Making Sense Of Wales

Making Sense of Wales gives an account of the main changes that have taken place in Welsh society over the last fifty years, as well as analysing the major efforts to interpret those changes. By placing work done in Wales in the context of broader developments within sociological approaches over the period, Graham Day demonstrates that there is a body of work on Wales worth considering in its own right as a specific contribution to sociology. He also shows the relevance of sociological accounts of Wales for understanding contemporary empirical and theoretical concerns in social analysis. Beginning with post-war analysis which considered Wales in terms of regional planning and policy, Day shows how more theoretically informed perspectives have come to the fore in recent years. He also examines more contemporary developments, such as gender and class transformations, the emphasis on the centrality of the Welsh language for conceptions of Wales and Welshness, as well as the impact of new forms of governance and questions of social exclusion.

Providing researchers with a guide to the 19th century census records, this book also provides an administrative background to the census, describing the documents in detail and commenting on the nature and reliability of the information they contain. These manuscripts are widely used by genealogists, historical demographers, and those interested in social, economic and local history and the book can also be used both as a general introduction to the subject and as a means of reference when working on the records.

A literary masterpiece from world-renowned psychoanalyst and distinguished writer, Professor Martin Stanton that picks up the baton from R. D. Laing. Spanning a novel, travel-guide, documentary, self-help book, play, photo album, film script, and work of art, Making Sense is a cultural phenomenon – a long overdue wake-up call – railing at society’s idealisation and narcissism. Martin Stanton has created a guide for a postmodern world that is constructed through social media, and communicates principally through tweets, texts and selfies. Like Homer’s Odyssey, this is an epoch-changing classic that takes a timely quantum leap from a cognitive world of straight-line argument and causal interpretation, into a parallel unconscious universe of uncontrolled feeling, which traps fragments of fantasy in the retreating tides of reality. Making Sense collects together a group of major and minor characters, some real, some imaginary, who set out to make sense of life together by opening the social media gate between Reality and Fantasy. A survey of Martin Stanton’s own thinking and feeling on his original psychoanalytic odyssey across becalmed seas, random conversations with a therapeutic parrot, stranded for a while with Socrates on the black sandy beach of Paradise, he explores how a bezoar stone, a caddis insect, and a karaoke moment can linger through his life, and make sense for him as a primary source; as unconscious effects which sustain, enlighten, and entertain him through darker times. This book scrawls a message of hope in the sand once the outgoing tide has retreated. ‘Enjoy life’, it says. ‘Celebrate it in yourself and in others.’

This volume explores how the archaeologist or historian can understand variations in landscapes. Making use of a wide range of sources and techniques, including archaeological material, documentary sources, and maps, Rippon illustrates how local and regional variations in the 'historic landscape' can be understood.

The Children Act is a major piece of legislation that affects all professionals working with children. Since the third edition of this book was published in 1996, there have been some important developments. This Fourth Edition takes these developments into consideration. Topics discussed include case law in the superior courts; the establishment of CAFCASS; and the Fostering Services Regulations of 2002; and much more.

In Making Sense, David Crystal confronts the foe of many: grammar. Once taught relentlessly to all students in the English-speaking world, grammar disappeared from most school curricula, so that terms such as "preposition" and "conjunction" now often confound children and adults alike. Explaining the nuts and bolts of grammar presents a special challenge, because - far more than is the case with spelling and punctuation - the subject is burdened with a centuries-old history of educational practice that many will recall as anything but glamorous. One of the world's foremost authorities on the English language, Crystal sets out to rid grammar of its undeserved reputation as a dry and intimidating subject, pointing out how essential grammar is to clear and effective speech and writing. He moves briskly through the stages by which children acquire grammar, along the way demystifying grammar's rules and irregularities and showing us how to navigate its snares and pitfalls. He offers the fascinating history of grammar, explaining how it has evolved from the first grammarians in ancient Greece to our 21st century digital environment of blogging, emailing, and texting. Many find grammar to be a daunting subject, but in this breezy, entertaining book, Crystal proves that grammar doesn't need to make us uneasy-we can all make sense of how we make sense.

From "learning toy" and "learning society" to "learning city" and "learning organization", what is meant by "learning"? The main focus of this volume is to increase our understanding of the "learning turn" referring, in this book, to the frequent occurrence and usage of terms in the last few decades where the word "learning" is the premodifier. The authors also offer insights into the use of the word "learning" as a premodifier in the future and discuss what, if anything, may replace it, such as "knowledge" (as in "knowledge management") and "smart" (as in "smart city"). An extensive range of academic disciplines are covered including political science, economics, human geography, philosophy, linguistics, higher education, working life science, management and organization, and marketing. While a single, overall, unified conclusion is not provided, Making Sense of the Learning Turn presents a variety of voices and perspectives. Some contributors are critical towards the learning turn, explaining it in terms of fashion-following, manipulation, and seduction. Others interpret the learning turn more lightly or suggest a more collective form of learning as an alternative to the individualization of learning that some authors argue has been the case thus far.

By using evidence from interviews with primary headteachers, this book highlights the most serious problems experienced by primary heads. The management of school finance and premises and relationships with a range of other people involved in the life and work of the school are shown to be recurring historical issues in primary headship.

This book straightforwardly describes how adults can support children’s free play, with a holistic, inclusive &practical approach.

YIS has been thought as an annual series of volumes collecting contributes aimed at developing the integration of idiographic and nomothetic approaches in psychological and more in general social science. At the beginning, 3 years ago, we got an agreement with an Italian publisher (FGP - Firera Publishing Group) interested in the scientific project and therefore willing to help the start up of this scientific enterprise. After publishing the first volume (YIS 2008- yet published in 2009 - the Volume is freely available on the FPG's website) we have had many positive feedbacks and signals of interests, as well as several submissions, from many parts of the world . This has provided an acceleration of the following issues - Above all, this led us to realize that it was time to give an editorial collocation to YIS that can be more consistent with the interest it has raised and that can ulteriorly raise. FPG does not put constraint on this perspective, being aware and agreed of the necessity of a worldwide context for the YIS's development. Moreover, there are no constraints in the possibility of going on in using the label "YIS," starting from Volume 4 The Series addresses a quite large potential public - students and researchers interested to theoretical and methodological development of psychology and, more in general, social science. Persons engaged with qualitative, dynamic informed models of analysis will find YIS a precious tool as well as a context enabling to develop a worlwide network of practices and cultures of research. The first three volumes' TOC witness how large and constantly increasing is the interest around the scientific project.