Books published by Palgrave MacMillan

This book explores how two generations of relatively privileged Australian men have navigated the complex terrain of same-gender friendship across their lives, to offer both empirically unique and theoretically significant insights into the mechanics of social change in masculinities. Applying a feminist poststructuralist lens to data from in-depth interviews with 14 pairs of fathers and sons, it details how masculinist discourses of emotion and intimacy have governed the participants' friendship practices at three chronological timepoints: fathers' early lives and later lives, and sons' early lives. A clear but complicated shift emerges, such that the commitment to stoicism and self-reliance dominant in the fathers' early lives has given way to a growing embrace of intimacy and emotional expression within their and their son's contemporary same-gender friendships. Engaging with key debates in the field of critical studies on men and masculinities (CSMM), this book offers an alternative to the conceptualisation of this positive change as either representative of a holistic disintegration of hegemonic structures, or a superficial behavioural shift that is largely inconsequential to the gender order. Rather, it illustrates that the increasing influence of feminist, queer-inclusion and therapeutic discourse has destabilised masculinism in the context of men's friendships, offering men an alternative subject position that allows care, expressiveness and intimacy. This book will be of interest to scholars in Gender and Sexuality Studies, and Masculinity Studies.

The book provides a comprehensive and updated introduction to concept of territory in the study of democratic politics. Territory plays a rather marginal role in the traditional conceptions of democracy that in many ways still prevail today. Democratic politics is often analysed from the point of view of its institutions, citizens and voters, while little is said about the territory through which it is expressed - at most it provides a broader perimeter or context of political and institutional action. The book offers, instead, an introductory theoretically-oriented discussion of crucial issues such as the genesis of state-nation, the transformation of democratic citizenship, the current borders' policies, the rising of territorial populism and the experience of 19-covid pandemic.This is an open access book.

In his book, Andreas Urs Sommer reflects on the question of what it really means when everybody's appealing to values, all the time - the question, fundamentally, of what values actually are. Values explores both of these points, arriving at two intriguing suggestions: Maybe what we call values are just a set of elaborate fictions. And maybe those fictions serve some very important purposes.

Traditionally, philosophers have argued that epistemology is a normative discipline and therefore occupied with an a priori analysis of the necessary and sufficient conditions that a belief must fulfill to be acceptable as knowledge. But such an approach makes sense only if human knowledge has some normative features, which conceptual analysis is able to disclose. As it turns out, philosophers have not been able to find such features unless they are very selective in their choice of examples of knowledge. Much of what we intuitively think functions as knowledge, both in human and non-human animals, does not share these normative features.The purpose of this book is to demonstrate that natural selection has adapted human sense impressions to deliver reliable information without meeting the traditional commitments for having knowledge. In connection with memory, sensory and bodily information provides an animal with experiential knowledge. Experiential knowledge helps an animal to navigate its environment. Moreover, experiential knowledge has different functions depending on whether the deliverance of information stems from the organism's external or internal senses.

This book discusses and analyses global policies and practices aimed at promoting equity in higher education participation and attainment. Although the massification of higher education systems has facilitated the participation of students from deprived backgrounds, socioeconomic inequalities persist in access to the most prestigious institutions and programmes. Privileged students benefit from a number of advantages in the competition for selective and scarce places: access to information, lower aversion to debt, higher expectations, better previous schooling and higher academic achievement. The chapters present a critical analysis of equity policies in different countries - with or without affirmative action policies, within a context of neoliberal policies or within a social democratic model - and the reasons why they have failed to promote equity and fairness, preventing students from achieving their full educational potential.This is an open access book.

This book explores the challenges that multilateralism faces today and questions the idea of a 'crisis' of multilateral cooperation and international organizations. It accounts for the pressures on and power shifts in multilateralism in recent years - such as the war in Syria, the Covid-19 pandemic, challenges for NATO, the erosion of multilateral norms, the transition from Trump to Biden, the rise of China, the post-Brexit European Union, and the mobilization of countries from the South. The authors illustrate the resilience of multilateralism and lessons learned from the WTO, UN Women, International Organizations' Secretariats and global environmental governance. Written in part by members of the Research Group on Multilateral Action (GRAM), this volume argues that 'crisis' should not be considered a pathology but the 'matrix' of multilateralism, which is more resilient than commonly thought. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of International Relations, globalgovernance, and international organizations.

