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A growing literature tries to contribute to a more balanced view of the concept of e-democracy. However, one seldom discussed aspect is the concept's inadequate dimension on what a desirable development of society consists of. By adding certain values, today most pronounced in the theory of social sustainability, this article examines the awareness of such in three e-democratic projects in Swedish municipalities. This is carried out through a qualitative inquiry that uses different types of data and that regards social sustainability as an ongoing process that is suitable to be analysed in relation to other structures in society. The empirical part reveals different important topics. First it shows that the consciousness of socially sustainable values varies between the examined cases. Second, this variation can be due to both the varying success of e-democracy and to conditions inside the political organizations. In conclusion, this paper reveals that the consequence of adding a socially sustainable perspective to e-democracy is that it provides adequate opportunities for analysing social development without missing out qualities that are desired in a democratic society.

This study focuses on the Mwomboko poetry, which emerged in 1940s among the Gĩkũyũ community. It represents the socio-historical origins and emergent dance styles. The central focus of the study is analysis of style and literary devices, aspects of performance and aesthetic values embodied in the compositions by selected performing artistes. Nevertheless, an analytical study of various musical works and listening to recorded cassettes on Mwomboko gives impetus to our findings. The researcher has coined and adapted a multiethnocultural approach whereby: dance, drama, song, language and philosophy that embraces the social interaction of communities and appreciation of each other's ways of life. The study demonstrates that Mwomboko poetry is rich in stylistic devices: irony, satire, metaphor, simile, metonymy and structural devices; repetition, parallelism, tonal patterns and rhyme. This study proves that these tools are the vehicles of literary communication in the community and society. Stylistic and extra-literay features are invaluable properties for the conduct of poetic discourse. Oral poets are the mouthpieces of the Gĩkũyũ community and its neighbouring communities: Embu, Meru and Kamba who cherish this cultural heritage. The multicultural nature of Mwomboko is further depicted in the incorporation of Waltz and Scottish dance art forms. The Luo, Luhya and Miji Kenda touches proves that Mwornboko represents historical, political, cultural, religious and economic realities in Kenya. The guiding light in this study is ethnomethodolo / ethnopoetics, stylistics, semiotic and multiethnoculturalogy approaches in uncovering the literariness in Mwomboko poetry. This project affirms that oral literature is not disappearing but thrives even today and it is a means of recording historical and educational events, which are relevant and popular in contemporary society. It is a demonstration that poetry and society are inseparable entities in humankind.

Dans son ouvrage à grand succès, Andreas Reckwitz présente une théorie globale de la modernité où il analyse le changement structurel de la modernité industrielle vers la société des singularités de la modernité tardive. S'appuyant sur de nombreuses études empiriques issues des sciences sociales et culturelles, il examine le processus de singularisation dans l'économie, le monde du travail, la technologie numérique, les modes de vie et la politique du début du XXIe siècle. Il montre à quel point ce processus est étroitement lié à la culturalisation du social, il en révèle les dynamiques contradictoires en présentant les aspects plus sombres de cette société des singularités qui certes produit de grands gagnants, brillants et rayonnants, mais qui génère aussi ses propres inégalités et de grands perdants. (Source : site internet des Editions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme).

This book aims to gather the insight of leading experts on corruption and anti-corruption studies working at the scientific frontier of this phenomenon using the multidisciplinary tools of data and network science, in order to present current theoretical, empirical, and operational efforts being performed in order to curb this problem. The research results strengthen the importance of evidence-based approaches in the fight against corruption in all its forms, and foster the discussion about the best ways to convert the obtained knowledge into public policy. The contributed chapters provide comprehensive and multidisciplinary approaches to handle the non-trivial structural and dynamical aspects that characterize the modern social, economic, political and technological systems where corruption takes place. This book will serve a broad multi-disciplinary audience from natural to social scientists, applied mathematicians, including law and policymakers.

