Presenting a sociological perspective on globalisation and COVID-19 impacts, this book examines the lasting effects of COVID-19 on the structure of work and unpaid domestic labour.

Labour patterns have influenced political, social, and economic spheres that affect organisational practices. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, this book showcases these effects upon household labour, care work, unpaid domestic work, and organisational practices, with attention to systemic inequalities by gender and age, net zero, privacy, and digitisation transitions. It examines the exponential post-pandemic growth of digitisation and what this has meant in encouraging remote, home-working or hybrid work health, and wellbeing. Taking a sociology of work approach with a critical eye for neoliberalism influences, this book explores the first years of the pandemic's aftermath, analysing both its short-term and potential long-term effects on paid work and unpaid domestic labour.

This book will be of interest to academics, students, and practitioners in the areas of sociology, global studies, occupational health, and international relations. In particular, those engaged with the sociology of work and the sociology of family will find this a valuable resource for understanding work in the post-pandemic world.

This is a comprehensive edited volume that explores the global workplace through the lens of cross-cultural management. It serves as both a theoretical foundation and a practical guide for students, preparing them to operate effectively in a multicultural world.

Organised into six parts, the book introduces the fundamental concept of culture and its impact on management; explores cultural dimensions like individualism versus collectivism, and power distance; develops cultural intelligence with strategies for enhancing awareness, understanding, and respect for cultural differences; delves into common challenges such as managing cross-cultural conflicts and leading virtual teams; and prepares readers for global leadership roles by fostering skills to create inclusive, productive work environments. Each chapter features case studies and best practices from global companies to illustrate successful management strategies and is structured with features such as learning objectives and discussion questions.

An in-depth approach that combines theory with practice, this text is suitable as recommended reading for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students of human resource management, international business, global leadership and management, and organisational behaviour.

Online resources for this book include chapter-by-chapter PowerPoint slides to aid teaching.

Drawing on global case studies, expert contributors demonstrate AI's capacity to enhance efficiency, reduce resource consumption, minimize bias, and strengthen employee well-being. They also combine environmental HR policy and digital transformations into one holistic framework, going beyond the traditional scholarly approach of treating them as separate entities. Chapters provide a practical guide for AI integration, addressing critical concerns over algorithmic transparency, data privacy, unequal access, and environmental costs. Adhering to specialized ethical guidelines, the contributing authors argue that successful AI integration will come from human-centered designs which prioritize participatory implementation and align with social and environmental values.

This is an essential resource for scholars and students of business, employment relations, knowledge management, and disruptive technologies. HR practitioners and organizational managers will also benefit from its actionable guidance for leveraging AI tools.

The International Conference on Evolving Perspectives in Humanities and Social Sciences: Theory, Practice, and Transformation (ICEPHSS'25) aims to provide a dynamic platform for scholars, researchers, practitioners, and industry experts to engage in interdisciplinary dialogues that address critical issues and emerging trends in the humanities and social sciences. The conference seeks to bridge theoretical insights with practical applications, exploring how advancements in technology, globalization, and societal shifts reshape these fields.

Key features include sessions on Digital Humanities, Education, Socioeconomic Dynamics, Cultural Transformations, and emerging areas like Food Culture and Identity. A distinct focus on integrating traditional disciplines with contemporary challenges-such as AI, sustainable development, and diversity-sets this conference apart. ICEPHSS'25 emphasizes not only academic rigor but also actionable strategies for addressing real-world problems.

Intended for academicians, policymakers, students, and professionals, the conference promotes collaboration across disciplines to foster innovative ideas and holistic understanding. Unlike other conferences, ICEPHSS'25 uniquely incorporates underexplored areas like culinary heritage and media literacy while prioritizing the impact of research in societal transformation. Participants will gain insights into evolving methodologies, network with global experts, and explore opportunities for future collaborations in shaping the future of humanities and social sciences.

