Despite South Africa’s successful transition to democracy and lauded constitution, political freedom for the majority of South Africans remains elusive. The poor and unemployed majority are poorly represented and lack power and thus freedom. Under these conditions, the freedom of the privileged minority is also seriously impaired due to the costs of maintaining their relative security and well-being. 

Lawrence Hamilton is an internationally-known political theorist, who has spent ten years teaching in South African universities. In this unique book he brings ideas - political and philosophical - to the fore to understand a contemporary political conundrum. He outlines the persistent, unresolved problems characterizing contemporary South Africa: poverty and quality of life statistics that are appalling for a middle-income country, levels of inequality that make South Africa one of the most unequal places in the world, skewed economic and political representation that reproduces elites rather than generating opportunities for all and an electoral system that implements the idea of proportional representation so literally that it undermines meaningful representation. 

Are South Africans Free? aims not only to explain the current state of South Africa but to provide positive new directions and suggestions for institutional change. Hamilton argues that freedom as power in South Africa does not depend on good will, charity or duty, and it goes beyond the complete realization of the political and civil liberties currently safeguarded in its constitution. Such change will depend on courageous leadership, active citizenship, new forms of representation and a macroeconomic policy that offers radical redistribution of actual and potential wealth. 

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Freedom ... Justice ... Citizenship ... What do they mean in South Africa today? In striving for them, have historical inequalities been recognised? Have political changes over the last 20 years translated into economic redistribution? Have the struggles for social change enhanced the project of decolonisation? 

Examining a wide range of social issues, from economic policy, land reform, gender politics and healthcare access to trade union mobilisation, heritage discourses, rights debates, citizen participation and migration policies, Domains of freedom shows that social change in South Africa should not be understood as either a catastrophic failure or an overwhelming success. This book makes it clear that South Africa’s recent history of freedom reflects the deep complexities and non-linear trajectories of building egalitarian societies more globally. Its authors are researchers who have all contributed significantly to understanding the meaning of freedom in their own subject areas. The result is a comprehensive overview which is useful for anyone keen to understand the complexities of freedom in South Africa today.

Table of Contents:

Foreword / Achille Mbembe. 

JUSTICE. 

Overview / Sharlene Mollett

Ch.1: Land, politics and policy change in South Africa: what questions for land redistribution policy and practice? / Thembele Kepe & Ruth Hall

Ch.2: Law and political conflict in South African land reform / Christiaan Beyers & Derick Fay

Ch.3: Cui bono? A political-economy assessments of 20 years of South African freedom / Antoinette Handley

Ch.4: South African housekeeping policy over two decades: 1994-2014 / Marie Huchzermeyer & Aly Karam. 

FREEDOM. 

Overview / Dickson Eyoh

Ch.5: Freedom Park and the Voortrekker Monument: commemorative practices between reconciliation and decolonisation / Melissa Levin

Ch.6: The paradox of trade union action in post-apartheid South Africa / Sakhela Buhlungu

Ch.7: The politics of women and gender in the ANC: reflecting back on 20 years / Zine Magubane

Ch.8: The role of rights and litigation in assuring more equitable access to healthcare in South Africa / Lisa Forman & Jerome Amir Singh. 

CITIZENSHIP. 

Overview / Jacqueline Solway

Ch.9: The politics of citizenship in South Africa / Bettina von Lieres

Ch.10: Fire in the vineyards: farm workers and agrarian change in post-apartheid South Africa / Christopher Webb

Ch.11: From Ubuntu to Grootboom: vernacularising human rights through restorative and distributive justice in post-apartheid South Africa / Bonny Ibhawoh

Ch.12: Social protests and the exercise of citizenship in South Africa / Anver Saloojee

Ch.13: Migration to South Africa since 1994: realities, policies and public attitudes / Belinda Dodson & Jonathan Crush. 

Index

Afterword / Gillian Hart

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We cannot solve global challenges unless women participate fully in efforts to find solutions. Female participation in the private sector is a crucial economic driver for societies worldwide. Economic security benefits every facet of a woman's life, with positive effects on the health, education and vitality of families. Learn about women who are changing their societies for the better. 

This book is based on the twelve critical areas of concern identified in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995: The burden of poverty on women, unequal access to education and training, inequalities and inadequacies in and unequal access to health care and related services, violence against women, the effects of armed or other kinds of conflict on women, including those living under foreign occupation, inequality in economic structures and policies, inequality between men and women in the sharing of power and decision-making at all levels, insufficient mechanisms at all levels to promote the advancement of women, lack of respect for and inadequate promotion and protection of the human rights of women, stereotyping of women and inequality in women's access to and participation in all communication systems, especially in the media, gender inequalities in the management of natural resources and in the safeguarding of the environment, and persistent discrimination against and violation of the rights of the girl child. This extended version of Global Women's Issues: Women in the World Today includes, for each chapter, a summary, key words, multiple choice questions, discussion questions, essay questions, and a list of additional resources.

