Recommending Books for Purchase (Bulletin 5 - January 2018) - Oxford University Press: Sociology

Approaches to Ethnography illustrates the various modes of representation and analysis that typify participant observation research. In contrast to the multitude of ethnographic textbooks, handbooks, and readers on the market, this book is neither a "how-to" guide nor a catalogue ofsubstantive themes such as race, community, or space; it also avoids re-hashing epistemological debates, such as grounded theory versus the extended case method. Instead, this volume concisely lays out the predominant analytic lenses that ethnographers use to explain social action.-.for instance,whether they privilege micro-interaction or social structure, people and places or social processes, internal dispositions or situational contingencies. Each chapter features a prominent ethnographer delineating a distinct approach to the study of everyday life and reflecting on how their approach shapes the way they analyze and represent the field. Taken together, the collection is a practical guide that spells out how different styles ofethnography illuminate different dimensions of everyday social life. As such, Approaches to Ethnography complements and augments.-.but not duplicate.-.existing ethnographic methods and logic of inquiry texts for undergraduate and graduate courses on qualitative research methods.

Traditionally economists have based their economic predictions on the assumption that humans are super-rational creatures, using the information we are given efficiently and generally making selfish decisions that work well for us as individuals. Economists also assume that we're doing thevery best we can possibly do - not only for today, but over our whole lifetimes too. But increasingly the study of behavioural economics is revealing that our lives are not that simple. Instead, our decisions are complicated by our own psychology. Each of us makes mistakes every day. We don't alwaysknow what's best for us and, even if we do, we might not have the self-control to deliver on our best intentions. We struggle to stay on diets, to get enough exercise and to manage our money. We misjudge risky situations. We are prone to herding: sometimes peer pressure leads us blindly to copyothers around us; other times copying others helps us to learn quickly about new, unfamiliar situations. This Very Short Introduction explores the reasons why we make irrational decisions; how we decide quickly; why we make mistakes in risky situations; our tendency to procrastination; and how we are affected by social influences, personality, mood and emotions. The implications of understanding therationale for our own financial behaviour are huge. Behavioural economics could help policy-makers to understand the people behind their policies, enabling them to design more effective policies, while at the same time we could find ourselves assaulted by increasingly savvy marketing. MichelleBaddeley concludes by looking forward, to see what the future of behavioural economics holds for us.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, andenthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

In the first decade of the 21st century, five rising powers (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) formed an exclusive and informal international club, the BRICS. Although neither revolutionaries nor extreme revisionists, the BRICS perceive an ongoing global power shift and contestthe West's pretensions to permanent stewardship of the existing economic order. Together they have exercised collective financial statecraft, employing their expanding financial and monetary capabilities for the purpose of achieving larger foreign policy goals. This volume examines the forms andstrategies of such collective financial statecraft, and the motivations of each individual government for collaborating through the BRICS club. Their cooperative financial statecraft takes various forms, ranging from pressure for "inside reforms" of either multilateral institutions or globalmarkets, to "outside options" exercised through creating new multilateral institutions or jointly pushing for new realities in international financial markets. To the surprise of many observers, the joint actions of the BRICS are largely successful. Although each member has its unique rationale forcollaboration, the largest member, China, controls resources that permit it the greatest influence in intra-club decision-making. The BRICS cooperate due to both common aversions (for example, resentment over being perennial junior partners in global economic and financial governance and resistance to infringements on their autonomy due to U.S. dollar dominance and financial power) and common interests (such as obtaininggreater voice in international institutions, as the IMF). The group seeks reforms, influence, and enhanced leadership roles within the liberal capitalist global system. Where blocked, they experiment with parallel multilateral institutions in which they are the dominant rule-makers. The future ofthe BRICS depends not only on their bargaining power and adjustment to market players, but also on their ability to overcome domestic impediments to sustainable economic growth, the basis for their international influence.

