In this sociology text the contributors provide an introduction to the subject without over-simplifying or `writing-down' to their audience. The book aims to furnish undergraduates with the knowledge that will help them to understand and practice sociology and also to develop a self-perpetuating sociological imagination to enable them to think through new issues and new problems. It consists of a series of specially commissioned chapters around binary or dichotomous themes. Although many sociologists are critical of dichotomous models of sociological theory and research, the device crops up again and again in the history and practice of the subject. Jenks and his colleagues use the dichotomies to situate students in current sociological arguments and topical debates. For example, by examining contradictory pairs of concepts like structure/agency, local/global, continuity/change, students are introduced to alternative explanations for aspects of human conduct over a whole series of issues.
Designed for practitioners who are responsible for young children's education and welfare in educational settings, this second edition of "Planning for Early Learning" covers social and political changes such as: increased demand for day care for babies and children under three; the introduction of nursery vouchers and increased early admission to infant school; Desirable Outcomes for four-year-olds supporting the National Curriculum for five to seven year-olds; and baseline assessment at five. This text explains how practitioners can structure and organize their thinking about early education and curriculum, so that they can support and extend children's learning and development. It also shows how practitioners can judge the effectiveness of their educational provision and learn more about the education of young children.
Change and Adaptation in Party Organizations in Western Democracies
The empirical analysis of party organizations and party organizational change has long remained one of the least developed fields of study in comparative politics. Despite much discussion about the supposed "crisis of party" and the "decline of party" in Western democracies, we still know remarkably little about what goes on inside political parties. This book takes a look inside political parties, bringing together the findings of an international team of leading scholars. Building on a set of cross-national data on party organizations, the contributors set out to explain how parties organize, how they have changed and how they have adapted to the changing political and organizational circumstances in which they find themselves. The contributors are recognized authorities on the party systems of their countries, and have been involved in gathering data on party membership, party finance and the internal structure of power. They add to the analysis of these data a knowledge of the wider political patterns in their countries, and thus provide insight into the development of parties and party systems from the perspective of the party organizations themselves. Offering a systematic and comparable analysis of how parties organize in contemporary Europe and the United States, this volume should be useful reading for scholars and students of comparative politics and party politics.
This text broadens the discussion and challenges the traditional paradigm which presents tourism as an outside force - independent of any cultural or symbolic system - making an impact on an indigenous society. The contributors reconceptualize the local and the global, avoiding basic oppositions such as centre versus periphery, modern versus traditional, macro versus micro and the North versus South. Instead, they demonstrate that the local cannot be understood without the global, and that the global can never be isolated from the regional setting within which it operates. Providing insights into theories of touristic practice, this volume places tourism within the same framework as other transnational global studies. In addition, it offers a contribution to the debate on identity and otherness, touching upon the fundamental issues of "us" and "them", collectivity and difference.
`An absolute must for all of us endeavouring to cope with and combat the current climate' - Early Years This book has three objectives; to identify the essential features of forms of assessment which will be genuinely supportive of education in the early years; to help teachers in their search for such forms; and to evaluate the likely impact of the systems of external assessment currently being imposed.
This book is a clear, comprehensive guide to the methodological, ethical and practical issues involved in undertaking research on sensitive topics. The author explores the reasons why social research may be politically and socially contentious: its relation to issues of social power, its capacity to encroach on people's lives, and its potentially problematic nature for the researcher. He assesses the key questions in how to undertake sensitive research: the choice of methodologies for sensitive research; problems of estimating the size of hidden populations; questions of sampling, surveying and interviewing; sensitivity in access and in the handling of data. The book also discusses the political and ethical issues implicit in the relations between the researcher and the researched and in the disclosure, dissemination and publication of research.
At a theoretical level, this text draws on core concepts in gerontology - age, dependency, social support and the quality of life - to illustrate their complexity and the difficulties of measurement. On a practical level, the text presents a number of methodological approaches which have been particularly useful in social gerontological research. The contributors, all social scientists, draw on their considerable experience of research and evaluation practice to comment on the problems and advantages that they have encountered. Finally, the contributors consider three critical issues - whether old people require special ethical consideration; the prospects for funding; and the importance of disseminating research effectively. "Researching Social Gerontology" has been specially commissioned by the British Society for Gerontology to outline current thinking in conceptual and methodological development, and the context in which gerontological research is being carried out.
'Lea has produced a serious and scholarly contribution of great interest to criminologists (whether "critical "or not), to post graduates, as well as the more advanced undergraduate. This is a book that is well written, absorbing, thoughtful and thought provoking' - The British Journal of Criminology Crime control is in crisis. Not only have levels of crime risen but, more important, crime is increasingly regarded as a normal aspect of the social and economic system rather than disruption or deviance. The blurring boundaries between the criminal and the normal are evident in a number of areas from the activities of multinational corporations to the life of the inner city. In this book, John Lea develops a broad historical and sociological overview relating the rise and fall of effective crime control to different types of social structures. It traces the process of modernisation and industrialisation from the eighteenth to the mid twentieth centuries which established the social preconditions for effective control and management of criminality. In the early years of the present century it is clear that these preconditions are now being progressively undermined as industrial society undergoes profound changes in its direction of development. The result is traced through a variety of types of criminality and the progressive debilitation of existing institutions and processes of crime control. A major feature of this book is its wide scope and imaginative application of historical and theoretical perspectives on modernisation and capitalist social development to the contemporary problems of controlling a wide variety of crime. It represents a significant contribution to the ability of criminology and the sociology of crime to confront the dilemmas and controversies of the twenty first century.
This text reflects recent changes in the training of probation and social workers. It addresses issues of knowledge, skills and practice as well as contemporary social issues. It also appraises policies and professional requirements critically. The book is divided into three sections: issues which inform practice - training skills and competencies, anti-discriminatory practice, autonomy and accountability, masculinity and the causes of crime; the contexts in which working with offenders takes place - probation boards; pre-sentence reports, community penalties, prison and the community; the outcomes of good practice - partnerships against crime and effectiveness and evaluation of crime prevention.
