Promoting sociology in Australia
Facilitating sociology teaching and research
Enhancing the professional development of TASA members
Promoting sociology in Australia
Facilitating sociology teaching and research
Enhancing the professional development of TASA members
This page was created on August 15th, 2011 and is reserved for TASA members to include details of their publications. At least one of the authors or editors (named on the cover) must be a member of TASA and the content needs to be about some aspect of Australian sociology (broadly defined), including textbooks. To keep the site up-to-date, books must have been published in the current year. Please forward details of the book, including a brief outline, picture of the cover and a link to the publisher’s website to admin@tasa.org.au. Books will be displayed on this page for approximately 3 months, after which time brief details will be transferred to the Sociology Resource section of TASAweb where they will be displayed in chronological order.
For details, click on each book title below (click once to open, and twice to close):
Hickey. T, Andrew (2012) Cities of Signs: Learning the Logic of Open Spaces, Peter Lang
Cities of Signs explores the public pedagogies at play in contemporary urban settings. By exploring the mediating influences signage has on these highly organised spaces, Cities of Signs charts a method for uncovering the meanings we apply in our negotiations with the city. Whether in the form of street signs offering directions, the airbrushed promises of advertising media or the vandalized détournements of street art, signs pervade urban spaces and provide a tangible 'text' upon which the logics of both cities and ourselves are written. Cities of Signs charts the way that signs exist as key elements of contemporary urban space, and explores what it means to live within these spaces, amongst cities of signs. This refreshing take on the way that urban space is lived and experienced is a timely contribution to the literature in urban studies, sociology and education alike. In decoding the cultural production at play in urban environments, Cities of Signs presents a dynamic approach to understanding how culture is produced and consumed within the cityscape.
Cities of Signs firmly establishes Andrew T. Hickey as part of a promising new generation of scholars who push past disciplinary boundaries in their work. With a keen eye for the minutiae of settings and a flair for conceptual analysis, Hickey's ethnographic case study brings interdisciplinary perspectives to bear upon both the public pedagogy and cultural politics of signs and signage. Hickey constructs lively, inventive and intellectually rigorous narrative that is sure to ignite the sociological imagination. (Gregory Martin, University of Technology, Sydney)
Through this timely and engaging book, Andrew T. Hickey answers recent calls for public pedagogical research to explicate how sites work pedagogically. Going beyond surface-level readings of cultural texts to also explore how audiences engage with those texts, Cities of Signs troubles simplistic notions of cultural transmission by explicating the various mechanisms through which signs 'work' to mediate culture. Hence, Cities of Signs presents an account of the ways that public pedagogies actually function. (Jennifer Sandlin, Arizona State University, Co-editor, 'Handbook of Public Pedagogy')
Further details are available on the Publisher's website.
East, Bernard (2012), Australian Rules Football in a commercial era catering for theatregoers and tribals, Sydney: Walla Walla Press
Many commentators have contended that commercialism and commodification, prominent in the last three decades, have been detrimental to the culture and integrity of Australian football. They feared that football would become just another media-packaged form of entertainment.
Bernard East, who brings sociological perspectives to this study, contends that such fears have not been realised. Commercialisation has not overwhelmed the game, rather, the culture of Australian football has been re-imagined in interesting and attractive ways. The fans remain passionate about the game, supporting it in ever increasing numbers. Both tribals and theatregoers regard football’s culture as both authentic and enduring.
The AFL has opted for a balanced approached between commerce and culture and tradition and change, more so than any other football code. The League has also introduced many reforms to ensure a more even and attractive competition.
Book chapters
• 1 Sociological Perspectives on Australian Rules Football • 2 Localism and Rationalisation • 3 League and Club Administration • 4 Professionalisation • 5 Tradition, Commodification and Television • 6 The Re-imagining of Australian Football Culture
You can purchase a copy through the Publisher's website.
Marjoribanks, Timothy and Farquharson, Karen (2012), Sport and Society in the Global Age, Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan
Are sports influenced by their social context? Can sport influence the social world? And how is sport changing in our increasingly globalized society?
This thought-provoking text explores these questions and introduces key debates in the sociology of sport. Uncovering the power dynamics within sport and bringing this everyday topic under a sociological lens, the book: explores hot topics and contemporary controversies, such as e-gaming, fan violence and sex testing examines the central role of technology and the media in how sport is consumed, represented and played discusses a wide range of thinkers, from Gramsci to Castells reflects on developments in sport at local, global and national levels.
