Ideal Homes? shows how both popular images and experiences of home life relate to the ability of society's members to produce and respond to social change. The book provides for the first time an analysis of the space of the home and the experiences of home life by writers from a wide range of disciplines, including sociology, architecture, geography and anthropology. It covers a range of subjects, including gender roles, different generations relationships to home, the changing nature of the family, transition and risk and alternative visions of home.
The collapse of state socialism in 1989 focused attention on the transition to democracy and capitalism in Eastern Europe. But for many people who actually lived through the transition, the changes were often disappointing. In Domesticating Revolution, Gerald Creed explains this unexpected outcome through a detailed study of economic reforms in one Bulgarian village.
Notions of social change are often divided into local versus international. But what actually happens at the national level—where policies are ultimately made and implemented—when policy-making is interdependent worldwide? How do policy-makers take into account the prior choices of other countries? Far more research is needed on the process of interdependent decision-making in the world polity. National Policy-Making: domestication of global trends offers a unique set of hybrid cases that straddle these disciplinary and conceptual divides. The volume brings together well-researched case studies of policy-making from across the world that speak to practical issues but also challenge current theories of global influence in local policies. Distancing itself from approaches that conceive narrowly of policy transfer as a "one-way street" from powerful nations to weaker ones, this book argues instead for an understanding of national decision-making processes that emphasize cross-national comparisons and domestic field battles around the introduction of worldwide models. The case studies in this collection show how national policies appear to be synchronized globally yet are developed with distinct "national" flavors. Presenting new theoretical ideas and empirical cases, this book is aimed globally at scholars of political science, international relations, comparative public policy, and sociology.
How our collective intelligence has helped us to evolve and prosper Humans are a puzzling species. On the one hand, we struggle to survive on our own in the wild, often failing to overcome even basic challenges, like obtaining food, building shelters, or avoiding predators. On the other hand, human groups have produced ingenious technologies, sophisticated languages, and complex institutions that have permitted us to successfully expand into a vast range of diverse environments. What has enabled us to dominate the globe, more than any other species, while remaining virtually helpless as lone individuals? This book shows that the secret of our success lies not in our innate intelligence, but in our collective brains—on the ability of human groups to socially interconnect and learn from one another over generations. Drawing insights from lost European explorers, clever chimpanzees, mobile hunter-gatherers, neuroscientific findings, ancient bones, and the human genome, Joseph Henrich demonstrates how our collective brains have propelled our species' genetic evolution and shaped our biology. Our early capacities for learning from others produced many cultural innovations, such as fire, cooking, water containers, plant knowledge, and projectile weapons, which in turn drove the expansion of our brains and altered our physiology, anatomy, and psychology in crucial ways. Later on, some collective brains generated and recombined powerful concepts, such as the lever, wheel, screw, and writing, while also creating the institutions that continue to alter our motivations and perceptions. Henrich shows how our genetics and biology are inextricably interwoven with cultural evolution, and how culture-gene interactions launched our species on an extraordinary evolutionary trajectory. Tracking clues from our ancient past to the present, The Secret of Our Success explores how the evolution of both our cultural and social natures produce a collective intelligence that explains both our species' immense success and the origins of human uniqueness.
This book provides an overview of a key concept in media and technology studies: domestication. Theories around domestication shed light upon the process in which a technology changes its status from outrageous novelty to an aspect of everyday life which is taken for granted. The contributors collect past, current and future applications of the concept of domestication, critically reflect on its theoretical legacy, and offer comments about further development. The first part of Domestication of Media and Technology provides an overview of the conceptual development and theory of domestication. In the second part of the book, contributors look at a diverse range of empirical studies that use the domestication approach to examine the dynamics between users and technologies. These studies include: Mobile information and communications techologies (ICTs) and the transformation of the relationship between private and the public spheres Home-based internet use: the two-way dynamic between the household and its social environment Disadvantaged women in Europe undertaking introductory internet courses Urban middle-class families in China who embrace ICTs and view them as instruments of upward mobility and symbols of success The book offers valuable insights for both experienced researchers and students looking for an introduction to the concept of domestication. Contributors: Maria Bakardjieva, University of Calgary; Thomas Berker, Norwegian University of Science and Technology; Leslie Haddon, Essex University; Maren Hartmann, University of Erfurt; Deirdre Hynes, Dublin City University; Sun Sun Lim, National University of Singapore; Anna Maria Russo Lemor, University of Colorado at Boulder; David Morley, Goldsmiths College, University of London; Jo Pierson, TNO-STB, Delft, Netherlands; Yves Punie, Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS) in Seville; Els Rommes, Nijmegen University; Roger Silverstone, London School of Economics and Political Science; Knut H. Sørensen, Norwegian University of Science and Technology; Katie J. Ward, University of Sheffield.
Digitalization is shaping our everyday lives, yet navigating the changes it entails can feel like trekking into the unknown, where both the possibilities and the consequences are unclear and difficult to grasp. Exploring how digitalization affects all aspects of our lives, from health to culture, this book aims to develop and strengthen the reader’s ability to think critically about such developments. Written in a clear and concise manner with reference to science fiction and pop culture, this book presents potent theoretical perspectives for understanding digitalization processes as societal change. Various exercises are included throughout to encourage readers to critically explore digitalization in their own lives. Replete with illustrations and examples, this book is an accessible guide to digitalization in the modern societal context, appealing to students at the undergraduate level as well as general readership.