Table of Contents

Overview: Interview with Ambassador Melanne Vereer

Chapter 1: Women and Poverty

Chapter 2: Women and Education

Chapter 3: Women and Health

Chapter 4: Violence Against Women

Chapter 5: Women, Girls and Armed Conflict

Chapter 6: Women in the Economy

Chapter 7: Women in Power and Decisionmaking

Chapter 8: Institutional Mechanisms for the Advancement of Women

Chapter 9: Human Rights of Women

Chapter 10: Women and the Media

Chapter 11: Women and the Environment

Chapter 12: Rights of the Girl Child

Conclusion

Bibliography: Additional Resources

Versioning History

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Why do people do the things they do? That’s what we are here to find out – Human Behavior and the Social Environment (HBSE) – How do they connect? How does it shape us? Why do we think and feel the way we do?

This will be explored throughout this course by examining human behavior throughout life stage developments and our interactions with the social environment. This course will explore theoretical perspectives in Social Work to help provide a foundation for organizing thoughts about client needs and issues they are seeking supports for. Theories will then be connected to important developmental, social, and cultural issues that present throughout each stage of life to create an overall picture of a client’s experience and how we can use this information to have a better understanding of how people we work with are influenced and why. Knowledge of typical development in each stage of life will also inform the Social Worker if any other supports, resources, or services may be needed. 

Table of Contents:

I. The Person in Environment

II. The Biopsychosocial Dimension

III. The Sociocultural Dimension

IV. The Social Change Dimension

V. Pre-Pregnancy & Prenatal Development

VI. Development in Infancy & Toddlerhood

VII. Development in Early Childhood

VIII. Development in Middle Childhood

IX. Development in Adolescence

X. Development in Early Adulthood

XI. Development in Middle Adulthood

XII. Development in Late Adulthood

(See Also: https://opensocialwork.org/education/textbooks/ )

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Introduction to Sociology 3e aligns to the topics and objectives of many introductory sociology courses. It is arranged in a manner that provides foundational sociological theories and contexts, then progresses through various aspects of human and societal interactions. The new edition is focused on driving meaningful and memorable learning experiences related to critical thinking about society and culture. The text includes comprehensive coverage of core concepts, discussions and data relevant to a diverse audience, and features that draw learners into the discipline in powerful and personal ways. Overall, Introduction to Sociology 3e aims to center the course and discipline as crucial elements for understanding relationships, society, and civic engagement; the authors seek to lay the foundation for students to apply what they learn throughout their lives and careers.

The authors, reviewers, and the entire team worked to build understanding of the causes and impacts of discrimination and prejudice. Introduction to Sociology 3e contains dozens of examples of discrimination and its outcomes regarding social science, society, institutions, and individuals. The text seeks to strike a balance between confronting the damaging aspects of our culture and history and celebrating those who have driven change and overcome challenges. The core discussion of these topics are present in Chapter 11 on Race and Ethnicity, and Chapter 12 on Gender, Sex, and Sexuality, but their causes and effects are extensively discussed in the context of other topics, including education, law enforcement, government, healthcare, the economy, and so on. Together and when connected by an instructor, these elements have potential for deep and lasting effects.     

Abbreviated table of Contents:

Preface

Chapter 1 An Introduction to Sociology

Chapter 2 Sociological Research

Chapter 3 Culture

Chapter 4 Society and Social Interaction

Chapter 5 Socialization

Chapter 6 Groups and Organization

Chapter 7 Deviance, Crime, and Social Control

Chapter 8 Media and Technology

Chapter 9 Social Stratification in the United States

Chapter 10 Global Inequality

Chapter 11 Race and Ethnicity

Chapter 12 Gender, Sex, and Sexuality

Chapter 13 Aging and the Elderly

Chapter 14 Relationships, Marriage, and Family

Chapter 15 Religion

Chapter 16 Education

Chapter 17 Government and Politics

Chapter 18 Work and the Economy

Chapter 19 Health and Medicine

Chapter 20 Population, Urbanization, and the Environment

Chapter 21 Social Movements and Social Change

Index

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We are delighted to bring to you this novel textbook, a collection of chapters on the essential topics in cultural anthropology. Different from other introductory textbooks, this book is an edited volume with each chapter written by a different author. Each author has written from their experiences working as an anthropologist and that personal touch makes for an accessible introduction to cultural anthropology.

