Emerald Group Publishing

Adolescent boys' literate identity.

Derived from the author's master's thesis at Brigham Young U., Utah, this study of adolescent boys' reading habits and notions of literature, stories, and their own views of life is based on in-depth interviews with nine boys and their families. Rice utilizes theories of education formulated by Pierre Bourdieu and applies methods of reconstructing "stories of experience and narrative inquiry" as described by D.J. Clandinin and F.M. Connelly. The volume, which includes a bibliography but lacks an index, will be of interest to curriculum designers and teachers of education.Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Analyzing gender, intersectionality, and multiple inequalities; global, transnational and local contexts.

The international conference Gender and Social Transformation: Global, Transnational and Local Realities, held in Beijing in July 2009, was organized by sociologists from the US and China to advance global feminist scholarship. The 14 papers that emerged cover frameworks and methods, gender in global-local connections, transnational migration, and war and peace-building. Among specific topics are strategies of feminist research in a globalized world, gender and labor within the Turkish context of local development in the era of globalization, an intersectional approach to the complexity of social support within the German-Ukrainian transnational space, and feminist organizations in Israel as a case of women's absence in peace-building policies. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Auto motives; understanding car use behaviours.

A session at the 2009 Transportation Research Board annual meeting in Washington, DC inspired this volume, and some of the 13 studies included are revised from presentations there. Scholars of transportation, urban planning, and related fields — not psychology or sociology — cover theories and concepts of car use, the factors that motivate choices, and differences between people. Among specific topics are conceptualizing car dependence, insights on car-use behaviors from behavioral economics, the car as material possession, driving to the breadline, and the role of spatial and occupational factors in commuting to work by immigrants in New Jersey. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Building methodological bridges.

The series as a whole was designed to provide a metaphorical bridge between different areas of research in management, so this volume lies close to the heart of the matter. Scholars of management mostly in the US consider bridges between macro and micro research, and bridges to stronger designs and analysis. Among the topics are whether strategic human resource staffing and organizational research are one-size-fits-all endeavors, entrepreneurial mobility, multi-study packages in organizational science research, and the current state and future prospects of qualitative comparative analysis and strategic management research. There is no index. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Cultural differences in a globalizing world.

Imposing western norms on other cultures is ineffective for the basic reason that other cultures have their own norms which westerners often do not recognize. The reverse is also true. These observations are a simplified example of the rich body of evidence and analysis contained in this work by Minkov (social anthropology, International University College, Sofia, Bulgaria; he earned his PhD under Geert Hofstede). Based on his analysis of an impressive body of national statistics and studies on activities, attitudes, and behaviors, Minkov shows remarkable talent for pushing the evidence to a macro level, thus allowing him to draw larger conclusions on general cultural traits. Of interest to a wide readership, the volume will be particularly thought-provoking for business readers who work internationally and professionals who work with diverse cultures. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Dynamics of globalization; location-specific advantages or liabilities of foreignness?

In the first section, Stephen J. Kobrin of Booz & Co. is the featured scholar, and his paper on the transnational transition and the multinational firm is contextualized by several contributions. In the second section, 15 contributions address such topics as home-based advantages, the effects of regional headquarters, overcoming liabilities of foreignness, factors that motivate foreign location of headquarter activities, selecting state or private joint venture partners in emerging markets, small developing country internationalization, and a network perspective of international entrepreneurship at the foreign market level, among other topics. Contributors are business scholars affiliated with academic institutions in Europe, Australia, and the US. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Economic crisis and crime.

The first seven of the ten contributions from sociologists and criminologists assembled in this volume are not concerned with robberies of the local convenience store but rather with the mortgage foreclosure crisis and corporate and white-collar crime. They discuss such topics as fraud and inequality in the subprime mortgage crisis, public attitudes toward control of the mortgage foreclosure crisis, social reactions to white-color crimes, causation and scenarios for corporate crime, and illegally backdated stock options. The final three contributions do discuss some street level issues such as criminal consequences in neighborhoods afflicted with home foreclosure, intimate partner violence and unemployment, and the shrinking budgets of police departments in economic downturns. Editor Deflem is affiliated with the sociology department, U. of South Carolina. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Electronic HRM in theory and practice.

