'I recommend John Darling's book to everyone interested in education today' - Times Educational Supplement, Scotland 'It represents an important contribution to the study of curriculum at a time when that study is being seriously eroded, and is especially to be welcomed because that contribution seeks to keep alive the progressive alternative' - Early Years 'The book has much to offer. It is written with clarity and style, and in a language that is immediately accessible' - Education Today and Tomorrow 'Child-Centred Education is undoubtedly a well-researched and equally well-written book in addition to affording a rich source of references' - British Journal of Educational StudiesThis book traces the development of child-centred education and examines objections levelled at it by philosophers and politicians.The author challenges the widespread view that philosophers have shown child-centred educational theory to be incoherent.
This text provides information on the social context of childcare and educational services in: Austria; Belgium; Denmark; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Ireland; Italy; Luxembourg; the Netherlands; Portugal; Spain; Sweden; and the United Kingdom. It documents the major types of provision for young children and describes the training of staff working in early childhood services. It also includes material on provision and staff training for work with school-age children outside school hours. Cross-national themes and issues on training, provision and policy have been emphasized for comparative analysis.
Recent decades have seen intensified flows of people, commodities, money, ideas, information and images on a global level. Is a unified world culture emerging? And if so, how does this relate to existing cultural divisions and to the autonomy of the nation state? In this book leading social scientists from many countries analyze to what extent we are seeing a globalization of culture. Differing explanations are offered for trends towards global unification, and their relation to an economic world-system. The contributors explore the emergence of "Third Cultures", such as international law, the financial markets and media conglomerates, as elements which transcend the boundaries of the nation state. Will the intensification of global contact produce increasing tolerance of other cultures? Or will an integrating culture produce sharper reactions in the form of fundamentalist and nationalist movements? As well as examining the extent, causation and consequences of global homogenization, the authors consider its implication for the social sciences. To what extent can sociology still retain the notion of the nation-state society as its basic unit?
"Reassessing Human Resource Management" takes a critical look at the received wisdom of Human Resources Management. Making extensive use of case studies the authors examine its growth, core assumptions and territorial claims, the extent to which it provides a coherent strategy of employee management and in what conditions it will continue to be the chosen approach. Specific themes addressed include: human resources management and competitive success; issues and contradictions in Human Resources Management; approaches to flexibility, decentralization, "reward management", supervision; production systems such as "just-in-time" manufacturing and new technology; and Human Resources Management and trade unions; Human Resources Management rhetoric as the management of managerial meaning.
In this book one of Europe's foremost sociologists offers an overview of the trajectory of European societies, East and West, since the end of World War 11. Combining theoretical depth with factual analysis, Goran Therborn addresses the questions that underpin an understanding of the nature of European modernity: To what extent has the period 1945-2000 produced fundamental change and what are the areas of continuity? Have the societies of Europe become more similar to others on the globe or more distinctively European? Are they more differentiated or more similar to each other? What are the prospects of Europe after the decades of postwar change and after the end of the Cold War? These questions are addressed through an analysis of contemporary Europe from a number of fresh angles. Issues covered include the division of paid and unpaid labour, patterns of rights in different social spheres, the development of mass consumption, the evolution of risks, the spatial range of economic and cultural change, collective memory and identities, the geography of happiness, and modes of collective action. The author also relates these issues to the two great social steering projects of the period socialism in the East, and the European Union in the West. This text relates a empirical detail to a critical view of the grand picture. It should be useful reading for all students of the politics and sociology of Europe and contemporary industrial societies.
Can the dominant theories in foreign policy analysis explain recent European events-particularly the twin "revolutions" of the ending of the Cold War and the proposed further integration of Europe under the Maastricht Treaty? In "European Foreign Policy" leading international scholars address the implications of this question. Analyzing foreign policy changes in the new Europe, the contributors assess the state and foreign policy, foreign economic policy, the long term future of European security and the role of multinational companies. The book also focuses on foreign policy actors in the light of major theories. The discussions range from the examination of weak power theory in the context of Nordic reactions to the Soviet coup to the agency-structure debate after the collapse of the Cold War European system. In addition, two substantial critiques by specialists from outside the field explore the issues raised in this book from a feminist perspective as well as from a post-modem view of the wider theoretical context within which foreign policy analysis is embedded. A unique contribution, "European Foreign Policy" interrogates the relationship between academic analysis and political reality by examining empirical issues in the light of contemporary theory. It will be of considerable interest to students taking courses on European foreign policy, and to scholars working in foreign policy analysis, international relations theory and the external politics of the European Community and its members.
An introduction to the notion of intersubjectivity as a central concern of philosophy, sociology, psychology and politics. The main purpose of this volume is to provide a coherent framework for this concept against which the various and contrasting debates can be more clearly understood. Beyond this, the author provides a critical discussion of intersubjectivity as an interdisciplinary concept to shed light on our understanding of selfhood, communication, citizenship, power and community. The author traces the contributions of many key thinkers engaged with the intersubjectivist tradition, including Husserl, Buber, Kojeve, Merleau-Pony, Mead, Wittgenstein, Schutz and Habermas.
This contribution to the expanding area of globalization in sociological and cultural studies has two organizing themes: social theory and social change. The contributors, who include Zygmunt Bauman, Jonathan Friedman, Anthony King, Ann Game and Goran Therborn concentrate on the spatialization of social theory, and offer a critique of previous positions on the study of modernity which have tended to prioritize history. This study argues for a self-reflexive approach to modernity, stresses the fluid character of interdependence and movement, and provides a commentary on the interplay between the local and the global, showing how global processes structure personal and social consciousness.
This eclectic collection of essays reflects the far-reaching, multi-dimensional influence of Christopher Bollas. Bollas galvanises our understanding of what happens when people encounter the objects - the endlessly variegated content - of external reality. Each of us has our own unique idiom through which we endow objects - a painting, a football, a stranger - with special meaning. Bollas has added depth to our understanding of these relationships with a vitality rarely found in psychoanalytic writing. The contributors to this volume offer definitions and illustrations that make Bollas' thought accessible for those approaching his work for the first time and illuminating for those more familiar with his canon. "The Vitality of Objects" reveals the possibilities for self-expression and growth that figure in the process of object relations and shows how and why thinkers and artists from so many different perspectives are attracted to Bollas' thought.
