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Upsold: Real Estate Agents, Prices, and Neighborhood Inequality
by Max BesbrisWhat do you want for yourself in the next five, ten years? Do your plans involve marriage, kids, a new job? These are the questions a real estate agent might ask in an attempt to unearth information they can employ to complete a sale, which as Upsold shows, often results in upselling. In this book, sociologist Max Besbris shows how agents successfully upsell, inducing buyers to spend more than their initially stated price ceilings. His research reveals how face-to-face interactions influence buyers’ ideas about which neighborhoods are desirable and which are less-worthy investments and how these preferences ultimately contribute to neighborhood inequality. Stratification defines cities in the contemporary United States. In an era marked by increasing income segregation, one of the main sources of this inequality is housing prices. A crucial part of wealth inequality, housing prices are also directly linked to the uneven distribution of resources across neighborhoods and to racial and ethnic segregation. Upsold shows how the interactions between real estate agents and buyers make or break neighborhood reputations and construct neighborhoods by price. Employing revealing ethnographic and quantitative housing data, Besbris outlines precisely how social influences come together during the sales process. In Upsold, we get a deep dive into the role that the interactions with sales agents play in buyers’ decision-making and how neighborhoods are differentiated, valorized, and deemed to be worthy of a certain price.
Upsold: Real Estate Agents, Prices, and Neighborhood Inequality
by Max BesbrisWhat do you want for yourself in the next five, ten years? Do your plans involve marriage, kids, a new job? These are the questions a real estate agent might ask in an attempt to unearth information they can employ to complete a sale, which as Upsold shows, often results in upselling. In this book, sociologist Max Besbris shows how agents successfully upsell, inducing buyers to spend more than their initially stated price ceilings. His research reveals how face-to-face interactions influence buyers’ ideas about which neighborhoods are desirable and which are less-worthy investments and how these preferences ultimately contribute to neighborhood inequality. Stratification defines cities in the contemporary United States. In an era marked by increasing income segregation, one of the main sources of this inequality is housing prices. A crucial part of wealth inequality, housing prices are also directly linked to the uneven distribution of resources across neighborhoods and to racial and ethnic segregation. Upsold shows how the interactions between real estate agents and buyers make or break neighborhood reputations and construct neighborhoods by price. Employing revealing ethnographic and quantitative housing data, Besbris outlines precisely how social influences come together during the sales process. In Upsold, we get a deep dive into the role that the interactions with sales agents play in buyers’ decision-making and how neighborhoods are differentiated, valorized, and deemed to be worthy of a certain price.
Upsold: Real Estate Agents, Prices, and Neighborhood Inequality
by Max BesbrisWhat do you want for yourself in the next five, ten years? Do your plans involve marriage, kids, a new job? These are the questions a real estate agent might ask in an attempt to unearth information they can employ to complete a sale, which as Upsold shows, often results in upselling. In this book, sociologist Max Besbris shows how agents successfully upsell, inducing buyers to spend more than their initially stated price ceilings. His research reveals how face-to-face interactions influence buyers’ ideas about which neighborhoods are desirable and which are less-worthy investments and how these preferences ultimately contribute to neighborhood inequality. Stratification defines cities in the contemporary United States. In an era marked by increasing income segregation, one of the main sources of this inequality is housing prices. A crucial part of wealth inequality, housing prices are also directly linked to the uneven distribution of resources across neighborhoods and to racial and ethnic segregation. Upsold shows how the interactions between real estate agents and buyers make or break neighborhood reputations and construct neighborhoods by price. Employing revealing ethnographic and quantitative housing data, Besbris outlines precisely how social influences come together during the sales process. In Upsold, we get a deep dive into the role that the interactions with sales agents play in buyers’ decision-making and how neighborhoods are differentiated, valorized, and deemed to be worthy of a certain price.
