Climate change has been a significant area of scientific concern since the late 1970s, but has only recently entered mainstream culture and politics. However, as media coverage of climate change increases in the twenty-first century, the gap between our understanding of climate change and climate action appears to widen. In this timely book, Julie Doyle explores how practices of mediation and visualisation shape how we think about, address and act upon climate change. Through historical and contemporary case studies drawn from science, media, politics and culture, Mediating Climate Change identifies the representational problems climate change poses for public and political debate. It offers ways forward by exploring how climate change can be made more meaningful through, for example, innovative forms of climate activism, the reframing of meat and dairy consumption, media engagement with climate events and science, and artistic experimentation. Doyle argues that cultural discourses have problematically situated nature and the environment as objects externalised from humans and culture. Mediating Climate Change calls for a more nuanced understanding of human-environmental relations, in order for us to be able to more fully imagine and address the challenges climate change poses for us all.
The Genome Incorporated examines the proliferation of human genomics across contemporary media cultures. It explores questions about what it means for a technoscience to thoroughly saturate everyday life, and places the interrogation of the science/media relationship at the heart of this enquiry. The book develops a number of case studies in the mediation and consumption of genomics, including: the emergence of new direct-to-the-consumer bioinformatics companies; the mundane propagation of testing and genetic information through lifestyle television programming; and public and private engagements with art and science institutions and events. Through these novel sites, this book examines the proliferating circuits of production and consumption of genetic information and theorizes this as a process of incorporation. Its wide-ranging case studies ensure its appeal to readers across the social sciences.
Television presenters are key to the sociability of the medium, speaking directly to viewers as intermediaries between audiences and those who are interviewed, perform or compete on screen. As targets of both great affection and derision from viewers and the subjects of radio, internet, magazine and newspaper coverage, many have careers that have lasted almost as long as post-war television itself. Nevertheless, as a profession, television presenting has received little scholarly attention. Personality Presenters explores the role of the television presenter, analysing the distinct skills possessed by different categories of host and the expectations and difficulties that exist with regard to the promotion of the various films, books, consumer and cultural products with which they are associated. The close involvement of presenters with the content that they present is examined, while the impact of the presenters' own celebrity on the tasks that they perform is scrutinised. With a focus on non-fiction entertainment shows such as game shows, lifestyle and reality shows, chat, daytime and talk shows, this book explores issues of consumer culture, advertising and celebrity, as well as the connection of presenters with ethical issues. Offering detailed case studies of internationally recognised presenters, as well comparisons between national presenters from the UK and Australia, Personality Presenters provides a rich discussion of television presenters as significant conduits in the movement of ideas. As such, it will appeal to sociologists as well as those working in the fields of popular culture, cultural and media studies and cultural theory.
How to be a great nurse focuses on fundamental issues that are relevant to all nurses, across all countries, fields and areas of practice. It is essential reading for student nurses, qualified nurses, supervisors, assessors, managers and nurse academics, who all want the nursing profession to invest in the highest-quality care, firmly rooted in the real heart of nursing practice. Each chapter focuses on a particular aspect of great nursing, illustrated by case studies, self-assessment tools and exercises, and supported by suggestions for further reading and self-development. Chapter 1 explores the ‘head, heart and hands principles’ of nursing care. Chapter 2 focuses on the core values of nursing practice from a professional perspective, with an emphasis on personal integrity. Chapters 3 and 4 enable readers to reflect on the skills and emotional intelligence needed to be an effective nurse, highlighting the importance of communication and individual learning needs. Career progression, resilience and the support of other nurses are discussed in Chapters 5 and 6. Chapter 7 then draws many of these ideas together by looking at nursing practice from the perspective of those receiving care. This enables readers to deepen their learning and reflect on their own practice. The final chapter considers the future of nursing, and the new nursing roles that may be needed, to ensure that great nurses meet the varied demands of future practice scenarios. Contents include: • The meaning of great nursing • Core values for nursing • Learning to be a great nurse • Effective nursing • Making a successful career of nursing • Supporting and influencing others to be great nurses • Patient perceptions of great nursing care • Embracing the future of nursing
Being the Chosen explores Christian fundamentalism in the USA, focusing particularly on the belief system of Protestant fundamentalists. It establishes the key characteristics of the Protestant worldview, investigating the degrees to which these are adhered to amongst different groups and how such belief systems are constructed and reinforced through everyday life. By presenting rich empirical material, Being the Chosen sheds light on the manner in which the Protestant fundamentalist worldview shapes and constructs the beliefs and actions of its adherents, providing them with agency and reinforcement in the face of oppositional forces. As such, it will interest not only sociologists, but also scholars of religion and the culture and society of the USA.
