The search for ‘the Decent Society’ – a fit place in which to live – has informed policy at both governmental and international level. This book analyses its nature and devises a consistent way of measuring the concept world-wide on the basis of a coherent theory of agency within social structure. Influenced by classical sociology and by the economist Amartya Sen, the book posits that societies need to create (a) economic security, (b) social cohesion, (c) social inclusion, and (d) the con...

This third edition of this best-selling book confirms the ongoing centrality of feminist perspectives and research to the sociological enterprise, and introduces students to the wide range of feminist contributions in key areas of sociological concern. Completely revised, this edition includes:new chapters on sexuality and the mediaadditional material on race and ethnicity, disability and the bodymany new international and comparative examplesthe...

This book collects and reports on the results of a study conducted on the Chinese Software and Services Outsourcing (SSO) industry, focusing on one of its main players as a key case study. Two sets of research findings are presented: first, the knowledge management and communication processes inherent within a highly collaborative software development project between the case study company and one of its long-term UK clients are explored and distilled into specific practices; second, at th...

This book explains why the EU is not a ‘normative actor’ in the Southern Mediterranean, and how and why EU democracy promotion fails. Drawing on a combination of discourse analysis of EU policy documents and evidence from opinion polls showing ‘what the people want’, the book shows EU policy fails because the EU promotes a conception of democracy which people do not share. Likewise, the EU’s strategies for economic development are misconceived because they do not reflect the people’s prefe...

The Arab Uprisings were unexpected events of rare intensity in Middle Eastern history – mass, popular and largely non-violent revolts which threatened and in some cases toppled apparently stable autocracies. This volume provides in-depth analyses of how people perceived the socio-economic and political transformations in three case studies epitomising different post-Uprising trajectories – Tunisia, Jordan and Egypt – and drawing on survey data to explore ordinary citizens’ perceptions of p...

Revised, restructured and updated to reflect the latest data and debates, this new edition of the widely used, classic textbook offers students an accessible account of the major social divisions that structure social life. Written by internationally known sociologists and experts, the book:• addresses a wide range of social divisions and inequalities in novel ways, with added chapters on education and age;• provides a framework for understanding contemporary social inequal...

First Published in 1990. What are a woman's chances of 'getting on in life'? How many shopkeepers' daughters make it to senior politcal pots- more or less, than shopkeeper's sons? What do we mean when we talk of a 'successful woman'? Up until now, we have know very little about female social mobility as studies have mostly been concerned with men. For the first time, this collection presents a compressive account for women's social mobility, built up by exploring how family background, wor...

Great journalism relies on a narrative arc to engage and inform the reader. Stories Can Save Us looks at how the best reporters and writers craft narrative literary journalism. Journalist Matt Tullis uses the material he gathered in the more than seventy-five interviews he conducted with the best narrative and literary journalists in the country through his podcast, Gangrey: The Podcast, to show how these professionals conceive and writesuch compelling stories.Thr...

If youre the spouse, caregiver or loved one of someone who needs a heart transplant, what should you expect?Pamela Washnock fills a void in the existing literature by sharing her inspirational story of taking care of her husband, Bob, who was diagnosed with abnormal heart rhythms in 2000.If Bobs heart were to beat too fast, he could pass out and never wake up. Fortunately, an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator works well for many years, detecting abnormal rhythms and gi...

On the assumption that John Updike was correct when he asserted, in a 1978 letter to Joyce Carol Oates, that "Nobody can read like a writer," Why I Like This Story presents brief essays by forty-eight leading American writers on their favorite American short stories, explaining why they like them. The essays, which are personal, not scholarly, not only tell us much about the story selected, they also tell us a good deal about the author of the essay, about what elements of fiction...

This introductory text to evidence-based practice provides nurses and other health professionals with a clear idea of why they should use research information as a basis for high-quality patient care and how they should use that information in the clinical setting. In a logical progression which helps the student build knowledge systematically the text looksat:*the rationale for evidence-based care*what research is and approaches to it*the benefits of research to clin...

One cold, snowy night, a special baby is born in a hospital. The nurses and doctors dress the baby in green pajamas with a green hood. Then they call a special couple, a man with red hair and his golden-haired wife, to tell them that the baby has been born. They want a baby to love and care for more than anything. Can this darling new baby with curly black hair be the child they long for?My New Family and Me is the heartwarming story of the unconditional love shared betwee...