Katsunori Kondo (ed.), Health Inequalities in Japan: An Empirical Study of Older People

The life expectancy of the Japanese is among the highest in the world, and their preventive system to avoid nursing care is attracting international attention. Based on a large sample of senior citizens, this quantitative study examines the ways in which preventive care is exercised in such areas as depression, oral health, insomnia, social isolation and poor diet. The authors focus on the degree to which social inequalities and disparities are distributed among the elderly and argue that a socio-epidemiological approach that emphasizes psycho-sociological variables deserves special attention. This ground-breaking study analyzes the 'social determinants of health' and goes far beyond the normal purview of individual-focused health care to consider the long-term effects of education and investment in social capital for the health of older people.

Kazuo Seiyama, Liberalism: Its Achievements and Failures (Hardcover)

In the past two decades, as the tsunami of globalism followed Marxism's collapse, and the seemingly ubiquitous and transparent principle of 'the market' came to forge a direct link between worldwide economic activity and individual livelihoods, the ideology called liberalism has offered an influential framework for analysis of society and its diverse issues, from human cloning to cultural pluralism. In his comprehensive historical and contemporary exploration of liberalism's many facets and prominent thinkers, both Western and Japanese, Kazuo Seiyama critiques the triumphs and shortcomings of that ideology, while aiming to dispel common misapprehensions about the ideas of its foremost theorist, John Rawls.

Takashi Inoguchi and Matthew Carlson (eds), Governance and Democracy in Asia (Paperback)

'This is a remarkable new text on political life in Asia. It goes far beyond the standard variables that synoptic volumes on democratization normally cover, and opens a window onto actual public opinion about the quality of political life. Inoguchi and Carlson have assembled a team of prominent experts from around Asia to chart and explain what is happening and how people feel about it. This is a fresh and powerful perspective on politics in Asia. '

Andrew MacIntyre, Director, Asia Pacific School of Economics and Government, The Australian National University

Takashi Inoguchi and Matthew Carlson (eds), Governance and Democracy in Asia (Hardcover)

Timothy J. Scrase, Todd Holden and Scott Baum (eds), Globalization, Culture and Inequality in Asia (Paperback)

Contemplating globalization from a sociological perspective, it is without doubt that a major site for social, political, economic and cultural change in the new millennium lies in the Asian region. The underlying theme of the book is the multi-dimensional way in which globalization - in the form of ideas, practices and technology - have introduced social inequalities in specific contexts. The book draws on studies from several countries in the region and covers such areas as gender, class, labor, media, identity, cities and urbanization.

Timothy J. Scrase, Todd Holden and Scott Baum (eds), Globalization, Culture and Inequality in Asia (Hardcover)

Albert Gomes, Looking for Money: Capitalism and Modernity in an Orang Asli Village (Paperback)

Joint publication with the Center for Orang Asli Concerns, Malaysia.

This book provides an illustration of the impact of capitalism and modernity on an indigenous people, the Semai of Malaysia. It is based on doctoral research conducted in the early eighties which documents in considerable ethnographic detail the extent of involvement of the Semai in commodity production and wage labour and the effects of these economic pursuits (referred by the people as 'looking-for-money' work) on their social and cultural lives. In the process, the study challenges the prevailing view of the Semai as subsistence-oriented people with weak links to the market economy and stresses the fact that development for the people must be based on correct conceptions of the economy of the people for it to succeed in improving the living standards of the beneficiaries. While the study was conducted about twenty years ago, the findings, analyses and issues presented are still relevant today and an introduction and a postscript to the original thesis provide an update to the theoretical and empirical aspects of the study.