In a world where communication and language are not as divisive as they once were, we are experiencing a convergence unlike any other. Through technology and a broadening of our cultural understanding, we are opening doors and closing communication borders. While it is easier to adapt to and enter each other’s worlds, still we must navigate complex systems to understand operations within groups and organisations. Our experiences allow us more acceptance, but education is the only door to full comprehension. The chapters in this volume challenge readers to explore complexity theory and offer elements that support the continued and ever-growing need for its use. The book explores technology, culture, and science to navigate systems within organisations, in order to divulge the broad spectrum in which complexity theory may be utilised.

Neoliberalism isn't working. Austerity is forcing millions into poverty and many more into precarious work, while the left remains trapped in stagnant political practices that offer no respite. Inventing the Future is a bold new manifesto for life after capitalism. Against the confused understanding of our high-tech world by both the right and the left, this book claims that the emancipatory and future-oriented possibilities of our society can be reclaimed. Instead of running from a complex future, Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams demand a postcapitalist economy capable of advancing standards, liberating humanity from work and developing technologies that expand our freedoms. This new edition includes a new chapter where they respond to their various critics.

The systemic approach to sociology is widely considered to be one of the most important conceptions in sociology at the end of the 20th century. In this book Šubrt provides a comprehensive overview, and critical appraisal of the theory of social systems.

Contingency refers to an event that may be happening in future, but also may not happen. The concept plays has a long history dating from Aristotle who defined contingency as that which is possible but not necessary. The concept of contingency and related concepts as free will, the rejection of essentialisation and priority of the possible put a major challenge to theology in the 21st century. The book addresses this challenge from the perspective of practical theology. In doing so, it connects to the general debate in theology on naming God, hermeneutics, human agency and methodology.

Hacking Capitalism examines the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) movement, giving exceptional insight into the struggle by hackers over technological development and legislation.

The SAGE Handbook of Global Policing examines and critically retraces the field of policing studies by posing and exploring a series of fundamental questions to do with the concept and institutions of policing and their relation to social and political life in today′s globalized world. The volume is structured in the following four parts: Part One: Lenses Part Two: Social and Political Order Part Three: Legacies Part Four: Problems and Problematics. By bringing new lines of vision and new voices to the social analysis of policing, and by clearly demonstrating why policing matters, the Handbook will be an essential tool for anyone in the field.

Who steals jobs? Who owns jobs? Focusing on the competitive labour market, this book scrutinises the narratives created around immigration and automation. The authors explore how the advances in AI and demands for constant flow of immigrant workers eradicate political and working rights, fuelling fears over job theft and ownership. Shedding light on the multiple ways in which employment is used as an instrument of neoliberal governance, this revealing book sparks new debate on the role of automation and migration policies. It is an invaluable resource for academics and practitioners working in the areas of immigration and labour, capitalism and social exclusion, and economic models and political governance.

This monograph investigates current issues in labour law enforcement from a socio-legal perspective. It analyses how local Italian enforcement actors promote the protection of workers in Prato – a city that in recent decades has seen a significant influx of Chinese migrants who run small workshops as part of the local clothing industry. Many of the Chinese firms in Prato fail to live up to core labour standards, such as maximum working hours, health and safety at work and payment of social security contributions. The book analyses the strategies and practices employed by three local enforcement actors (labour inspectors, labour unionists and a new type of labour law consultant) in their efforts to assist Chinese firms in improving their level of labour law compliance. Combining documentary, interview and observational data, the book applies theories of legal culture and legal development to address the interaction between law and society. It focuses on the operational aspects of law by asking three interrelated research questions: How do local enforcement actors promote the protection of workers in Chinese firms in Prato? Which tools are employed, and which rationalities drive the initiatives? The book thereby sheds light upon processes of legal cultural adaptation, informing ongoing international and national debates about what can actually be done to combat contemporary gaps in the protection of workers.

In Inventing Southern Literature Michael Kreyling casts a penetrating ray upon the traditional canon of southern literature and questions the modes by which it was created. He finds that it was, indeed, an invention rather than a creation. From their heyday to the present, Kreyling investigates the historical conditions under which literary and cultural critics have invented "the South" and how they have chosen its representations. Through his study of these choices, Kreyling argues that interested groups have shaped meanings that preserve "a South" as "the South."