With clearly explained theory and vibrant case examples, this text shows how we engage with sport in social, political, cultural and economic terms. It is an indispensable text for students across the social sciences studying sports.
You can purchase a copy through the Publisher's website.
Weber, Jens-Christian (2011): Who manages Australia? Rekrutierungsmerkmale, Karrierewege und Internationalität des australischen Topmanagements. Marburg. Tectum Verlag.
Abstract
The shift has turned Australia into one of the most developed and fastest growing economies in the world in recent years, with a GDP of $917.7 billion in 2011. For two decades, Australia’s economic growth rate is among the highest of the OECD countries. However, there is not much the public knows about the leaders behind that success, the Australian business elites. While there has been a diversity of research projects conducted on American, British, German and French economic elites; since 1979, there have no large scale of surveys done on Australian top managers.
In his book, German sociologist Jens-Christian Weber stresses the relevance of analysing business elites as a significant group of actors in modern societies and provides, 30 years after the last large-scale survey, a comprehensive analysis of Australia’s business elites. How is the Australian top management recruited and selected? How do the careers of Australian top managers evolve? And how often are top positions in Australia’s industrial enterprises filled with managers from overseas?
Based on a discussion of elite theories from Mosca, Pareto and Michels and an overview on existing research about the economic elites in Germany, the US, the United Kingdom, France and Australia, his book investigates the social, educational and organisational background of Australian top managers. His survey reveals fundamental changes in the recruitment of business elites in Australia since the survey from 1979, such as the strong academisation of the elites, the dominance of expert careers as most common career model and the missing internationalisation in Australian top management compared to other modern economies.
In addition to his quantitative research, the author analyses the way Australian business elites present themselves to the public by studying their communication styles. For this purpose, key parts of the interviews with representatives of the Australian top management are interpreted with a focus on the reproduction of the social background and class consciousness by the interviewees and the reproduction of the so-called ‘criteria of performance’ as legitimisation for a membership to the economic elites.
More information is available on the Publisher's website and on the promotional link.
Simone Fullagar, Kevin W. Markwell, Erica Wilson
Summary:
Bringing together scholars from the areas of tourism, leisure and cultural studies, eco-humanities and tourism management, this book examines the emerging phenomenon of slow tourism. The book explores the range of travel experiences that are part of growing consumer concerns with quality leisure time, environmental and cultural sustainability, as well as the embodied experience of place. Slow tourism encapsulates a range of lifestyle practices, mobilities and ethics that are connected to social movements such as slow food and cities, as well as specialist sectors such as ecotourism and voluntourism. The slow experience of temporality can evoke and incite different ways of being and moving, as well as different logics of desire that value travel experiences as forms of knowledge. Slow travel practices reflect a range of ethical-political positions that have yet to be critically explored in the academic literature despite the growth of industry discourse.
Review:
In this well researched collection of 17 chapters written by key scholars this book critically engages with the question: what do slow mobilities mean for tourism? Providing international case studies, multidisciplinary, philosophical and theoretical explorations, the book contributes timely, new and refreshing insights that should be read by anyone interested in the emerging phenomenon of slow travel.
Alison McIntosh, The University of Waikato, New Zealand
This book’s contributors pose a number of fascinating questions, particularly what do slow mobilities mean for tourism, do slow mobilities suggest different ways of engaging with people and place and do slow travel experiences lead us to connect with and understand the world differently? Their explorations are stimulating and thought-provoking. This is a book whose time has come; indeed its editors are ahead of the curve in assembling a collection of tourism-focused essays which challenge today’s unrelenting and ultimately unsustainable pace of life. It makes for fascinating reading.
Annette Pritchard, Cardiff Metropolitan University, UK
You can order a copy through the publisher's website.
Handbook of Hyper-real Religions
Edited by Adam Possamai, University of Western Sydney
Brill Handbooks on Contemporary Religion
Today a new trend is clearly discernable, that of ‘hyper-real religions’. These are innovative religions and spiritualities that mix elements of religious traditions with popular culture. If we imagine a spectrum of intensity of the merging of popular culture with religion, we might find, at one end, groups practicing Jediism appropriated from the Star Wars movies, Matrixism from the Matrix trilogy, and neo-pagan rites based on stories from The Lord of the Rings and the Harry Potter series. At the other end of the spectrum, members of mainstream religions, such as Christianity can be influenced or inspired by, for example, The Da Vinci Code. Through various case studies, this book studies the on- and off-line religious/spiritual consumption of these narratives through a social scientific approach.