How does the dominant understanding(s) of the demo(i)cratic subject in the EU, and of democracy more broadly, shape the EU's democratic innovations on 'citizen participation'? What are the politically and normatively preferable alternatives, both in terms of the conceptualisation of the democratic subject in the EU and in the ensuing political practices? The book addresses these questions combining a political theory with a political sociology perspective, contrasting the 'democracy without politics' approach of the EU in the context of the Conference on the Future of Europe with that of ongoing transnational activist processes. In doing so, it develops an agonistic alternative to 'the people(s)' as the political imaginary of democracy in the EU, which is based on the idea of the 'decolonial multitude'. Thus, the book puts forward a diagnosis of current debates on EU democratic legitimacy as well as proposing an alternative.

This book explores how our temperamental proclivities interact with our political leanings, shedding light on why people perceive the world differently. Focusing on the Five Factor Model of personality, currently the most popular framework in psychology research, the text unpacks the literature on the association between political orientations and personality traits. While only part of the puzzle, growing evidence suggests personality traits have a significant impact on our political convictions and voting patterns. In some instances, certain traits may even make individuals more prone to holding authoritarian and prejudicial views. Understanding these dynamics can help people better navigate political differences and conflicts, and will be of interest to students of personality psychology and students of political ideologies.

The Campus Queen in Literature and Culture: Prom Queen Profiles explores the nuanced relationship between femininity and power and provides a scholarly framework for understanding the evolution of the prom queen's archetypal ubiquity. Semantically, the titles are nearly synonymous--prom queen, homecoming queen, winterfest princess--as all denote the longstanding tradition in the United States of conferring royal status upon teenage popularity. Yet whatever we call it, high school royalty remains one of the most paradoxical realities of youth culture, for as fervently as it gets dismissed and discredited, it is just as frequently revered and respected. A physical manifestation of the student body's collective hegemonic efforts, the campus queen occupies a significant space in literature and culture, excavating truths both timeless and telling. A signature survey of the genre, this study traces the historical underpinnings and cultural implications of the campus queen, examining the longevity of the archetype and ultimately reimagining the narrative for future generations.

Influential libertarians from diverse backgrounds and professions who have worked toward a freer society across the globe share their personal and intellectual journeys, including what their lives and thoughts were before they embraced libertarianism; which people, texts, or events most inspired them; what experiences, challenges, tribulations, and achievements they have had as participants or leaders in this movement, and how this philosophy has affected their private and professional lives. The volume's 80 contributors span the political-philosophical spectrum of libertarianism, including anarcho-capitalists, minarchists, constitutionalists, classical liberals, and thick libertarians. Their essays express different perspectives on many issues even while articulating such core principles as an appreciation for individual liberty, private property rights, the rule of law, and free enterprise. Together, they represent myriad individual journeys toward libertarianism, however defined. By bringing together a range of contemporary voices from outside the dominant left-right paradigm, this book aims to contribute to the viewpoint diversity that is crucially needed in today's public discourse. These autobiographies not only offer compelling insights into their individual authors and the state of the world today, but may also inspire the next generation to make our society a freer one.

This is a comprehensive book series that comprises two distinct yet interconnected volumes. Volume I focuses on international relations and global politics, while Volume II delves into social sciences and humanities studies. Both volumes revolve around the central theme of the COVID-19 pandemic era, exploring its profound impact on various aspects of the world. In Volume I, scholars, and experts in the field of international relations delve into the intricate dynamics of global politics in the context of the pandemic. They analyse the shifting power dynamics, the role of international organisations, the challenges to global governance, and the geopolitical implications of the crisis. This book provides valuable insights into how the pandemic has shaped and transformed the international system, influencing state behaviour, diplomatic relations, and global cooperation. Volume II takes a multidisciplinary approach, examining the social, cultural, economic, and psychological dimensions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts from the fields of social sciences and humanities contribute their research and perspectives, offering critical analyses of the pandemic's effects on societies, communities, individuals, and various aspects of human life. Together, these two volumes provide a comprehensive exploration of the COVID-19 pandemic's impact on world politics, society, and human experiences. By bringing together scholars from different disciplines, the book series offers a holistic understanding of the challenges and opportunities presented by this unprecedented global crisis. It serves as a valuable resource for academics, policymakers, and anyone seeking to comprehend and navigate the complexities of the COVID-19 era.

