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Humanities & Social SciencesMay 2021Disciplined agency
Neoliberal precarity, generational dispossession and call centre labour in Portugal
by Patrícia Alves de Matos
Since the mid-2000s, the harsh reality of call centre employment for a generation of young workers in Portugal has been impossible to ignore. With its endless rows of small cubicles, where human agents endure repetitive telephone conversations with abusive clients under invasive modes of technological surveillance, discipline and control, call centre work remains a striking symbol of labour precarity, a condition particularly associated with the neoliberal generational disenchantment that 'each generation does better than its predecessor'. This book describes the emergence of a regime of disciplined agency in the Portuguese call centre sector. Examining the ascendancy of call centres as icons of precarity in contemporary Portugal, this book argues that call centre labour constitutes a new form of commodification of the labouring subject. De Matos argues that call centres represent an advanced system of non-manual labour power exploitation, due to the underestimation of human creativity that lies at the centre of the regimented structures of call centre labour. Call centres can only guarantee profit maintenance, de Matos argues, through the commodification of the human agency arising from the operators' moral, relational and social embedded agentive linguistic interventions of creative improvisation, decision-making, problem-solving and ethical evaluation.
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Business, Economics & LawJune 2025Foundations of social ecological economics
The fight for revolutionary change in economic thought
by Clive L Spash
This book explores radical dissent from orthodox mainstream economics, and sets out a theoretically grounded vision for the emerging paradigm of social ecological economics. At the heart of this paradigmatic shift lies an acknowledgement of the inextricable embeddedness of economies in biophysical reality and social structure. The struggle for this transformative vision unfolds through a critical examination of mainstream environmental thought, followed by a nuanced evaluation of contributions from Marxists, socialists, critical institutionalists, feminists and Post-Keynesians grappling with the urgent environmental crisis. Synthesising insights from these diverse and heterodox schools, the book navigates the philosophical underpinnings of science, embracing a critical realist approach that challenges not only mainstream economic thought but also eclectic pluralism, relativism and strong constructionism. The question of what constitutes revolutionary science is explored in light of works by Kuhn, Schumpeter and Neurath, emphasising the pivotal role of values and ideology in works from Marx to Gramsci. Building on these radical and philosophical foundations, the book articulates a preanalytic vision of social ecological economics, dismantling entrenched notions of growth and efficiency in favour of a framework centered on social provisioning and needs embedded in ethics. In a thought-provoking conclusion, the book applies its analytical lens to the multiple crises of modernity within industrialised capital-accumulating economies. An agenda for social ecological transformation toward diverse alternative economies emerges, providing a compelling call to action in the face of contemporary challenges.
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Business, Economics & LawDecember 2016Visitor Management in Tourism Destinations
by Julia N Albrecht
Visitor management may be considered as a component of destination management at all levels of a destination. It involves a wide range of stakeholders. This book demonstrates current knowledge on visitor management. Visitor Management in Tourism Destinations provides insight into critical concepts such as the visitor experience, service quality, the uses of indicators and frameworks, and interpretation. It also addresses current issues including the social and political dimensions of visitor management, the implementation of monitoring, vandalism and augmented reality. Authored by leading international researchers in the field of visitor management research, this book is primarily aimed at researchers and postgraduate students. Key Features: · Considers critical concepts and influential factors in visitor management. · Illustrates current issues in visitor management. · Research-based case studies contribute to an overall understanding of core issues. · Covers the state-of-the-art in guiding and interpretation. ; This book demonstrates current knowledge on Visitor Management and provides insight into conceptual issues. ; PART I: Introduction and Foundation Chapter 1: Introduction to Visitor Management in tourism Destinations Chapter 2: Destination Management and Visitor Management: Non-convergent Literatures but Complementary Activities and Issues Chapter 3: Meeting the Challenge of Managing Visitor Experiences at Tourism Attractions Chapter 4: The Social and Political Dimensions of Visitor Management: Rural Home-based Accommodations PART II: Critical Concepts in Visitor Management Chapter 5: Indicators and Standards-Based Visitor Management Frameworks in Achieving Sustainability at Cultural Heritage Sites Chapter 6: Managing Nature-Based Visitors’ Perceived Service Quality, Satisfaction and Future Behaviour Intention Chapter 7: The Relevance of Visitors’ National Park Affinity for Effective Visitor Management in Protected Areas PART III: Current Issues in Visitor Management Chapter 8: Visitor Monitoring in the Tapajós National Forest, Brazil Chapter 9: Tourist Behaviours, Vandalism and Stakeholder Responses Chapter 10: Augmented Reality Application in Museum Visitor Experiences PART IV: The State of the Art in Guiding and Interpretation Chapter 11: Strategies for Successful Interpretation Techniques in Visitor Attractions: The Operationalization of Guided Tours in Museums Chapter 12: Using Heritage Interpretation to Manage Film-induced Tourism at Heritage visitor Attractions Chapter 13: Theories of Learning and their Application in Interpretation Chapter 14: Critical Reflections on the Role of Interpretation in Visitor Management PART V: Conclusion Chapter 15: Current Knowledge and Future Research Directions in Visitor Management
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EducationRe-Rooting the Learning Space
Minding Where Children's Mathematics Grow
by Thom, J. S.
To understand a living system, such as a tree, in an ecologically systemic way involves more than simply reducing the tree down to its parts or by analyzing the tree from part to whole. Not only does one need to study the tree’s leaves, stems, branches, trunk, root system, and its interaction with the environment but from many vantage points to make sense of how each part exists in dynamic relationship with the others as an integrated system. The same is true about the purpose of this book. It is not meant to be a recipe for how to teach mathematics well or to serve as simply a descriptive account of a teaching practice. It is in essence, a systemic exploration into the embeddedness and co-emergence of theory and practice in mathematics teaching. This book is ideal for undergraduate and graduate courses in mathematics education and curriculum studies. With its up close and contextual forms of data and a variety of interpretive methods used for the analyses, this book is highly suitable for courses in research. The audience includes professors, teacher educators, and in-service teachers who are interested in ecological theories and how these inform mathematics teaching and learning. “This book allows the reader to see children and their teacher really grappling with important mathematical ideas. Thom reveals how children occasioned by evolving promptings within the classroom might live mathematics through the invocation of hypotheses and the exploring of these, which lie for me, at the heart of contemporary mathematical culture. Thom successfully brings together embodied and dynamical ideas of knowing with current thinking on mathematics knowing and understanding. While the book has deep theoretical bases, Thom has written and developed it in ways that make the practices of mathematics knowing vividly evident and presents new ideas for living out mathematics teaching.” -- Thomas Kieren, University of Alberta “Thom offers a vibrant introduction to how an eco-complex approach to mathematics teaching might feel. Playing across individual and collective levels of knowing, she presents “living” accounts of the emergence of mathematical knowledge. She challenges us to attend to the complexities of subtle and seemingly mundane shifts in mathematical understanding as she confronts us with key issues in both responsive and participatory research. Few researchers have managed to speak so compellingly to what it might mean to carry an eco-complex sensibility in the classroom” -- Brent Davis, University of Calgary
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March 2010Done into Dance
Isadora Duncan in America
by Ann Daly
The larger-than-life story of an American dance icon.