Interdisciplinary in scope, the book also explores various issues such as party institutionalization and ideology, women's political leadership and participation, military coups, foreign assistance and the role of the African Union, all in relation to democracy and development. Reflecting on the diversity of the African experiences, the contributors propose that the utility of democracy lies in the extent to which it can deliver political goods to its citizens, and that achieving this requires a reimagining of the state which reincorporates indigenous governance and institutions. Analysing the implications of democratic backsliding, chapters advocate for a thinking state anchored by developmental elites, the establishment of strong and accountable institutions, and a shared value of development.

The Elgar Companion to Democracy and Development in Africa is a crucial resource for scholars and students of politics and public policy, economics and development studies. Policymakers and civil servants will also benefit from its practical insights and future-oriented perspectives.

Contributing authors analyse the application of metaverse technologies across a broad spectrum of industries, including retail, tourism, higher education and hospitality. They propose forward-thinking perspectives based on international case studies to uncover the practical implications and opportunities of the metaverse's unique marketing spaces. By integrating theoretical understanding with empirical evidence, chapters provide actionable insights for navigating the complex future of metaverse marketing.

Metaverse Marketing is an essential future-oriented tool for scholars and students of business and management, innovation and disruptive technologies. Marketers, policymakers and business leaders will also benefit from its practical suggestions for navigating the metaverse.

This coursebook introduces philosophy of mind as it is practiced in the third decade of the 21st century to a wide range of readers. It provides any interested student, researcher, or general reader-no matter their academic background-with an appreciation of what philosophers of mind do.

The book is particularly well suited for classroom use: each of the 20 chapters contains enough material for one standard week of classes, including an editorial preface, an essay, a response to that essay, discussion questions, and suggestions for further readings. The 42 contributing authors address perennial philosophical puzzles about consciousness, perception, thought, and agency from 21st century perspectives. They also address new philosophical issues that arise from research in psychology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. And they do so without assuming any background knowledge of philosophy or the relevant sciences, using clear prose and vivid examples to communicate what experts understand about the mind, what fascinating philosophical puzzles remain, and what solutions to those puzzles are currently under consideration. The book is thus well positioned as a highly readable introduction for undergraduates and general readers, while also getting graduate students and professors quickly up to speed with current debates in philosophy of mind.

Key Features

• Each of the 20 self-contained, multi-authored chapters is designed for one week of college-level instruction and includes a preface, a main essay, a response to that essay, discussion questions, and suggestions for further reading
• Written by an international team of 42 experts with specializations that cover all aspects of philosophy of mind
• A comprehensive glossary clearly defines all important terms, which are bolded the first time they are used in each chapter

Bringing together a range of interdisciplinary and geographically diverse perspectives, leading experts synthesize the key issues and challenges within international marketing. They examine crucial concepts including stimuli and barriers to international engagement, foreign environmental impacts, global market competition, foreign market selection and entry, international marketing strategies, and corporate social responsibility. Drawing on state-of-the-art marketing knowledge, entries evaluate the complex challenges international marketers face, from political risk and cross-cultural differences to buyer behavior differences and fierce global competition, serving as an essential reference point for understanding the variety and richness of contemporary international marketing.

The Elgar Encyclopedia of International Marketing Management is an illuminating and original resource for scholars and students of global marketing, international business and management, and strategic management. Policymakers and practitioners seeking to develop their knowledge and strategies in international marketing will also benefit from its astute analyses and pragmatic insights.

Key Features:

• Presents 61 entries organized into 20 distinct parts for ease of reference
• Provides insights from over 100 business scholars across 23 countries
• Amalgamates the numerous avenues of international marketing studies into one essential guide

This volume presents up-to-date insights into the ethical theories of Aristotle's followers, beginning with his colleagues Theophrastus and Eudemus and covering a broad range of figures, topics and applications up to the Imperial Roman period.

The ethical work of the Peripatetic school in antiquity included a number of authors who engaged with Aristotle's own legacy as well as emerging Hellenistic schools of philosophy, particularly Stoicism and Epicureanism. Much of the evidence for these views is fragmentary; this book guides readers through Peripatetic ethics in Theophrastus' work and beyond, encompassing a wide selection of philosophers, works and topics. It explores two controversial ethical treatises attributed to Aristotle but arguably not by him (the Eudemian Ethics and the Magna Moralia); fresh looks at animal and plant ethics in the School of Aristotle; four studies of various aspects of the ethical thought of Theophrastus; and another four studies on Peripatetic ethical thought after Theophrastus, from Hieronymus of Rhodes in the 3rd century BCE to Aspasius in the 2nd century CE.