Emerging economies, as actively changing societies, invoke questions about the future direction for national and global development as well as equitable economic growth. In this book, the Editors argue that understanding the corporate management ecosystem of emerging economies is key to business success in the globalized economy.Discussing the key attributes of emerging economies (for example, population dynamics, labour and production patterns, employment, and foreign direct investment) and the connection with governance, marketing, innovation management, and supply chain research and practice, the book highlights the distinctiveness of corporate management dynamics in comparison with existing knowledge that is dominated by developed country frameworks.The book offers twenty-one case studies that cover examples of corporate management research and practice in both local and international companies, making this a valuable resource for students, academics and industry stakeholders.

This open access book discusses the challenges and opportunities faced by companies in an age that increasingly values sustainability and demands corporate responsibility. Beginning with the historical development of corporate responsibility, this book moves from academic theory to practical application. It points to ways in which companies can successfully manage their transition to a more responsible, sustainable way of doing business, common mistakes to avoid and how the UN Sustainable Development Goals are integral to any sustainability transformation. Practical cases illustrate key points. Drawing on thirty years of sustainability research and extensive corporate experience, the author provides tools such as a Step-by-Step strategic guide on integrating sustainability in collaboration with stakeholders including employees, customers, suppliers and investors. The book is particularly relevant for SMEs and companies operating in emerging markets. From a broader perspective, the value of externalities, full cost pricing, alternative economic theories and circular economy are also addressed.

This edited collection provides an invaluable resource of seventeen chapters from a wide range of academic disciplines. These chapters place sex and sexualities in Ireland in historical context and take the reader through the structural changes that have transformed the expression of sexuality in Ireland from one of self-denial to self-expression. The collection does not however unquestionably assume a linear narrative of progress: new issues and challenges are also addressed throughout. This book will be of interest to students and scholars from a range of disciplines including sociology, social policy, history, media, gender studies and psychology. The collection is divided into six separate but interlinked thematic sections: Sexualities in Historical Irish Contexts, Young Adults, Sexual Health, and Education, Sexual Practices and Health, Minority Sexualities and Genders, Sex Work in Ireland and Activism and Contestation.

While methodological individualism is a fundamental approach within the social sciences, it is often misunderstood. This highlights the need for a discursive and up-to-date reference work analyzing this approach's classic arguments and assumptions in the light of contemporary issues in sociology, economics and philosophy. This two-volume handbook presents the first comprehensive overview of methodological individualism. Chapters discuss historical and contemporary debates surrounding this central approach within the social sciences, as well as cutting edge developments related to the individualist tradition with philosophical and scientific implications. Bringing together multiple contributions from the world's leading experts on this important tradition of theorizing, this collective endeavor provides teachers, researchers and students in sociology, economics, and philosophy with a reliable and critical understanding of the founding principles, key thinkers and intellectual development of MI since the late 19th century.

Showcases the sources of policy failures financial instability and income disparitiesCounters criticism levied against economics about its inability to solve economic problems and predict financial crisesExplains the need for a paradigm shift from Islamic economics to Iqtisaad, a socio-economic system that is entirely independent from other economic doctrines and systems of thought

This book provides an in-depth examination of Lacanian oriented psychotherapy and supervision, drawing on a wide range of Lacanian texts and rich interview data.Beginning with a comprehensive overview of the Lacanian psychoanalytic therapeutic process, it next considers this in relation to Lacanian texts - including, 'The Function and Field of Speech and Language in Psychoanalysis', 'Direction of the Treatment', 'Lacanian Discourses' and 'Seminar XXIII' - and interview data from ex-analysants and psychoanalysts.The second part of the book offers the first systematic discussion of Lacanian supervision. Through a sophisticated theoretical analysis and unique research material, Dries Dulsster has created an important reference point for students, scholars and clinicians that will appeal to those new to Lacanian practice, and those already deeply involved in it.

