"Colleges today are filled with talk about identity and identity politics. But Glanzer shifts the conversation in Identity in Action by focusing on something one rarely hears anyone mention--the idea of identity excellence. In various professions, identity excellence means becoming an excellent accountant, biologist, historian, social worker, or teacher. But professors rarely go farther to talk the identities that really matter to students. What does it mean to be: an excellent friend? a good neighbor? a steward of one's body, possessions, or the environment? And what about social identities? How does Christianity impact: how I think about race? or gender? or citizenship? Students are often unaware of how to resolve conflicts between these identities on their own. Identity in Action, empowers readers to be excellent--and think deeply about the "why" questions of life in a practical, theologically informed manner. With personal stories and expert research, Glanzer explains how students can untangle the confusion and integrate their core identities with excellence."--

This volume presents recent developments in identity theory and research. Identities are the basic building blocks of society and hold a central place in every social science discipline. Identity theory provides a systematic conceptualization of identities and their relationship to behavior. The research in this volume demonstrates the usefulness of this theory for understanding identities in action in a variety of areas and settings. The volume is organized into three general areas: ethnicity and race; family, religion, and work; and networks, homophily, and the physical environment. This comprehensive and authoritative volume is of interest to a wide readership in the social and behavioral sciences, including students and researchers of sociology, social psychology, psychology, and other social science disciplines.

We live in an ever-changing social world, which constantly demands adjustment to our identities and actions. Advances in science, technology and medicine, political upheaval, and economic development are just some examples of social change that can impact upon how we live our lives, how we view ourselves and each other, and how we communicate. Three decades after its first appearance, identity process theory remains a vibrant and useful integrative framework in which identity, social action and social change can be collectively examined. This book presents some of the key developments in this area. In eighteen chapters by world-renowned social psychologists, the reader is introduced to the major social psychological debates about the construction and protection of identity in face of social change. Contributors address a wide range of contemporary topics - national identity, risk, prejudice, intractable conflict and ageing - which are examined from the perspective of identity process theory.

Critique of rational choice theory and original, cultural analysis of key historical problem.

Meyers (philosophy, U. of Connecticut, Storrs) presents a collection of essays exploring how to live a life that expresses one's own unique personality and distinctive values; nine of the 13 essays were previously published between 1987 and 2003. Coverage includes autonomous action and its bearing on gender, women's subordination, and women's resis

The Psychology of Globalization: Identity, Ideology, and Action underpins the necessity to focus on the psychological dimensions of globalization. Overviewing the theory and empirical research as it relates to globalization and psychology, the book focuses on two key domains: social identity and collective action, and political ideology and attitudes. These provide frameworks for addressing four specific topics: (a) environmental challenges, (b) consumer culture, (c) international security, and (d) transnational migration and intra-national cultural diversification. Arguing that individual social representation and behavior are altered by globalizing processes while they simultaneously contribute to these processes, the authors explore economic, political and cultural dimensions.

This monograph proposes a new theoretical and methodological perspective on identity called multimodal interaction analysis (Norris 2004). While many discourse studies analyze spoken language, this book moves from discourse analysis to multimodal discourse analysis. The author illustrates this new perspective through extended ethnographic study of two women living in Germany.

In this completely revised edition of one of the foundational texts of network sociology, Harrison White refines and enlarges his groundbreaking theory of how social structure and culture emerge from the chaos and uncertainty of social life. Incorporating new contributions from a group of young sociologists and many fascinating and novel case studies, Identity and Control is the only major book of social theory that links social structure with the lived experience of individuals, providing a rich perspective on the kinds of social formations that develop in the process. Going beyond traditional sociological dichotomies such as agency/structure, individual/society, or micro/macro, Identity and Control presents a toolbox of concepts that will be useful to a wide range of social scientists, as well as those working in public policy, management, or associational life and, beyond, to any reader who is interested in understanding the dynamics of social life.

While full victory in that challenge has been slow to come, Diversity in Mind and in Action makes it clear that there are success stories to be shared?and new avenues to be spotlighted.

Faber (technical communications, Clarkson U.) examines issues relating to the process of organizational change and the process of researching such change, including how people cope with, create, adapt to, and resist change; how people research and talk about it, and the links created and severed between theory and practice, the researcher and the researched, and the academic and the community. The text combines theoretical discussions of these issues--drawing on the work of Michel Foucault, Anthony Giddens, and Pierre Bourdieu--with Faber's firsthand experiences in the study and implementation of change. For academics, businesspeople, not-for-profit organizations, and community action groups interested in a sustained examination of change. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR