Social Decay and Transformation

Social Decay and Transformation
Author: Samuel Farber
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2000
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780739101131

In Social Decay and Transformation social and political critic Samuel Farber presents an analysis of social decline that has been missing from the contemporary scene: a view from the Left, one which draws from the ideas and traditions of the Enlightenment's left wing. Using a comparative approach to situate his theoretical conclusions in historical circumstances, Farber looks at the working class and temperance movements, civil rights rebellions and the Black Panthers, and the cultural revolutions of 1920s Russia and the Bolsheviks. Providing carefully reasoned interrogations of contemporary thinkers such as James C. Scott and Robin D. G. Kelley, Farber clarifies the discussions on social decay currently taking place, adding an important voice of the Left to the current debate.

Decay

Decay
Author: Ghassan Hage
Publisher: Duke University Press
Total Pages: 112
Release: 2021-08-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 1478022035

In eleven sharp essays, the contributors to Decay attend to the processes and experiences of symbolic and material decay in a variety of sociopolitical contexts across the globe. They examine decay in its myriad manifestations—biological, physical, organizational, moral, political, personal, and social and in numerous contexts, including colonialism and imperialism, governments and the state, racism, the environment, and infrastructure. The volume's topics are wide in scope, ranging from the discourse of social decay in contemporary Australian settler colonialism and the ways infrastructures both create and experience decay to cultural decay in the aftermath of the Sri Lankan civil war and the relations among individual, institutional, and societal decay in an American high-security prison. By using decay as a problematic and expounding its mechanisms, conditions, and temporalities, the contributors provide nuanced and rigorous means to more fully grapple with the exigencies of the current sociopolitical moment. Contributors. Cameo Dalley, Peter D. Dwyer, Akhil Gupta, Ghassan Hage, Michael Herzfeld, Elise Klein, Bart Klem, Tamara Kohn, Michael Main, Fabio Mattioli, Debra McDougall, Monica Minnegal, Violeta Schubert

The Problem with Feeding Cities

The Problem with Feeding Cities
Author: Andrew Deener
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2020-09-05
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 022670307X

For most people, grocery shopping is a mundane activity. Few stop to think about the massive, global infrastructure that makes it possible to buy Chilean grapes in a Philadelphia supermarket in the middle of winter. Yet every piece of food represents an interlocking system of agriculture, manufacturing, shipping, logistics, retailing, and nonprofits that controls what we eat—or don’t. The Problem with Feeding Cities is a sociological and historical examination of how this remarkable network of abundance and convenience came into being over the last century. It looks at how the US food system transformed from feeding communities to feeding the entire nation, and it reveals how a process that was once about fulfilling basic needs became focused on satisfying profit margins. It is also a story of how this system fails to feed people, especially in the creation of food deserts. Andrew Deener shows that problems with food access are the result of infrastructural failings stemming from how markets and cities were developed, how distribution systems were built, and how organizations coordinate the quality and movement of food. He profiles hundreds of people connected through the food chain, from farmers, wholesalers, and supermarket executives, to global shippers, logistics experts, and cold-storage operators, to food bank employees and public health advocates. It is a book that will change the way we see our grocery store trips and will encourage us all to rethink the way we eat in this country.

The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere

The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere
Author: J?rgen Habermas
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 328
Release: 2015-01-06
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0745692338

This major work retraces the emergence and development of the Bourgeois public sphere - that is, a sphere which was distinct from the state and in which citizens could discuss issues of general interest. In analysing the historical transformations of this sphere, Habermas recovers a concept which is of crucial significance for current debates in social and political theory. Habermas focuses on the liberal notion of the bourgeois public sphere as it emerged in Europe in the early modern period. He examines both the writings of political theorists, including Marx, Mill and de Tocqueville, and the specific institutions and social forms in which the public sphere was realized. This brilliant and influential work has been widely recognized for many years as a classic of contemporary social and political thought, of interest to students and scholars throughout the social sciences and humanities.