Contributors include: Stef Aupers, Eileen Barker, Lauren Bernauer, Douglas E. Cowan, Carol M. Cusack, Markus Davidsen, Martin Geoffroy, Dick Houtman, Danielle Kirby, Massimo Introvigne, Joseph Laycock, Carly Machado, Debbie McCormick, John W. Morehead, Kamaludeen Mohamed Nasir, Alan Nixon, Krzysztof Olechnicki, Adam Possamai, Johan Roeland, Heinz Scheifinger, John Wallis and Benjamin Zeller.
More information and order form available.
Deborah Lupton (2012) Medicine as Culture: Illness, Disease and the Body, 3rd edition. London: Sage.
Medicine as Culture has become the classic text for the sociology of health and illness, combining perspectives drawn from a wide variety of disciplines including sociology, anthropology, social history and cultural studies. The books teases out how medicine and health care are sociocultural constructions, ranging from mass media and high cultural representations of illness, disease, and health care workers to the power dynamics of the doctor-patient relationship.
The Third Edition has been updated to cover new and emerging areas of interest including: the role of computerized communication technologies in providing access to medical information; new medical technologies and how they contribute to people's understandings of their bodies and selfhood; how bioethical issues and dilemmas are negotiated in clinical settings; the changing role of nurses in healthcare provision; and new research in neuroscience on the plasticity of the brain and the notion of 'brain types' and how this research contributes to novel understandings of the brain in lay and medical cultures.
Rowe, D. (2011) Global Media Sport: Flows, Forms and Futures. London and New York: Bloomsbury Academic.
Book Outline
How has globalization impacted on sports media? What are the economic ramifications? And what is the future of sports media?
This book investigates the constituents, dimensions and implications of the flows of media sport from the Global West to the Global East and in the reverse direction. At an historical moment when the relative stability of the Western media sport order is under challenge, it analyses a range of key structures, practices and issues whose ramifications extend far beyond the fields of play and national contexts in which sport events take place.
The book will critically appraise the state of sports television; rise of new sports media; emergence of hybrid sport cultural forms; eruption of sport-related political controversies and power struggles; mutations of forms of global sport fandom, and projections of the future of global media sport. Bringing together the latest interdisciplinary research, it is a really exciting book for all those interested in this emerging field.Read on...
‘Pakulski and Körösényi highlight the utter centrality but frequently evanescent fate of celebrity-like leaders in today’s democracies. By updating and applying the theory of leader democracy set forth by Weber and Schumpeter, the book is a lasting contribution to understanding, like it or not, democracy’s top-down character.’ —John Higley, Chair of the IPSA Research Committee on Political Elites
‘This volume criticises in lively fashion current theories of the decline of participatory democracy, as well as “post-democratic” interpretations of contemporary politics, and will be a useful, engaging, provocative and controversial addition to reading on democracy, elites and contemporary politics.’ —Dr David Lane, Emmanuel College, University of Cambridge
‘Skilfully combining empirical and normative analysis, Körösényi and Pakulski offer a lively and compelling defence of so-called leader democracy. Those who advocate other models of democracy (deliberative, participatory, pluralist) will not be able to ignore the bold challenge posed by “Toward Leader Democracy”.’ —Professor Joseph Femia, University of Liverpool
In today’s liberal democracies, does the political process focus on the people, or on the political leaders representing them? Building upon the ideas of Joseph Schumpeter and Max Weber, ‘Toward Leader Democracy’ argues that we are currently seeing a movement toward an increasingly pronounced focus on political leaders – ‘leader democracy’. This form of democracy is fashioned by the political will, determination and commitment of top politicians, and is exercised through elite persuasion that actively shapes the preferences of voters so as to give meaning to political processes. As the text reveals, this marks a definite evolution within the world’s ‘advanced democracies’: democratic representation is today realised increasingly through active political leadership, as opposed to the former practices of statistically ‘mirroring’ constituencies, or the deliberative self-adjustment of the executive to match citizen preferences.
Readership: This book will serve primarily academics in social sciences and philosophy, as well as the informed non-academic public interested in current political trends.
Explores key issues in the modern tensions between state and religions by exploring a number of case studies from around the world.