Americans have long believed that the private lives of their politicians are important indicators of their fitness to lead and of their ability to defend and uphold American values. For many, a sex scandal renders a person ineligible, or at the very least questionably qualified, for public service. In Compromising Positions, Leslie Dorrough Smith questions the assumption that sex scandals are really about sex-- that is, that they are primarily concerned with the discovery of sexual misconduct. She argues that they are, instead, a form of cultural storytelling that uses racial and gendered symbols to create a collective sense of national worth and strength. Smith shows that sex scandals involve the use of four very powerful social tools--gender, race, politics, and religion-- that together create a rhetoric about what America is, who is eligible to formally represent it, and what types of symbolic religiosity such leaders must display to legitimize their power. Americans tend to condemn or excuse the sexual misdeeds of their politicians depending on the degree to which the individual in question reinforces evangelical interpretations of "American values" and a "Christian nation." Such values include not just moral integrity, but strength, courage, and conquest. As a consequence, sex scandals are less likely to occur in cultural moments when the public is open to reading a politician's moral lapse as a symbolic form of national dominance. Put simply, when a leader is perceived as strong, domineering, and necessary for national health, many people will find ways either to overlook his illicit sexual behavior or somehow read it as an American act.
Smoothly blending performance theory, literary analysis, and historical insights, Cecilia Feilla explores the mutually dependent discourses of feeling and politics and their impact on the theatre and theatre audiences during the French Revolution. Remarkably, the most frequently performed and popular plays from 1789 to 1799 were not the political action pieces that have been the subject of much literary and historical criticism, but rather sentimental dramas and comedies, many of which originated on the stages of the Old Regime. Feilla suggests that theatre provided an important bridge from affective communities of sentimentality to active political communities of the nation, arguing that the performance of virtue on stage served to foster the passage from private emotion to public virtue and allowed groups such as women, children, and the poor who were excluded from direct political participation to imagine a new and inclusive social and political structure. Providing close readings of texts by, among others, Denis Diderot, Collot d'Herbois, and Voltaire, Feilla maps the ways in which continuities and innovations in the theatre from 1760 to 1800 set the stage for the nineteenth century. Her book revitalizes and enriches our understanding of the significance of sentimental drama, showing that it was central to the way that drama both shaped and was shaped by political culture.
Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) personnel are some of the most highly trained people in the military, with a job description that spans defusing unexploded ordnance to protecting VIP’s and state dignitaries. EOD are also one of the first military groups to work with robots every day. These robots have become an increasingly important tool in EOD work, enabling people to work at safer distances in many dangerous situations. Based on exploratory research investigating interactions between EOD personnel and the robots they use, this study richly describes the nuances of these reciprocal influences, especially those related to operator emotion associated with the robots. In particular, this book examines the activities, processes and contexts that influence or constrain everyday EOD human-robot interactions, what human factors are shaping the (robotic) technology and how people and culture are being changed by using it. The findings from this research have implications for future personnel training, and the refinement of robot design considerations for many fields that rely on critical small group communication and decision-making skills.
Topically organized, Adult Development and Aging: Growth, Longevity and Challenges provides students with a comprehensive understanding of the aging process in adulthood from multiple perspectives. The authors use principles of lifespan development to show readers the directionality of changes in early, middle, and late adulthood. Within its framework of scientific literacy, the text charts four key themes to guide learners: a focus on aging as development; a global perspective on contexts; a vibrant, integrated approach to diverse coverage; and psychological science that translates into real-life experiences. A final chapter focuses on ways to improve the experience of aging for all adults. Included with this title: The password-protected Instructor Resource Site (formally known as SAGE Edge) offers access to all text-specific resources, including a test bank and editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides.
The research, writing and analysis in the pages of this work show the story of how Generation X grew-up during one of the greatest periods of technological, social, political, economic and educational change in US history. Included in that story is how the greater percentage of them grew-up in the church, but then walked away en masse. Today, Generation X is the smallest percentage of Main Line and Catholic Church membership, while the overwhelming majority of church membership is made up of an aging population of Baby Boomers and Silent Generation folk. In ten year's time, what will be the state of the church when many of the current membership has passed on to eternal life, or are no longer able to do what it is that they're doing today? Generation X could well be the answer to much of the solution. Generation X is generally at a more comfortable place in their lives and are asking the questions about the meaning of their lives while considering issues of mortality. Yet at the same time, they're having now to care for parents, grandchildren, and for many Gen Xers, their own children still. They're busy and committed, but they're also spiritually hungry. Having had a relationship at one point in their lives, they're not completely foreign to what the church can be, but the ball is really in the church's court. How the church chooses to respond to Generation X could mean life, or church closure. It's a conversation that needs to take place, and that conversation begins here.