Upsold: Real Estate Agents, Prices, and Neighborhood Inequality
by Max BesbrisWhat do you want for yourself in the next five, ten years? Do your plans involve marriage, kids, a new job? These are the questions a real estate agent might ask in an attempt to unearth information they can employ to complete a sale, which as Upsold shows, often results in upselling. In this book, sociologist Max Besbris shows how agents successfully upsell, inducing buyers to spend more than their initially stated price ceilings. His research reveals how face-to-face interactions influence buyers’ ideas about which neighborhoods are desirable and which are less-worthy investments and how these preferences ultimately contribute to neighborhood inequality. Stratification defines cities in the contemporary United States. In an era marked by increasing income segregation, one of the main sources of this inequality is housing prices. A crucial part of wealth inequality, housing prices are also directly linked to the uneven distribution of resources across neighborhoods and to racial and ethnic segregation. Upsold shows how the interactions between real estate agents and buyers make or break neighborhood reputations and construct neighborhoods by price. Employing revealing ethnographic and quantitative housing data, Besbris outlines precisely how social influences come together during the sales process. In Upsold, we get a deep dive into the role that the interactions with sales agents play in buyers’ decision-making and how neighborhoods are differentiated, valorized, and deemed to be worthy of a certain price.
Die Entwicklungsaufgabe kulturelle Identität: Das Beispiel traditionelle Musik in der südkoreanischen Schule
by Christian BeschChristian Besch untersucht am Beispiel der musikalischen Bildung in koreanischen Schulen, wie kulturelle Identität im Sinne sozialer Identität entstehen kann. Identitätsbildung ist ein Prozess, der sich über die ganze Lebensspanne erstreckt. Dabei werden Entwicklungsaufgaben gelöst und es wird aktiv daran gearbeitet, eine eigene Identität aufzubauen. Im Rahmen des qualitativen Forschungsparadigmas unter Verwendung der heterogenen Kooperation entwickelt der Autor eine kubistische Untersuchungsmethode, um die Lebensspanne in verschiedenen Facetten und Perspektiven individueller und kollektiver gesellschaftlicher Akteure aufzeichnen zu können. Dadurch ergibt sich eine Kategorisierung der kulturellen Identität, die er unter anderem in den Begriff der Cultural-Working-Identity fasst.
Bashing Back: Wayne Besen on GLBT People, Politics, and Culture
by Wayne Besen RThe Best of Besen!Bashing Back: Wayne Besen on GLBT People, Politics & Culture is a compilation of 72 columns from the outspoken GLBT activist and author of Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth. Funny, provocative, and informative, this unique book puts a progressive spin on hot-button topics in the political, cultural, and social arenas, covering everything from AIDS and African-Americans to Zach Stark.Bashing Back presents an A-to-Z look at Besen's worldview on a wide range of topics, including Bill O'Reilly, Brokeback Mountain, Ellen DeGeneres, gay pride parades, marriage rights, Mary Cheney, overhauling the gay movement, religion and politics, sports and homophobia, The Passion of the Christ, the pitiful state of TV news, the Vatican's war on gays, the World Trade Center, and New Orleans. Smart and funny, Besen delivers a knockout punch to the notion that liberalism stands for nothing and progressive means passive.From the author:"The columns I have chosen for this book touch on politics and people, comedy and culture. But most of all, they are a strong defense of the liberal values that have made this nation strong. It is time we proudly stand up for what we believe in. If we don't defend our values, our opponents will define them. . . . Bashing Back is the first punch in a fight to take back our culture and restore progressive values for the good of the nation."An excerpt from "Bill O'Reilly:"Once upon a time I actually enjoyed The O'Reilly Factor. While I almost always disagreed with him, he was at least entertaining. Lately, however, he has morphed into just another Bush mouthpiece. The master of the "No Spin Zone" is suddenly spinning so hard he is in the Twilight Zone, dizzy in his own deception. He even had the audacity on CNBC to suggest that Fox isn't a conservative news outlet. That's beyond spin. If it were closer to Hanukah I'd think O'Reilly was a dreidel. My other problem with his show is that it's unnaturally obsessed with gay issues. More gay people appear on The O'Reilly Factor than on Showtime's Queer as Folk. I know that sounds strange coming from a gay columnist who has twice appeared on his show. But it seems like he's had on every gay person in America to use as his personal political piñata. When even gay activists are tired of watching gay segments, it's time to find a new culture war issue.Bashing Back is an invaluable compilation of Besen's best columns from Planet Out, Gay.com, and the Washington Blade. It's an essential resource for longtime Besen readers and an entertaining introduction for newcomers.
