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      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        June 2025

        Local government and democracy in Britain

        by Neil Barnett, J. Chandler

        Local government in the UK is in crisis. It is now neither local in terms of the geography and populations of its principle units, nor does it truly govern in these areas. As this book reveals, over the previous 200 years local government has moved from a system in which local interests held governance over localities to one in which central government and national and multi-national agencies such as corporate businesses hold governance over local and community decision-making. These changes seriously undermine the important role that local government can play in liberal democracy in the UK. The book explains the nature of local government today and asks if there is any possibility of change.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        May 2021

        Disciplined 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.

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        June 2011

        From Perversion to Purity

        The stardom of Catherine Deneuve

        by Lisa Downing, Sue Harris, author arranging

        Catherine Deneuve is indisputably one of the world's most celebrated actresses, both in her native France and throughout the world. Her career has spanned five decades during which she has worked with the most significant of French auteurs, as well as forging partnerships with international directors such as Buñuel and Polanski. The Deneuve star persona has attained such iconic status that it now symbolises the very essence of French womanhood and civic identity. In this wide-ranging and authoritative collection of essays by a selection of international film academics and writers, the Deneuve persona is scrutinised and illuminated. Beyond the glamorous iconographic status of Yves Saint Laurent's muse, and the epitome of sexual inviolability, Deneuve's status as actress is foregrounded. The book will be essential reading for students and lecturers in star studies. ;

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        July 2020

        Disciplined Agency

        by Patrícia Matos, Alexander Smith

      • Trusted Partner
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        Negotiating with Confidence –Psychological Strategies and Methods

        With 20 Exercises for Self-Learning

        by T. Fritzsche

        From a psychological perspective, there are many aspects to negotiating. Given the right knowledge of backgrounds and mechanisms, it is an art form possible to get to grips with and put into practice. In an entertaining and informative way, this book introduces the reader to the basics of communication and body language, cooperative negotiation, strategic negotiation, the different personalities of negotiators, and negotiating. Using practical exercises and valuable practical tips, this book takes the reader through the main psychological strategies and methods so he can negotiate in a flexible, goal-oriented, and successful manner.   Target Group: For people who want to improve their negotiating skills.

      • Trusted Partner
        Humanities & Social Sciences
        February 2022

        Rebels in government

        by Agnès Maillot

      • Trusted Partner
        The Arts
        July 2025

        Ida Lupino

        Multifaceted performer and cinematic pioneer

        by Gillian Kelly

        This book contributes to a welcome new wave focusing on the importance of female filmmakers, providing a reappraisal of Ida Lupino, a cinematic figure of significant importance. Given her ability to move between popular and independent cinemas and her status as both a Hollywood star and director/writer/producer of socially relevant films overlooked by the mainstream, Lupino is a particularly interesting case study. Employing a range of critical approaches, including feminist theory, auteur theory and critical theory, this book investigates key themes and motifs that developed across Lupino's unusual and unique career as one of the most significant female players in film history. Investigating her oeuvre as actress, director, writer and producer, it discusses Lupino as a complex and important filmmaker whose career, on both sides of the camera, requires substantially more critical attention than it has been awarded thus far.

      • Trusted Partner
        Literature & Literary Studies
        June 2012

        Authorship and authority

        The writings of James VI and I

        by Jane Rickard

        James VI of Scotland and I of England participated in the burgeoning literary culture of the Renaissance, not only as a monarch and patron, but as an author in his own right, publishing extensively in a number of different genres over four decades. As the first monograph devoted to James as an author, this book offers a fresh perspective on his reigns in Scotland and England, and also on the inter-relationship of authorship and authority, literature and politics in the Renaissance. Beginning with the poetry he wrote in Scotland in the 1580s, it moves through a wide range of his writings in other genres, including scriptural exegeses, political, social and theological treatises and printed speeches, concluding with his manuscript poetry of the early 1620s. The book combines extensive primary research into the preparation, material form and circulation of these varied writings, with theoretically informed consideration of the relationship between authors, texts and readers. The discussion thus explores James's responses to, and interventions in, a range of literary, political and religious debates, and reveals the development of his aims and concerns as an author. Rickard argues that, despite the King's best efforts to the contrary, his writings expose the tensions and contradictions between authorship and authority. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of the reign of James VI and I, the literary and political cultures of late sixteenth-century Scotland and early seventeenth-century England, the development of notions of authorship and the relationship between literature and politics. ;

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        Humanities & Social Sciences

        Mika and Asa at Daycare

        How Parents Can Strengthen the Bond with Their Child and Make It Easier to Start Daycare

        by Fabienne Hesse (Author), Martina Zemp (Ed.)

        The decision to have their child looked after at a daycare center outside the family triggers uncertainty among many parents. They ask themselves if, how long and how often their child should be cared for at daycare and what they need to consider for a successful daycare attendance. This book is aimed at parents and other caregivers of children who are preparing for or already attending daycare. It is intended to support the entire family in strengthening the parent-child bond and make the transition to daycare easier. The book is divided into two parts: attachment and daycare entry. The attachment part highlights the concept of attachment and explains how to strengthen parental sensitivity to foster a secure child attachment. The daycare part describes the key elements of good daycare, how to prepare the child for daycare, what aspects should be considered during the settling-in, drop-off and pick-up periods as well as the cooperation with daycare staff.

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      • Trusted Partner
        February 2011

        Davon will ich mich befreien

        Alte Muster endlich loswerden: Realighting® - Die neue Kurztherapie

        by Hack, Ingrid

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