The relentless increase of inequality in twenty-first century America has confounded analysts from both ends of the political spectrum. While many can point to particular contributing causes, so far none of the policies that have been enacted-not just in the United States but in other advancedcountries-have been able to lessen the wealth and income gaps between the top decile and the rest. Critics on the left are more forceful critics of rising inequality, and they tend to blame capitalism and the private sector. Predictably, they see solutions in government action. Many on the right worry about the issue, too, but they come from a position that is more sanguine about corporations andmore suspicious of government. But as the libertarian Brink Lindsey and the liberal Steve Teles argue in The Captured Economy, perhaps all of us-left, right, and center-are looking in the wrong places for culprits and solutions. They hone in on the government-corporate sector nexus, apportioningblame not only to both forces but also to the distorted form of governance that this partnership has created. Through armies of lobbyists, corporations and the wealthy have become remarkably adept at shaping policy - even ostensibly progressive policies - so that the field is tilted in their favor.Corporations have become classic "rentiers," using their monopoly power of influence over highly complicated legislative and regulatory processes to shift resources in their direction. FCC policy, health care regulation, banking regulation, labor policy, defense spending, and much more: in all ofthese arenas, well-resourced corporate rentiers have combined to ensure that the government favors them over everyone else. The perverse result is a state that shifts more and more wealth to the already-rich - even if that was never the initial intent of Congress, the President, or the electorate itself. Transforming this misshapen alliance will be difficult, and Lindsey and Teles are realistic about the chances forreform. To that end, they close with a set of reasonable policy proposals that can help to reduce corporate rentiers' scope and power to extract excessive rents via government policy. A powerful, original, and genuinely counterintuitive interpretation of the forces driving the increase ininequality, The Captured Economy will be necessary reading for anyone concerned about the rising social and economic divisions in contemporary America.

There has been a remarkable upsurge of debate about increasing inequalities and their societal implications, reinforced by the economic crisis but bubbling to the surface before it. This has been seen in popular discourse, media coverage, political debate, and research in the social sciences.The central questions addressed by this book, and the major research project GINI on which it is based, are: * Have inequalities in income, wealth and education increased over the past 30 years or so across the rich countries, and if so why?* What are the social, cultural and political impacts of increasing inequalities in income, wealth and education?* What are the implications for policy and for the future development of welfare states? In seeking to answer these questions, this book adopts an interdisciplinary approach that draws on economics, sociology, and political science, and applies a common analytical framework to the experience of 30 advanced countries, namely all the EU member states except Cyprus and Malta, together withthe USA, Japan, Canada, Australia and South Korea. It presents a description and analysis of the experience of each of these countries over the past three decades, together with an introduction, an overview of inequality trends, and a concluding chapter highlighting key findings and implications.These case-studies bring out the variety of country experiences and the importance of framing inequality trends in the institutional and policy context of each country if one is to adequately capture and understand the evolution of inequality and its impacts.

Design and Analysis of Time Series Experiments presents the elements of statistical time series analysis while also addressing recent developments in research design and causal modeling. A distinguishing feature of the book is its integration of design and analysis of time series experiments.Drawing examples from criminology, economics, education, pharmacology, public policy, program evaluation, public health, and psychology, Design and Analysis of Time Series Experiments is addressed to researchers and graduate students in a wide range of behavioral, biomedical and social sciences.Readers learn not only how-to skills but, also the underlying rationales for the design features and the analytical methods. ARIMA algebra, Box-Jenkins-Tiao models and model-building strategies, forecasting, and Box-Tiao impact models are developed in separate chapters. The presentation of themodels and model-building assumes only exposure to an introductory statistics course, with more difficult mathematical material relegated to appendices. Separate chapters cover threats to statistical conclusion validity, internal validity, construct validity, and external validity with an emphasison how these threats arise in time series experiments. Design structures for controlling the threats are presented and illustrated through examples. The chapters on statistical conclusion validity and internal validity introduce Bayesian methods, counterfactual causality and synthetic control groupdesigns. Building on the earlier of the authors, Design and Analysis of Time Series Experiments includes more recent developments in modeling, and considers design issues in greater detail than any existing work. Additionally, the book appeals to those who want to conduct or interpret time seriesexperiments, as well as to those interested in research designs for causal inference.

This study highlights some emerging issues in the study of displaced persons in India, like the agency and voices of people who flee across an international border, the identities they forge for themselves, their relations with the hosts and their interactions with the state andnon-governmental organizations. Three case studies are examined here: (a). "Partition refugees", from East Pakistan to West Bengal, (b). Tamil refugees, from Sri Lanka to India and (c). Bangladesh Liberation War refugees from East Pakistan to West Bengal. The reader will find that each case is in itself highly complex. The treatment meted out to the displaced people in India has not been consistent. This study shows that the responses of the state to cross-border displacement have been varied over time and space. The Indian state has sovereign rightsto decide who is to be considered as a refugee, who should receive relief and rehabilitation and who is to be repatriated. In the absence of national laws for the refugees in India, the state is the final arbitrator on all such matters.