Bashing Back: Wayne Besen on GLBT People, Politics, and Culture
by Wayne Besen RThe Best of Besen!Bashing Back: Wayne Besen on GLBT People, Politics & Culture is a compilation of 72 columns from the outspoken GLBT activist and author of Anything But Straight: Unmasking the Scandals and Lies Behind the Ex-Gay Myth. Funny, provocative, and informative, this unique book puts a progressive spin on hot-button topics in the political, cultural, and social arenas, covering everything from AIDS and African-Americans to Zach Stark.Bashing Back presents an A-to-Z look at Besen's worldview on a wide range of topics, including Bill O'Reilly, Brokeback Mountain, Ellen DeGeneres, gay pride parades, marriage rights, Mary Cheney, overhauling the gay movement, religion and politics, sports and homophobia, The Passion of the Christ, the pitiful state of TV news, the Vatican's war on gays, the World Trade Center, and New Orleans. Smart and funny, Besen delivers a knockout punch to the notion that liberalism stands for nothing and progressive means passive.From the author:"The columns I have chosen for this book touch on politics and people, comedy and culture. But most of all, they are a strong defense of the liberal values that have made this nation strong. It is time we proudly stand up for what we believe in. If we don't defend our values, our opponents will define them. . . . Bashing Back is the first punch in a fight to take back our culture and restore progressive values for the good of the nation."An excerpt from "Bill O'Reilly:"Once upon a time I actually enjoyed The O'Reilly Factor. While I almost always disagreed with him, he was at least entertaining. Lately, however, he has morphed into just another Bush mouthpiece. The master of the "No Spin Zone" is suddenly spinning so hard he is in the Twilight Zone, dizzy in his own deception. He even had the audacity on CNBC to suggest that Fox isn't a conservative news outlet. That's beyond spin. If it were closer to Hanukah I'd think O'Reilly was a dreidel. My other problem with his show is that it's unnaturally obsessed with gay issues. More gay people appear on The O'Reilly Factor than on Showtime's Queer as Folk. I know that sounds strange coming from a gay columnist who has twice appeared on his show. But it seems like he's had on every gay person in America to use as his personal political piñata. When even gay activists are tired of watching gay segments, it's time to find a new culture war issue.Bashing Back is an invaluable compilation of Besen's best columns from Planet Out, Gay.com, and the Washington Blade. It's an essential resource for longtime Besen readers and an entertaining introduction for newcomers.
Social Research Methods by Example: Applications in the Modern World
by Yasemin Besen-Cassino Dan CassinoSocial Research Methods by Example shows students how researchers carry out work on the cutting edge of social science. The authors illustrate every point through engaging, thought-provoking examples from real research. The language is jargon-free, making research methods less intimidating and more relatable. The text is divided into three major sections, the first of which introduces students to the principles of research through examples from various fields. The second section walks students through the major types of social science research, with each chapter focusing on a different technique. The third section shows students how to carry out basic quantitative data analysis in SPSS. The final chapter shows how technological advances have changed the way researchers are working, and looks at the direction of social science research in the future. Social Research Methods by Example not only introduces students to the principles of social science research, but gives them a toolbox to carry out their own. By the time they are finished with the book, students will be conversant with many of the most important studies in the history of social science. They will understand not only how to conduct research, but also how the field has evolved over time.
Social Research Methods by Example: Applications in the Modern World
by Yasemin Besen-Cassino Dan CassinoSocial Research Methods by Example sharpens students understanding of the research process and the essential research methods and tools that researchers use to perform their work on the cutting edge of the social sciences. The text is broken up into three major sections; the first provides a foundation for conducting research and forming a research question, executing an ethical approach, and drawing upon relevant theories and literature. The second provides a fully illustrated overview of different research methods including qualitative and quantitative design, constructing and administering surveys, and carrying out experiments. The authors conclude the text by considering notable current controversies and methodological changes that are impacting the discipline. The new edition offers expanded content on key statistical packages for conducting social research and takes readers behind-the-scenes of writing and presenting a research paper with annotated examples and step-by-step guidance. Far more than an introduction to the principles of social science research, this book leaves students with the skills and the applied know-how to carry out their own. It is an excellent resource for methods courses across the social sciences.