Peripatetic Ethics in Theophrastus and After is of interest to students and scholars of ancient Greek philosophy and ethics, particularly Aristotelian ethics and other Peripatetics.

This book offers a different understanding of nature by investigating the concept of ziran ?? in the early Daoist texts that lay a metaphysical foundation for Daoism, Daoist environmentalism, and ecofeminism.

Revealing the Daoist ziran as a peaceful and harmonious way of living and its inspiration of profound wisdom for mankind, who are now deep in the modern crisis, the book examines the concept of ziran in early Daoist texts from a comparative perspective. It elaborates the meaning of Daoist ziran from the dimensions of dao, things, and humans, covering important philosophical topics such as being and nonbeing, the spontaneity or nature of things and freedom. Drawing on extensive resources-from pre-Socratic philosophers, Plato, Kant, Heidegger to environmentalism, feminism and Daoism-it explores Daoist ziran and promotes comparative philosophy at both theoretical and practical levels.

As an original analysis of the relationship between humans and nature, this book will be a valuable resource for international scholars and researchers in Daoism, Asian philosophy, comparative philosophy, environmentalism, ecofeminism and for those interested in the concept of nature.

Most previous studies of Adam Smith's methodology, with a few exceptions, have placed considerable emphasis on the undeniable influence of Newtonian physics and Humean empiricism.

This book argues that other sources are at least as important: Smith's own didactic rhetoric and the methodological writings of Rene Descartes. Smith began his public life in 1748, lecturing on rhetoric in Edinburgh. During this time he also wrote a history of astronomy, tracing its development from the age of mythical thought to Descartes (later incorporating Newton's ideas). In his History of Astronomy, he was less concerned with the truth value of theories than with their ability to quiet the human imagination by systematically combining numerous phenomena under a few unifying principles. In his lectures on rhetoric, he considered this approach to be the best method of didactic exposition. In both cases, he attached the greatest importance to one of the authors he cited most often between 1748 and 1763, Descartes. As such, Descartes and rhetoric were central to the young Smith's thinking prior to the publication of The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Consequently, any methodological examination of Smith's published works must be framed as a question of didactic exposition seen through a Cartesian lens.

This book will appeal particularly to historians of philosophy and economic theory, as well as to scholars of Adam Smith's life and work.

Chapters present an updated perspective on industrial economics worldwide, shaped by technological change, geopolitical tensions and sustainability imperatives. Contributors highlight the growing importance of ecosystems and collaborative frameworks in driving innovation and competitiveness, assessing international and cross industry case studies that demonstrate diverse policy approaches and institutional conditions. Evaluating the renewed role of industrial policy alongside technological and geopolitical pressures, authors illustrate how these factors shape structural change, modern state interventions and long-term economic development goals. Examining the interplay between economic analysis and policy instruments, this book is a valuable resource for navigating the current and future landscape of industrial economics, emphasising the need for renewed approaches towards a 'just' industrial policy.

A Modern Guide to Industrial Economics will benefit scholars and students of economics, innovation and technology, public policy and international political economy. It is prime reading for policymakers and practitioners seeking a deeper understanding of the contemporary factors influencing industry dynamics and long term development.

Leading authors in the field analyse precarity, the glass ceiling, definitions of excellence, work-life balance, the passion trap and the impact of 'publish or perish' cultures, revealing how gendered expectations and practices intersect with structural and cultural barriers. Drawing on the Horizon Europe project MINDtheGEPs, the book highlights key areas of cultural and structural resistance and innovation that challenge the 'fix the women' approach and promote systemic change. Chapters link macro, meso and micro levels of analysis within a gender-as-social-structure framework, underscoring the importance of feminist approaches in understanding and addressing inequalities and in redefining science as a collective, inclusive and ethical enterprise. The book ultimately advocates for gender-aware institutional transformation that fosters both equality and excellence.