In all Western societies women earn lower wages on average than men. The gender wage gap has existed for many years, although there have been some important changes over time. This volume of collected papers contains extensive research on progress made by women in the labor market, and thecharacteristics and causes of remaining gender inequalities. It also covers other dimensions of inequality and their interplay with gender, such as family formation, wellbeing, race, and immigrant status. The author was awarded the 2010 IZA Prize in Labor Economics for this research. Part I comprises an Introduction by the Editors. Part II probes and quantifies the explanations for the gender wage gap, including differential choices made in the labor market by men and women as well as labor market discrimination and employment segregation. It also delineates how the gender wagegap has decreased over time in the United States and suggests explanations for this narrowing of the gap and the more recent slowdown in wage convergence. Part III considers international differences in the gender wage gap and wage inequality and the relationship between the two. Part IV considers a variety of indicators of gender inequality and how they have changed over time in the United States, painting a picture of significant gains in women'srelative status across a number of dimensions. It also considers the trends in female labor supply and what they indicate about changing gender roles in the United States and considers a successful intervention designed to increase the relative success of academic women. Part V focuses on inequality by race and immigrant status. It considers not only race difference in wages and the differential progress made by African-American women and men in reducing the race wage gap, but also race differences in wealth which are considerably larger than differences in wages.It also examines immigrant-native differences in the use of transfer payments, and the impact of gender roles in immigrant source countries on immigrant women's labor market assimilation in the U.S. labor market.

This book examines the impact since 1600 of out migration from Scotland on the homeland, the migrants, and the destinations in which they settled. It does so through a focus on the under-researched themes of slavery, cross-cultural encounters, economics, war, tourism, and the modern diasporasince 1945.

The India: Social Development Report 2016 - Disability Rights Perspectives presents new research in disability studies, a little understood subject in the social sciences and humanities in India, as also in the development discourse. The disproportionate disadvantage, exclusion, andstigmatization suff ered by persons with disabilities are caused by cultural, social, and physical barriers that obstruct their effective participation in social and political life. Encompassing the diversity of life-worlds of persons with disabilities, the first part of the report presents researchfindings in the areas of health, socio-economic status, custodial facilities, and psychiatric care for persons with psycho-social disabilities; employment and labour, right to education, higher education, status of women and girls with disabilities; and status of women with intellectualdisabilities. The second part of the report deals with other critical aspects of social development such as ageing, housing, displacement, degrading labour, labour migration, and financial inclusion. The third part presents the cumulative Social Development Index.The Social Development Report 2016 addresses the fundamental elements of non-derogable rights of all citizens of India, illuminating the pathways to their realization for persons with disabilities in all their heterogeneity. By addressing the need for setting the constitutional standard ofnon-discrimination and dignity, the report also shows how entrenched social practices can be dislodged with appropriate, mandatory, and necessary governance structures.The Council for Social Development is an institution of advanced research in the social sciences and humanities, with two centres located in Delhi and Hyderabad. It was established in the 1960s by a group of scholars and policymakers in social development led by Durgabai Deshmukh and C.D. Deshmukh.The Council, through its research, publications, and advocacy, seeks to promote dialogue and debate and to secure justice for all in every sphere of life in India.

In recent years, global migration has transformed in terms of its numbers and reach, its political significance, and its impact. The rising rates of international migration have been matched by growing public and media interest around the world. Today, the political and media attention onmigration and greater public interest and concern feed into an international debate that is all too often poorly informed and one-sided. This Very Short Introduction looks at the phenomenon of international human migration - both legal and illegal - and offers an objective stance on the topic, and its benefits and challenges. Khalid Koser reveals the opportunities migration presents that must be taken advantage of in the currenteconomic climate, and debunks common myths to demonstrate that society, as we now know it, cannot function without migrants. Using interviews with migrants from around the world, Koser presents the human side of issues such as asylum, human trafficking, migrant smuggling, and the internationallabour force, inviting readers to come to their own conclusions on the international migration situation today.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, andenthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Women's and Gender Studies departments and programs are undergoing rapid transformation, creating the need for a comprehensive and accessible introductory textbook that addresses the current state of the field. Introduction to Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies: Interdisciplinary andIntersectional Approaches is the first text to reflect the exciting changes taking place in this field. Emphasizing both interdisciplinarity and intersectionality, this innovative mix of anthology and textbook includes key primary historical sources, debates on contemporary issues, and recent workin science, technology, and digital cultures. Readings from a range of genres - including poetry, short stories, op-eds, and feminist magazine articles - complement the scholarly selections and acknowledge the roots of creative and personal expression in the field. While the majority of selections are foundational texts, the book alsointegrates new work from established scholars and emerging voices to expand current debates in the field. The text is enhanced by thorough overviews that begin each section, robust and engaging pedagogy that encourages students to think critically and self-reflexively-and also to take action-as wellas supplemental online resources for instructors.

