Robert Perrucci - Böcker

The idea for this book was formed during the early 1980s when the author was studying the impact of plant closings on displaced workers and communities. In one community, workers who were displaced by a plant closing expected to receive retraining funds through the Job Training and Partnership Act (JTPA), only to find that the state had committed all the JTPA funds to train new workers for a Japanese transplant. Soon it became apparent that deindustrialization, job loss, and economically depressed communities were linked with the escalating interstate competition to provide multi-million dollar incentive packages for businesses to settle in their state. When Japanese automobile companies considered coming to the United States, they fueled the interstate competition for these large projects, which promised thousands of jobs and economic growth.

In America at Risk: The Crisis of Hope, Trust, and Caring, Robert Perrucci and Carolyn C. Perrucci identify the broad economic and technological changes that have led to the loss of high wage jobs, declining opportunity, and increased income and wealth inequality. These changes have altered the way that Americans think about themselves, their future, and the lives of their children and neighbors. Focusing on the erosion of trust, hope, and caring between and among Americans and their social institutions, the authors confront the challenge by proposing policies that will build hope (through jobs and wages) in order to promote greater trust of institutions and more caring for the less fortunate. Examining data from the past thirty-year period, Perrucci and Perrucci apply a critical sociological lens to view the dominant economic, political, and cultural institutions that have shaped the main social problems facing Americans. They challenge Americans to act on behalf of their individual and collective interests by becoming informed and involved in developing new solutions to improve their lives.

The combative metaphor of Oscience warsO has taken on a predominant position within the collective conscious, from being featured on the programs of scientific meetings to being splashed across the pages of leading national magazines and newspapers. Some in the scientific community perceive their profession to be under siege by members of the academic left, radical environmentalists, religious fundamentalists, eco-feminists, and others. This book, based on in-depth interviews with sixty members of groups with alleged Oanti-scienceO attitudes, examines how pervasive and uniform these critiques are. The research is designed to examine two conflicting hypotheses: 1) that anti-science attitudes reflect a general cynicism about all major social institutions, and 2) that anti-science views are not broadly based but are reflective, instead , of the particular interests of a given social grouping. In the final analysis, Perrucci and Trachtman dig at the root of the so-called Oscience warsO by presenting evidence that the wars are not the product of an overarching suspicion of the institutions at the core of our society, but are instead the product of organized interest groups, which shape the attitudes and beliefs of their respective members.

This study provides a detailed, in-depth analysis of a single incident rooted in the effort of a group of professional employees to serve the public welfare. It reveals in microcosm the interplay of political forces, economic interests, personal ambition, organizational structure, and professional ethics that culminated in an act of whistle-blowing. The incident took place during the final construction phase of the Bay Area Rapid Transit System (BART), designed to be America's first attempt at space-age mass transportation. Three BART engineers, convinced of the lack of responsiveness of management to their concerns about the system's safety, were fired for insubordination and other organizational sins. Based upon repeated interviews with the engineers, with BART managers and directors, and with the professional societies involved, as well as upon an extensive body of documents and court depositions, legislative reports, media reports, and institutional memoranda. Divided Loyalties sets a theoretical context for the issues, traces the incident from its beginning, examines the aftermath of the engineers' dismissal, and concludes with a set of recommendations that should be considered by public and private organizations, professional associations, agencies of government, and individual professional employees.

The idea for this book was formed during the early 1980s when the author was studying the impact of plant closings on displaced workers and communities. In one community, workers who were displaced by a plant closing expected to receive retraining funds through the Job Training and Partnership Act (JTPA), only to find that the state had committed all the JTPA funds to train new workers for a Japanese transplant. Soon it became apparent that deindustrialization, job loss, and economically depressed communities were linked with the escalating interstate competition to provide multi-million dollar incentive packages for businesses to settle in their state. When Japanese automobile companies considered coming to the United States, they fueled the interstate competition for these large projects, which promised thousands of jobs and economic growth.