Gender (In)equality in Research and Science is prime reading for scholars and students of gender studies, sociology, political science, and social policy. It is also relevant to higher education leaders, equality officers and policymakers for its concrete tools for transforming organisational gendered cultures and implementing and monitoring gender equality plans.

Leading experts investigate how contemporary forces such as digitalisation, sustainability and innovation are reshaping the dynamics between buyers and suppliers, leading to more strategic, resilient and value-driven partnerships. Chapters assess core concepts including collaboration, governance, performance measurement and risk management in differing global contexts. Through empirical insights, conceptual frameworks and practical recommendations, this book provides an understanding of cultural, regulatory and structural variations in buyer-supplier relationships.

The Research Handbook on Buyer-Supplier Relationships is a valuable resource for scholars and students of business and management, public administration and organisational behaviour. It is also prime reading for practitioners in business, organisation management and sales navigating the strategic challenges of modern purchasing and supply management.

Mazzi examines the nature of inventorship and evaluates the extent to which current legal regimes can recognise or respond to inventions created with limited or no human input. Scrutinising the concept of inventiveness and the continued relevance of the 'person skilled in the art', chapters question how patent law can ensure sufficient transparency when inventions arise from complex and opaque AI systems. Drawing on comparative methodologies and practical examples, the book concludes by reflecting on the broader justification of patent protection in light of non-human inventive activity and the compatibility between patent law and AI-driven innovation.

Presenting a multi-jurisdictional analysis, Patentability of AI-Generated Inventions is a crucial resource for scholars and students of intellectual property law and technologies. Patent lawyers and copyright policymakers will also benefit from its actionable recommendations for navigating the future of IP.

Contributors explore how legal education remains nationalised via local histories, politics and markets, despite borrowing models and language from modern, merit-based, or global approaches. Chapters assess the appearance of law schools as powerful sites where divisions of class, race, gender, empire and prestige are reproduced, contested and sometimes reimagined. The Research Handbook demonstrates how familiar patterns of hierarchies, inequalities and Western-centric ideals travel widely alongside diverse efforts in majority world contexts to resist, revisit and reimagine fairer institutions. Combining doctrinal analysis, institutional histories, archives, interviews and fieldwork, this Research Handbook advances research and promotes further study.

The Research Handbook is a crucial resource for legal education scholars and practitioners and also global scholars of the legal profession. It is prime reading for students and scholars of law and society and comparative institutions seeking more information on the factors shaping the legal landscape today.

Estelle Ivanova and Ian Blackshaw explain how EU competition law shapes sports governance, examining its principles, scope, extraterritorial reach, enforcement and judicial dialogue, and its interaction with fundamental freedoms, human rights and international sports arbitration.

Key Features:

• Analyses the dual role of sports governing bodies as regulators and economic operators in organising and commercialising competitions
• Examines the application of Articles 101 and 102 TFEU and EU merger control to sporting rules and commercial arrangements, including restrictive practices and abuse of dominance
• Analyses the application of EU law by CAS panels and the judicial review of CAS awards, including issues of Swiss public policy and ECtHR scrutiny
• Dissects leading disputes, including the Ticombo v IOC complaint, Royal Antwerp, RFC Seraing v FIFA and recent multiple club ownership disputes

This Practical Guide is designed for sports lawyers and competition practitioners handling sports-related disputes. It also serves as a valuable resource for sports administrators, sports marketers, academics, researchers and students of EU competition and sports law.

This Advanced Introduction provides a succinct overview of the modern forms of Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). Examining the variety of disputes in contemporary society, Carrie Menkel-Meadow argues that a fluid and adaptable resolution framework is necessary in order to fulfil the core principles of ADR: cheaper, faster and better solutions to legal disputes.