Development is not a purely economic phenomenon; it also has a strong sociological element. The Many Faces of Socioeconomic Change explores how economic socio-cultural and political aspects of human progress have been studied since the time of Adam Smith. Surveying narratives of howdevelopment occurs, from early evolutionary models to recent types of development theory, it outlines the main long-term changes in how socioeconomic development has been envisaged through time.The Many Faces of Socioeconomic Change presents the argument that socioeconomic development emerged with the creation of grand evolutionary sequences of social progress that were the products of Enlightenment and mid-Victorian thinkers. By the middle of the twentieth century, when interest inaccelerating development gave the topic a new impetus its scope narrowed to a set of economically based strategies. After 1960, however, faith in such strategies began to wane, in the face of indifferent results and a general faltering of confidence in economists' boasts of scientific expertise. Inthe twenty first century, development research is being pursued using research methods that generate disconnected results. As a result, it seems unlikely that any grand narrative will be created in the future and that Neo-liberalism will be the last of this particular kind of socioeconomic theory.With a broad scope of content and clear exposition of academic thinking this book guides the reader through the way in which the policy adopted as a consequence of modern theories has been less effective because of the neglect or a misunderstanding of the social context within which theyoperate.

In Marx, Capital, and the Madness of Economic Reason, David Harvey-Capital's greatest expositor-explains one of the most important political and economic texts of the nineteenth century in readily understandable terms.Karl Marx's Capital is one of the most important texts written in the modern era. Since 1867, when the first of its three volumes was published, it has had a profound effect on politics and economics in theory and practice throughout the world. But Marx wrote in the context of capitalism in thesecond half of the nineteenth century: his assumptions and analysis need to be updated in order to address to the technological, economic, and industrial change that has followed Capital's initial publication.In Marx, Capital, and the Madness of Economic Reason, David Harvey not only provides a concise distillation of his famous course on Capital, but also makes the text relevant to the twenty-first century's continued processes of globalization. Harvey shows the work's continuing analytical power, doingso in the clearest and simplest terms but never compromising its depth and complexity. Marx, Capital, and the Madness of Economic Reason provides an accessible window into Harvey's unique approach to Marxism and takes readers on a riveting roller coaster ride through recent global history. It demonstrates how and why Capital remains a living, breathing document with an outsizedinfluence on contemporary social thought.

The changing economic reality of the last decades has prompted large movements of people across and within national borders, which, in turn, have given rise to new opportunities and challenges. This volume addresses a number of key aspects of these developments, by bringing together a uniquecollection of chapters, written by leading scholars from three different disciplines: economics, sociology, and political science. The first part of the book - Economic Change - starts with two case studies: The mass migration from the former Soviet Union to Israel in the early 1990s, and the mass migration from rural to urban areas in China that started in the mid 1990s. The final chapter of the first part provides a thoroughintroduction and overview into methodologies that can help to address numerous issues faced by researchers working with migration data, of the type underlying the analysis in the first two chapters. The second part of the book - Social Challenge - discusses how societies are shaped by immigration. It investigates the pitfalls of policies that do not take account of the implications for decisions of individual migrants; explores the important aspect of family re-unification and discusses whethersociety should follow a path towards a multicultural society or a society that forces newcomers to adopt existing cultures. Finally, this volume ponders whether the diversity created through migration impacts negatively on the societal structure of the receiving countries. These chapters together, written by some of the foremost experts in the areas, provide intriguing insights into the complexity of migratory phenomena and the challenges to policy and society at large.