Social Research Methods by Example: Applications in the Modern World
by Yasemin Besen-Cassino Dan CassinoSocial Research Methods by Example sharpens students understanding of the research process and the essential research methods and tools that researchers use to perform their work on the cutting edge of the social sciences. The text is broken up into three major sections; the first provides a foundation for conducting research and forming a research question, executing an ethical approach, and drawing upon relevant theories and literature. The second provides a fully illustrated overview of different research methods including qualitative and quantitative design, constructing and administering surveys, and carrying out experiments. The authors conclude the text by considering notable current controversies and methodological changes that are impacting the discipline. The new edition offers expanded content on key statistical packages for conducting social research and takes readers behind-the-scenes of writing and presenting a research paper with annotated examples and step-by-step guidance. Far more than an introduction to the principles of social science research, this book leaves students with the skills and the applied know-how to carry out their own. It is an excellent resource for methods courses across the social sciences.
Social Research Methods by Example: Applications in the Modern World
by Yasemin Besen-Cassino Dan CassinoSocial Research Methods by Example shows students how researchers carry out work on the cutting edge of social science. The authors illustrate every point through engaging, thought-provoking examples from real research. The language is jargon-free, making research methods less intimidating and more relatable. The text is divided into three major sections, the first of which introduces students to the principles of research through examples from various fields. The second section walks students through the major types of social science research, with each chapter focusing on a different technique. The third section shows students how to carry out basic quantitative data analysis in SPSS. The final chapter shows how technological advances have changed the way researchers are working, and looks at the direction of social science research in the future. Social Research Methods by Example not only introduces students to the principles of social science research, but gives them a toolbox to carry out their own. By the time they are finished with the book, students will be conversant with many of the most important studies in the history of social science. They will understand not only how to conduct research, but also how the field has evolved over time.
Decolonial Psychoanalysis: Towards Critical Islamophobia Studies (Concepts for Critical Psychology)
by Robert BesharaIn this provocative and necessary book, Robert K. Beshara uses psychoanalytic discursive analysis to explore the possibility of a genuinely anti-colonial critical psychology. Drawing on postcolonial and decolonial approaches to Islamophobia, this book enhances understandings of Critical Border Thinking and Lacanian Discourse Analysis, alongside other theoretico-methodological approaches. Using a critical decolonial psychology approach to conceptualize everyday Islamophobia, the author examines theoretical resources situated within the discursive turn, such as decoloniality/transmodernity, and carries out an archeology of (counter)terrorism, a genealogy of the conceptual Muslim, and a Žižekian ideology critique. Conceiving of Decolonial Psychoanalysis as one theoretical resource for Critical Islamophobia Studies (CIS), the author also applies Lacanian Discourse Analysis to extracts from interviews conducted with US Muslims to theorize their ethico-political subjectivity and considers a politics of resistance, adversarial aesthetics, and ethics of liberation. Essential to any attempt to come to terms with the legacy of racism in psychology, and the only critical psychological study on Islamophobia in the United States, this is a fascinating read for anyone interested in a critical approach to Islamophobia.
Decolonial Psychoanalysis: Towards Critical Islamophobia Studies (Concepts for Critical Psychology)
by Robert BesharaIn this provocative and necessary book, Robert K. Beshara uses psychoanalytic discursive analysis to explore the possibility of a genuinely anti-colonial critical psychology. Drawing on postcolonial and decolonial approaches to Islamophobia, this book enhances understandings of Critical Border Thinking and Lacanian Discourse Analysis, alongside other theoretico-methodological approaches. Using a critical decolonial psychology approach to conceptualize everyday Islamophobia, the author examines theoretical resources situated within the discursive turn, such as decoloniality/transmodernity, and carries out an archeology of (counter)terrorism, a genealogy of the conceptual Muslim, and a Žižekian ideology critique. Conceiving of Decolonial Psychoanalysis as one theoretical resource for Critical Islamophobia Studies (CIS), the author also applies Lacanian Discourse Analysis to extracts from interviews conducted with US Muslims to theorize their ethico-political subjectivity and considers a politics of resistance, adversarial aesthetics, and ethics of liberation. Essential to any attempt to come to terms with the legacy of racism in psychology, and the only critical psychological study on Islamophobia in the United States, this is a fascinating read for anyone interested in a critical approach to Islamophobia.
