University of Chicago Press: New Titles in Sociology: General Sociology

Rational Empires

Leo J. Blanken — Tue, 01 May 2012 05:00:00 GMT

The nineteenth century marked the high point of imperialism, when tsarist Russia expanded to the Pacific and the sun was said never to set on the British Empire. Imperialism remains a perennial issue in international relations today, and nowhere is this more evident than in the intensifying competition for global resources.

Leo J. Blanken explains imperialism through an analysis of the institutions of both the expanding state and its targets of conquest. While democratic states favoring free trade generally resort to imperialism only to preempt aggressive rivals—or when they have reason to believe another state’s political institutions will not hold up when making bargains—authoritarian states tend toward imperialism because they don’t stand to benefit from free trade. The result is three distinct strategies toward imperialism: actors fighting over territory, actors peaceably dividing territory among themselves, and actors refraining from seizing territory altogether. Blanken examines these dynamics through three case studies: the scramble for Africa, the unequal treaties imposed on Qing Dynasty China, and the evolution of Britain’s imperial policy in India. By separating out the different types of imperialism, Blanken provides insight into its sources, as well as the potential implications of increased competition in the current international arena.

Completing College

Vincent Tinto — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Even as the number of students attending college has more than doubled in the past forty years, it is still the case that nearly half of all college students in the United States will not complete their degree within six years. It is clear that much remains to be done toward improving student success. For more than twenty years, Vincent Tinto’s pathbreaking book Leaving College has been recognized as the definitive resource on student retention in higher education. Now, with Completing College, Tinto offers administrators a coherent framework with which to develop and implement programs to promote completion.

Deftly distilling an enormous amount of research, Tinto identifies the essential conditions enabling students to succeed and continue on within institutions. Especially during the early years, he shows that students thrive in settings that pair high expectations for success with structured academic, social, and financial support, provide frequent feedback and assessments of their performance, and promote their active involvement with other students and faculty. And while these conditions may be worked on and met at different institutional levels, Tinto points to the classroom as the center of student education and life, and therefore the primary target for institutional action.

Improving retention rates continues to be among the most widely studied fields in higher education, and Completing College carefully synthesizes the latest research and, most importantly, translates it into practical steps that administrators can take to enhance student success.

Rational Empires

Leo J. Blanken — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Diversity Research and Policy

Steven Knotter; Rob de Lobel; Lena Tsipouri; Vanja Stenius — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 05:00:00 GMT

This volume emerged from a collaborative Network of Excellence project funded by the European Commission. The Network, which comprises thirty-two institutes from Europe and beyond, integrates European research capabilities across disciplines and countries to provide the society and the state with tools for managing cultural diversity as a key element of sustainable development. The work presented here describes the emergence and increasing importance of diversity within academic research and practice and offers valuable insights on diversity management and policy implementation.

Governing Health and Consumption

Clare Herrick — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 05:00:00 GMT

Governing Health and Consumption critically explores the urban governance of healthy lifestyles and the contemporary problematizations of the obesity, sedentarism and alcohol "epidemics." Using both US and UK case studies to shed light on the complex socio-spatial dynamics of responsibilities for health, Clare Herrick argues for an engagement with the construct of "sensible" behavior at a time of its rising political salience. This book will appeal to sociologists, geographers, anthropologists, and anyone concerned with the governance of health and lifestyle.

Fair Play

Daniel Dorling — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Fair Play brings together a selection of Danny Dorling’s highly influential writings examining inequality and social justice. Offering crucial insight into the popular feeling that the United Kingdom is in crisis—a feeling made manifest in last summer’s riots—Dorling provides a wealth of evidence that the country is becoming more politically, socially, and economically divided despite progress in areas such as education and reduced segregation. Dorling’s work covers a broad range of subjects and will be of interest to anyone concerned with where one of the world’s leading democracies is headed.

Fair Play

Daniel Dorling — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Wealth and the Wealthy

Karen Rowlingson; Stephen McKay — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:00:00 GMT

The wealthy have received relatively little attention from social scientists despite the growing gap between rich and poor. A much-needed step forward for the wealth debate, Wealth and the Wealthy draws on new data to answer the following key questions: What is wealth? Who has it? Where might we draw a wealth line? Who would be above it? And how should policy address wealth and the wealthy? Karen Rowlingson and Stephen McKay comprehensively and critically examine these issues and explore potential policy responses, including asset-based welfare and taxation.

Wealth and the Wealthy

Karen Rowlingson; Stephen McKay — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Critical Perspectives on User Involvement

Marian Barnes; Phil Cotterell — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Drawing on contributions from user activists and academic researchers, this topical reader provides a critical stock take of the state of user involvement. It considers different contexts in which such involvement is taking place and includes diverse and sometimes conflicting perspectives on the issues involved. This original and insightful critique will be an important resource for students studying health and social care and social work, researchers and user activists.

Providing a Sure Start

Naomi Eisenstadt — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:00:00 GMT

This book tells the story of Sure Start, one of the flagship programmes of the last government. It tells how Sure Start was set up, the numerous changes it went through, and how it has changed the landscape of services for all young children in England. Offering insight into the key debates on services for young children, as well as how decisions are made in a highly political context, it will be of keen interest to policy academics, senior managers of public services and all those with a keen interest in developing services for young children.

Good Fences, Bad Neighbors

Boaz Atzili — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:00:00 GMT

Border fixity—the proscription of foreign conquest and the annexation of homeland territory—has, since World War II, become a powerful norm in world politics. This development has been said to increase stability and peace in international relations. Yet, in a world in which it is unacceptable to challenge international borders by force, sociopolitically weak states remain a significant source of widespread conflict, war, and instability.

In this book, Boaz Atzili argues that the process of state building has long been influenced by external territorial pressures and competition, with the absence of border fixity contributing to the evolution of strong states—and its presence to the survival of weak ones. What results from this norm, he argues, are conditions that make internal conflict and the spillover of interstate war more likely. Using a comparison of historical and contemporary case studies, Atzili sheds light on the relationship between state weakness and conflict. His argument that under some circumstances an international norm that was established to preserve the peace may actually create conditions that are ripe for war is sure to generate debate and shed light on the dynamics of continuing conflict in the twenty-first century.

Good Fences, Bad Neighbors

Boaz Atzili — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:00:00 GMT