Easy, customizable plans (2-day, 7-day, and longer) to rid your diet of the acidic foods (sugar, dairy, gluten, excess animal proteins, processed foods) that cause inflammation and wreak havoc on your health. Let's talk about the four-letter word that's secretly destroying your health: ACID. An acidic lifestyle -- consuming foods such as sugar, grains, dairy, excess animal proteins, processed food, artificial sweeteners, along with lack of exercise and proper hydration, and stress -- causes inflammation. And inflammation is the culprit behind many of our current ailments, from weight gain to chronic disease. But there's good news: health visionary Dr. Daryl Gioffre shares his revolutionary plan to rid your diet of highly acidic foods, alkalize your body and balance your pH. With the Get Off Your Acid plan, you'll: Gain more energy Strengthen your immune system Diminish pain and reflux Improve digestion, focus, and sleep Lose excess weight and bloating, naturally With alkaline recipes for easy, delicious snacks and meals, Get Off Your Acid is a powerful guide to transform your health and energy -- in seven days.
Teresa Healy here examines resistance within Mexican society during a period of sustained crisis at the regional and national level, as well as at the level of world order. She analyzes how working class men organized to fight for the recognition of their citizenship rights, how they defended those rights when faced with repression and economic restructuring and how they contested the terms of globalization as it wrested from them their masculine identity of 'worker-fathers'. Healy also demonstrates how these men battled employers and masculinized political power at every level within the state to maintain their livelihoods and resist the feminization of their work and their own identities. These were gendered struggles against globalizations as they were experienced and carried out by men. The volume uncovers the limits and possibilities of working class men and women in transforming the conditions in which they live and work, and highlights the diversity and rich political history of social movements in Mexico.
In the first comprehensive study of Virginia Woolf's Common Reader, Katerina Koutsantoni draws on theorists from the fields of sociology, sociolinguistics, philosophy, and literary criticism to investigate the thematic pattern underpinning these books with respect to the persona of the 'common reader'. Though these two volumes are the only ones that Woolf compiled herself, they have seldom been considered as a whole. As a result, what they reveal about Woolf's position with regard to the processes of writing, reading, and critical analysis has not been fully examined. Koutsantoni challenges the critical commonplace that equates Woolf's strategy of self-effacement and personal removal from her works as a necessary compromise that allowed her to achieve authorial recognition in a male-dominated context. Rather, Koutsantoni argues that an investigation of impersonality in Woolf's essays reveals the potential of the genre to function both as a vehicle for the subjective and dialogic expression of the author and reader and as a venue for exploring topics with which the ordinary reader can relate. As she explores and challenges the meaning of impersonality in Woolf's Common Reader, Koutsantoni shows how the related issues of subjectivity, authority, reader-response, intersubjectivity, and dialogism offer useful perspectives from which to examine Woolf's work.
In her timely contribution to revisionist approaches in modernist studies, Lorraine Sim offers a reading of Virginia Woolf's conception of ordinary experience as revealed in her fiction and nonfiction. Contending that Woolf's representations of everyday life both acknowledge and provide a challenge to characterizations of daily life as mundane, Sim shows how Woolf explores the potential of everyday experience as a site of personal meaning, social understanding, and ethical value. Sim's argument develops through readings of Woolf's literary representations of a subject's engagement with ordinary things like a mark on the wall, a table, or colour; Woolf's accounts of experiences that are both common and extraordinary such as physical pain or epiphanic 'moments of being'; and Woolf's analysis of the effect of new technologies, for example, motor-cars and the cinema, on contemporary understandings of the external world. Throughout, Sim places Woolf's views in the context of the philosophical and lay accounts of ordinary experience that dominated the cultural thought of her time. These include British Empiricism, Romanticism, Platonic thought and Post-Impressionism. In addition to drawing on the major novels, particularly The Voyage Out, Mrs. Dalloway, and To the Lighthouse, Sim focuses close attention on short stories such as 'The Mark on the Wall', 'Solid Objects', and 'Blue & Green'; nonfiction works, including 'On Being Ill', 'Evening over Sussex: Reflections in a Motor-car', and 'A Sketch of the Past'; and Woolf's diaries. Sim concludes with an account of Woolf's ontology of the ordinary, which illuminates the role of the everyday in Woolf's ethics.
Here is the third of the "lost" diaries of young Arthur Conan Doyle, written in 1883 while he was a young doctor starting out in his career. This rollicking story of high adventure tells of how Arthur Conan Doyle serves as a British spy along with the legendary Doctor Joseph Bell - who became the real-life inspiration for the world's most famous literary detective, Sherlock Holmes. This diary details how Doyle and Dr. Bell journey to America on a secret forensic mission to stop a series of murders and what could escalate into a world war. Peopled with Doyle's real-life literary contemporaries - including Herman Melville and Oscar Wilde, it is an exciting mix of murder, mystery, literary history, and humor sure to please Sherlock Holmes fans everywhere!
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