This is the first book addressing explicitly and specifically the methodological issues of relational sociology, and more broadly of the new relational paradigm in social sciences. The dynamically developing relational movement in social and cultural sciences is fueled by various classical and contemporary theoretical inspirations. Relational approaches propose various models of relational analyses, such as field analysis, social space analysis, network analysis, or the critical realist relational heuristic. The relational turn, which promotes interdisciplinarity in research, simultaneously reflects the drive towards an innovative reconstruction of sociology. Contemporary relational sociology is at the forefront of the relational movement. The program of relational sociology is still being shaped, frequently becoming the subject of discussions with different standpoints expressed. The aim of this book is to reflect on various relational approaches and models of relational analysis.Answers to two basic questions are sought: Are there foundations for a methodological unity of relational sociology, despite the diversity of approaches? And does relational sociology form a new paradigm? To answer these questions, it is necessary to investigate differences between the relational paradigm and the earlier, competing sociological paradigms. The answers to key questions show what innovations the methodology of relational sociology brings, i.e. what are the methodological consequences of the relational concept of the social fact. The broadly defined horizon of methodological issues is presented. The book creates an open space for discussion on various approaches and varieties of relational analysis, as well as the possibility of their methodological synthesis within relational sociology.

Soon after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Vladimir Putin expressed Russia's commitment for the reconstruction of the war-devasted Eastern regions of Ukraine. It is surprising how little analytical and comparative literature exists about Russia's experience in post-conflict recovery despite its involvement in a large number of conflict areas, both as an intervenor and as a donor.Against this backdrop, this book explores the role of Russia in the reconstruction of a range of countries and territories including Crimea, the North Caucasus and Chechnya as well as Syria. Based on the author's three decades-long experience in research and engagement in post-conflict reconstruction, the book offers a valuable overview of the main lessons learned that will be of relevance to Ukraine. The case selection is not intended to offer an exhaustive account of all the recent or contemporary conflicts in which Russia has involved itself. Rather the cases have been selected to illustrate a range of interventions across different periods and geographical areas, highlighting the spectrum of Russian reconstruction policies and strategies.

This open access book presents a series of speculative, experimental modes of inquiry in the present times of environmental damage that have come to be known as the age of the Anthropocene. Throughout the book authors develop more nuanced ways of engaging with the environmentally vulnerable Arctic. It counters distancing, exoticising, and even apocalyptic imaginaries of the Arctic by staying proximate with mundane places and beings of the north. The volume engages and plays with familiar tourism concepts, such as hospitality, visiting, difference, care, openness, and distance, while expanding the focus from binary and human-centric approaches of hosts and guests to questions of wellbeing among multispecies communities. The transdisciplinary group of contributors share a curiosity about how staying proximate may provide theoretical depth and epistemological openings to attend to current tensions and to diversify the ways we do and enact research. Thus, each chapter provides a methodological experiment with proximity, developing diverse ways of envisioning and storying more-than-human worlds.

From a Biblical perspective, followership is an important aspect of leadership and is exemplified in the lives of numerous individuals in the Bible. These examples offer valuable guidance for how followership can be applied in modern organizations. Divided into three parts, this volume explores the definition and impact of followership on leadership, examining its interdependence with servant leadership, as well as the positive and negative aspects of the relationship between followers and leaders. The book also delves into how followers share power in the workplace and the characteristics and behaviors of followers.Overall, this work contributes to the emerging field of followership in organizational leadership research, with a particular emphasis on the Biblical perspective but also relevant to broader leadership studies.

This book extends the approach that Murray and Schuler develop in their companion volume, False Moves in Philosophy and Social Theory: Losing Public Purpose. The chapters form a connected inquiry into consequences of capital, a far-reaching social form, through a critique of political economy and the mindset it shares with much modern philosophy and social theory. The authors call this bifurcating mentality factoring philosophy. Factoring philosophy mistakes the distinguishable for the separable. It splits the subjective and objective, form and content, and it takes the object of social theory to be an impossible economy-in-general, stripped of constitutive social forms. The critique of factoring philosophy structures the collection, which makes a wide-ranging contribution to the research field of the critique of political economy as critical social theory. Ultimately, this book solidifies Murray and Schuler's impact on the study of political economy, political philosophy, modern philosophy, Hegel, Marx, and critical theory.

