Culture and Society
Culture and Society

Author: David Oswell

Publisher: SAGE

Published: 2006-12-07

Total Pages: 253

ISBN-13: 1847877532

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"Too often cultural studies discourse seems cut off from wider developments in social theory. As a sociologist with a strong cultural studies sensibility, David Oswell is ideally placed to put this right. Through a series of well-judged and historically nuanced readings of cultural, social theory and critical philosophy, this book provides just the bridge between cultural studies and wider debates that we need" - Nick Couldry, London School of Economics and Political Science David Oswell has written a comprehensive introduction to cultural studies that guides the reader through the field′s central foundations and its freshest ideas. This book: Grounds the reader in the foundations of cultural studies and cultural theory: language and semiology, ideology and power, mass and popular culture. Analyzes the central problems: identity, body, economy, globalization and empire. Introduces the latest developments on materiality, agency, technology and nature. Culture and Society is an invaluable guide for students navigating the dynamic debates and intellectual challenges of cultural studies. Its breadth and unparalleled coverage of theory will also ensure that it is read by anyone interested in questions of materiality and culture.

Environment and Society in Ethiopia
Environment and Society in Ethiopia

Author: Girma Kebbede

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-10-04

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1315464276

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Ethiopia is facing environmental and poverty challenges, and urgently needs effective management of its environmental resources. Much of the Ethiopian landscape has been significantly altered and reshaped by centuries of human activities, and three-quarters of the rural population is living on degraded land. Over the past two decades the country has seen rapid economic and population growth and unparalleled land use change. This book explores the challenges of sustaining the resource base while fuelling the economy and providing for a growing population that is greatly dependent on natural resources for income and livelihoods. Adopting a political ecology perspective, this book comprehensively examines human impacts on the environment in Ethiopia, defining the environment both in terms of the quantity and quality of renewable and non-renewable natural resources. With high levels of economic production and consumption also come unintended side effects: waste discharges, emissions of pollutants, and industrial effluents. These pollutants can degrade the quality of water, air, land, and forests as well as harm the health of people, animals, and other living organisms if untreated or disposed of improperly. This book demonstrates how the relationship between society and environment is inherently and delicately interwoven, providing an account of Ethiopia’s current environment and natural resource base and future considerations for environmentally sustainable development.

Troubles with Turtles
Troubles with Turtles

Author: Dimitris Theodossopoulos

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2003-03-01

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 0857456792

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The people of Vassilikos, farmers and tourist entrepreneurs on the Greek island of Zakynthos, are involved in a bitter environmental dispute concerning the conservation of sea turtles. Against the environmentalists' practices and ideals they set their own culture of relating to the land, cultivation, wild and domestic animals. Written from an anthropological perspective, this book puts forward the idea that a thorough study of indigenous cultures is a fundamental step to understanding conflicts over the environment. For this purpose, the book offers a detailed account of the cultural depth and richness of the human environmental relationship in Vassilikos, focusing on the engagement of its inhabitants with diverse aspects of the local environment, such as animal care, agriculture, tourism and hunting.

Environmental Anthropology Engaging Ecotopia
Environmental Anthropology Engaging Ecotopia

Author: Joshua Lockyer

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2013-04-01

Total Pages: 347

ISBN-13: 0857458809

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In order to move global society towards a sustainable “ecotopia,” solutions must be engaged in specific places and communities, and the authors here argue for re-orienting environmental anthropology from a problem-oriented towards a solutions-focused endeavor. Using case studies from around the world, the contributors—scholar-activists and activist-practitioners— examine the interrelationships between three prominent environmental social movements: bioregionalism, a worldview and political ecology that grounds environmental action and experience; permaculture, a design science for putting the bioregional vision into action; and ecovillages, the ever-dynamic settings for creating sustainable local cultures.

