Suchergebnisse

To what extent does the density of the tree cover in a city relate to the amount of social capital among neighbors? To address this question, we linked social survey data ( N = 361) from the Baltimore Ecosystem Study with socioeconomic, urban form, and green space data at the census block group level using a geographic information system. We found a systematically positive relationship between the density of urban tree canopy at the neighborhood block group level and the amount of social capital at the individual level ( r = .241, p < .01). Multiple regression analyses showed that tree canopy added a 22.72% increase in explanatory power to the model for social capital. This research adds a new variable—neighborhood tree canopy—to the typologies of green space that affect human social connection. Trees are a relatively inexpensive and easy intervention to enhance the strength of social ties among neighbors.

The Social Life of Trees: Anthropological Perspectives on Tree Symbolism. Laura Rival. ed. New York: Berg Publishers, 1998.315 pp.

"Welfare to Work in Practice brings together some of the leading international social security experts to discuss the rationale for welfare to work policies, their limitations and problems encountered in practice. Contributors include Jane Millar, Neil Gilbert, Martin Werding, Jonathan Bradshaw and Einar Overbye, who address topics ranging from the linkages between social security and the labour market to how the welfare to work agenda is responding to the needs of special groups such as lone parents, the long-term unemployed and those with a disability. The book puts the arguments and ideas that underlie the new welfare reform agenda under the microscope and explains how it is being implemented in an international context. Several new data sets are analyzed in a collection that covers developments in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Norway, the UK and the US, as well as several comparative studies. In doing so, this volume helps to bridge the gap between research and policy and demonstrates how policy can respond to the challenges it faces."--Provided by publisher

Everywhere in the world communities and nations organize themselves in relation to water. We divert water from rivers, lakes, and aquifers to our homes, workplaces, irrigation canals, and hydro-generating stations. We use it for bathing, swimming, recreation, and it functions as a symbol of purity in ritual performances. In order to facilitate and manage our relationship with water, we develop institutions, technologies, and cultural practices entirely devoted to its appropriation and distribution, and through these institutions we construct relations of class, gender, ethnicity, and nationality. Relying on first-hand ethnographic research, the contributors to this volume examine the social life of water in diverse settings and explore the impacts of commodification, urbanization, and technology on the availability and quality of water supplies. Each case study speaks to a local set of issues, but the overall perspective is global, with representation from all continents

Ira Cohen interweaves a detailed study of Anthony Giddens' writings on structuration theory with independent arguments and original concepts to provide a comprehensive analysis of structuration theory's new approach to the subject matter of the social sciences. Cohen clarifies the ontological status of structuration theory, and emphasizes the centrality of social praxis to Giddens' thought. He includes a critique of social morphology, illuminating structuration theory's concern for the reproduction and articulation of social systems across time and space. Giddens' insights into system reproduction, power and domination, and social structure are clarified, criticized and extended

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- List of figures -- List of tables -- Notes on contributors -- Preface -- List of abbreviations -- Part I Theoretical and methodological contributions to practice theories -- 1 Introduction: using practice theory to research social life -- 2 Practice theory as flat ontology -- 3 The methodological challenges of practising praxeology -- 4 Emotional agency navigates a world of practices -- Part II Zooming in on practices as performances -- 5 Handling things at home: a practice-based approach to divestment -- 6 Praxeologizing street violence: an attempt to understand the teleological and normative- affective structure of violent situations -- 7 How to make sense of suffering in complex care practices? -- 8 Grounding the practice: material elements in the constitution of tennis practices -- Part III Zooming out on practices as embedded entities -- 9 Growing urban food as an emerging social practice -- 10 Connecting practices: conservation tourism partnerships in Kenya -- 11 Forest governance: connecting global to local practices -- 12 Conclusion: the relevance of practice theory for researching social change -- Index

In this article-based dissertation I present four distinct – but interrelated – articles to expose the social life of a public marketplace. Drawing on over four years of ethnographic data, I present the experience of a group of marginalized entrepreneurs who independently generate income along the Venice Beach Boardwalk. Using an interactionist approach, I reveal the ground level processes through which people turn an otherwise everyday pathway into a place from which to make a living. In the first substantive chapter, I expose the participatory nature of public space regulation, shifting the way we link regulation to democratic participation and how we think about the 'publicness' of space. In the second substantive chapter, I locate a process of building, maintaining, and protecting trust in everyday interaction to expose the particular interactional work that trust does to manage workplace needs. In the next chapter, I present three ways of 'working' and 'intoxicating' – taking a break from work, working to intoxicate, and intoxicating out of work – to demonstrate how these different relationships become interrelated in a social ecology of work on the Boardwalk. Finally, I uncover the way in which workplace interactions are shaped by situated gender dynamics and expose the way 'intimacy' unfolds in this male-dominated marketplace. Throughout the dissertation, my analysis focuses on the importance of daily tensions. In a place known for its diversity, I locate commonality. In a place where homelessness, drug and alcohol dependency, and mental health problems flourish – I show work is sustained. In a place where people talk of suspicion and individualism – I uncover trust. In a space open to all – I reveal inclusion and exclusion. As a site of ongoing conflict and contestation, I show both fragility and endurance. This dissertation therefore highlights the way people make space their own – as they carve out a living, build a community, and live their lives.