Family and Child Well-being After Welfare Reform
by Douglas BesharovSince their historic high in 1994, welfare caseloads in the United States have dropped an astounding 59 percent--more than 5 million fewer families receive welfare. Family and Child Well-Being after Welfare Reform, now in paperback, explores how low-income children and their families are faring in the wake of welfare reform. Contributors to the volume include leading social researchers. Can existing surveys and other data be used to measure trends in the area? What key indicators should be tracked? What are the initial trends after welfare reform? What other information or approaches would be helpful? The book covers a broad range of topics: an update on welfare reform (Douglas J. Besharov and Peter Germanis); ongoing major research (Peter H. Rossi); material well-being, such as earnings, benefits, and consumption (Richard Bavier); family versus household (Wendy D. Manning); fatherhood, cohabitation, and marriage (Wade F. Horn); teenage sex, pregnancy, and nonmarital births (Isabel V. Sawhill); child maltreatment and foster care (Richard J. Gelles); homelessness and housing (John C. Weicher); child health and well-being (Lorraine V. Klerman); nutrition, food security, and obesity (Harold S. Beebout); crime, juvenile delinquency, and dysfunctional behavior (Lawrence W. Sherman); drug use (Peter Reuter); mothers' work and child care (Julia B. Isaacs); and the activities of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Don Winstead and Ann McCormick). When welfare reform was first debated, many people feared that it would hurt the poor, especially children. The contributors find little evidence to suggest this has occurred. As time limits and other programmatic requirements take hold, more information will be needed to assess the condition of low-income families after welfare reform. This informative volume establishes a baseline for that assessment.
Family and Child Well-being After Welfare Reform
by Douglas J. BesharovSince their historic high in 1994, welfare caseloads in the United States have dropped an astounding 59 percent--more than 5 million fewer families receive welfare. Family and Child Well-Being after Welfare Reform, now in paperback, explores how low-income children and their families are faring in the wake of welfare reform. Contributors to the volume include leading social researchers. Can existing surveys and other data be used to measure trends in the area? What key indicators should be tracked? What are the initial trends after welfare reform? What other information or approaches would be helpful? The book covers a broad range of topics: an update on welfare reform (Douglas J. Besharov and Peter Germanis); ongoing major research (Peter H. Rossi); material well-being, such as earnings, benefits, and consumption (Richard Bavier); family versus household (Wendy D. Manning); fatherhood, cohabitation, and marriage (Wade F. Horn); teenage sex, pregnancy, and nonmarital births (Isabel V. Sawhill); child maltreatment and foster care (Richard J. Gelles); homelessness and housing (John C. Weicher); child health and well-being (Lorraine V. Klerman); nutrition, food security, and obesity (Harold S. Beebout); crime, juvenile delinquency, and dysfunctional behavior (Lawrence W. Sherman); drug use (Peter Reuter); mothers' work and child care (Julia B. Isaacs); and the activities of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Don Winstead and Ann McCormick). When welfare reform was first debated, many people feared that it would hurt the poor, especially children. The contributors find little evidence to suggest this has occurred. As time limits and other programmatic requirements take hold, more information will be needed to assess the condition of low-income families after welfare reform. This informative volume establishes a baseline for that assessment.
Moral und Innovation in Organisationen (Innovation und Gesellschaft)
by Cristina BesioCristina Besio diskutiert, wie Organisationen mit Moral umgehen. Obgleich Organisationen häufig eine intensive moralische Kommunikation pflegen, wirkt Moral dort selten handlungsleitend. In vier Aufsätzen beschreibt und klärt die Autorin, wie Unternehmen und NPOs moralische Gebote selektiv wahrnehmen und sie in solchen Formen (z.B. in Verhaltenskodizes) re-spezifizieren, die sie sich in ihren Entscheidungsprozessen zunutze machen können. Als Resultat hat Moral eine zwiespältige Funktion: Einerseits kann sie einen Legitimationseffekt auslösen, andererseits kann sie durch ihr hohes kritisches Potenzial auf bestehende Probleme hinweisen. Besonders wirkt Moral auf Innovationsprozesse – ob allerdings hemmend oder fördernd, hängt mit organisationalen Gegebenheiten zusammen.