State of the World 2010
State of the World 2010

Author: Worldwatch Institute

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-07-04

Total Pages: 426

ISBN-13: 1134071213

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Many of the environmental and social problems we face today are symptoms of a deeper systemic failing: a dominant cultural paradigm that encourages living in ways that are often directly counter to the realities of a finite planet. This paradigm, typically referred to as 'consumerism,' has already spread to cultures around the world and has led to consumption levels that are vastly unsustainable. If this pattern spreads further there will be little possibility of solving climate change or other environmental problems that are poised to dramatically disrupt human civilization. It will take a sustained, long-term effort to redirect the traditions, social movements and institutions that shape consumer cultures towards becoming cultures of sustainability. These institutions include schools, the media, businesses and governments. Bringing about a cultural shift that makes living sustainably as 'natural' as a consumer lifestyle is today will not only address urgent crises like climate change, it could also tackle other symptoms like extreme income inequity, obesity and social isolation that are not typically seen as environmental problems. State of the World 2010 paints a picture of what this sustainability culture could look like, and how we can - and already are - making the shift.

Environment and Society in Byzantium, 650-1150
Environment and Society in Byzantium, 650-1150

Author: Alexander Olson

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-11-16

Total Pages: 258

ISBN-13: 3030599361

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This book illuminates Byzantines' relationship with woodland between the seventh and twelfth centuries. Using the oak and the olive as objects of study, this work explores shifting economic strategies, environmental change, and the transformation of material culture throughout the middle Byzantine period. Drawing from texts, environmental data, and archaeological surveys, this book demonstrates that woodland's makeup was altered after Byzantium's seventh-century metamorphosis, and that people interacted in new ways with this re-worked ecology. Oak obtained prominence after late antiquity, illustrating the shift from that earlier era's intensive agriculture to a more sylvan middle Byzantine economy. Meanwhile, the olive faded into the background, re-emerging in the eleventh and twelfth centuries thanks to the initiative of people adapting yet again to newly changed political and economic circumstances. This book therefore shows that Byzantines' relationship with their ecology was far from static, and that Byzantines' decisions had environmental impacts.

Environment and Society
Environment and Society

Author: Stewart Barr

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-29

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 131714239X

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Environment and Society explores ways to promote the behavioural shifts necessary for creating a 'sustainable society'. Through a critical approach to the links between sustainability, policy and citizen engagement, the book argues that sustainability policy needs to move towards a positive perspective, utilizing the well-known techniques of segmentation and social marketing. Such 'mainstreaming' of sustainable lifestyles is likely to be the only effective means of engaging the majority of citizens in the environmental debate, given the major influence of the consumer society on individual aspirations and beliefs. Comprised of three substantive elements, Environment and Society explores the context for behaviour change policy, the approaches adopted by politicians and academic researchers, and the application of such approaches using empirical data from two major research projects. The book is richly illustrated using both theoretical and empirical data and provides an excellent companion to all researchers interested in sustainable lifestyles.

Consumer Culture and Society
Consumer Culture and Society

Author: Wendy Wiedenhoft Murphy

Publisher: SAGE Publications

Published: 2016-07-27

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 148335816X

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Consumer Culture and Society offers an introduction to the study of consumerism and consumption from a sociological perspective. Author Wendy Wiedenhoft Murphy examines what we buy, how and where we consume, the meanings attached to the things we purchase, and the social forces that enable and constrain consumer behavior. Opening chapters provide a theoretical overview and history of consumer society and featured case studies look at mass consumption in familiar contexts, such as tourism, food, and higher education. The book explores ethical and political concerns, including consumer activism, indebtedness, alternative forms of consumption, and dilemmas surrounding the globalization of consumer culture.

Indigenous Resurgence
Indigenous Resurgence

Author: Jaskiran Dhillon

Publisher: Berghahn Books

Published: 2022-03-31

Total Pages: 174

ISBN-13: 1800732465

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From the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s resistance against the Dakota Access pipeline to the Nepalese Newar community’s protest of the Fast Track Road Project, Indigenous peoples around the world are standing up and speaking out against global capitalism to protect the land, water, and air. By reminding us of the fundamental importance of placing Indigenous politics, histories, and ontologies at the center of our social movements, Indigenous Resurgence positions environmental justice within historical, social, political, and economic contexts, exploring the troubling relationship between colonial and environmental violence and reframing climate change and environmental degradation through an anticolonial lens.