Key Features:

• Reviews the latest issues in multi-party, multi-issue international disputes
• Outlines adjudication, arbitration, mediation, negotiation and various hybridized processes
• Analyses critiques of alternative forms of dispute resolution as well as jurisprudential theories
• Explores innovations in online dispute resolution, including the challenges and opportunities which arise from the use of artificial intelligence
• Illustrates how innovative processes of facilitation and consensus building can be used for group decision making and deliberative democracy

The Advanced Introduction to Alternative Dispute Resolution is an essential resource for scholars and students of arbitration, business law and consumer law. Legislators and international relations professionals will likewise benefit from its insightful suggestions for modern dispute resolution.

The crisis of liberal democracy is clearly visible today, manifesting itself, inter alia, in the declining interest of citizens in participating in elections; the disappearance, or at least weakening, of the traditional axis of social conflict between labour and capital; the growing importance of populism; attacks on democratic institutions; and the efforts of leaders in many countries to centralize power. Across the globe, anti-establishment, anti-system, anti-elite and populist sentiments are on the rise, accompanied by the increasing prominence of anti-democratic parties. This volume aims to identify universal mechanisms of de-democratization using the example of Poland, by searching for reliable indicators of these processes. The authors examine and analyse the weakening of democratic institutions, the limitation of civil liberties, and the growth of authoritarian tendencies and political polarization, seeking out indicators of de-democratization phenomena in the legal-institutional, political-social and economic spheres, while also looking into actions that strengthen and protect de-democratization, which take place in the symbolic, social, political and economic domains.

The authors thus seek to expand the existing analyses of de-democratization processes in a volume which will be of great use to those researching and studying democracy, the rule of law, contemporary politics and de-democratization in Poland and beyond.

This book examines how the palm oil industry may align its business practices with circular economy principles, amid growing environmental scrutiny and regulatory pressures.

The book discusses the potential industrial benefits of adopting circular economy principles before reviewing the current state of business practice in the Malaysian palm oil industry. It highlights factors that influence the adoption of sustainable practices, including taxation, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), waste management and valorization, and digital technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT). In doing so, the contributors provide strategies and insights for other palm oil-producing countries to transition toward more sustainable business practices.

This book is an essential resource for academics interested in agriculture, supply chain management, sustainability, and environmental studies. This volume will also be of interest to policymakers and professionals in the palm oil industry.

Weather Magic in Medieval Scandinavia explores how people in medieval Scandinavia understood and attempted to influence the weather through magic. Covering the period from c. 800 to 1555 ??, the book reveals how storms, winds, and divine tempests shaped not only medieval imagination but also law, ritual, and power across the North.

Drawing on Old Norse sagas, poetry, law codes, religious texts, archaeology, and early modern trial records, this is the first comprehensive study of weather magic across the medieval Scandinavian world. The book argues that weather magic was not a marginal superstition but a key part of how medieval societies conceptualised human and divine agency within nature. It traces how figures such as O?inn, voelur, and saints appear as mediators between people and the elements, and how ideas of magic and miracle blurred in Christian and non-Christian contexts. By combining literary, historical, and material evidence, Weather Magic in Medieval Scandinavia illuminates how weather manipulation was bound to performance, voice, and social power, linking magic, seafaring, warfare, and the legitimisation of elite authority. The study offers new interdisciplinary insights into belief, ecology, and cultural exchange in the medieval North.

The book appeals to scholars and students of Old Norse studies, medieval history, folklore, religious studies, and environmental humanities, as well as general readers interested in the intersections of magic, mythology, and climate in the North.

Form tutors need to be the port in a storm, the defender, the challenger, the safe space, the ally, the consistent role model and efficient administrator. The role of form tutor changes over key stages and has an understated value in a secondary school's pastoral care system: they are likely the first adult in school to greet a child each morning, thereby potentially setting the tone for the day and they are the go-to person for any problems that child encounters. This is the book many secondary school teachers wish they had had in training: a comprehensive guide on how to do much more than take the register and give out notices.

It is designed to persuade teachers at all stages of their career to invest time and energy into being an excellent form tutor. The book cover topics including:

* Attendance and punctuality

* Mental health and wellbeing

* Working with others

* How to teach PSHE safely and effectively.

