The Verso Book of Dissent: From Spartacus to the Shoe-thrower of Baghdad by Verso

$14.00 NZD

Category: Social Science | Reading Level: very good

Throughout the ages and across every continent, people have struggled against those in power and raised their voices in protest--rallying others around them and inspiring uprisings in eras yet to come. Their echoes reverberate from Ancient Greece, China and Egypt, via the dissident poets and philosopher s of Islam and Judaism, through to the Arab slave revolts and anti-Ottoman rebellions of the Middle Ages. These sources were tapped during the Dutch and English revolutions at the outset of the Modern world, and in turn flowed into the French, Haitian, American, Russian and Chinese revolutions. More recently, resistance to war and economic oppression has flared up on battlefields and in public spaces from Beijing and Baghdad to Caracas and Los Angeles.   This anthology, global in scope, presents voices of dissent from every era of human history: speeches and pamphlets, poems and songs, plays and manifestos. Every age has its iconoclasts, and yet the greatest among them build on the words and actions of their forerunners. The Verso Book of Dissent will become an invaluable resource, reminding today's citizens that these traditions will never die. ...Show more

Governance and Politics of China by Tony Saich

$30.00 NZD

Category: Social Science | Series: Comparative Government and Politics Ser. | Reading Level: very good

The success or failure of China's development will impact not only its own citizens but also those of the world. China is widely recognized as a global actor on the world stage and no global challenge can be resolved without its participation. Thus, it is important to understand how the country is ruled and what the policy priorities are of the new leadership. Can China move to a more market-based economy, while controlling environmental degradation? Can it integrate hundreds of millions of new migrants into the urban landscape? The tensions between communist and capitalist identities continue to divide society as China searches for a path to modernization.   The People's Republic is now over sixty-five years old - an appropriate juncture at which to reassess the state of contemporary Chinese politics. In this substantially revised fourth edition and essential guide to the subject, Tony Saich delivers a thorough introduction to all aspects of politics and governance in post-Mao China, taking full account of the changes of the Eighteenth Party Congress and the Twelfth National People's Congress. Further, the rise of Xi Jinping to power and his policies are examined as are important policy areas such as urbanization and the fight against corruption. ...Show more

The Cultural Studies Reader by Simon During (Editor)

$18.00 NZD

Category: Social Science | Reading Level: good

The first edition of established itself as the leading textbook in the field, providing the ideal introduction for students to this exciting and influential discipline. This expanded second edition offers: * 38 essays including 18 new articles * an editor's preface succinctly introducing each article * comprehensive coverage of every major cultural studies method and theory * an updated account of recent changes in the field * articles on new areas such as science and cyberculture, globalization, postcolonialism, public spheres and cultural policy * a fully revised introduction and an extensive guide to further reading. ...Show more

The Anthropology of Medicine - From Culture to Method by Lola E. Romanucci-Ross (Editor)

$25.00 NZD

Category: Medicine | Reading Level: very good

This revision of what now has become a classic text in medical anthropology contains a wealth of new material on subjects as diverse as aging, creativity, and ideology. It is both a comprehensive introduction to the rapidly growing field of medical anthropology and a reference work. The authors bring ne w perspectives to our understanding of both Western and non-Western medicine, from the biochemical and physiological aspects of health care in preindustrialized cultures to cultural and ideological factors inherent in past and present Western medical care. ...Show more

Introduction to a Science of Mythology 3: The Origins of Table Manners by Claude Lévi-Strauss; John Weightman; Doreen Weightman

$20.00 NZD

Category: Social Science | Reading Level: good-very good

Images of Aging - Cultural Representations of Later Life by Mike Featherstone (Editor); Andrew Wernick (Editor)

$15.00 NZD

Category: Social Science | Reading Level: very good

We all have a finite life-span. We are born, we get old and we die. Given the universiality of the ageing process, it is remarkable that there is almost a complete absence of study of culture and self-image of the middle aged and old. Images of Ageing: Cultural Representations of Later Life changes this . The contributors discuss images of ageing which have come to circulate in the advanced industrial societies today. They address themes such as: body and self image in everyday interaction; experience and identity on old age; advertising and consumer culture images of the elderly; images of ageing used by Government agencies in health education campaigns; the diversity of historical representations of the elderly; gender images of ageing; images of senility and second childhood; images of health, illness and death. ...Show more

The Body and Physical Difference - Discourses of Disability by David T. Mitchell (Editor); Sharon L. Snyder (Editor)

$18.00 NZD

Category: Social Science | Series: The\Body, in Theory: Histories of Cultural Materialism Ser. | Reading Level: very good

For years the subject of human disability has engaged those in the biological, social and cognitive sciences, while at the same time, it has been curiously neglected within the humanities. The Body and Physical Difference seeks to introduce the field of disability studies into the humanities by explorin g the fantasies and fictions that have crystallized around conceptions of physical and cognitive difference. Based on the premise that the significance of disabilities in culture and the arts has been culturally vexed as well as historically erased, the collection probes our society's pathological investment in human variability and "aberrancy." The contributors demonstrate how definitions of disability underpin fundamental concepts such as normalcy, health, bodily integrity, individuality, citizenship, and morality--all terms that define the very essence of what it means to be human. The book provides a provocative range of topics and perspectives: the absence of physical "otherness" in Ancient Greece, the depiction of the female invalid in Victorian literature, the production of tragic innocence in British and American telethons, the reconstruction of Civil War amputees, and disability as the aesthetic basis for definitions of expendable life within the modern eugenics movement. With this new, secure anchoring in the humanities, disability studies now emerges as a significant strain in contemporary theories of identity and social marginality. Moving beyond the oversimplication that disabled people are marginalized and made invisible by able-ist assumptions and practices, the contributors demonstrate that representation is founded upon the perpetual exhibition of human anomalies. In this sense, all art can be said to migrate toward the "freakish" and the "grotesque." Such a project paradoxically makes disability the exception and the rule of the desire to represent that which has been traditionally out-of-bounds in polite discourse. The Body and Physical Difference has relevance across a wide range of academic specialties such as cultural studies, the sociology of medicine, history, literature and medicine, the allied health professions, rehabilitation, aesthetics, philosophical discourses of the body, literary and film studies, and narrative theory. David T. Mitchell is Assistant Professor of English, Northern Michigan University. Sharon L. Snyder teaches film and literature at Northern Michigan University. ...Show more

