Product Description: Is YOUR Family Struggling Because of an Alcoholic? Do you want to laugh again? Do you want to hang out with normal, healthy, fun-loving people again? Do you want to stop making excuses and lies for your alcoholic spouse? Do you want to feel beautiful, happier, healthier and confident again? Do you want your children to feel like they are a part of a family again? Do you want to stop the vicious cycle of destruction caused by alcoholism? Then you will want to start by giving YOURSELF a little hope...read more

Product Description: What are the critical gaps in thinking about reflexivity and social research? How is reflexive practice shaped by the contexts and cultures in which researchers work?How might research practice respond to twin demands of excellence and relevance in the knowledge-based economy?Thinking reflexively about the inter-relationships between social research and societal practices is all the more important in the so-called knowledge economy...read more

Product Description: Praise for first edition: "... a very substantial and reliable introduction to social theory, imaginatively written and extremely readable. The new edition contains two valuable additional chapters." William Outhwaite, Professor of Sociology, University of Sussex, UK The long-anticipated second edition of this original and approachable text examines social theory in the context of its traditions and historical development, and explores its contemporary relevance in explaining society and understanding social relations...read more

Product Description: Present-Day English is unique among the Germanic languages in employing the same forms (himself, herself etc.) both as reflexive pronoun and intensifier. While a lot of attention has been directed at the grammaticalization of the compound reflexive, the emergence of the compound intensifier has remained largely mysterious...read more

This is an accessible introduction to the philosophy of social research which relates philosophical ideas to actual research practice. The book makes effective use of illustrations from the UK, US and Europe to examine specific problems and broader issues. The book is intended for undergraduate and postgraduate courses in social research methods within sociology, social policy, politics, social psychology, human geography; philosophy of social science and social theory courses; and as a personal reference for professional researchers.

"This is an excellent collection at the cutting edge of thinking about qualitative research.... The breadth of coverage and the sophistication of the discussion make this an important addition to the increasing literature on qualitative work." - Jonathan Potter, Loughborough University "This book is likely to have a broad appeal to a rising generation of qualitative researchers seeking to relate theoretical debates to methodological practice." - Clive Seale, Goldsmiths College This exciting new book brings together contributions from world-leading scholars as well as younger researchers and focuses on cutting-edge issues related to the practice of qualitative research in the field. It provides a forum for contributors to discuss the issues and processes which inform qualitative research in its various forms as based on fieldwork experiences. In achieving this in an accessible manner to both practising students and researchers, it seeks to enable a dialogue over ideas and provide the reader with a `state of the art' overview of the topic from a contemporary perspective. Rather than being a `how to do' book, this volume should prove vitally useful for advanced students and researchers who wish to engage with those ideas and practices in terms of their applicability for an understanding and explanation of the place of qualitative research in the social sciences. It is also a forum in which leading scholars make an original contribution to the subject. Lively and highly readable throughout, Qualitative Research in Action will be essential reading for advanced undergraduates and above in a variety of disciplines, as well as researchers who wish to engage with contemporary ideas and practices in relation to qualitative research. 

Product Description: This fully revised and updated popular text successfully bridges the gap between theory and methods in social research, clearly illuminating these essential components for understanding the dynamics of social relations. The book is divided into two parts, with part one examining the issues and perspectives in social research and part two setting out the methods and processes...read more

Product Description: This text brings together a a number of contributions that discuss issues surrounding and informing questions such as: what is the "social"?; in what ways can we know it?; and how can our findings be validated? Topics discussed include: the relationship of philosophical and research issues to each other; the nature of social reality; properties that may be ascribed to the social; research accounts and rhetorical "persuasion"; and the relations between "gender and knowing"...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

Working with Offenders examines the current knowledge, skills and values which are needed by those working as probation officers and social workers for effective and competent practice. As well as looking at areas of practice which are of central importance to the altering roles of practitioners, this original textbook provides a critical appraisal of the policies and requirements which guide those roles. Written in an accessible style by experienced academics and professionals, the book examines: the issues which inform practice - training, skills and competences, antidiscriminatory practice, autonomy and accountability, masculinity and the causes of crime; the contexts in which work with offenders ta

Product Description: This book has two central purposes: to demonstrate the importance of qualitative research through an examination of the type of data that it is capable of producing, and, to do so using first-hand research accounts of ethnographic work...read more

Product Description: This book is about change. It is about the effect of changes in the criminal justice system and society in general upon the organization and everyday work of the probation service in England and Wales. These changes include a collapse in confidence in the treatment or rehabilitation model of probation work, and the actions of a Conservative government determined to create a punitive correctional service in the community...read more

Product Description: In recent years world music - a convenient term that embraces everything from salsa to the blues - has moved out of the specialist music shops and into the megastores. Artists like Salif Keita, Youssou N'Dour and the Gypsy Kings are now well-known to popular music-lovers in search of a change from the standard top-20 sound...read more