The epic story and ultimate big history of how human society evolved from intimate chimp communities into the sprawling civilizations of a world-dominating species. If a chimpanzee ventures into the territory of a different group, it will almost certainly be killed. But a New Yorker can fly to Los Angeles--or Borneo--with very little fear. Psychologists have done little to explain this: for years, they have held that our biology puts a hard upper...

When America became a nation, a woman had no legal existence beyond her husband. If he abused her, she couldn't leave without abandoning her children. Abigail Adams tried to change this, reminding her husband John to "remember the ladies" when he wrote the Constitution. He simply laughed, and women have been fighting for their rights ever since. Fearless Women tells the story of women who dared to take destiny into their own hands. They were feminists...

"A call-center worker patiently troubleshoots a customer's broken printer, while a cartoon character in a corner of his screen chides him for sounding too unengaged. An exhausted Uber driver needs extra cash, so she accepts a pop-up Quest on her app: drive another three trips to get a $6 bonus. At home, her partner spends hundreds of hours combing through obscure forums about the QAnon conspiracy theory: uncovering clues and drawing connections feels...

Stem cell research has sparked controversy and heated debate since the first human stem cell line was derived in 1998. Too frequently these debates devolve to simple judgments-good or bad, life-saving medicine or bioethical nightmare, symbol of human ingenuity or our fall from grace-ignoring the people affected. With this book, Ruha Benjamin moves the terms of debate to focus on the shifting relationship between science and society, on the people...

The most popularly read, adapted, anthologized, and incorporated primer on sociology ever written for modern readers   Acclaimed scholar and sociologist Peter L. Berger lays the groundwork for a clear understanding of sociology in his straightforward introduction to the field, much loved by students, professors, and general readers. Berger aligns sociology in the humanist tradition-revealing its relationship to the humanities and philosophy-and establishes...

A Systems Theory of Religion, still unfinished at Niklas Luhmann's death in 1998, was first published in German two years later thanks to the editorial work of André Kieserling. One of Luhmann's most important projects, it exemplifies his later work while redefining the subject matter of the sociology of religion. Religion, for Luhmann, is one of the many functionally differentiated social systems that make up modern society. All such subsystems...

The Protestant ethic - a moral code stressing hard work, rigorous self-discipline, and the organization of one's life in the service of God - was made famous by sociologist and political economist Max Weber. In this brilliant study (his best-known and most controversial), he opposes the Marxist concept of dialectical materialism and its view that change takes place through "the struggle of opposites." Instead, he relates the rise of a capitalist economy...

"The RADs are free and Draculaura (Lala) is flashing her fangs wit pride. But when Daddy Drac pays her a surprise visit everything goes batty. Mr. D. thinks RADs should have their own school, but Lala isn't ready to give up the rights they fought so hard for. It's father against daughter in a battle for Salem's student body. Despite the many challenges, Lala is determined to save Merston High. But she might die twice while trying"--

This essential presents the state of urban research on gentrification in a condensed form. This term, which has been used in the scientific community since the 1960s, has now also become established in the public debate. It describes how rising rents in the cities and the lack of affordable housing lead to poorer residents being driven out of their neighbourhoods. It becomes clear in what way gentrification is a general principle of urban development...

Reed Brennan finds her life threatened once more while she tries to recover from the events of last term while vacationing with the Billings Girls during winter break.