International migration remains the orphan child of globalization. Rapid development from the last quarter of the twentieth century has resulted in a world more unequal than ever before. Mobility of people needs to be understood as the natural corollary to international trade and capital.Sustaining global economic growth rates and progressing towards an equitable global order will be predicated substantially on the free movement of people. Transnational economic migration will be the next frontier of globalization.There is urgent need to move to a rule-based, binding set of principles that would require states to willingly cede some degree of their sovereignty on matters of economic migration to a multilateral process. Failure to do so will likely generate conflict of an order that can jeopardize the verybasis of a modern, progressive and democratic future for all. This book tells an interesting story - of development as seen from the lens of mobility - of how important migration has been, is, and will increasingly be for human development.

In recent years diversity and its management has become a feature of modern and postmodern organizations. Different practices have spread around the globe focusing on the organizing and management of inclusion and exclusion of different groups such as men and women, heterosexual andhomosexuals, persons with different racial and ethnic background, ages, and (dis)abilities. However, although increasingly recognized as important, the discourses of diversity are multifaceted and not without controversy. Furthermore, diversity management practices have the potential to reproduceboth inclusion and exclusion.This book presents the foundations of organizing and managing diversities, offers multidisciplinary, intersectional, and critical analyses on key issues, and opens up fresh perspectives in order to advance the diversity debate. The contributors are a team of leading diversity scholars from all overthe world.

Refugee and Forced Migration Studies has grown from being a concern of a relatively small number of scholars and policy researchers in the 1980s to a global field of interest with thousands of students worldwide studying displacement either from traditional disciplinary perspectives or as acore component of newer programmes across the Humanities and Social and Political Sciences. Today the field encompasses both rigorous academic research which may or may not ultimately inform policy and practice, as well as action-research focused on advocating in favour of refugees' needs andrights. This authoritative Handbook critically evaluates the birth and development of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies, and analyses the key contemporary and future challenges faced by academics and practitioners working with and for forcibly displaced populations around the world. The 52state-of-the-art chapters, written by leading academics, practitioners, and policymakers working in universities, research centres, think tanks, NGOs and international organizations, provide a comprehensive and cutting-edge overview of the key intellectual, political, social and institutionalchallenges arising from mass displacement in the world today. The chapters vividly illustrate the vibrant and engaging debates that characterise this rapidly expanding field of research and practice.

The Oxford Handbook of Social Movements is an innovative volume that presents a comprehensive exploration of social movement studies, mapping the field and expanding it to examine the recent developments in cognate areas of studies, within and beyond sociology and political science. This volume brings together the most distinguished social and political scientists working in this field, each writing thought-provoking essays in their area of expertise, and facilitates conversations between classic social movement agenda and lines of research. The Oxford Handbook of SocialMovements discusses core theoretical perspectives, recent contributions from the field, and how patterns of macro social change may affect social movements, as well as suggesting what contributions social movement studies can give to other research areas in various disciplines.

Sociology and social theory has always been a major source of new perspectives for organization studies. Access to a series of authoritative accounts of theorists and research themes in sociology and social theory which have influenced developments in organization studies is essential forthose wishing to deepen and extend their knowledge of the intersection of sociology and organization studies. This goal is achieved by drawing on a group of internationally renowned scholars committed in their own work to strengthening these links and asking them to provide critical accounts ofparticular theorists and research themes which have straddled this divide. This volume aims to strengthen ties between organization studies and contemporary sociological work at a time when there are increasing institutional barriers to such cooperation, potentially generating a myopia that constricts new developments. Used in conjunction with its companion volume, TheOxford Handbook of Sociology and Organization Studies: Classical foundations, the reader is provided with a comprehensive account of the productive and critical interaction between sociology and organization studies over many decades. Highly international in scope, theorists and themes are drawn from both the USA and Europe in equal measure. Similarly the authors of the chapters are drawn from both sides of the Atlantic. The result is a series of chapters on individuals and key research themes and debates which will providefaculty and post graduate researchers with appreciative, authoritative and critical accounts that can be drawn on to design courses or provided guided reading to the field

Povertyand poverty eradication was the predominant paradigm within which Indias twentieth century science policy was constructed. Yet, when we think of science in India today, this earlier priority of poverty eradication is now hard to find. What accounts for this? This volume asks: Has the problem of poverty in India been solved? Or, has it become inconvenient alongside the rise of new narratives that frame India as a site of remarkable economic growth?

