The use of the case study goes back to the beginnings of social science research and is still one of the most common forms of qualitative research. This book is a handy introduction to understanding, researching, and doing case studies in the social sciences and related fields. In this brief monograph, Jacques Hamel outlines several differing traditions of case study research—the Chicago School of Sociology, the anthropological case studies of Malinowski and others, and the French Le Play ...

Foucault - The Key Ideas is a concise introduction to the life, works and ideas of this ground-breaking modern philosopher. This book will not only guide you through the events of Foucault's life and help you to understand his most complex ideas with ease; it will also demonstrate the practical impact of those ideas on life today. Covering everything from Foucault's views on the philosophy and sociology of knowledge to his analysis of power and institutions in society, this book offers a f...

Michel Foucault was a twentieth-century philosopher of extraordinary talent, a political activist, social theorist, cultural critic and creative historian. He shaped the ways we think today about such controversial issues as power, sexuality, madness and criminality. Johanna Oksala explores the conceptual tools that Foucault gave us for constructing new forms of thinking as well as for smashing old certainties. She offers a lucid account of him as a thinker whose persistent aim was to chal...

The relationship between sociology and social critique has haunted the discipline since its origins. Does critique divert sociology from its scientific project? Or is critique the ultimate goal of sociology, without which the latter would be a futile activity disconnected from the concerns of ordinary people? This issue has underpinned two divergent theoretical orientations that can be found in the discipline today: the critical sociology that was developed in its most elaborate form by Pi...

Pierre Bourdieu is one of the world's most important social theorists and is also one of the great empirical researchers in contemporary sociology. However, reading Bourdieu can be difficult for those not familiar with the French cultural context, and until now a comprehensive introduction to Bourdieu's oeuvre has not been available.David Swartz focuses on a central theme in Bourdieu's work—the complex relationship between culture and power—and explains that sociology for Bourdieu i...

The French social philosopher Pierre Bourdieu is now recognised as one of the major thinkers of the twentieth century. In a career of over fifty years, Bourdieu studied a wide range of topics: education, culture, art, politics, economics, literature, law, and philosophy. Throughout these studies, Bourdieu developed a highly specialised series of concepts that he referred to as his "thinking tools", which were used to uncover the workings of contemporary society. Pierre Bourdieu: Key Co...

In National Performance, Erin Hurley examines the complex relationship between performance and national identity. How do theatrical performances represent the nation in which they were created? How is Quebecois performance used to define Quebec as a nation and to cultivate a sense of 'Quebec-ness' for audiences both within and outside the province? In exploring Expo 67, the critical response to Michel Tremblay's Les Belles Soeurs, Carbone 14's image-theatre, Marco Micone'...

Performance at all costs, productivity without regard to consequences, and a competitive work environment: these are the ethical factors discussed in The Anatomy of Ethical Leadership, which highlights issues in workplace culture while looking into a brighter future for labour ethics. Langlois maintains that an enhanced awareness of the process of ethical decision making in difficult situations will lead to the establishment of practices that encourage productive relationships bet...

Michel Foucault is recognized as one of the twentieth century's most influential thinkers, however the authors in this volume contend that more use can be made of Foucault than has yet been done and that some of the uses to which Foucault has so far been put run the risk of and occasionally simply amount to misuse.This interdisciplinary volume brings together a group of esteemed scholars, recognized for their command of and insights into Foucault's oeuvre. They demonstrate the many...

Recent years have witnessed a breakdown in consensus about what history should be taught within Canadian schools; there is now a heightened awareness of the political nature of deciding whose history is, or should be, included in social studies and history classrooms. Meanwhile, as educators are debating what history should be taught, developments in educational and cognitive research are expanding our understanding of how best to teach it. To the Past explores some of the politic...

The French revolts of May 1968, the largest general strike in twentieth-century Europe, were among the most famous and colourful episodes of the twentieth century. Julian Bourg argues that during the subsequent decade the revolts led to a remarkable paradigm shift in French thought - the concern for revolution in the 1960s was transformed into a fascination with ethics. Challenging the prevalent view that the 1960s did not have any lasting effect, From Revolution to Ethics demonstrates tha...

Translation and Globalization is essential reading for anyone with an interest in translation, or a concern for the future of our world's languages and cultures. This is a critical exploration of the ways in which radical changes to the world economy have affected contemporary translation.The Internet, new technology, machine translation and the emergence of a worldwide, multi-million dollar translation industry have dramatically altered the complex relationship between tra...