The Lived Body - Sociological Themes, Embodied Issues by Simon J. Williams; Gillian Bendelow

$15.00 NZD

Category: Social Science | Reading Level: very good

The Lived Body takes a fresh look at the notion of human embodiment and provides an ideal textbook for undergraduates on the growing number of courses on the sociology of the body.The authors propose a new approach - an 'Embodied Sociology' - one which makes embodiment central rather than peripheral. Th ey critically examine the dualist legacies of the past, assessing the ideas of a range of key thinkers, from Marx to Freud, Foucault to Giddens, Deleuze to Guattari and Irigary to Grosz, in terms of the bodily themes and issues they address.They also explore new areas of research, including the 'fate' of embodiment in late modernity, sex, gender, medical technology and the body, the sociology of emotions, pain, sleep and artistic representations of the body.The Lived Body will provide students and researchers in medical sociology, health sciences, cultural studies and philosophy with clear, accessible coverage of the major theories and debates in the sociology of the body and a challenging new way of thinking. ...Show more

Troubled Bodies - Critical Perspectives on Postmodernism, Medical Ethics, and the Body by Paul A. Komesaroff (Editor)

$18.00 NZD

Category: Medicine | Reading Level: very good

Setting out the implications of the postmodern condition for medical ethics, Troubled Bodies challenges the contemporary paradigms of medical ethics and reconceptualizes the nature of the field. Drawing on recent developments in philosophy, philosophy of science, and feminist theory, this volume seeks t o expand familiar ethical reflections on medicine to incorporate new ways of thinking about the body and the dilemmas raised by recent developments in medical techniques. These essays examine the ways in which the consideration of ethical questions is shaped by the structures of knowledge and communication at work in clinical practice, by current assumptions regarding the concept of the body, and by the social and political implications of both. Representing various perspectives including medicine, nursing, philosophy, and sociology, these essays look anew at issues of abortion, reproductive technologies, the doctor-patient relationship, the social construction of illness, the cultural assumptions and consequences of medicine, and the theoretical presuppositions underlying modern psychiatry. Diverging from the tenets of mainstream bioethics, Troubled Bodies suggests that, rather than searching for the correct "coherent perspective" from which to draw ethical principles, we must apprehend the complexity and diversity of the discursive systems within which we dwell. ...Show more

Arrival City: How the last great migration is changing our world by Doug Saunders

$14.00 NZD

Category: Social Science | Reading Level: very good

The 21st century is going to be remembered for the great, and final, shift of human populations out of rural, agricultural life into cities. Arrival City offers a detailed tour of the key places of the 'final migration' and explores the possibilities and pitfalls inherent in the developing new world ord er. ...Show more

Scientific Practice and Ordinary Action - Ethnomethodology and Social Studies of Science by Michael Lynch

$20.00 NZD

Category: Social Science | Reading Level: very good

Philosophers, historians, and sociologists of science have grown increasingly interested in the daily practices of scientists. Recent studies have drawn linkages between scientific innovations and more ordinary procedures, craft skills, and sources of sponsorship. These studies dispute the idea that sci ence is the application of a unified method or the outgrowth of a progressive history of ideas. The central purpose of this book is to explore the possibility of an empirical approach to the epistemic contents of science that avoids the pitfalls of scientism and foundationalism. ...Show more

Lost in Transition - The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood by Christian Smith; Kari Marie Christoffersen; Hilary Davidson; Patricia Snell Herzog

$14.00 NZD

Category: Social Science | Reading Level: very good

Life for emerging adults is vastly different today than it was for their counterparts even a generation ago. Young people are waiting longer to marry, to have children, and to choose a career direction. As a result, they enjoy more freedom, opportunities, and personal growth than ever before.But the tra nsition to adulthood is also more complex, disjointed, and confusing.In Lost in Transition, Christian Smith and his collaborators draw on 230 in-depth interviews with a broad cross-section of emerging adults (ages 18-23) to investigate the difficulties young people face today, the underlying causes of those difficulties, and the consequences both for individuals andfor American society as a whole. Rampant consumer capitalism, ongoing failures in education, hyper-individualism, postmodernist moral relativism, and other aspects of American culture are all contributing to the chaotic terrain that emerging adults must cross. Smith identifies five major problemsfacing very many young people today: confused moral reasoning, routine intoxication, materialistic life goals, regrettable sexual experiences, and disengagement from civic and political life. The trouble does not lie only with the emerging adults or their poor individual decisions but has muchdeeper roots in mainstream American culture - a culture which emerging adults have largely inherited rather than created. Older adults, Smith argues, must recognize that much of the responsibility for the pain and confusion young people face lies with them. Rejecting both sky-is-falling alarmism onthe one hand and complacent disregard on the other, Smith suggests the need for what he calls "realistic concern" - and a reconsideration of our cultural priorities and practices - that will help emerging adults more skillfully engage unique challenges they face.Even-handed, engagingly written, and based on comprehensive research, Lost in Transition brings much needed attention to the darker side of the transition to adulthood. ...Show more