Guidance for first time form tutors, a source of renewed enthusiasm for seasoned professionals and a training manual for pastoral leaders, this one-stop shop for all form tutoring needs is an essential part of every school toolkit.

The Roman World from Pre-History to Augustus: A History of the Roman People offers students a comprehensive, readable introduction to Rome's early history and the Roman Republic.

Based on the new eighth edition of the hugely successful A History of the Roman People, this volume guides readers through the mists of Roman pre-history and a survey of the peoples of pre-Roman Italy to a balanced, thoughtful account of the complexities of the Roman Republic. It covers Roman history from its earliest occupation and legendary foundation, through the monarchic and Republican periods, up to the death of Augustus and the impact of his rule on Roman culture, providing a thorough, up-to-date examination of the period.

The Roman World from Pre-History to Augustus: A History of the Roman People is an excellent introduction for those with no background in Roman history, ideal for undergraduate courses on Rome's early history, Republic and the rise of imperial power, and on Roman culture.

In Psychoanalysis and the Struggle for Love, psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Mark Kinet brings together decades of clinical experience, theoretical insight, and cultural curiosity to explore love in all its forms: tender and erotic, destructive and restorative, ancient and digital.

Moving effortlessly between the works of Freud, Lacan, Klein, Winnicott, Balint, Bion, and contemporary neuropsychoanalysis, Kinet reveals how love shapes the psyche from infancy to adulthood, from the consulting room to the wider culture. Across a series of vivid chapters, ranging from early trauma to desire, perversion, seduction, idealisation, digital intimacy, and the healing potential of the analytic setting, this book offers a panoramic portrait of the human need for connection. Kinet combines rigorous clinical thinking with literary and philosophical depth, while offering a clear and compassionate account of why love matters and why it so often goes awry. A compelling exploration of the human heart and the forces that bind us to one another, this is psychoanalysis written with depth, clarity and warmth.

Written in Kinet's signature engaging and accessible style, this is a vital book for clinicians, readers of mind and culture, and anyone fascinated by the fragile and untidy beauty of love.

This book critically examines the discourses and policy responses surrounding China's success in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), offering alternative approaches to engaging with Chinese education through a nuanced understanding of its experiences and intellectual traditions.

China's exceptional PISA performance has ignited a global conversation on "learning from Chinese education." Yet this discourse often reflects the geopolitics of knowledge and remains entangled in Orientalist frameworks rooted in Western modernity. Drawing on the decolonial theory, this book challenges the Western-oriented representations of Chinese education and advocates for a deeper engagement with Chinese intellectual resources. It explores how such engagement can illuminate the complexities of Chinese education while fostering meaningful dialogues between China and other traditions. These dialogues aim to cultivate social-ecological relationality and interdependence through education, offering insights that extend beyond China's borders.

This volume is an essential resource for scholars and students in Chinese education studies, comparative and international education, decolonial studies, and the philosophy and culture of education.

In this illuminating volume, Tamas Pataki critically examines Freud's psychoanalytic approach to religion, tracing its intellectual evolution and impact on contemporary theories and practice.

This book delves deeply into Freud's psychoanalytic critique of religion, offering readers a comprehensive analysis of his naturalist perspective and its implications for understanding religious belief systems. Pataki explores Freud's theories alongside the contributions of other prominent thinkers such as Erich Fromm, Ana-Maria Rizzuto, W.W. Meissner, W. R. Bion and N. Symington highlighting their expansions and critiques of Freud's work. Examining Rizzuto's research on God representations, Meissner's insights into the spiritual dimensions of religion, contributions from attachment theory and the emerging trends of spiritually sensitive psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic mysticism the book provides a philosophically rigorous and nuanced comparison of psychoanalytic approaches to religion. This book offers a rich tapestry of ideas that explore the complex interplay between psychology, culture, and spirituality.

Ideal for scholars, students and professionals in psychoanalysis, philosophy, theology and psychology, this book is a valuable resource for anyone seeking to understand the complex relationship between religion and the human psyche.