Today most countries rely on formally organized welfare programs - in some cases to the extent that they are labeled "welfare states". These programs, which…

This innovative volume provides a comprehensive overview of the transformation of socio-economic practices in the global economy. The contributors offer analytical and comparative insights at…

This book examines the rise of welfare markets in Western societies and explores their functioning, regulation and embeddedness by addressing the particular field of old…

Gynaecologist William Howell Masters and psychologist Virginia Eshelman Johnson pioneered research into the nature of human sexual response and the diagnosis and treatment of sexual…

Does modernization lead to the decline of religion? This question lies at the centre of a key debate in the sociology of religion. During the…

This book takes a measured look at the 'crisis of waste' in modern society and it does so historically, sociologically and critically. It tells stories…

In the 1850s the social and political theorist Alexis de Tocqueville spoke of ‘a virus of a new and unknown kind’ to explain the inexplicable…

This book explores the history of Jewish eating and Jewish identity, from the Bible to the present. The lessons of this book rest squarely on…

Grace is a central concept of theology, while the term also has a wide range of meanings in many fields. For the first time in…