Benjamin Roberts - Böcker

This edited volume presents the latest findings from the 5th International Social Survey Programme (ISSP) Social Inequality module, a widely recognized dataset comprising responses from over 30 countries. It explores global perspectives on social inequality, including topics such as public views on taxation, government redistribution, personal experiences of inequality, and related themes. The chapters provide valuable insights into how attitudes toward inequality have evolved since they were first studied comparatively in the late 1980s. The chapters in this book demonstrate how international scholars are using these data to shed new light on beliefs about inequality and inspire further research into societal attitudes worldwide. The chapters in this book were originally published in the International Journal of Sociology.

Bottled tells the story of English football's complicated relationship with booze through the experiences of the players who found themselves in crisis when they could no longer put it down - from George Best and Paul Gascoigne to Tony Adams and Paul Merson, as well as many others who escaped the headlines. Footballers play under intense pressure in the unforgiving glare of the media spotlight. But what do their stories tell us about ourselves? Are some challenges they face specific to a player's lifestyle? With insights from those at the sharp end, here is an examination of footballers in need and the help available from the industry. Untangling the complex web of links between alcohol and the beautiful game, Bottled explores the stories that characterised the origins of many of England's clubs, as churches and breweries vied for the souls of young men. From trashed hotel rooms to the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous via the China Jump club, Bottled navigates the journey from the stars to the gutter and, sometimes, back again.

The Rise of Metallurgy in Eurasia is a landmark study in the origins of metallurgy. The project aimed to trace the invention and innovation of metallurgy in the Balkans. It combined targeted excavations and surveys with extensive scientific analyses at two Neolithic-Chalcolithic copper production and consumption sites, Belovode and Pločnik, in Serbia. At Belovode, the project revealed chronologically and contextually secure evidence for copper smelting in the 49th century BC. This confirms the earlier interpretation of c. 7000-year-old metallurgy at the site, making it the earliest record of fully developed metallurgical activity in the world. However, far from being a rare and elite practice, metallurgy at both Belovode and Pločnik is demonstrated to have been a common and communal craft activity.This monograph reviews the pre-existing scholarship on early metallurgy in the Balkans. It subsequently presents detailed results from the excavations, surveys and scientific analyses conducted at Belovode and Pločnik. These are followed by new and up-to-date regional syntheses by leading specialists on the Neolithic-Chalcolithic material culture, technologies, settlement and subsistence practices in the Central Balkans. Finally, the monograph places the project results in the context of major debates surrounding early metallurgy in Eurasia before proposing a new agenda for global early metallurgy studies.

Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll in Rembrandt’s Time focuses on the generation of rich young men that grew up in the seventeenth century in the Dutch Republic. These men had more money to spend on clothes, music, and recreation than the generation before them. This fascinating account of male adolescence in the Dutch Republic reveals how young men including Rembrandt van Rijn disregarded conservative values and rebelled against the older generation, and consequently created a new youth culture that was similar to the one of the 1960s. They had long hair, wore colorful and extravagant clothing, and started taking drugs. Theirs was the first generation in European history to smoke tobacco. Moreover, they defied conventional norms and values with their promiscuity and by singing lewd songs in their free time. With his engaging storytelling-style filled with humorous anecdotes, Roberts convincingly shows how deviant male youth behavior is a feature of all ages, especially in periods when youngsters have too much free time and money.