Society & Social Sciences Books

Humor at its best is a somewhat fluid and transitory element, but most books about it are illustrated with hardened old jokes from the comic papers, or classic witticisms jerked out of their context

Today the idea of natural law as the basic ingredient in moral, legal, and political thought presents a challenge not faced for almost two hundred years

Doctors and Rules is a unique and immensely scholarly book. It draws on material which has informed our civilization, including many of the social sciences-history, sociology, and psychology, as well as law. The author accesses the current importance of...

Some planners limit discussions of ethics to simple, though important, questions about the propriety of their daily activities

Essays in Our Changing Order is the ninth volume in the collected works of America's pre-eminent social scientist

Jewish Scriptural interpretation entails a potential therapeutic bridge between the rational-material and the irrational-mystic in the world of psychotherapy

For years Richard Hoggart has observed the oddity of a common speech habit: the fondness for employing ready-made sayings and phrasings whenever we open our mouths, a disinclination to form our own sentences "from scratch," unless that becomes...

This companion volume to The Roots of American Communism brings to completion what the author describes as the essence of the relationship of American Communism to Soviet Russia in the first decade after the Bolsheviks seized power. The outpouring of new...

Over the course of a long and distinguished academic career William Form has gained renown as a major scholar in the areas of American labor politics, institutional analysis, and educational issues surrounding the experience of ethnicity and assimilation

Criminology has developed strong methodological tools over the past decades, establishing itself as a competitive, sophisticated, and independent social science. Perhaps because of its emphasis on matters of design, methodology, and quantitative...

In the aftermath of the cold war, political commentators spoke ebulliently of the triumph of liberal democracy over its ideological rivals. Shortly thereafter, however, a surge of ethnic and religious violence raised doubts about whether democracy could...

Peter Mair demonstrated that political parties have traditionally been central actors in European politics and an essential focus of comparative European political science. Though the nature of political parties and the manner in which they operate has...

This book examines key themes and concepts pertaining to religious and sexual identities and expressions, mapping theoretical, methodological, and empirical dimensions. It explores the ways in which debates around sexuality and religion have been framed,...

Originally published in 1945, this book was written at a time when an increasing European influence was affecting customary law in what was Tanganyika and this volume records different aspects of customary law such as inheritance, matrimony, divorce,...

Utilizing each chapter to present core topical and timely examples, Pop Culture Freaks highlights the tension between inclusion and individuality that lies beneath mass media and commercial culture, using this tension as a point of entry to an...

The past 15 years of leadership research have taught us a valuable lesson: There is more than one way to be a successful leader. The Charismatic, Ideological, and Pragmatic (CIP) approach to leadership showcases three unique yet equally viable pathways...

This book provides a detailed historical and political analysis of the role and effectiveness of international administration in statebuilding. It analyses how the international administrations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo have attempted to...

Originally published in 1953, this book records the Customary Law of the Sukuma tribe and discusses the differences in law whcih grew up in the various local federations, with the aim of unifying Customary Law for both the Tanzanians and European...

Originally published in 1949, this book discusses Umbundu social structure and education, with particular reference to how both of these adapted as Angola's contact with Western influences increased in the first half of the twentieth century. Using...

Originally published in 1931, this book collects tales told to the author by agricultural labourers and hunters in what was Togoland in the 1920s. A rare and valuable resource of oral history, the book also contains the history of the Dagomba from...

New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman declared the modern age in which we live as the 'age of distraction' in 2006. The basis of his argument was that technology has changed the ways in which our minds function and our capacity to dedicate ourselves...

This book analyses the nature of the Tibetan Buddhism in the Diaspora. It examines how the re-signification of Tibetan Buddhist practices and organizational structures in the present refers back to the dismantlement of the Tibetan state headed by the...

Originally published in 1935, when the province of Iringa in what is now Tanzania was still under British administrative control, this book is inevitably a product of its time, but nonetheless it represents an important project in collaboration between...

Across many parts of the postcolonial world, it is everyday reality for people to cross regularly between state-based and customary governance, institutions and norms. This book examines this phenomenon in the context of the villages of Timor-Leste, and...

Crime Scene Processing and Investigation Workbook, Second Edition is the only workbook which directly supports and cross-references methodology and terminology presented in Ross Gardner and Donna Krouskup's perennial best-seller Practical Crime Scene...