Refugees have rarely been studied by economists. Despite some pioneering research on the economic lives of refugees, there remains a lack of theory and empirical data through which to understand, and build upon, refugees' own engagement with markets. Yet, understanding these economic systemsmay hold the key to rethinking our entire approach to refugee assistance. If we can improve our knowledge of the resource allocation systems that shape refugees' lives and opportunities, then we may be able to understand the mechanisms through which these market-based systems can be made to workbetter and turn humanitarian challenges into sustainable opportunities. This book adopts an inter-disciplinary approach, based on original qualitative and quantitative data on the economic life of refugees, in order to begin to build theory on the economic lives of refugees. It focuses on the case of Uganda because it represents a relatively positive case. Unlike othergovernments in the region, it has taken the positive step to allow refugees the right to work and a significant degree of freedom of movement through it so-called "Self-Reliance Strategy". This allows a unique opportunity to explore what is possible when refugees have basic economic freedoms. Thebook shows that refugees have complex and varied economic lives, often being highly entrepreneurial and connected to the global economy. The implications are simple but profound: far from being an inevitable burden, refugees have the capacity to help themselves and contribute to their host societies- if we let them

Current policy or scholarly literature on sustainable development in India has been missing a vital interdisciplinary integrated link covering four areas of knowledge: law, economics, science, and politics. This gap has contributed to an incomplete understanding of the whole issue and, inturn, has added resulted in inappropriate and often unrealistic instruments being used to achieve the lofty ideals of sustainable development. This edited volume brings together a scholarly analysis of interdisciplinary approaches and perspectives to the sustainable development agenda and debates inIndia. The theoretical and empirical analyses conducted by the contributors create more questions than answers, yet an integrated whole emerging shows the future directions which will shape the policy and theoretical debates on sustainable development.

Why don't we eat more octopus? What about gurnard and other ugly fish? Cheeks and feet are cheap and delicious, but people prefer fillet or chops. What about rabbits and squirrels? Where do all the giblets go? And what's wrong with ugly vegetables? This book is about ingredients that are neglected, overlooked, forgotten. They are all tasty, sustainable and cheap, and easy to cook when you know how. Ugly Food aims to change the way people think about them, and the way they think about eating them. The food industry, like the fashion industry, seems driven by the pursuit of impossible perfection: pre-packaged meats with nary a head or foot or set of giblets in sight; rows of blemish-free fruit and vegetables in supermarkets tasting of not-very- much; and a steady stream of cookbooks containingphoto-shopped, super-saturated photos of beautiful dishes bathed in sunlight. In contrast, Horsey and Wharton take an unpretentious, practical approach. They reveal the tips and tricks you need to prepare these undervalued foods with ease. And, alongside recipes, they provide social histories of ingredients that are positively brimming over with fascinating facts, fictions,and, of course, flavors.Recipes include:Ox-Cheek Salad a la HongroiseLao Chicken Feet SaladMaldivian Curried OctopusSpiced Squirrel PopcornDeep-fried Rabbit EarsSheep's Brain on ToastChar Siu Pigs' Cheeks

Violence is embedded in our everyday. We encounter not only its overt, raw, and brutal nature but also the deeply buried invisible and insidious forms that normalize violence in the collective conscience, making it less noticeable and more tolerable.This volume opens out the field of violence studies with a focus on its myriad habitations and experiences in India. It interrogates the numerous ways in which omnipresent violence is interpreted and represented, and delves into the interconnections between the identifiable normative axes of powerand the engendering of violence. Bringing together fresh methodological and conceptual perspectives on the way violence is understood and analysed, the contributors to this volume investigate its occurrence across sites-law, family, state, gender, labour, caste, sexuality, communalism, and so on-toexplore the normal as well as the exceptional.The case studies in this book are all drawn from the Indian experience. This volume aims towards a coherent and more nuanced understanding of violence that moves beyond the episodic to the systemic, structural levels of society and consciousness.

The programmes that make up the welfare state vary from nation to nation and from time to time, and the balance between markets and government, and free enterprise and social protection is perennially in question. In contemporary political debate the welfare state seems to be mostly viewed asa problem rather than a solution, and welfare programmes appear constantly on the defensive. ThisVery Short Introduction describes the modern welfare state, explaining its historical and contemporary significance and arguing that far from being 'a failure' or 'a problem', welfare states are an essential element of contemporary capitalism, and a vital concomitant of democratic government.In this accessible and entertaining account, David Garland cuts through the fog of misunderstandings to explain in clear and simple terms, what the welfare state is, how it works, and why it matters.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, andenthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.