First published in 1998, this volume describes and analyses organizations of social security claimants and their position in the field of force of the national welfare state in six European countries: representing a diversity of welfare state regimes. The authors analyse these organizations, and their strengths and weaknesses, from a variety of theoretical perspectives: such as the opportunity structures of welfare states and national political relations, the fragmentation of the social movements of social security claimants along ideological and categorical lines, the (im)possibilities of organizing socially highly marginalized groups etc. The volume also contains an introduction and an epilogue, as well as a chapter dealing with the relations between collective and individual forms of social resistance.

Identification of the phenomenon of marginality in The Marginal Self—the failure to become one’s authentic, best self, by refusing to actualize this potential that is inherent in us all—turns on recognizing that freedom, and its misuse, underlie most human behavior, normal and pathological. Jean-Paul Sartre insisted that people don’t just have freedom, they are freedom. Most philosophical anthropologies, including Freudian psychoanalysis, and the current medical model of mental illness propagated by the American Psychiatric Association and typified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), do not acknowledge this essential reality. Beyond Marginality came out first eleven years after the initial 1987 publication of The Marginal Self. The author, in the meantime, had become acquainted with the Zen philosophy of D. T. Suzuki, of whom Martin Heidegger said that if he understood this man’s work correctly, Suzuki had accomplished what Heidegger had been trying to do all his life. What did Heidegger see in Suzuki’s anthropology? That the Cartesian duality—ultimately the dissociation of our inner lives from the world around us and from one another—was a distortion created by us that we could overcome through Zen’s actionable intuition of human wholeness. How this overcoming might be brought about is the theme of Beyond Marginality, starting with Suzuki’s intuition and embracing the work of many allied thinkers. Equally compelling are vivid testimonials from those who had stumbled into marginality, some eventually recognizing the negative consequences of their misused freedom, then freely willing themselves out of their marginal states. Helping people move beyond marginality and its attendant psychic pathology parallels the present enthusiasm of the mental health community for a positive psychology. Gestalt psychologist Kurt Lewin left us with the counter-Cartesian, Zen-like insight that nothing is so practical as a good theory.

In a unique study of Anglo-Jewish writers in the post-war period, Dr. Sicher traces through their works the story of the rise of the Jewish community from slum poverty to suburban affluence. This period is one of crucial social change in Britain. At the same time, Dr. Sicher raises serious questions about the modern writer's cultural and ethnic identity. In this process, Dr. Sicher advances the thesis that, under the impetus of the Holocaust, the more traditional conflict between Jewish roots and assimilation has been succeeded by a reassessment of identity and morality. Dr. Sicher's perspective on this particular period of literature is a highly original one and it should provoke creative reconsideration of other contexts and times as well.

The book Beyond Marginality: Understanding the Intersection of Race, Ethnicity, Gender and Difference in Educational Leadership Research promotes new theoretical and conceptual frameworks for the study of race and ethnicity in educational leadership. In this volume, new generations of scholars of color are moving beyond research that has not been necessarily focused or generated by diverse groups. The authors are purposeful in transcending systemic inequities and injustices in the stratified representation of practitioners and researchers by bringing in a new movement with innovative and impactful theoretical and conceptual frameworks in educational leadership.

This collection brings together analyses from a range of educational contexts around the world of the ways in which notions of identity and difference, belonging and exclusion are constructed within and beyond the context of education. Three key themes link the chapters within the book: · current policy and practice in education and educational research; · educational imperialism and its legacy; · cultures and sub-cultures within and beyond educational contexts. Part One, Educational Policy and Practice: Internal Colonisations, explores what might be described as the "internal" colonization of education by a certain set of hegemonic ideas and practices--practices which the authors in this book set out collectively to resist. In Part Two, Educational Imperialism and its Legacy, the focus turns to "external" imperialism within education. In Part Three, Culture and Subculture Within and Beyond Education, notions of space, place and identity are interwoven with linguistic, symbolic and material cultural markers. The contributors are Elizabeth Atkinson, Stephen Ball, Renée DePalma, Stephen Dobson, David Gough, Ruby Greene, Jennifer Lavia, Ahmad Nazari, Carrie Paechter, Michael Reiss, John Storey, Takako Takano, Maddalena Taras, Carol Vincent and Deborah Youdell. The book is intended for academics, for students working at Masters level and above and for education professionals and policy makers and will also appeal to scholars working in education and those involved in interdisciplinary work or working in the fields of sociology, cultural studies and sociolinguistics.

Drawing on the twin themes of liberation and inculturation, Peter Phan explicates a new theology forged in the cauldron of the encounter between two vastly different cultures. He devotes particular attention to the meaning of Christ for Asian Americans and the emergence of new christological titles -- Jesus as Eldest Son and Ancestor. Phan also explores his personal roots to sketch the contours of Vietnamese American theology, an expression of faith caught between the Dragon and the Eagle. Book jacket.

Provides a general discussion of theoretical perspectives and research strategies in the study of social movements and situates the debates on urban movements in Latin America within this broad context.