Abram De Swaan's Books

Words of the World

The Global Language System

By: Abram De Swaan

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Words of the World

The Global Language System

By: Abram De Swaan

This bold and accessible study of human languages and communication explores issues which are at the forefront of today's globalized society. The human species is divided into more than five thousand language groups that do not understand each other. And yet these groups constitute one coherent world language system, connected by multilingual speakers in a surprisingly powerful way. The chances of a language thriving depend on its position in the system. There are thousands of small, peripheral languages, each connected to one of a hundred central languages. The entire system is held together by one global language: English. A language is a ‘hypercollective' good: the more speakers it has, the higher its communication value for each one of them. Thus, when people think that a language is gaining new speakers, that in itself is a reason for them to want to learn it too. That is why, in an age of globalization, only a few languages remain for transnational communication and these often prevail even in national societies. This important book discusses a number of specific constellations in detail: India, Indonesia, Sub-Saharan Africa, South Africa and the European Union. De Swaan concludes by providing a sober but illuminating view of language policy in multilingual societies. This book will be essential reading for those studying sociology, communication studies and linguistics.

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Page Count

366

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

074566346X

ISBN 13

9780745663463

The Killing Compartments

The Mentality of Mass Murder

By: Abram de Swaan

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The Killing Compartments

The Mentality of Mass Murder

By: Abram de Swaan

The twentieth century was among the bloodiest in the history of humanity. Untold millions were slaughtered. How people are enrolled in the service of evil is a question that continues to bedevil. In this trenchant book, Abram de Swaan offers a taxonomy of mass violence that focuses on the rank-and-file perpetrators, examining how murderous regimes recruit them and create what De Swaan calls the "killing compartments” that make possible the worst abominations without apparent moral misgiving, without a sense of personal responsibility, and, above all, without pity. De Swaan wonders where extreme violence comes from and where it goes—seemingly without a trace—when the wild and barbaric gore is over. And what about the perpetrators themselves? Are they merely and only the product of external circumstance? Or is there something in their makeup that disposes them to become mass murderers? Drawing on a wide range of disciplines, including sociology, anthropology, political science, history, and psychology, De Swaan sheds new light on an urgent and intractable pathology that continues to poison peoples all over the world.

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Page Count

345

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300210671

ISBN 13

9780300210675

Words of the World

The Global Language System

By: Abram De Swaan

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Words of the World

The Global Language System

By: Abram De Swaan

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Page Count

366

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

074566346X

ISBN 13

9780745663463

The Killing Compartments

The Mentality of Mass Murder

By: Abram de Swaan

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The Killing Compartments

The Mentality of Mass Murder

By: Abram de Swaan

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345

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300210671

ISBN 13

9780300210675

Human Societies

An Introduction

By: Abram De Swaan

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Human Societies

An Introduction

By: Abram De Swaan

This book is a brief introduction to the study of society, which may be read without any previous knowledge of the social sciences. Each chapter addresses a fundamental question about people in their various arrangements. The book begins by asking: what do people need from one another; what do they need to survive and how do these needs make them dependent upon others? Subsequent chapters deal with the ties that bind people, the expectations they entertain of one another, their means of distinguishing themselves from others, the ways they have of moulding and teaching the young, and what they believe, know and invent. De Swaan also explores the ways in which people organize their activities, from foraging bands of only a few dozen members to contemporary societies that can effectively co-ordinate a billion people or more. Human Societies traces this huge increase in the scale of social life which occurred as new forms of human co-ordination emerged: from reciprocal obligation and collective action, to markets, organizations, and states, and finally, the emerging global level of interdependence. This book will be essential reading for anyone who needs a brief and clear introduction to sociology in its broadest sense; it will be especially valuable to those studying the subject for the first time.

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Page Count

188

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

0745666140

ISBN 13

9780745666143

Alle Scholen

By: Herman Hertzberger,Abram de Swaan

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Alle Scholen

By: Herman Hertzberger,Abram de Swaan

Herman Hertzberger designs schools to function like cities. Schools and cities, he contends, can be read in many ways and are challenging, inspirational and inviting. School is where you can withdraw and adopt a position with respect to others, where you learn to take a place in society. Besides a presentation of Hertzberger's 30-plus built schools and a number of unbuilt ones, the sociologist Abram de Swaan addresses Hertzberger's work in an essay, discussing how school architecture impacts the social development of children. De Swaan pays tribute to Hertzberger as a pre-eminently 'sociological' architect.

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Page Count

178

Publisher

010 Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

9064506469

ISBN 13

9789064506468

Alle Scholen

By: Herman Hertzberger,Abram de Swaan

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Alle Scholen

By: Herman Hertzberger,Abram de Swaan

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178

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010 Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

9064506469

ISBN 13

9789064506468

Photographs

By: Wijnanda Deroo,A. de Swaan

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Photographs

By: Wijnanda Deroo,A. de Swaan

Opnamen in zwart-wit en in kleur van verlaten gebouwen, straatbeelden en interieurs.

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ISBN 10

9074159478

ISBN 13

9789074159470

Book's by Abram De Swaan

Words of the World

Words of the World

The Killing Compartments

The Killing Compartments

Words of the World

Words of the World

The Killing Compartments

The Killing Compartments

Human Societies

Human Societies

Alle Scholen

Alle Scholen

Alle Scholen

Alle Scholen

Photographs

Photographs

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