Marx argued that capitalist society acts against the core capacities, skills and talents of human beings, and that it also limits their realisation or channels them into activities related to profit rather than need. Bringing Marx's theory of alienation forward to the present day, this book uniquely links it to health and well-being. Using case studies and vignettes of workers across different industries, it reveals their lived experiences, offering crucial insights into the insidious ways in which capitalism continues to damage human well-being. This is a resounding call for how society can change for the better.

The concept of well-being is one of the oldest and most important topics in philosophy and ethics, going back to ancient Greek philosophy. Following the boom in happiness studies in the last few years it has moved to centre stage, grabbing media headlines and the attention of scientists, psychologists and economists. Yet little is actually known about well-being and it is an idea that is often poorly articulated. The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Well-Being provides a comprehensive, outstanding guide and reference source to the key topics and debates in this exciting subject. Comprising over 40 chapters by a team of international contributors, the Handbook is divided into six parts: well-being in the history of philosophy current theories of well-being, including hedonism and perfectionism examples of well-being and its opposites, including friendship and virtue and pain and death theoretical issues, such as well-being and value, harm, identity and well-being and children well-being in moral and political philosophy well-being and related subjects, including law, economics and medicine. Essential reading for students and researchers in ethics and political philosophy, it is also an invaluable resource for those in related disciplines such as psychology, politics and sociology.

Wealth and money, which are meant to be sources of human happiness and facilitators of good social relations has instead become a monstrosity beyond human control. The unbridled quest to make money and accumulate wealth as well as assign social signification on the basis of the outcome of individuals' efforts in the process has ended up distorting existence and the meaning of being human itself. This work brings together a collection of very provocative and challenging articles that confront the problems created by wealth. Can there be happiness when wealth is increasingly concentrated in fewer and fewer hands? Can wealth really bring happiness? And what are the implications of the current trend to commodify everything for the project of human happiness? The contributors to the volume argue that there is a need to change wealth accumulation and its core purpose. They contend that from wealth accumulation the gear must change to wealth alleviation, because the ways the rich become wealthy often correlate with the ways the number of the poor increase. Following from this, they argue that rather than the current focus on poverty alleviation, the focus should shift to wealth alleviation because a happy future for all lies in promoting human well-being and removing human ill-being through the spring wells of solidarity and humanity.

In what innovative ways do novels by diasporic Black women writers experiment with the representation of Black subjectivity? This collection explores the inventiveness of contemporary Black women writers – Black British, African, Caribbean, African American – who remake traditional understandings of blackness. As the title word “experimental” signals, these essays foreground the narrative form and stylistic innovations of the black-authored novels they analyze. They also show how these experiments with form mirror the novels' convention-breaking experiments with reimagining Black female subjectivities. While each novel, of course, represents the complexities of diasporic experiences differently, some issues emerge that are broadly shared not just within a regional group, but across geographical borders. One feature of the collection is a comparative look at such linking themes across borders, under the rubrics: a return to precolonial systems of belief, reinventions of mothering, relational subjectivities, memory, history and haunting, and posthumanist revaluations. These themes take different shapes across the multitude of diverse cultures studied in this book. But together they establish a pan-global imaginative practice.

Daily existence is more interconnected to consumer behaviors than ever before, encompassing many issues of well-being. Problems include unhealthy eating; credit card mismanagement; alcohol, tobacco, pornography, and gambling abuse; marketplace discrimination; and ecological deterioration; as well as at-risk groups who are impoverished, impaired, or elderly. Opportunities for well-being via consumer behaviors include empowerment via the Internet, product sharing, leisure pursuits, family consumption, and pro-environmental activities, among others. In 2005 the Association for Consumer Research launched Transformative Consumer Research (TCR). Its mission is to foster research on quality of life that is both rigorous and applied for better assisting consumers, their caregivers, policy administrators, and executives. This edited volume includes 33 chapters on a wide range of topics by expert international authors. All royalties from sales of this book are donated to the Association to support TCR grants.

Good mental health is essential for students to manage the challenges that university life presents. This book offers pragmatic guidance to support academic and student services staff in engaging with this critical issue, both in terms of being proactive within their role to promote a positive approach to wellbeing, and understanding how to care appropriately for students who may not be flourishing in the university environment. Key topics include: · The pressure points and transitions of student life · The crucial role of departmental and academic staff · How to make mental health policies work · The legal obligations and limits of student support · Creating the conditions for confident support

A complete, highly readable and student orientated introduction. Comprehensive coverage of all the key theories, debates and issues showing how sociology can answer complex questions about health and illness.

The first text of its kind to address the connection between communication practices and quality patient care outcomes provides future and practicing patient caregivers basic communication knowledge and skills.