The Working Men’s College (WMC) is the UK’s oldest continuously running adult education institution, and a very distinctive example of the British adult education tradition. This volume brings the history of the WMC up to date, following the 1954 centenary history by JFC Harrison.Contributions from a range of professional educators explore topics such as the philosophy of the College, the issue of women’s entry, college governance and the notion of community as it applies to change...

Originally published in 1988, The Rhythms of Society reflects the time-obsessed age we lived in when it was written. The contributors, drawn from a range of disciplines, develop a common sociological approach to examine time in a range of cultures, sub-cultures and historical periods. With time even more of an issue now, this can be read today with an eye to the future.

An expert on innovation and work argues that many highly capable women are not being recognised, and that this harms businesses, societies, and individuals alike.Whereas The Peter Principle, a four-million–copy bestseller from the 1960s, argued that most (male) workers will inevitably be promoted to one level beyond their competence, Tom Schuller shows how women today face the opposite scenario: their skills are being wasted as they work below their compet...

How do education and learning really impact on people's lives?The Benefits of Learning is a detailed, systematic and vivid account of the impact of formal and informal education on people's lives. Based on extended interviews with adults of all ages, it shows how learning affects their health, family lives and participation in civic life, revealing the downsides of education as well as the benefits. At a time when education is in danger of being narrowly regarded as an inst...

In 1930 the great economist Keynes predicted that, over the next century, income would rise steadily, people's basic needs would be met and no one would have to work more than fifteen hours a week. Why was he wrong?Robert and Edward Skidelsky argue that wealth is not - or should not be - an end in itself, but a means to 'the good life'. Tracing the concept from Aristotle to the present, they show how far modern life has strayed from that ideal. They reject the idea that there is an...

A critique of socialism by the Nobel Prize–winning economist: "The energy and precision with which Mr. Hayek sweeps away his opposition is impressive." — The Wall Street JournalIn this work, F.A. Hayek—a pioneer in monetary theory and proponent of libertarian philosophy—gives the main arguments for the free-market case and presents his manifesto on the "errors of socialism." Hayek argues that socialism has, from its origins, been mistaken on factual, and ev...

Drawing on studies of social class, crime and deviance, education, work in bureaucracies and changes in religious and political organizations, this Very Short Introduction explores the tension between the individual's place in society and society's role in shaping the individual, and demonstrates the value of sociology for understanding the modern world. In this new edition Steve Bruce discusses the continuing arguments for social egalitarianism, considering issues such as gay mar...

Like fast food, fast science is quickly prepared, not particularly good, and it clogs up the system. Efforts to tackle our most pressing issues have been stymied by conflict within the scientific community and mixed messages symptomatic of a rushed approach. What is more, scientific research is being shaped by the bubbles and crashes associated with economic speculation and the market. A focus on conformism, competitiveness, opportunism and flexibility has made it extremely difficult to pr...

Here is a natural companion to Christopher Booker's bestselling The Seven Basic Plots (Continuum) and John Gross's seminal study The Rise and Fall of the Man of Letters (Weidenfeld and Nicolson).The most eminent cultural and social historian Frank Furedi presents an eclectic and entirely original history of reading. The very act of reading and the choice of reading material endow individuals with an identity that possesses great symbolic significa...

This open access book provides an exploration of the consequences of the ontological differences between natural and social objects (sometimes described as objects of nature and objects of thought) in the workings of causal and agency relationships. One of its important and possibly original conclusions is that causal and agency relationships do not encompass all of the dependent relationships encountered in social life. The idea that social reality is contingent has been known (and largel...

The eleven short, linked essays in Morality by Design represent a culmination of two decades of research and writing on the topic of moral realism. Wade Rowland first introduces readers to the basic ideas of leading moral thinkers from Plato to Leibniz to Putnam, and then explores the subject through today’s political, economic and environmental conundrums. The collection presents a strong argument against postmodern moral relativism and the idea that only science can claim a body...

Risk and danger are culturally conditioned ideas. They are shaped by pressures of social life and accepted notions of accountability. The risk analyses that are increasingly being utilised by politicians, aid programmes and business ignore the insights to be gained from social anthropology which can be applied to modern industrial society.In this collection of recent essays, Mary Douglas develops a programme for studying risk and blame that follows from ideas originally proposed in ...