Rethinking Research and Theory series – serie

This incisive book explores the implications of the nature–culture binary and how it impacts the ways in which we think about nature. Bringing together and building on extensive work from varied fields, E. C. H. Keskitalo maps the many understandings of nature across diverse traditions and histories, and demonstrates that nature relations must be understood in connection to power.Focusing on five key binaries – nature–culture, urban–rural, productivism–landscape, leisure–work, and wilderness–civilization – the book unpacks how discussions and conceptions of nature shape our actions towards nature. It examines the role of classification and categorisation in language, and reflects on how to limit the overuse of natural resources. Looking beyond theory, Keskitalo examines the practical implications of understandings of nature relations on key topics including property systems, globalisation, planning, and management.Rethinking Nature Relations will be an accessible entry point for students and scholars in the social and natural sciences to begin critically examining nature relations. It will also be an invaluable resource for those working in environmental policy, sociology, geography, and development studies.

This insightful book explores the collective experiences of individuals in higher education settings, from students to those who teach and support them. Malcolm Tight presents academic establishments as highly complex and interconnected entities, examining their respective stakeholders and components to better understand these institutions.Adopting a global and holistic approach, Tight discusses the history and mythology of the academic experience, as well as ongoing changes in the demography of the academy. He investigates the broader contexts and connections between the main academic actors: students, teachers, researchers, administrators and those involved in management and leadership. Providing a systematic review of higher education research this book reflects on the underlying values which underpin academic institutions in the 21st century.Scholars and students of higher education, the sociology of education, university management and education policy will greatly benefit from this comprehensive book. It is also a vital resource for policymakers and practitioners in education and university administration.

In this timely book, Kevin Fox Gotham assesses the advantages and limitations of current theorizations and empirical examinations of tourism gentrification. He challenges conventional understandings and raises novel questions about the interaction of government policy, tourism development and gentrification. Identifying unexplored areas at the nexus of tourism gentrification, Gotham rethinks the binaries that are predominant in conventional tourism and gentrification research. Chapters also address the impact of short-term rentals, platform capitalism, neoliberalization and financialization on processes and patterns in tourism gentrification. Ultimately, the book illustrates the analytic value of tourism as a conceptual and heuristic tool for progressing beyond discipline-centric debates to promote research on tourism development in cities, gentrification and urban life.This is a beneficial resource for scholars and students of hospitality and tourism studies, human geography, urban studies, sociology and criminology. It will also be a helpful read for urban planners, particularly those looking at the intersections between tourism, development and crime.

Rethinking Rural Studies presents an explicitly trans-disciplinary perspective on rural social science. David L. Brown and Mark Shucksmith identify emerging issues and research avenues on the topic, highlighting opportunities for rural studies to contribute towards greater collective wellbeing.This timely book moves away from a binary division of rural and urban to posit that rural and urban areas are closely interrelated through social, economic, demographic and environmental processes. The authors emphasize the central role that power plays in structuring vulnerabilities and opportunities, and indicate the emerging possibilities caused by greater rural agency. Ultimately they argue that this is a critical time to rethink rural studies, asking how and what rural studies can contribute towards better rural futures.Written in an accessible style, this book is an invigorating read for scholars of sociology, human geography, planning and urban studies and population studies. The sustained focus on how social science research can promote social and spatial justice and equality also makes this an important read for those studying inequality.

This innovative book takes a unique approach to rethinking welfare states by considering two centrally interlinked issues: namely what is welfare, and what we should expect from welfare states now and in the future. Bent Greve critically considers thinking on the core elements of welfare states, how they should be ranked and how to recognise indicators of their direction of movement.Providing expert analysis of the historical development of welfare states and the challenges and pressures experienced both regionally and globally, this book argues for a new division of welfare states and a system for balancing old and new social risk. The investigation of dilemmas and the analysis of developing welfare states are particularly illuminating and informative.Greve provides a forward-thinking approach considering long-term stability and the challenges of inequality and poverty in different welfare regimes. He effectively combines new perspectives with attention to a strong public sector economy. With insightful new analysis this book will be an invaluable read for researchers and students of social policy and welfare states.

This illuminating book offers a new perspective on social science inquiry into the spatial dimensions of societal well-being; addressing the key question of who gets what, and where.Leading scholars Linda M. Lobao and Gregory Hooks adopt an organizing framework that speaks to the concept of spatial inequality, how it forms a lens on societal disparities, and how it gives rise to work with underlying commonalities across different social science disciplines. With this scaffolding, the authors consider spatial inequality across spatial scales, places, and populations, including the subnational scale, so often missing in inequality research. Illustrative cases center on poverty, public service provision and austerity policies, environmental justice, and war and conflict. The book concludes by advancing an integrative social science agenda to guide future emancipatory research on inequality.Rethinking Spatial Inequality is a vital resource for students and scholars of inequality across the social sciences including sociology, human geography, development, regional, urban, and rural studies, demography, and political science. Policymakers and practitioners in public service provision will also benefit from this perceptive book.