elaborates on the larger economic, political and social environment in which Chinese local officials operate, as well as the pressures they face from above. He analyses the dual role played by higher-level authorities, as both policy enablers and thwarters in a system that sanctifies commandism but where the distinction between principals and agents is blurred.

This book argues that a resilient region should act reactively and proactively in the face of shocks and disruptions and asserts that the institutionalization of regional cooperation may be the answer to development challenges in times of uncertainty and instability. It considers regional, transregional, and subregional cooperation initiatives for building regional resilience and critically examines a broad spectrum of issues, such as international security and trade, economic development, value chains in production, and social welfare. Adopting the concept of resilience allows for a holistic, dynamic, and systematic approach to the studies on the regional process of institutionalization, responsiveness, and adaptability to challenging circumstances. The economic and social indicators of the countries in the region are examined alongside an analysis of the regional institutional architecture. The reader is acquainted with the essence of resilience concerning each category of challenges and the mechanisms of its achievement and strengthening through regional integration. The interdisciplinary character of the book makes it suitable for usage not only by economists but also by lawyers. As such, the book will be helpful to scholars and students of international economics, international security, and policymakers.

Bodies and Boundaries of UK Bear Spaces is an exploration of the spaces of the UK's Bear community – and the people who are in them.

The book details a wealth of existing writing and scholarship on Bears – both historical and contemporary – and uses new empirical research to demonstrate and explain the complexity of 'Bear' in the present-day UK. Moving beyond a focus on masculine attitudes, it emphasises the importance of bodily appearance for Bear communities while also demonstrating the variety of bodies in Bear spaces, and the variety amongst Bear spaces themselves. Resisting universalist accounts, the book calls for greater engagement with the conceptual instability and geographic variation of 'Bear'. Written for both academic and non-academic readers, the book combines an engaging conversational style with excerpts from a rich qualitative dataset to help explain new ways of looking at Bears or 'Bear/y' men.

Bodies & Boundaries of UK Bear Spaces is of value to anyone interested in Bears and/or LGBTQ spaces – particularly in the UK context. It also offers much for scholars of men and masculinities, bodies and fatness, gender studies, and sexuality and queer studies.

The Open Access version of this book, available at www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 International license.

Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Psychology Consciousness and ASCs -- Chapter 3. Transpersonal psychology – William James and moving beyond a Materialist paradigm -- Chapter 4. Consciousness and ASCs in the non-West – pioneering studies.-Chapter 5. Transpersonal Anthropology -- Chapter 6. Everyday Streams of Consciousness - introduction to Fieldwork -- Chapter 7. Hinduism in a UK temple and Altered State Experience -- Chapter 8. The Sacred Lifeworld of a Lubavitch group -- Chapter 9. Sport and Altered states: Secular or Spiritual? -- Chapter 10. Tranquil States in a Natural Environment -- Chapter 11. A Musical instrument-making group and their Altered States -- Chapter 12. Television, Altered States and Fantasy Worlds -- Chapter 13. Altered State Experience in Fieldwork – a Summary -- Chapter 14. Fantasy Worlds within Altered States of Consciousness -- Chapter 15. Altered States and a Sacred Reality -- Chapter 16. The Therapeutic Power of Altered States of Consciousness -- Chapter 17. Some reflections and a blessing.

Animal research is part of a complex web of relations made up of humans and animals, practices inside and outside the laboratory, formal laws and professional norms, and social imaginaries of the past and future of medicine. Researching Animal Research sets out an innovative approach for understanding and intervening in the social practices that constitute animal research. It proposes the idea of the animal research nexus to draw attention to the connections that make up animal research today and to understand how these elements have become entangled over time. The authors examine moves towards openness, inclusion, and interdisciplinarity in science, and open up questions that move debates beyond polarised pro- and anti-public positions. The book is written as a collaboration and conversation between historians, geographers, sociologists, anthropologists, science and technology studies scholars, and engagement professionals, with commentaries from the arts, social sciences, and animal research sector. Through detailed qualitative analysis of regulation, care, expertise, and public engagement the book offers an unparalleled picture of the changing cultures, practices, and policies of UK animal research. By incorporating critical commentaries and examples of creative practices, it also seeks to animate and potentially transform the animal research nexus that it describes. As the social imaginaries and regulations around animal research continue to change in the UK and beyond, this book is a vital interdisciplinary contribution to the search for new ways to conduct and research animal research today.

