The series features in this fifth title the work of the professor and sociologist Sergio Amadeu da Silveira on the social implications of the technological development of algorithms. The author discusses the relationship between the advance of digital systems based on algorithms and the democratic debate. In an effort to understand how digital networks organize our daily lives, Amadeu looks into the role of algorithms in mediating and modulating public opinion. Citing key authors and practical examples, the book is organized into chapters such as "Democratic theory and the information society," "Freedom of speech and freedom of viewing," and "Can algorithms serve democracy?" The Digital Democracy series is published in Portuguese and English exclusively in digital format.

Invisible Codes is a path-breaking book about the concept of social or generative mechanisms, of which an early example is Adam Smith's idea of the 'invisible hand'. It deals with a problem long evident in sociological explanation, the 'macro-micro' dilemma. Professor Cherkaoui deploys a series of studies that deal with issues such as the causes of the French revolution of 1789, the persistence of social inequalities in education, and Max Weber's Protestant Ethic thesis. In each case he is concerned with understanding how both classical and contemporary sociologists construct explanatory schemas that aim to integrate the macrosociological and the microsociological levels. His aim is to construct a research strategy based around the principles of methodological individualism for understanding macro phenomena. Mohamed Cherkaoui argues that transitions between these levels are best seen through a modelling of generative mechanisms,

Viewing cybernetic technologies as technologies of communication but also of control, the sociologist and professor Sergio Amadeu da Silveira addresses in this book the implications of the growth of digital networks and the establishment of a market for personal data collection and sale that encroaches on those environments. Referencing both prestigious authors and practical examples, the book brings to light the way in which this so-called "data market" – represented by companies and systems – has strived to approach individual privacy as an obstacle to be removed. Closely linked to the content, the book is published exclusively in digital format.

In the first book of the Movements series, journalist Rogério de Campos reconstructs the history of this centuries-old art of narrating myths, fables, exploits, social conflicts, existential chasms or even everyday scenes: comic books. Starting out from 5th-century BC storytellers of illustrated sagas, Campos retraces the course of the language he encountered in the 1827 book Les Amours de Mr. Vieux Bois, by Switzerland's Rodolphe Töpffer, the birth of modern comics. Panel by panel the book parades Sun Wukong, Popeye, Angelo Agostini, Krazy Kat, Wonder Woman, Mad magazine, Hugo Pratt, linus magazine, H.G. Oesterheld, Guido Crepax, Crumb, Alan Moore, Art Spiegelman, Garo magazine, Moebius, Zap magazine, Gilbert and Jaime Hernandez, Marjane Satrapi, Frigidaire magazine, Akira, Taiyo Matsumoto, Marcelo D'Salete... As the author states about the early days of modern comics: "When we start looking into the 19th century, we find talents all around the world. Caran D'Ache hailed from Russia but found in Paris an ideal environment, so great was the number of magazines and artists. London also had its magazines and artists, such as George Cruikshank and George du Maurier. Portugal boasted the talent of Bordalo Pinheiro. And Spain had Mecachis. Anywhere in the world where there were magazines and newspapers, somebody was drawing cartoons and comics. One might even call the 19th century the 'golden age' of comics, so numerous were the talents and innovations". And further ahead, about the place of comics: "They [comics] play a key role in public health by narrating the country's life, by helping to link dreams to the real lives of people." Published in Portuguese and English, the Movements series is edited by the writer Tiago Ferro.

This book investigates the relationship between liberal democracies and ontology, that is, philosophical claims about the constitution of agents and the social world. Many philosophers argue that ontology needs to be avoided in political and legal philosophy. In fact, political liberalism, a highly influential paradigm founded by the philosopher John Rawls, makes the avoidance of ontology a core ambition of its 'political, non-metaphysical' programme. In contrast to political liberalism, this book argues that attending to ontological disputes is essential to political and legal philosophy. Illuminating, criticising and developing ontological arguments does not only enhance our understanding of justice, but also highlights key features of democratic citizenship. The argument is built up by bringing together three traditions of thought that have so far not been confronted with one another: political liberalism, the work of Michel Foucault, and the psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud and Donald Winnicott. The book also investigates more concrete implications of ontological disputes by drawing on several case studies: a Dutch political-legal debate about greeting rituals; an American conflict about the legalisation of religious freedom; and the struggles for resilience of two American social movement groups.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1997.