Organisierte Moral: Zur Ambivalenz von Gut und Böse in Organisationen (Organisationssoziologie)
by Cristina Besio André ArmbrusterDer Band untersucht, inwieweit moralisch gutes oder schlechtes Handeln organisiert werden kann. Die Diskussion soziologischer Erklärungen des normativ Guten und Bösen in und von Organisationen beleuchtet den ambivalenten Zusammenhang von Moral und Organisation, da Organisationen sowohl für moralische Anliegen eintreten als auch moralisch-ethische Normen (teilweise sogar absichtlich) verletzen. Diese Ambivalenz adressiert der Band durch theoretisch-konzeptionelle Beiträge sowie durch empirische Studien. Der Band zeigt damit die große Varietät in der empirischen Beobachtbarkeit und der sozialwissenschaftlichen Analyse der Moralität von Organisationen – ohne selbst für oder gegen Moral zu argumentieren.
Structure for Dependability: Computer-Based Systems from an Interdisciplinary Perspective
by Denis Besnard Cristina Gacek Cliff JonesSystem developers, stakeholders, decision makers, policymakers and academics will find this book a one-stop resource highlighting the core issues for all those involved in dependability in a complex computer-based environment.
The Great Transformation: History for a Techno-Human Future (Routledge Advances in Sociology)
by Judith BessantWhile artificial intelligence (AI), robots, bio-technologies and digital media are transforming work, culture, and social life, there is little understanding of or agreement about the scope and significance of this change. This new interpretation of the ‘great transformation’ uses history and evolutionary theory to highlight the momentous shift in human consciousness taking place. Only by learning from recent crises and rejecting technological determinism will governments and communities redesign social arrangements that ensure we all benefit from the new and emerging technologies. The book documents the transformations under way in financial markets, entertainment, and medicine, affecting all aspects of work and social life. It draws on historical sociology and co-evolutionary theory arguing that the radical evolution of human consciousness and social life now under way is comparable with, if not greater than, the agrarian revolution (10000 BCE), the explosion of science, philosophy, and religion in the Axial Age (600 BCE), and the recent Industrial Revolution. Turning to recent major socio-economic crisis, and asking what can be learnt from them, the answer is we cannot afford this time around to repeat the failures of elites and theoretical systems such as economics to attend appropriately to radical change. We need to think beyond the constraints of determinist and reductionist explanations and embrace the idea of deep freedom. This book will appeal to educators, social scientists, policy-makers, business leaders, and students. It concludes with social design principles that can inform deliberative processes and new social arrangements that ensure everyone benefits from the affordances of the new and emerging technologies.
The Great Transformation: History for a Techno-Human Future (Routledge Advances in Sociology)
by Judith BessantWhile artificial intelligence (AI), robots, bio-technologies and digital media are transforming work, culture, and social life, there is little understanding of or agreement about the scope and significance of this change. This new interpretation of the ‘great transformation’ uses history and evolutionary theory to highlight the momentous shift in human consciousness taking place. Only by learning from recent crises and rejecting technological determinism will governments and communities redesign social arrangements that ensure we all benefit from the new and emerging technologies. The book documents the transformations under way in financial markets, entertainment, and medicine, affecting all aspects of work and social life. It draws on historical sociology and co-evolutionary theory arguing that the radical evolution of human consciousness and social life now under way is comparable with, if not greater than, the agrarian revolution (10000 BCE), the explosion of science, philosophy, and religion in the Axial Age (600 BCE), and the recent Industrial Revolution. Turning to recent major socio-economic crisis, and asking what can be learnt from them, the answer is we cannot afford this time around to repeat the failures of elites and theoretical systems such as economics to attend appropriately to radical change. We need to think beyond the constraints of determinist and reductionist explanations and embrace the idea of deep freedom. This book will appeal to educators, social scientists, policy-makers, business leaders, and students. It concludes with social design principles that can inform deliberative processes and new social arrangements that ensure everyone benefits from the affordances of the new and emerging technologies.
