In this textbook, ‘dark comedy’ is re-imagined as an ecological instrument: a volatile compound of irony, grotesquerie, and mischievous insight that exposes the carbonised scaffolding of late-capitalist life. Rather than sneering at catastrophe, the chapters anatomise the mechanics—defamiliarising punch line, carnival inversion, affective whiplash—by which humour slips past guard-dogs and rouses an anaesthetised public. The horizon against which this inquiry unfolds is the Capitalocene: a ...

In Teaching Critical Thinking, renowned cultural critic and progressive educator bell hooks addresses some of the most compelling issues facing teachers in and out of the classroom today.In a series of short, accessible, and enlightening essays, hooks explores the confounding and sometimes controversial topics that teachers and students have urged her to address since the publication of the previous best-selling volumes in her Teaching series, Teaching to Transgress

You may not realise it, but you are probably already practicing anarchism in your daily life. From relationships to school, work, art, even the way you organise your time, anarchism can help you find fulfilment, empathy and liberation in the everyday.From the small questions such as 'Why should I steal?' to the big ones like 'how do I love?', Scott Branson shows that anarchism isn’t only something we do when we react to the news, protest or even riot. With practical examples enrich...

It is widely acknowledged that Gregory Bateson's ideas have been influential in a number of fields. Unfortunately, the importance of his ideas for understanding why public schools and universities continue to perpetuate ecologically unsustainable ways of thinking has not been adequately recognized. Given the deepening ecological and economic crises, this book is particularly timely as it clarifies how Bateson's five key ideas, when taken as a whole, provides the conceptual framework for in...

Eminent moral philosopher Michael Slote argues that care ethics presents an important challenge to other ethical traditions and that a philosophically developed care ethics should, and can, offer its own comprehensive view of the whole of morality. Taking inspiration from British moral sentimentalism and drawing on recent psychological literature on empathy, he shows that the use of that notion allows care ethics to develop its own sentimentalist account of respect, autonomy, social justic...

What does it mean to live dangerously? This is not just a philosophical question or an ethical call to reflect upon our own individual recklessness. It is a deeply political issue, fundamental to the new doctrine of ‘resilience’ that is becoming a key term of art for governing planetary life in the 21st Century. No longer should we think in terms of evading the possibility of traumatic experiences. Catastrophic events, we are told, are not just inevitable but learning experiences from whic...

Over-consumption is one of the key issues of our time, especially in the Western world. Over the past decade, in the face of historically unprecedented levels of consumer spending in the West - and the more recent impact of recession - a vigorous politics of anti-consumerism has emerged in a range of wealthy nations.This timely and original new book provides a comprehensive overview and analysis of what has come to be called the 'new politics of consumption'; a politics embodied in...

Universities continue to expand, bringing considerable debate about their purposes and relationship to the world. In The Ecological University,Ronald Barnett argues that universities are short of their potential and responsibilities in an ever-changing and challenging environment.This book centres on the idea that the expansion of higher education has opened new spaces and possibilities. The university is interconnected with a number of ecosystems: knowledge, social instit...

If you've always wanted to know how societies function - and why sometimes they don't - this beginner's guide to sociology has got the essential theories and thinkers coveredSociology has almost limitless scope. From the smallest everyday interaction to the impact of vast systemic change, societies are brimming with fascinating phenomena we all want to understand more clearly.There's never been a more important moment to grasp what's going on around us, and...

When we look at the state of the world today, what is most evident is the fact that the major problems of our time – energy, environment, economy, climate change and social justice – cannot be understood in isolation. They are interconnected problems, which means that they require corresponding systemic solutions. Today’s global economy has brought about critical distress for ecosystems and societies and we have to go to the very root of the problems to find a way out.This volume d...

We appear to find ourselves in a crisis of polarization and failed communication. What can we do about it?This essay argues that part of the solution may be to aspire for more nuanced and balanced perspectives, by engaging charitably with many different viewpoints. The essay then turns to some contentious issues — including sex discrimination, intersectionality, and political correctness — in an attempt to identify some ways in which greater nuance might help advan...

Environmentalism has relentlessly warned about the dire consequences of abusing and exploiting the planet's natural resources, imagining future wastelands of ecological depletion and social chaos. But it has also generated rich new ideas about how humans might live better with nature.Green Utopias explores these ideas of environmental hope in the post-war period, from the environmental crisis to the end of nature. Using a broad definition of Utopia as it exists in Western ...