Our approach to cultural anthropology is holistic. We see the interconnectedness of cultural practices and, in all of the chapters, we emphasize the comparison of cultures and the ways of life of different peoples. We start with Laura Nader’s observation that cultural differences need not be seen as a problem. In our complicated world of increasing migration, nationalism, and climate challenges, cultural diversity might actually be the source of conflict resolution and new approaches to ensuring a healthier world. Indeed, as Katie Nelson reminds us, anthropology exposes the familiarity in the ideas and practices of others that seem bizarre. Robert Borofsky advocates for anthropology’s ability to empower people and facilitate good. Borofsky calls on anthropologists to engage with a wider public to bring our incredible stories and important insights to helping resolve the most critical issues we face in the world today. This book brings Nader, Nelson, Borofsky, and many others together to demonstrate that our anthropological understandings can help all of us to improve the lives of people the world over. We need you, as students, to see the possibilities. As instructors, we want to help you easily share anthropological knowledge and understanding. We want all readers to be inspired by the intensely personal writings of the anthropologists who contribute to this volume.

Table of Contents

1. The Development of Anthropological Ideas

2. The Culture Concept

3. Doing Fieldwork: Methods in Cultural Anthropology

4. Language

5. Subsistence

6. Economics

7. Political Anthropology: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

8. Family and Marriage

9. Race and Ethnicity

10. Gender and Sexuality

11. Religion

12. Globalization

13. Culture and Sustainability

14. Performance

15. Health and Medicine

16. Seeing Like an Anthropologist: Anthropology in Practice

17. Media Anthropology: Meaning, Embodiment, Infrastructure, and Activism

18. Public Anthropology

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More about this e-Book:

Principles for a Free Society is written as a study guide by Dr. Nigel Ashford on behalf of the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation. The book explains twelve of the basic principles and values that are important for a free, democratic and open society. Principles for a free society is used worldwide in the work of the Foundation and has been translated into many languages.

Contents:

• Civil society

• Democracy

• Equality

• Free enterprise

• Freedom

• Human rights

• Justice

• Peace

• Private property

• The rule of law

• Spontaneous order

• Toleration

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This book offers a sociological understanding of today’s social problems and of possible solutions to these problems. As this book’s subtitle, Continuity and Change, implies, social problems are persistent, but they have also improved in the past and can be improved in the present and future, provided that our nation has the wisdom and will to address them.

It is easy to read a social problems textbook and come away feeling frustrated by the enormity of the many social problems facing us today. This book certainly does not minimize the persistence of social problems, but neither does it overlook the possibilities for change offered by social research and by the activities of everyday citizens working to make a difference. Readers of this book will find many examples of how social problems have been improved and of strategies that hold great potential for solving them today and in the future. 

Table of Contents:

Chapter 1: Understanding Social Problems

Chapter 2: Poverty

Chapter 3: Racial and Ethnic Inequality

Chapter 4: Gender Inequality

Chapter 5: Sexual Orientation and Inequality

Chapter 6: Aging and Ageism

Chapter 7: Alcohol and Other Drugs

Chapter 8: Crime and Criminal Justice

Chapter 9: Sexual Behavior

Chapter 10: The Changing Family

Chapter 11: Schools and Education

Chapter 12: Work and the Economy

Chapter 13: Health and Health Care

Chapter 14: Urban and Rural Problems

Chapter 15: Population and the Environment

Chapter 16: War and Terrorism

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South Africa’s democratic government has worked hard at improving the lives of the black majority, yet close to half the population lives in poverty, jobs are scarce, and the country is more unequal than ever. For millions, the colour of people’s skin still decides their destiny. In its wide-ranging, incisive and provocative analysis, South Africa Pushed to the Limit shows that although the legacies of apartheid and colonialism weigh heavy, many of the strategic choices made since the early 1990s have compounded those handicaps. The big winners of the transition, Marais demonstrates, have been the country’s conglomerates, especially those active in the finance sector. The basic structure of Africa’s biggest economy, however, remains largely intact and continues to serve a gilded minority, which now accommodates sections of the new political elite. The government, meanwhile, has squandered crucial leverage in a series of errors and miscalculations – at huge detriment to efforts to reduce poverty and inequality. The book explains why those choices were made, where they went awry, and why South Africa’s vaunted formations of the left – old and new – have failed to prevent or alter them.

Building on his acclaimed book Limits to Change, Marais examines South Africa’s most pressing issues – from the real reasons behind President Jacob Zuma’s rise and the purging of his predecessor, Thabo Mbeki, and how the African National Congress replenishes its power, to piercing analyses of the country’s continuing AIDS crisis, its economic path, the changes wrought in the world of work, and the unfolding struggles over belonging and identity. South Africa Pushed to the Limit presents a riveting, benchmark analysis of the incomplete journey beyond apartheid.

