Studies in Religion and the Everyday is a collection of essays addressing the contours of religious beliefs and practices in the context of everyday life in India. Events and processes in contemporary India--especially post the 1990s--have contributed to distinct modes of articulating religious practices. This volume is an attempt to historicize--and problematize--the categorization of religion as a universally held and analytically distinct feature of human life and seeks to understand the conditions--historical, political, discursive--and processes of authorization under which a particular set of practices, values, and dispositions constitutes the 'religious' at a specific point in time. By bringing together studies that draw from diverse methodological and epistemological approaches, the book will serve as a useful introduction to religion in India for the general reader and as an indispensable resource for students and researchers. The volume presents fresh perspectives on existing
Capitalism is not enough.It has brought us prosperity and no other economic system can match its energy and innovation, but it has a dark side of exploitation and instability.Capitalism needs to be bo
Thought-provoking essays on science as an integral part of the culture of our age from a leader in the scientific humanism movement. "A profoundly moving, brilliantly perceptive essay by a truly
Musical understanding has evolved dramatically in recent years, principally through a heightened appreciation of musical meaning in its social, cultural, and philosophical dimensions. This collection
Musical understanding has evolved dramatically in recent years, principally through a heightened appreciation of musical meaning in its social, cultural, and philosophical dimensions. This collection
Reflecting the contributions of M. Brewster Smith to social psychology and personality study, this selection includes not only his best known essays but also previously unpublished material. Professor
Recognizing the need to balance environmental costs with benefits to society, Barbour examines the conflicting material, social and environmental values and political forces involved in the difficult
Should the day come when intelligent machines not only make computations but also think and experience emotions as humans do, how will we distinguish the “human” from the “machine&#
Experiments, Animal Bodies and Human Values presents a sociological examination of the ethics of using animals in biomedical experiments, exploring the manner in which science and technology have sought to advance the human body project by using animals as a resource for human gain. Such scientific developments are typically viewed as progress, a notion challenged by this book's analysis of the ways in which the animal body is exploited - and has become increasingly exploitable - in a bid to protect the human body project from perceived risks to health. Drawing on themes and issues in sociology, such as the construction and commodification of the body, risk in society and identity politics, Experiments, Animal Bodies and Human Values offers a rich discussion of the human use of non-human animals, shedding light on human embodiment and its relation to animal bodies. A timely and sophisticated exploration of key issues of moral and sociological concern, this book will appeal to those
A jaw-dropping exploration of everything that goes wrong when we build AI systems and the movement to fix them.Today’s “machine-learning” systems, trained by data, are so effective that we’ve invited