This book surveys the African media industry, examining various sections of the media at the elite level. Drawing on contributors from diverse regions and media and communication disciplines, the book provides definitive analyses of the switch from analogue to digital broadcasting in select African countries. This timely and relevant collection of essays covers trending topics in communication and media studies, as scholars globally continue to examine the impact of digital technology on media practice, training, and education. The contributors offer rich perspectives on crucial issues, blending practice and scholarship as former media practitioners and academics come together to fill a major gap in media practice and education in Africa. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the intersection of globalization and African media.

Responding to a question of immense interdisciplinary interest, this book investigates the construction of value in the curation of film festivals and production of cultural events undertaken by nonprofit arts organizations around the world. Combining their expertise in economics and sociology, the authors outline a theoretically and methodologically cohesive approach that puts the valuation of cinema right into the middle of global value chain research. It challenges the ways in which the interdisciplinary pursuit of cultural economics has approached cultural value, presenting a thorough analytic inquiry into who produces the value and who seeks rent in the value chain. While offering a fresh approach to cinema and media economics, the book highlights the significant way of nonprofit actor incorporation into value chains and value networks.

This open access book explores fishing livelihoods within their wider contexts. Drawing on case studies from across the Asia-Pacific region, the book highlights how fishing livelihoods are shaped by globalisation, social relationships and governance. The book concludes by showing how better understanding these relationships can contribute to governance for healthier ecosystems and social wellbeing.This is an open access book.This is an open access book.

This book links two seminal moments in Egypt's history - the Revolution of 25th January 2011 and the presidency of Gamal Abdel Nasser - through various cultural manifestations. It conceives the concept of "collective dreaming" to map out the subliminal feeling which runs deep through experiences of socially transformative moments. The author has extensively studied the structure of feelings that encompasses the experiences not only of activist minorities but the broader mass of revolutionary movements. In certain historical moments, hopes and aspirations bind together millions of people from all walks of life: students, workers, farmers, and middle-class professionals. Nagaty calls this phenomenon the "collective dream", something which has been carried through generations of Egyptians. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of social movement studies, cultural studies and cultural sociology.

This open access handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the growing field of positive education, featuring a broad range of theoretical, applied, and practice-focused chapters from leading international experts. It demonstrates how positive education offers an approach to understanding learning that blends academic study with life skills such as self-awareness, emotion regulation, healthy mindsets, mindfulness, and positive habits, grounded in the science of wellbeing, to promote character development, optimal functioning, engagement in learning, and resilience.The handbook offers an in-depth understanding and critical consideration of the relevance of positive psychology to education, which encompasses its theoretical foundations, the empirical findings, and the existing educational applications and interventions. The contributors situate wellbeing science within the broader framework of education, considering its implications for teacher training, education and developmental psychology, school administration, policy making, pedagogy and curriculum studies.This landmark collection will appeal to researchers and practitioners working in positive psychology, educational and school psychology, developmental psychology, education, counselling, social work and public policy.

The book is a collection of essays written by Gustavo Esteva over the last 20 years. In this book, Gustavo Esteva, renowned in Mexico as a philosopher on education and on developmentalism, collects four major areas of his writings: on learning, development, autonomy, and interculturality. A memorial to a great thinker, this book stimulates thoughts on developmentalism across the global south.

This edited volume addresses current challenges, trends and transformations in global communication governance. Exploring changes in the actors, issues, values and contexts of media and communications, it investigates the crossroads that media policy is facing and offers visions for the future. A diverse range of scholars and expert practitioners discuss what regulatory reforms and governing mechanisms are required to advance democratic participation and fundamental rights in platform societies.Organized around five sections, the volume considers the geopolitics of emerging communication orders; the changing roles of actors and stakeholders; the challenge of embedding rights and values in regulatory arrangements; the intersection of technology and policy; and the need to rethink epistemologies and methodologies for researching this field.Contributions from different disciplines and cultural backgrounds include provocative think pieces and longer analyses. All chapters are grounded in historically-aware understandings of contemporary transformations, while anticipating dynamics of our communication futures.