Wie begegnen wir Figuren in Filmen und Comics? Für Zuschauende und Lesende sind sie intuitiv zugänglich, nicht aber für die Analyse. Die vorliegende Studie grenzt sich von narratologisch und kognitionstheoretisch geprägten Theorien und Analysemethoden ab, die Figuren als fertige Subjekte denken, welche in ein mediales Gewand gekleidet den Zuschauenden und Lesenden gegenübertreten. Stattdessen werden Film-Sehen und Comic-Lesen als dynamische, von Subjektivität durchzogene Situationen untersucht. Konzipiert als Film- beziehungsweise Comic-Verhalten, bilden diese subjektivierten Dynamiken die Grundlage für das Entstehen von Figuren für Zuschauende und Lesende. Die Studie entwickelt eine phänomenologische Theorie und Methode, die es ermöglicht, über Beschreibungen dieser Verhalten die Begegnung mit Figuren zu analysieren. Sie diskutiert ausgehend von Maurice Merleau-Pontys Wahrnehmungsphilosophie filmphänomenologische Positionen und expliziert einen phänomenologischen Diskurs für die Comicforschung, den diese bislang vermissen lässt. Im Zentrum stehen Arbeiten von Chris Ware, Riad Sattouf und Marc Forster, deren Filme und Comics nicht nur Gegenstand analytischer Fallstudien sondern integraler Bestandteil der Theoriearbeit sind. ; Wie begegnen wir Figuren in Filmen und Comics? Für Zuschauende und Lesende sind sie intuitiv zugänglich, nicht aber für die Analyse. Die vorliegende Studie grenzt sich von narratologisch und kognitionstheoretisch geprägten Theorien und Analysemethoden ab, die Figuren als fertige Subjekte denken, welche in ein mediales Gewand gekleidet den Zuschauenden und Lesenden gegenübertreten. Stattdessen werden Film-Sehen und Comic-Lesen als dynamische, von Subjektivität durchzogene Situationen untersucht. Konzipiert als Film- beziehungsweise Comic-Verhalten, bilden diese subjektivierten Dynamiken die Grundlage für das Entstehen von Figuren für Zuschauende und Lesende. Die Studie entwickelt eine phänomenologische Theorie und Methode, die es ermöglicht, über Beschreibungen dieser Verhalten die Begegnung mit Figuren zu analysieren. Sie diskutiert ausgehend von Maurice Merleau-Pontys Wahrnehmungsphilosophie filmphänomenologische Positionen und expliziert einen phänomenologischen Diskurs für die Comicforschung, den diese bislang vermissen lässt. Im Zentrum stehen Arbeiten von Chris Ware, Riad Sattouf und Marc Forster, deren Filme und Comics nicht nur Gegenstand analytischer Fallstudien sondern integraler Bestandteil der Theoriearbeit sind. ; How do we encounter characters in films and comics? While audiences might relate to characters intuitively, film and comics scholars cannot analyze them in the same intuitive way. Theories and analytical methods influenced by narratology and cognitive theory often conceptualize characters as finished subjects presented in a medial disguise. This study argues instead that film-watching and comic-reading are dynamic situations permeated by subjectivity. Conceptualized as film- or comic-behavior, these subjectivized dynamics form the basis for the emergence of characters for viewers and readers. The study develops a phenomenological theory and method that allows us to analyze encounters with characters through descriptions of film- and comic-behaviors. Drawing on Maurice Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of perception, it discusses current phenomenological positions in film studies and articulates an extensive phenomenological framework for comic research. The works of Chris Ware, Riad Sattouf, and Marc Forster, which it discusses, are not only the subject of analytical case studies but also an integral part of this study's theoretical framework.

The Child and Youth Welfare Report 2024 analyses the situation of child and youth welfare in Germany on the basis of the most important social and educational statistical key figures, such as on utilisation, providers, facilities, staff or costs. Thus, the publication offers a reliable and up-to-date overview of the development in the entire child and youth welfare sector and its most important fields of work. The focus of this issue is the current shortage of skilled workers, for which indispensable key data are carefully prepared. - Der Kinder- und Jugendhilfereport 2024 analysiert die Situation der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe anhand der wichtigsten sozial- und bildungsstatistischen Kennzahlen, etwa zur Inanspruchnahme, zu Trägern, zu Einrichtungen, zum Personal oder zu den Kosten. Dadurch bietet die Publikation einen zuverlässigen und aktuellen Überblick über die Entwicklung in der gesamten Kinder- und Jugendhilfe, ihren wichtigsten Arbeitsfeldern und Leistungen. Thematischer Schwerpunkt des Reports 2024 sind Analysen und Perspektiven zum aktuellen Fachkräftemangel in der Kinder- und Jugendhilfe in Deutschland.
Der Kinder- und Jugendhilfereport erscheint seit 2018 im Verlag Barbara Budrich."