This book discusses the sequential development of population research in India, focusing on contemporary issues like demography, population studies, geography, sociology, urban studies and many more. It describes the problems related to the underdeveloped regions in India, Nepal and Bangladesh and includes tabular representations of the analyzed data as well as visual representations/illustrations in the form of graphs and maps. Further, it features fascinating case studies on primary field-research experiences. Presenting interdisciplinary contributions, the book is divided into four sections: the first part examines social issues related to health, while the second explores social sustainability, lifestyles, and cultural aspects. The third and fourth sections address migration and quality of life, respectively. The book is of interest to students studying demography, as well as researchers and policymakers in the fields of population studies, geography and sociology

In this interdisciplinary study, Leire Olabarria examines ancient Egyptian society through the notion of kinship. Drawing on methods from archaeology and sociocultural anthropology, she provides an emic characterisation of ancient kinship that relies on performative aspects of social interaction. Olabarria uses memorial stelae of the First Intermediate Period and the Middle Kingdom (ca.2150-1650 BCE) as her primary evidence. Contextualising these monuments within their social and physical landscapes, she proposes a dynamic way to explore kin groups through sources that have been considered static. The volume offers three case studies of kin groups at the beginning, peak, and decline of their developmental cycles respectively. They demonstrate how ancient Egyptian evidence can be used for cross-cultural comparison of key anthropological topics, such as group formation, patronage, and rites of passage.

"Through examination of parliamentary governments in twelve countries, this book demonstrates the ways in which study of the parties in governing coalitions, and their parliamentary opposition, provides insight into numerous aspects of countries' cultural values, societal schisms, and the issues of greatest contention among its people. Each chapter analyses the political parties in a different country's parliament and illustrates how they represent the country's competing interests, social divisions, and public policy debates. Coalition and opposition parties are also shown to reflect each country's: political institutions, political actors, political culture, societal, geographic, and ideological rifts. In many of the countries, changes in the constellation of parties in government are emblematic of important political, social, and economic changes. This book will be essential reading for students of parliamentary government, political parties, electoral politics and, more broadly, to comparative politics"--

Seit Mitte der 1990er Jahre findet die Wissenschaftsgeschichte der Sozialwissenschaften eine wachsende Aufmerksamkeit. Der Sammelband leistet einen wichtigen Beitrag zu dieser Entwicklung, indem er drei Aspekte fokussiert: Sozialwissenschaftliche Idiome, Praktiken und Strukturen. Die Beiträge des Sammelbands gehen davon aus, dass idiomatische Sprachprägungen, praxeologische Spezialisierung und strukturelle Schließungen dazu beigetragen haben, dass für den Gegenstandsbereich des Sozialen ein als wissenschaftlich markiertes Sonderwissen hervorgebracht wurde. Trotzdem erlangten die Sozialwissenschaften für die Deutung von Gesellschaft nie jene hegemoniale Stellung, wie sie die Naturwissenschaften erreicht haben. Um so stärker sind sie in ihrem wissenschaftlichen Selbstverständnis von der gegenwärtigen Wissenschaftsskepsis betroffen. Mit Blick auf diesen Trend analysiert der Sammelband systematisch die historische Entwicklung und Eigenart der Sozialwissenschaften im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, indem er den Zusammenhang der genannten drei Aspekte beleuchtet. / The anthology focuses on the history of the social sciences during the 19th and 20th centuries, and looks at three focal areas: idiomatic linguistic forms, praxeological specialization and structural closure. With a focus on the relationship between these three aspects, the contributions in this anthology systematically study the historical development and unique nature of the social sciences.

"Through examination of parliamentary governments in twelve countries, this book demonstrates the ways in which study of the parties in governing coalitions, and their parliamentary opposition, provides insight into numerous aspects of countries' cultural values, societal schisms, and the issues of greatest contention among its people. Each chapter analyses the political parties in a different country's parliament and illustrates how they represent the country's competing interests, social divisions, and public policy debates. Coalition and opposition parties are also shown to reflect each country's: political institutions, political actors, political culture, societal, geographic, and ideological rifts. In many of the countries, changes in the constellation of parties in government are emblematic of important political, social, and economic changes. This book will be essential reading for students of parliamentary government, political parties, electoral politics and, more broadly, to comparative politics"--