London’s craftiest and boldest detectives, Arthur Bryant and John May, are back in this deviously twisting mystery of black magic, madness, and secrets hidden in plain sight. When a young woman is found dead in the pews of St. Bride’s Church—alone and showing no apparent signs of trauma—Arthur Bryant assumes this case will go to the Peculiar Crimes Unit, an eccentric team tasked with solving London’s most puzzling murders. Yet the city police take over the investigation, and the PCU is given an even more baffling and bewitching assignment. Called into headquarters by Oskar Kasavian, the head of Home Office security, Bryant and May are shocked to hear that their longtime adversary now desperately needs their help. Oskar’s wife, Sabira, has been acting strangely for weeks—succumbing to violent mood swings, claiming an evil presence is bringing her harm—and Oskar wants the PCU to find out why. And if there’s any duo that can deduce the method behind her madness, it’s the indomitable Bryant and May. When a second bizarre death reveals a surprising link between the two women’s cases, Bryant and May set off on a trail of clues from the notorious Bedlam hospital to historic Bletchley Park. And as they are drawn into a world of encrypted codes and symbols, concealed rooms and high-society clubs, they must work quickly to catch a killer who lurks even closer than they think. Witty, suspenseful, and ingeniously plotted, The Invisible Code is Christopher Fowler at the very top of his form. Praise for The Invisible Code “Delightful . . . priceless dialogue . . . Fowler’s small but ardent American following deserves to get much larger. . . . The Invisible Code has immense charm. . . . Fowler creates a fine blend of vivid descriptions, . . . quick thinking and artful understatement. . . . Best of all are the two main characters, particularly Bryant, whose fine British stodginess is matched perfectly by the agility of his crime-solving mind.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times “Excellent . . . In the light of the challenges that Fowler has given his heroes in prior books, it’s particularly impressive that he manages to surpass himself once again.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) Praise for the ingenious novels featuring the Peculiar Crimes Unit “Witty, charming, intelligent, wonderfully atmospheric and enthusiastically plotted.”—The Times (UK) “A series of narratives that exert an Ancient Mariner–like grip on the reader . . . Christopher Fowler is something of a British national treasure.”—Crime Time “Quirky, ingenious and quite brilliant . . . If you haven’t indulged you are really missing out. . . . Wonderful, gently humorous stuff, so clever.”—The Bookseller “A brilliant series of impossible crime novels.”—The Denver Post “Grumpy Old Men does CSI with a twist of Dickens! Bryant and May are hilarious. I love this series.”—Karen Marie Moning “An example of what Christopher Fowler does so well, which is to merge the old values with the new values—reassuring, solid, English, and traditional. He’s giving us two for the price of one here.”—Lee Child

Expanding William F. Pinar's notion of autobiography from an individual to a national scale, this book takes the reader on an inner journey to explore the fragmented condition of the post-9/11 American national psyche. It excavates the many layers of the emerging social context within which multiple, conflicting national narratives of identity compete, and uses notions of democracy, nation, and citizen as signposts of contested terrain inside a troubled nation. While reminding us that the old, enduring questions remain unresolved, the book identifies and grapples with new questions that are central to emergent visions of 'educating for democracy' in contemporary America, situated now within a frenetic post-9/11 world.

Through a historical cross section dating back to the 1950s, the journalist and social scientist with a PhD in Anthropology Rafael Evangelista presents an original approach to hackers, those individuals passionate about technology who acquire prestige among their peers facing complex problems and acting creatively in software development. The author shows how hacking became consolidated in the free software movement and how this technological mobilization, rooted in collaborative practices and in the production of the common, found in Brazil a fertile ground for its expansion. According to Evangelista, hacking action and ethics were decisive in building systems that organize digital communication networks and in how we use them today. Far from being an apology for the potentials of the great calculators that were named computers at the time, Rafael Evangelista devotes part of the book to the risks to democracy posed by possibilities of control and surveillance of citizens. With a title that alludes to the poem by Richard Brautigan ("All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace"), this book is the second volume of the Digital Democracy series, edited by professor and sociologist Sergio Amadeu da Silveira and published exclusively in digital format.

Since its original publication in 1999, this foundational book has become a classic in its field. This second edition, Code Version 2.0, updates the work and was prepared in part through a wiki, a web site allowing readers to edit the text, making this the first reader-edited revision of a popular book. Code counters the common belief that cyberspace cannot be controlled or censored. To the contrary, under the influence of commerce, cyberspace is becoming a highly regulable world where behavior will be much more tightly controlled than in real space. We can - we must - choose what kind of cyberspace we want and what freedoms it will guarantee. These choices are all about architecture: what kind of code will govern cyberspace, and who will control it. In this realm, code is the most significant form of law and it is up to lawyers, policymakers, and especially average citizens to decide what values that code embodies. Publisher: Basic Books/Perseus.