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Anthropology is a modern study of human existence in which the anthropos becomes an object of knowledge and also a technique of modern power. The field readily acknowledges that it is both a product, and an interrogator, of modernity. This relationship has given anthropology its existential doubling, as an extension, and as an undoing, of the taken for granted aspects of Western modernity. For much of the twentieth century, anthropologists have used ethnographic findings to question the assumed aspects of the historical framing of modernity and its others. Another feature of anthropology"s approach to modernity is through the notion of plural modernisms, which seeks to capture the particularistic experiences of others in encounters with modern Western forms. The most promising approach has been to treat modernity as a specific ethnographic project, one that tracks the spread of political and social rationalities, and their production of new techniques, social forms, and subjects in a variety of ethnographic settings. Anthropology as a field and an ethnographer"s craft is especially well suited to identify the ever shifting webs of rationalities that constitute our plural worlds, and to pose the question of modernity itself as a paradox about humanity.

Advancing methods in social epidemiology / Jay S. Kaufman and J. Michael Oakes -- The measurement of socioeconomic status / J. Michael Oakes and Kate E. Andrade -- Measuring and analyzing 'race', racism, and racial discrimination / Saffron Karlsen and James Yzet Nazroo -- Measuring poverty / David M. Betson and Jennifer L. Warlick -- Health inequalities : measurement and decomposition / Sam Harper and John Lynch -- A conceptual framework for measuring segregation and its association with population outcomes / Sean F. Reardon -- Measures of residential community contexts / Patricia O'Campo Ph.D. and Margaret O'Brien Caughy -- Community-based participatory research : rationale and relevance for social epidemiology / Paula M. Lantz, Barbara A. Israel, Amy J. Schulz, and Angela G. Reyes -- Social network analysis for epidemiology / David A. Shoham and Lynne C. Messer -- Fieldwork with in-depth interviews : how to get strangers in the city to tell you their stories / Melody L. Boyd and Stefanie DeLuca -- Experimental social epidemiology : controlled community trials / Peter J. Hannan -- Propensity score matching for social epidemiology / J. Michael Oakes and Pamela Jo Johnson -- Longitudinal approaches to social epidemiologic research / Magdalena Cerdá and Katherine M. Keyes -- Fixed effects and difference-in-differences / Erin C Strumpf, Sam Harper, and Jay S Kaufman -- Fixed versus random effects models for multilevel and longitudinal data / Ashley Schempf Hirai, and Jay S. Kaufman -- Mediation analysis in social epidemiology / Arijit Nandi and Tyler J. VanderWeele -- A roadmap for estimating and interpreting population intervention parameters / Jennifer Ahern and Alan E. Hubbard -- Natural experiments and instrumental variables analyses in social epidemiology / Maria Glymour, Stefan Walter, and Eric J. Tchetgen -- Using causal diagrams to understand common problems in social epidemiology / M. Maria Glymour

Contributors Part I. Theoretical and Historical Perspectives 1. Social Relationships and Health, Sheldon Cohen, Benjamin H. Gottlieb, and Lynn G. Underwood Part II. Social Support Measures 2. Social Support Theory and Measurement, Brian Lakey and Sheldon Cohen 3. Measuring Social Integration and Social Networks, Ian Brissette, Sheldon Cohen, and Teresa E. Seeman 4. Measuring Perceived and Received Social Support, Thomas A. Wills and Ori Shinar 5. Measuring Relationship Properties and Interactions Relevant to Social Support, Harry T. Reis and Nancy Collins Part III. Social Support Interventions 6. Selecting and Planning Support Interventions, Benjamin H. Gottlieb 7. Support Groups, Vicki S. Helgeson and Benjamin H. Gottlieb 8. One-to-One Support Interventions: Home Visitation and Mentoring, John Eckenrode and Stephen Hamilton 9. Optimizing Support in the Natural Network, Carolyn E. Cutrona and Valerie Cole Part IV. Implications 10. Social Support Measurement and Interventions: Comments and Future Directions, Karen S. Rook and Lynn G. Underwood Index.

The rising importance of dimensions such as age, gender, nationality, ethnicity, political attitudes, and multiple choices to organize the notion of "life course" has made the older class concept appear obsolete to the research sociologist. My thesis is that the current expanding discussions of life styles are not necessarily a substitute but a valuable supplement to social stratification theory. Life style research can contribute to the question of the relevance of the class concept. The result of my investigation shows that life style research, when connected to the writings of Thorstein Veblen, Georg Simmel, and Max Weber, can enrich research in the social sciences.