Since publication in 1957 the importance of Bohannan's study of judicial institutions and procedures among the Tiv has been widely recognized. It has contributed widely to the continuing discussion concerning the objectives and methods to be followed in...

How much thinking have you done about gender? What does it feel like to be gay, trans or non-binary at school?How unbiased, safe and inclusive are our teachers, our schools and our systems, and what can we do about it?The time is ripe for a re-think, and...

Since publication in 1957 the importance of Bohannan's study of judicial institutions and procedures among the Tiv has been widely recognized. It has contributed widely to the continuing discussion concerning the objectives and methods to be followed in...

Originally published in 1959 this volume studies the ritual office of the Mugwe which was of great social significance among the Meru of the Central Province of Kenya and analyses the social changes and decline of the Mugwe which came about in the second...

Why people kill themselves remains an enduring and unanswered question. With a focus on Sri Lanka, a country that for several decades has reported 'epidemic' levels of suicidal behaviour, this book develops a unique perspective linking the causes and...

Buddhism is widely known to advocate a stance of total pacifism towards all sentient beings, and because of this, it is often thought that Buddhist doctrine would stipulate that non-violent food practices, such as vegetarianism, be mandatory. However,...

Originally published in 1951, this book provides an account of the traditional status and functions of the Asanti chief. The effects of British administration on the powers of the chief and his council are described, as are the tensions which the...

This collection of R. E. Bradbury's papers, originally published in 1973 includes edited sections of his (then hitherto) unpublished thesis on the Benin village in Western Nigeria. The book is arranged in 3 parts: historical and political studies of the...

Originally published in 1963 this volume surveys various aspects of the complex relations between rights in land, social organization and economic interests in tropical Africa. The papers - in English and French but with summaries in the other language -...

Originally published in 1968 this volume discusses the issues and problems relevant to Christianity in Tropical Africa. It includes historical studies of the earlier Catholic and Protestant missions and their relationship with African communities,...

Disability is a widespread phenomenon, indeed a potentially universal one as life expectancies rise, yet it is often dismissed as a niche market. This collection explores how academic avoidance of disability studies is indicative of social prejudice and...

Originally published in 1973, this volume presents some of the main approaches that were developed by French Africanists during the 1940s, 50s and 60s. The book covers social structure, kinship systems, economic change, ethnography, language, history and...

This book evaluates the relevance of classical debates on agrarian transition and extends the horizon of contemporary debates in the Indian context, linking national trends with regional experiences. It identifies new dynamics in agrarian political...

Originally published in 1957 this volume deals with the issue of large scale immigration into Freetown, Sierra Leone from the rural areas in the 1950s and the problems which arose as a result. It analyzes the way traditional social systems had to adjust...

This new comparative analysis shows that there are reasons to be concerned about the future of democratic politics. Younger generations have become disengaged from the political process. The evidence presented in this comprehensive study shows that they...

Originally published in 1952 and as a second edition in 1967 this volume provides a systematic and comprehensive account of the Basuto people and their changing culture, and reviews the developments and changes leading up to 1966 when Basutoland...

Originally published in 1974, this volume deals with studies of migration from census and other data, variations in scale, distance and duration of various types of migration, social relations of migrant populations with their home areas and their host...

Timothy Kersey's book asserts that the widespread utilization of internet communications technologies, especially social media applications, has brought forth a variety of new communicative behaviors and relationships within liberal polities. Through...

At the heart of constitutional interpretation is the struggle between, on the one hand, fidelity to founding meanings, and, on the other hand, creative interpretation to suit the context and needs of an evolving society. This book considers the...

As China moved from a planned to a market economy many people expected that China's political system would similarly move from authoritarianism to democracy. It is now clear, however, that political liberalisation does not necessarily follow economic...

China suffers frequently from many types of natural disasters, which have affected the lives of many millions of Chinese. The steps which the Chinese state has taken to prevent disasters, mitigate their consequences, and reconstruct in the aftermath of...

Thailand's position during the Cold War was ambiguous: the country's political leadership was very keen to maintain the country's independence on the world stage, yet at the same time was anxious to establish the country's credentials as staunchly...

This interdisciplinary collection provides a set of innovative and inventive approaches to the use of video as a research method. Building on the development of visual methods across the social sciences, it highlights a range of possibilities for making...