Summary of Table of Contents:

Acknowledgements; 

Introduction; 

• 1 The making of a polarised society; 

• 2 Saving the system; 

• 3 Contours of the transition; 

• 4 Sticking to the rules: the evolution of post-apartheid economic policy; 

• 5 All dressed up: the economy in the twenty-first century; 

• 6 The world of work; 

• 7 Poverty and inequality in the post-apartheid years; 

• 8 The social protection system; 

• 9 AIDS and TB: like 'waiting for a tidal wave to hit'; 

• 10 False starts: the health and education systems; 

• 11 A South African developmental state?; 

• 12 Last man standing: the Mbeki-Zuma battle; 

• 13 Power, consent and the ANC

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Women, a majority of the world's population, receive only a small proportion of its opportunities and benefits. According to the 1993 UN Human Development Report, there is no country in the world in which women's quality of life is equal to that of men. This examination of women's quality of life thus addresses questions which have a particular urgency. It aims to describe the basic situation of all women and so develops a universal account that can answer the charges of 'Western imperialism' frequently made against such accounts. The contributors confront the issue of cultural relativism, criticizing the relativist approach which, in its desire to respect different cultural traditions, can result in indifference to injustice. An account of gender justice and women's equality is then proposed in various areas in which quality of life is measured. These issues are related throughout to the specific contexts of India, Bangladesh, China, Mexico, and Nigeria through a series of case studies. Disciplines represented include philosophy, economics, political science, anthropology, law, and sociology.

Like its predecessor, The Quality of Life, this volume encourages the reader to think critically about the central fundamental concepts used in development economics and suggests major criticisms of current economic approaches from that fundamental viewpoint.

Contributors: Martha Nussbaum, Marty Chen, Susan Wolf, Jonathan Glover, Onora O'Neill, David Crocker, Hilary Putnam, Linda Alcoff, Amartya Sen, Susan Moller Okin, Ruth Anna Putnam, Cass R.Sunstein, Christine M.Korsgaard, Catherine Lutz, Xiaorong Li, Margarita M.Valdes, Nkiru Nzegwu.

Contents page:

• Introduction

By Martha C. Nussbaum 1

PART I WOMEN'S EQUALITY: A CASE STUDY

• A Matter of Survival: Women's Right to Employment in India and Bangladesh

By Martha Chen 37

PART II WOMEN'S EQUALITY: METHODOLOGY, FOUNDATIONS

• Human Capabilities, Female Human Beings

Martha C. Nussbaum 61

Commentator: Susan Wolf 105

• The Research Programme of Development Ethics

Jonathan Glover 116

• Justice, Capabilities, and Vulnerabilities

Onora O'Neill 140

• Functioning and Capability: The Foundations of Sen's and Nussbaum's Development Ethic

David A. Crocker 153

• Pragmatism and Moral Objectivity

Hilary Putnam 199

• Democracy and Rationality: A Dialogue With Hilary Putnam

Linda Akoff 225

• Cultural Complexity, Moral Interdependence, and the Global Dialogical Community

Seyla Benhabib 235

PART III WOMEN'S EQUALITY: JUSTICE, LAW, AND REASON

• Gender Inequality and Theories of Justice

Amartya Sen

• Inequalities Between the Sexes in Different Cultural Contexts

Susan Moller Okin 274

• Why Not a Feminist Theory of Justice?

Ruth Anna Putnam 298

• Gender, Caste, and Law

Cass R. Sunstein 332

• Emotions and Women's Capabilities

Martha C. Nussbaum 360

Commentator: Catherine Lutz 396

• A Note on the Value of Gender-Identification

Christine M. Korsgaard 401

PART IV WOMEN'S EQUALITY: REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES

• Gender Inequality in China and Cultural Relativism

Xiaorong Li 407

• Inequality in Capabilities Between Men and Women in Mexico

Margarita M. Valdés 426

• Femininity, Equality, and Personhood

Roop Rekha Verma 433

• Recovering Igbo Traditions: A Case for Indigenous Women's Organizations in Development

Nkiru Nzegwu 444

Index of Names 467

Index of Subjects

Reviews:

The essays in Nussbaum and Glover's anthology project a powerful and timely critique of cultural relativism in assessing the quality of life ... This anthology presents the viewpoints of the essentialists ... I felt deeply reassured by the cogent arguments of third-world women, who share my apprehension, in this multidimensional Nussbaum-Glover anthology. The combination of philosophical discourse, feminist insights and thorough economic analysis makes the book highly unusual ... refreshingly readable with writing that is witty and displays deep empathy with human values. - Times Higher Education Supplement 

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.  

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