Jean Piaget, renowned Swiss developmental psychologist and epistemologist, is best known for his groundbreaking studies with children, which led him to develop a landmark theory of cognitive development. Geldolph A. Kohnstamm's Jean Piaget: Children and the Inclusion Problem is a critical study of a cornerstone of Piaget's theory. This theory holds that a child's ability to solve problems of class inclusion marks the beginning of the period of concrete (logical) operations at about seven or eight years of age.Kohnstamm's experiments show, however, that with directive teaching methods, most children of five can already learn to solve inclusion problems. His results make him question the basic assumption of Piaget's theory that logical operations can only develop in firmly connected groupings of operations, not in isolation. The author argues that experimenters must therefore show that children who come to master one kind of operation should also show transference to other operations of the same grouping. As a result, he questions the real existence in brain functioning of the hypothesized groupings of operations in Piaget's theory.This book is a revised edition of the 1967 original and includes a new introduction and epilogue. The original book was published in the Netherlands, not in the United States. Therefore it has reached only a negligible US audience and has sadly escaped the attention of many interested in Piaget's developmental theory. This challenge to Piaget's theory is an invaluable resource for cognitive, developmental, and educational psychologists.

Jean Piaget, renowned Swiss developmental psychologist and epistemologist, is best known for his groundbreaking studies with children, which led him to develop a landmark theory of cognitive development. Geldolph A. Kohnstamm's Jean Piaget: Children and the Inclusion Problem is a critical study of a cornerstone of Piaget's theory. This theory holds that a child's ability to solve problems of class inclusion marks the beginning of the period of concrete (logical) operations at about seven or eight years of age.Kohnstamm's experiments show, however, that with directive teaching methods, most children of five can already learn to solve inclusion problems. His results make him question the basic assumption of Piaget's theory that logical operations can only develop in firmly connected groupings of operations, not in isolation. The author argues that experimenters must therefore show that children who come to master one kind of operation should also show transference to other operations of the same grouping. As a result, he questions the real existence in brain functioning of the hypothesized groupings of operations in Piaget's theory.This book is a revised edition of the 1967 original and includes a new introduction and epilogue. The original book was published in the Netherlands, not in the United States. Therefore it has reached only a negligible US audience and has sadly escaped the attention of many interested in Piaget's developmental theory. This challenge to Piaget's theory is an invaluable resource for cognitive, developmental, and educational psychologists.

The New Class Society introduces students to the sociology of class structure and inequalities as it asks whether or not the American dream has faded. The fourth edition of this powerful book demonstrates how and why class inequalities in the United States have been widened, hardened, and become more entrenched than ever.The fourth edition has been extensively revised and reorganized throughout, including a new introduction that offers an overview of key themes and shorter chapters that cover a wider range of topics. New material for the fourth edition includes a discussion of "The Great Recession" and its ongoing impact, the demise of the middle class, rising costs of college and increasing student debt, the role of electronic media in shaping people's perceptions of class, and more.

The New Class Society introduces students to the sociology of class structure and inequalities as it asks whether or not the American dream has faded. The fourth edition of this powerful book demonstrates how and why class inequalities in the United States have been widened, hardened, and become more entrenched than ever.The fourth edition has been extensively revised and reorganized throughout, including a new introduction that offers an overview of key themes and shorter chapters that cover a wider range of topics. New material for the fourth edition includes a discussion of "The Great Recession" and its ongoing impact, the demise of the middle class, rising costs of college and increasing student debt, the role of electronic media in shaping people's perceptions of class, and more.

Forbes reports that the richest 1 percent of the world’s population owns nearly half the world’s wealth, and the gap between the richest and poorest of the world only continues to increase. Deep Inequality looks behind these stark statistics to understand not only wealth inequality but also rising disparities in other elements of life—from education to the media. The authors argue that inequality has become so pervasive that it is the new normal. When we do recognize troubling inequality, we look at individual or small-scale problems without understanding the broader structural issues that shape the economy, the global political system, and more. Only by understanding the structural forces at play can we recognize the deep divisions in our society and work for meaningful change. Deep Inequality explains the changing landscape of inequality to help readers see society in a new way.

The Agenda for Social Justice: Solutions for 2016 provides accessible insights into some of the most pressing social problems in the United States and proposes public policy responses to those problems. Written by a highly respected team of authors brought together by the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP), it offers recommendations for action by elected officials, policy makers, and the public around key issues for social justice, including a discussion of the role of key issues of sustainability and technology in the development and timbre of future social problems. It will be of interest to scholars, practitioners, advocates, and students interested in public sociology and the study of social problems.

The Global Agenda for Social Justice provides accessible insights into some of the world’s most pressing social problems and proposes international public policy responses to those problems. Written by a highly respected team of authors brought together by the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP), chapters examine topics such as criminal justice, media concerns, environmental problems, economic problems, and issues concerning sexualities and gender. They offer recommendations for action by governing officials, policy makers, and the public around key issues of social justice. It will be of interest to scholars, practitioners, advocates, and students interested in public sociology, the study of social problems and the pursuit of social justice.