Central to human life and experience, habitation forms a context for enquiry within many disciplines. This collection brings together perspectives on human habitation in the fields of anthropology, archaeology, social history, material culture, literature, art and design, and architecture. Significant shared themes are the physical and social structuring of space, practice and agency, consumption and gender, and permanence and impermanence. Topics range from archaeological artefacts to architectural concepts, from Romano-British consumption to the 1950s Playboy apartment, from historical elite habitation to present-day homelessness, from dwelling «on the move» to the crisis of household dissolution, and from interior design to installation art. Not only is this volume a rich resource of varied aspects and contexts of habitation, it also provides compelling examples of the potential for interdisciplinary conversations around significant shared themes

"This title was first published in 2003. In this collection of essays that explores Western and Chinese perspectives on human rights, leading Canadian and Chinese scholars bridge the global divide on some of the key aspects of human rights. Issues covered include the role of civil society in human rights protection, the imperative of the rule of law in the protection of human rights, freedom of expression and its relation to social, economic and cultural development and corruption in the public and private sectors. The volume also focuses on the domestic implementation of human rights treaties and offers gender perspectives on implementing social and economic rights in an era of globalization. The independent Chinese and Canadian scholars present a new vision of global pluralism in the area of human rights protection in a modernizing China and in the rest of the world."--Provided by publisher

Throughout history, the functions and roles of borders have been continuously changing. They can only be understood in their context, shaped as they are by history, politics and power, as well as cultural and social issues. Borders are therefore complex spatial and social phenomena which are not static or invariable, but which are instead highly dynamic. This comprehensive volume brings together a multidisciplinary team of leading scholars to provide an authoritative, state-of-the-art review of all aspects of borders and border research. It is truly global in scope and, besides embracing the more traditional strands of the field including geopolitics, migration and territorial identities, it also takes in recently emerging topics such as the role of borders in a seemingly borderless world; creating neighbourhoods, and border enforcement in the post-9/11 era.

Security is a vital subject of study in the twenty-first century and a central theme in many social science disciplines. This volume provides a comparative analysis of the ways in which the concept of security is theorized and studied across different disciplines. The book has two objectives: first, to explore the growing diversity of theories, paradigms, and methods developed to study security; and, second, to initiate a multidisciplinary dialogue about the ontological, epistemological, paradigmatic, and normative aspects of security studies in social sciences. Readers across nine fields are invited to reflect on their conceptualizations of security and to consider how an interdisciplinary dialogue can stimulate and enrich the understanding of security in our contemporary world. Analytically sharp yet easy to read, this is a cutting-edge volume exploring what security is and what it means in today's world

Legal Naturalism advances a clear and convincing case that Marx's theory of law is a form of natural law jurisprudence. It explicates both Marx's writings and the idea of natural law, and makes a forceful contribution to current debates on the foundations of law. Olufemi Taiwo argues that embedded in the corpus of Marxist writing is a plausible, adequate, and coherent legal theory. In this sophisticated, well-written book, he describes Marx's general concept of law, which he calls "legal naturalism." For Marxism, natural law isn't a permanent verity; it refers to the basic law of a given epoch or social formation which is an essential aspect of its mode of production. Capitalist law is thus natural law in a capitalist society and is politically and morally progressive relative to the laws of preceding social formations

"If feminist studies and transgender studies are so intimately connected, why are they not more deeply integrated? Offering multidisciplinary models for this assimilation, the vibrant essays in Transfeminist Perspectives in and beyond Transgender and Gender Studies suggest timely and necessary changes for institutions of higher learning. Responding to the more visible presence of transgender persons as well as gender theories, the contributing essayists focus on how gender is practiced in academia, health care, social services, and even national border patrols. Working from the premise that transgender is both material and cultural, the contributors address such aspects of the university as administration, sports, curriculum, pedagogy, and the appropriate location for transgender studies. Combining feminist theory, transgender studies, and activism centered on social diversity and justice, these essays examine how institutions as lived contexts shape everyday life."--Provided by publisher