Decay of the Fourier Transform

Decay of the Fourier Transform
Author: Alex Iosevich
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2014-10-01
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 3034806256

The Plancherel formula says that the L^2 norm of the function is equal to the L^2 norm of its Fourier transform. This implies that at least on average, the Fourier transform of an L^2 function decays at infinity. This book is dedicated to the study of the rate of this decay under various assumptions and circumstances, far beyond the original L^2 setting. Analytic and geometric properties of the underlying functions interact in a seamless symbiosis which underlines the wide range influences and applications of the concepts under consideration.​

Social Transformation through Personal Transformations

Social Transformation through Personal Transformations
Author: Greg Wurm
Publisher: Change the World Coaching
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2014-04-18
Genre: Self-Help
ISBN: 1611660696

A lot of people want the world to change. Some people want to change the world. Some of these people will try. But only few of them will actually succeed. This book examines the relationship between the individual and society in bringing about social transformations. The theory, as the title suggests, is that true social transformation can only occur through collective personal transformations. Understanding this is critical for anyone who wants to change the world. Those who don't, can try, but will never truly succeed.

The Great Transformation

The Great Transformation
Author: Karl Polanyi
Publisher: Penguin Classics
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2024-06-20
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9780241685556

'One of the most powerful books in the social sciences ever written. ... A must-read' Thomas Piketty 'The twentieth century's most prophetic critic of capitalism' Prospect Karl Polanyi's landmark 1944 work is one of the earliest and most powerful critiques of unregulated markets. Tracing the history of capitalism from the great transformation of the industrial revolution onwards, he shows that there has been nothing 'natural' about the market state. Instead of reducing human relations and our environment to mere commodities, the economy must always be embedded in civil society. Describing the 'avalanche of social dislocation' of his time, Polanyi's hugely influential work is a passionate call to protect our common humanity. 'Polanyi's vision for an alternative economy re-embedded in politics and social relations offers a refreshing alternative' Guardian 'Polanyi exposes the myth of the free market' Joseph Stiglitz With a new introduction by Gareth Dale

Social Ethics in a Changing China

Social Ethics in a Changing China
Author: Huaihong He
Publisher: Brookings Institution Press
Total Pages: 292
Release: 2015-10-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 0815725728

Over the past half-century, China has experienced some incredible human dramas, ranging from Red Guard fanaticism and the loss of education for an entire generation during the Cultural Revolution, to the Tiananmen tragedy, the economic miracle, and its accompanying fad of money worship and the rampancy of official corruption. Social Ethics in a Changing China: Moral Decay or Ethical Awakening? provides a rich empirical narrative and thought-provoking scholarly arguments, highlighting the imperative for an ethical discourse in a country that is increasingly seen by many as both a materialistic giant and a spiritual dwarf. Professor He Huaihong was not only an extraordinary firsthand witness to all of these dramas, he played a distinct role as a historian, an ethicist, and a social critic exploring the deeper intellectual and sociological origins of these events. Incorporating ethical theories with his expertise in culture, history, religion, literature, and politics of the country, He reviews the remarkable transformation of ethics and morality in the People's Republic of China and engages in a global discourse about the major ethical issues of our time. The book aims to reconstruct Chinese social ethics in an innovative philosophical framework, reflecting China's search for new virtues. Contents 1. Reconstructing China's Social Ethics 2. Historical and Sociological Origins of Chinese Cultural Norms 3. The Transformation of Ethics and Morality in the PRC 4. China's Ongoing Moral Decay? 5. Ethical Discourse in Reform Era China 6. Chinese Ethical Dialogue with the West and the World

Sociology of Families

Sociology of Families
Author: David M Newman
Publisher: Pine Forge Press
Total Pages: 630
Release: 2002-02-19
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9780761987499

Covering a series of issues, this book seeks to reestablish sociology of the family as a key area in undergraduate studies. It provides a theoretical and scholarly overview of the area and includes various essays.

Radical Transformation

Radical Transformation
Author: Kevin MacKay
Publisher: Between the Lines
Total Pages: 317
Release: 2018-02-06
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1771132612

“Radical Transformation is a tour de force.”– Thomas Homer-Dixon, author of The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of Civilization Radical Transformation is a story about industrial civilization’s impending collapse, and about the possibilities of averting this fate. Human communities first emerged as egalitarian, democratic groups that existed in symbiotic relationship with their environments. Increasing complexity led to the emergence of oligarchy, in which societies became captive to the logic of domination, exploitation, and ecological destruction. The challenge facing us today is to build a movement that will radically transform civilization and once more align our evolutionary trajectory in the direction of democracy, equality, and ecological sustainability.