The Relational Fabric of Community
by Kenneth C. BessantTheoretical and philosophical work on community has yielded multifold definitions and analytical frameworks. Kenneth C. Bessant reflects on the inherent complexity and diversity of this deeply intersubjective aspect of lived social experience. He explores the relational underpinnings of early and more contemporary approaches to the study of community, with a particular emphasis on their core assumptions, concepts, and tenets. Each of these perspectives offers a relatively distinct interpretation of community, while also revealing the intrinsically relational fabric of its perpetual emergence, dynamism, and transformation. The ‘being-with’ of relational social existence is the fundamental basis upon which all conceptions of community are built, and this is the epicenter around which the book revolves. Community is born of, exists within, and brings forth social relations. It is a living expression of relational willing, thinking, and acting.
Digital Cities III. Information Technologies for Social Capital: Third International Digital Cities Workshop, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, September 18-19, 2003, Revised Selected Papers (Lecture Notes in Computer Science #3081)
by Peter Van Den Besselaar Satoshi KoizumiDigital cities constitutes a multidisciplinary field of research and development, where researchers, designers and developers of communityware interact and collaborate with social scientists studying the use and effects of these kinds of infrastructures and systems in their local application context. The field is rather young. After the diffusion of ICT in the world of organizations and companies, ICT entered everyday life. And this also influenced ICT research and development. The 1998 Workshop on Communityware and Social Interaction in Kyoto was an early meeting in which this emerging field was discussed. After that, two subsequent Digital Cities workshops were organized in Kyoto, and a third one in Amsterdam. This book is the result of the 3rd Workshop on Digital Cities, which took place September 18–19, 2003 in Amsterdam, in conjunction with the 1st Communities and Technologies Conference. Most of the papers were presented at this workshop, and were revised thoroughly afterwards. Also the case studies of digital cities in Asia, the US, and Europe, included in Part I, were direct offsprings of the Digital Cities Workshops. Together the papers in this volume give an interesting state-of-the-art overview of the field. In total 54 authors from the Americas, from Asia, and from Europe were contributed to this volume. The authors come from Brazil (two), the USA (eleven), China (three), Japan (fourteen), Finland (two), Germany (two), Italy (three), Portugal (two), the Netherlands (eight), and the UK (seven), indicating the international nature of the research field.
Running Out: In Search of Water on the High Plains
by Lucas BessireAn intimate reckoning with aquifer depletion in America's heartlandThe Ogallala aquifer has nourished life on the American Great Plains for millennia. But less than a century of unsustainable irrigation farming has taxed much of the aquifer beyond repair. The imminent depletion of the Ogallala and other aquifers around the world is a defining planetary crisis of our times. Running Out offers a uniquely personal account of aquifer depletion and the deeper layers through which it gains meaning and force.Anthropologist Lucas Bessire journeyed back to western Kansas, where five generations of his family lived as irrigation farmers and ranchers, to try to make sense of this vital resource and its loss. His search for water across the drying High Plains brings the reader face to face with the stark realities of industrial agriculture, eroding democratic norms, and surreal interpretations of a looming disaster. Yet the destination is far from predictable, as the book seeks to move beyond the words and genres through which destruction is often known. Instead, this journey into the morass of eradication offers a series of unexpected discoveries about what it means to inherit the troubled legacies of the past and how we can take responsibility for a more inclusive, sustainable future.An urgent and unsettling meditation on environmental change, Running Out is a revelatory account of family, complicity, loss, and what it means to find your way back home.
Caribbean Land and Development Revisited (Studies of the Americas)
by J. Besson J. MomsenThe book is an interdisciplinary collection of fifteen essays, with an editorial introduction, on a range of territories in the Commonwealth, Francophone, and Hispanic Caribbean. The authors focus on land and development, providing fresh perspectives through a collection of international contributing authors.
Prom Night: Youth, Schools and Popular Culture
by Amy L. BestBest shows us that, while the prom is often trivialized, most kids take the prom seriously. The prom is a space where kids work through their understanding of authority, social class, gender norms, and multicultural schooling. Proms are more than just pictures and puffed sleeves--they are a mythic part of youth culture and, for better or worse, will always be a night to remember.