‘Religion has emerged as a key variable in understanding modern societies, and all modern nations, no matter their formal definitions of church-state relations, must engage in the management of religions and religious groups in order to maintain peace between rival religious factions as well as societal harmony. This volume by eminent scholars in the field offers great insight into how public religions are functioning in a variety of modern states, the perils and benefits garnered as governmental authorities attempt to manage this crucial area of public life, and the need to redefine the meaning of secularization in the modern world.’ —Dr James T. Richardson, University of Nevada, Reno
With a clear statement of the theoretical issues in the debates about secularization and post-secularism, Religion and the State: A Comparative Sociology considers a number of major case studies – from China, Europe, Singapore and South Asia – in order to understand the rise of public religions in the modern state. By distinguishing between political secularization – the separation of state and religion – and social secularization – the transformation of the everyday practice of religion – this volume offers an integrating framework within which to analyze these different societies.
Readership: The book will be useful to scholars and undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of sociology and political science, as well as general readers interested in the topics of religion, state and civil society.
Celal Bayari. Japanese Hybrid Factories in Australia: The Japanese System Transferred. 2011. Lit Verlag, Berlin, and ISBN 978-3-643-11171-5. 208 pp, paperback.
This is a study of Japanese management and production system in Australia. It draws on the work of John H. Dunning, and Tetsuo Abo’s ‘hybrid factory’ paradigm. Manufacturing has been the fastest shrinking sector of the Australian economy. This book reappraises previous studies in Australia and ties up with multidisciplinary frameworks that focus on manufacturing by using different data sets. The Japanese system has existed alongside the Fordist mass production model both in Australia and overseas for several decades now. Japanese manufacturers have reconstituted this system in Australia, and other foreign manufacturers have also experimented with it in their Australian factories. The system has lead to several ‘hybrid factory’ models globally and the elements of the system that are successfully reconstituted differ in each country. The discussion centres on studies of Japanese’ hybrid factories’ in the UK, and the US with the Australian data, and concludes that the labour relations element of the Japanese system displays similar tendencies in all three cases. The book argues that this is an outcome of labour market deregulation under neo-liberal governance (i.e. the Anglo-Saxon economic model) in these countries.
A Groundbreaking, Cross-Cultural Contribution to the Study of Sex
“There are few more areas of interpersonal relationships that individuals hold dear than sex. Consequently, sex may be a suitable focus for understanding cultural similarities and differences. In her study of Chinese and Western cultures, Dr Jui-shan Chang demonstrates that while for Chinese sex is not who you are but what you do, for Westerners sex is not what you do but rather who you are. This contrast provides clear insights into different ideas of self-identity and the meaning of sex.” (Professor David S G Goodman, Chinese Studies Center, University of Sydney)
Making a Meal of It: Sex in Chinese and Western Cultural Settings shines a revealing light on contemporary sexual understandings, mores, and behaviours in Chinese and Western societies. Based on twenty years of original comparative research, this book argues that embedded meanings of sex remain fundamentally different between the two cultures—despite decades of loosening premarital sexual mores in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan that appear to be converging with those in the West.
Through surveys, focus groups, in-depth interviews and the study of cultural artefacts, Dr Jui-shan Chang explores:
* Why the conventional, Western perspective of modernization is inadequate in understanding Chinese sexuality
* How a cross-cultural, sociological approach can locate Western and Chinese sexual practices at a more fundamental level
* How “recognition” closely tied to sex in the contemporary West is crucial to understanding the predicaments of self and relationships
* The notion of a trans-cultural wisdom bank, a repository of possible solutions to recurrent problems in sex and relationships faced by individuals from all cultures
A sweeping and ambitious effort, Making a Meal of It is a major contribution with implications for how we understand sex, self identity, gender, relationships, marriage, family and culture. The findings and insights of this book are relevant to everyone in both cultures and appropriate for undergraduate and post-graduate students and researchers in relevant fields (such as comparative sociology; sociology of family and the individual life course transitions; sex/sexuality; men’s studies; women’s studies; cross-cultural mental health; social change, modernity and multiple modernities; Chinese studies; Asian studies; East West research). (ISBN: 978-1-4327-6821-8; Price: $23.95 (paperback); Pages: 388
Publisher: Outskirts Press, Colorado, USA)
Jui-shan Chang holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology from National Taiwan University, and a doctorate in sociology from the University of Michigan. She has also undertaken specialized training in psychotherapy and couples therapy in Melbourne. She has worked as an academic for the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, the East-West Centre in Hawaii, the University of Tasmania, the University of Iowa, and the University of Melbourne. A contributor to top journals and presses around the world and an award winning author and educator, she is currently also a freelance social research consultant and psychotherapist in private practice in Melbourne.