Companies are spending lots of money on electronic systems that support human resources management in the hopes that such systems will promote greater efficiency and effectively contribute to the company as a whole. The questions surrounding what works and what doesn't, what is cost effective and what is simply costly are beginning to the be subject of a managerial sub-discipline. The three editors (who are also contributors) — Tanya Bondarouk, Huub Ruël, and Jan Kees Looise — are all affiliated with the U. of Twente, The Netherlands; remaining contributors are based in the UK and several continental European countries. Topics include web mining, case study evidence and a model for linking HR strategy and e-HR goals, a framework for comparative analysis of HR shared services models, language issues in the multinational firm, and e-recruitment. The volume is not indexed. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Higher education administration with social media; including applications in student affairs, enrollment management, alumni relations, and career centers.

Laura Wankel (student affairs, Seton Hall U.) and Charles Wankel (management, St. John's U.) compile 13 chapters that describe the use of social media such as Facebook, blogs, social bookmarking, Flickr, Twitter, and Second Life in higher education areas of recruitment, enrollment management, advising, mentoring, retention, public and alumni relations, collaboration, study abroad, career management, academic conferences and events, athletic programs, and the social integration of students, as well as methods for conducting research on the use of social media tools in outreach activities. Contributors work in higher education institutions in the US and UK. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Making semantics pragmatic.

Scholars in Europe and North America explore the territory now that the linguistic turn in philosophy is following linguistics its own turn toward pragmatics, which is the study of how language is actually used. Their topics include contextualisms and propositionalisms, bearers of truth and the unsaid, towards a radically pragmatic theory of the if conditionals, mutual manifestness and the pragmatic marker ne in Mandarin Chinese, the use theory of meaning and the rules of language games, and a game theory approach to the distinction between said and implicated. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Negotiation and groups.

Mannix (Cornell U.) et al. compile 10 chapters that examine challenges, opportunities, and dynamics that confront groups engaged in negotiation with other groups. Psychology and business scholars from the US, Canada, the Netherlands, and Australia presented their chapters at a conference at Stanford U. in May 2010, which appear here with a concluding, integrative chapter. They discuss what distinguishes group from dyadic negotiation, structures of group negotiations, different processes that characterize groups, and different demands of integrative and distributive negotiation. They also consider the effects of physical distance, cross-cultural negotiation, archetypal game structures that characterize negotiators' mental models, status conflicts, beliefs about fixed vs. malleable negotiation skills, the effects of emotion, research methods, and aspects of psychophysiology. The volume is aimed at scholars in management, psychology, sociology, communications, law, political science, and public policy. There is no index. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Studies in law, politics, and society.

The book's title is also the series title (this is volume 55), but the focus here is quite specifically on "...current and emerging relations between states and indigenous peoples in Latin America" — as described in the editor's introductory essay. Sarat (law, Amherst College) explains that the papers stem from a symposium (date not stated), and he frames them "...in a broader discussion of the international context and international instruments pertaining to indigenous rights...." Contributors are based in the UK, Australia, Chile, and Mexico, as well as the US. Amaong the topics: indigenous peoples in Chile (the quest to become a constitutional entity), building Mayan authority and autonomy in post-peace Guatemala, indigenous law in Colombia, the promotion of a colorblind agenda through direct democracy, and a centennial tribute to Norberto Bobbio (1909-2004). The collection is not indexed. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Support systems and services for diverse populations; considering the intersection of race, gender, and the needs of black female undergraduates.

Focusing on the particularities of challenges, obstacles, and dilemmas that face undergraduate students who are black and female, 11 contributions from counselors and educational leadership and policy specialists address various aspects of student life and achievement. More specifically, they discuss student engagement, support needs, technology-driven college classrooms, community cultural wealth, perspectives on church and spirituality, ivy-league institutions, and the paradox of success, among other topics. Editor Crystal Fenée Chambers is affiliated with the department of higher, adult, and counselor education, East Carolina U. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Women in leadership; contextual dynamics and boundaries.

Despite women's inroads in many leadership contexts, these contexts remain largely male-dominated. But at least these contexts have moved to center stage in leadership research, states Klenke (organizational leadership, U. of Maryland Eastern Shore). In chapters starting with a vignette that illustrates a theme relating to the paradoxes of females in notable leadership roles currently and historically, she examines themes including changing expectations of women leaders; persistent stereotypes in contexts including the mass media, arts, religion, and military; and women leaders' crossing of contexts, e.g., from CEOs of corporations into the political arena. Distributed in North America by Turpin Distribution. (Annotation ©2011 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)