The Slovak Republic faces the task to secure conditions for a long-term economic growth. A crucial precondition for an efficient implementation of economic measures is the knowledge of the status quo and of the impacts on the economy and the society as a whole to be expected from the relevant measures. Foreign experience with economic policies can only adopted when adjusted to the conditions of Slovak's economy, and attention has be paid to both short-term and long-term prospects of the economic and social development. To be implemented, many economic measures require acceptance on the part of the public, and this requires, among other things, direct involvement of the citizens in economic processes.

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: A Rediscovery -- Chapter Previews -- 1 Education as Learned Effectiveness -- Education, Learned Effectiveness, and Health -- Education and Socioeconomic Status -- Education as a Root Cause of Good Health -- 2 The Association between Education and Health -- Defining Health -- Measuring Health -- Education's Correlation with Health Measures -- 3 Education, Personal Control, Lifestyle, and Health -- Education and Human Capital -- Designing a Healthy Lifestyle -- The Sense of Control Links Education to Healthy Lifestyle -- 4 Education, Socioeconomic Status, and Health -- Economic Resources -- Productive Activities -- Education, Socioeconomic Status, and Health -- 5 Education, Interpersonal Relationships, and Health -- Education, Marriage, and Social Support -- Marriage and Health -- 6 Age and Cumulative Advantage -- Accumulating Effects -- Amplifying Effects -- Decline Slowed or Only Delayed? -- Education's Cumulative Advantage -- 7 Specious Views of Education -- Education as Credential -- Education as Reproducer of Inequality -- Education as False Satisfier -- Education as Spurious Correlate -- Education, Inequality, and Health -- Education: The Solution, Not the Problem -- 8 Conclusion: Self-Direction Toward Health -- Learned Effectiveness Tops Access to Lucrative Positions -- Learned Effectiveness Provides Control over Lifestyle and Circumstances -- Education Has Pervasive, Cumulative, Self-Amplifying Benefits -- Lack of Education Turns Low Income into Privation -- Structural Amplification Concentrates Problems -- Resource Accumulation and Substitution Imply Structural Amplification -- No One Loses When Someone Gains Control -- Education: The Answer -- 9 Data and Measures -- ASOC: U.S. Nationwide Survey -- CCH: Illinois Statewide Survey

Intro -- HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT SOCIAL SCIENCE PERSPECTIVES -- HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT SOCIAL SCIENCE PERSPECTIVES -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- INTRODUCTION -- ETERNAL QUESTIONS AND PRESENT CONCERNS -- ENGAGEMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENTISTS WITH THE TOPICS OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT -- HEALTH -- ENVIRONMENT -- TRACING LINKAGES -- THE SUSTAINABILITY PARADOX -- CHARITY PARADOX -- STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK -- REFERENCES -- PART I. PROBLEM-FRAMING AND DEBATES -- Chapter 1 SOCIAL SCIENTIFIC ENGAGEMENT WITH HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT DEBATES: CLASSICAL ROOTS AND CONTEMPORARY SUB DISCIPLINES -- ABSTRACT -- CLASSICAL THEORIES AND CONTEMPORARY INTERPRETATIONS -- Thomas Malthus -- Karl Marx -- Durkheim and Weber -- CHANGES IN THE WORLD SINCE THE "CLASSICISTS" -- Health and Environment in the Context of Globalization -- Population Growth -- Health Issues in the Recent Decades -- Environmental Issues in the Recent Decades -- FROM CLASSICAL SCHOLARS TO MODERN ACADEMIC SUBDISCIPLINES -- Environmental Sociology -- Ecology of Health -- Ecological Sociology -- Environmental Health -- Medical Anthropology -- REFERENCES -- Chapter 2 WHY IS SCIENTIFIC INFORMATION ON SERIOUS ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH PROBLEMS NOT EASILY RECOGNIZED IN OUR SOCIETY? -- ABSTRACT -- INTRODUCTION -- 1. ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH SCIENCE -- Current Environment and Health Problems -- Scientific Proof -- Paralysis by Traditional Analysis -- Physical Chemical Hygiene -- 2. SCIENCE AND SOCIETY -- Trial and Retribution -- To Investigate or Not to Investigate: The Mysterious Case of Dendermonde -- To Know and Not to Act -- Mercedes or Health -- 3. THE SOCIAL CONSTRUCTION OF ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH -- Biased Expertise -- Smokescreen Evidence: Science and Industry -- The Politics of Expert Judgement: Industry Involvement in the IARC -- Huff J. (2002) -- Alignment according to Huff -- I Rest my Case (at Home).