Title: Do it Yourself Social Research
Subtitle: The bestselling practical guide to doing social research projects
Author: Yoland Wadsworth
ISBN: 9781742370637
Edition: 3rd
Publication Date: March 2011
RRP: AUD$32.99
Extent: 224pp
Format: Paperback
eBook available from: Booku | Dymocks | eBooks.com | Read Without Paper
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
www.allenandunwin.com
Description
Over three decades this bestselling user-friendly introduction has been used by thousands of students, professionals and community groups to kick start their social research projects.
Always emphasising the importance of a spirit of inquiry, it demystifies the research process, covering all the basics of: where to start; how to manage a research project; methods, techniques and resources; digital tools; interpretation, analysis and reporting.
This third edition has been thoroughly revised. It covers the use of narrative and dialogue in research, rich research design, and what digital technology can (and can't) contribute to the research process. With its hands-on, no-nonsense approach, Do It Yourself Social Research is an essential resource for anyone doing social research in sociology, social work, education, health, welfare, non profit and many other fields.
'Practical in its content, sophisticated in its ideas, the book shows a passion for making social science a tool of democracy. I know of nothing else that is half as good.' - Raewyn Connell, University Professor, University of Sydney, Australia
'This is a first-rate text. Students had one problem with it; because it was not turgid like other texts they felt it lacked sufficient depth. It was only when they were into their research that they understood what a great reference it is.' - Richard A. Couto PhD, Union Institute and University, USA
Title: Everyday Evaluation on the Run
Subtitle: The user-friendly introductory guide to effective evaluation
Author: Yoland Wadsworth
ISBN: 9781742370439
Edition: 3rd
Publication Date: April 2011
RRP: AUD$35.00
Extent: 240pp
Format: Paperback
eBook available from: Booku | Dymocks | eBooks.com | Read Without Paper
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
www.allenandunwin.com
Description
Effective evaluation can provide valuable insights into the way a program, a course or an organisation is being run, and direction for improvement. This widely-used introduction to evaluation is intended for non-specialists in the human services who need to do evaluation as part of a busy workload.
Everyday Evaluation on the Run offers a practical over view of the main approaches to evaluation, strategies for involving stakeholders, and the evaluation industry's toolbox of models and techniques. The author emphasises the core principles and concepts of evaluation, and the idea of building a culture of evaluation.
This third edition of Everyday Evaluation on the Run reflects current thinking on values in organisations and the need to use evaluation to guide future practice rather than just as an auditing process. With extensive examples, it is a handy reference for professionals and students in health, welfare, and community work, and in government and non-profit agencies.
'Practical, useful counsel emanates throughout. Impressively grounded in real world experiences.' - Michael Quinn Patton, author of Utilisation-Focused Evaluation
Title: Building in Research and Evaluation
Subtitle: Human inquiry for living systems
Author: Yoland Wadsworth
ISBN: 9781742375403
Publication Date: September 2011
RRP: AUD$59.99
Extent: 360pp
Format: Paperback
eBook available from: Booku | Dymocks | eBooks.com | Read Without Paper
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
www.allenandunwin.com
Description
Albert Einstein said we can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them. If we don't have the kinds of health and human services or even the kinds of lives, communities and organisations we want, then we need to think differently.
Yoland Wadsworth offers an inspired insight and radically new proposition: that the act of our 'inquiring', of researching and evaluating together, is the way by which every living organism and all collective human life goes about continuously achieving the conditions for life.
Building in Research and Evaluation explores this new approach for bringing about both wanted change and stability. By inquiring around 'whole cycles' of acting, observing, questioning, feeling, reflecting, thinking, planning and acting again, Yoland identifies how new life might be brought to what we do.
'Sound and persuasive, insightful, important and inviting. A great contribution' - Michael Quinn Patton, author of the best-selling book, Utilization-Focused Evaluation
'Brilliant... I'm not aware of any other book of this nature. The examples are impressive' - Linette Hawkins, social work educator
'I remain critical of 'systems' models and biological analogies for organisational processes, but this work is unquestionably original and in major ways innovative' - Raewyn Connell, sociology professor
'Highly original... an ambitious integration of concepts. Credible and useful. Grounded in pioneering empirical research' - Danny Burns, professor of organisational learning
