This comprehensive Handbook provides a unique overview of the key issues and challenges facing society and social policy in the twenty-first century, discussing how welfare is conceptualised, organised and delivered in contemporary global society. Chapters engage with specific areas of social policy as well as with the social divisions and institutional infrastructures that underpin them. The Handbook also considers how social policy should respond to the challenges posed by austerity, human migration and the climate crisis.
The essays included in this volume provide both an assessment of key areas and current trends in sociology, specifically with regard to contemporary sociology in Latin America, as well as a collection of innovative empirical studies. The volume serves as an effective bridge of communication allowing sociological academies to mobilize and disseminate research dynamics from Latin America to the rest of the world.
The cities of Asia and the Pacific are at the epicentre of development in what is arguably, the most populous, culturally distinctive, and economically powerful region in the world. 16 major cities such as Tokyo, Shanghai, Manila, Jakarta, Bangkok, Singapore, Auckland, Kuala Lumpur and Santiago, located in countries as diverse as Mexico and Vietnam, Samoa and India, China and Australia, exemplify the changing patterns of development across this vast region of the world. By tracking economic and social trends the contributors to this collection reveal how a wide range of political and cultural factors have interacted over time to provide a powerful explanation for the shape and characteristics of ‘the city’ today. Based on a collaborative research programme and drawing on the work of local researchers, this book examines the realities of city development characterised by domestic migration, spatial and social fragmentation, squatter settlements and gated communities, economic experiments and the emergence of the ‘Asian Tigers’. The collection as a whole records the way in which countries in this region have moved from underdevelopment to become global economic and political powers. This book provides a fascinating journey through Asia and the Pacific by generating an insiders’ view of each city and an insight into national development. As such it will be of great interest to students and scholars interested in: the Asian and Pacific region; in disciplines such as economics, politics, geography and sociology; and in policy domains such as urban planning and economic development.
Central America constitutes a fascinating case study of the challenges, opportunities and characteristics of the process of transformation in today’s global economy. Comprised of a politically diverse range of societies, this region has long been of interest to students of economic development and political change. The Handbook of Central American Governance aims to describe and explain the manifold processes that are taking place in Central America that are altering patterns of social, political and economic governance, with particular focus on the impact of globalization and democratization. Containing sections on topics such as state and democracy, key political and social actors, inequality and social policy and international relations, in addition to in-depth studies on five key countries (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala), this text is composed of contributions from some of the leading scholars in the field. No other single volume studies the current characteristics of the region from a political, economic and social perspective or reviews recent research in such detail. As such, this handbook is of value to academics, students and researchers as well as to policy-makers and those with an interest in governance and political processes.
In this edifying volume Sarah Corona and Claudia Zapata extrapolate the causes for the divisions between groups in Latin American society, bringing their years of experience investigating the conditions and consequences of heterogeneity in the region. First, Corona approaches the problem of difference and heterogeneity epistemologically, asking about the possible benefits of horizontal modes of knowledge production between academics and the "social other." She demands reification for those without access to institutions who experience social ills and theorizes a trans-disciplinary dialogue to discover a horizontal construction of knowledge. Zapata evaluates and questions whether indigenous people throughout the continent have had their quality of life improved by the recognition of their collective rights as peoples. These two works provide overviews of a Latin American multiculturalism that connects to parallel movements in North America and Europe. Combined they offer a guide that could be vital to future activism and social work whether in the classroom or on the streets. Critical Interculturality and Horizontal Methodology in Latin America will appeal to scholars and students who are in need of new ways to comprehend the current strain of multiculturalism and plurality. It offers reflections on how social research can be not only sensitive to the epistemologies and interests of the "cultural other," but approach parity and horizontality in dialogue.
This book explores the scope of reforms and changes in the social protection systems in Latin America that have started at the beginning of the 21st century. It describes how and to what extent changes in social protection systems and social policies have occurred in the region in recent decades. Taking a comparative approach, the volume identifies the triggers for the transformations and how such pressures are received by the welfare regime, or a specific policy sector, to finally yield a given type of reform. The analysis is characterized by the presence of certain factors that explain the development of social protection systems in Latin America, such as economic growth, the consolidation of democratic political regimes, and the region’s Left Turns. The book also examines to what extent common challenges and processes induced by international institutions have led to convergence among countries or welfare regimes, or whether each maintains its own identity.
In this important report, a distinguished group of Canadian, Mexican, and American experts explore key issues including economics, regulatory policy, security, the developing gap, and tri-national institutions. It also offers a vision for the relationship among the three countries for the next ten years. French and Spanish versions included.
