Tag Archives: Books

Believing in Light After Darkness: Displacement and Refugee Resettlement

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Fee, Molly. 2026. Believing in Light After Darkness: Displacement and Refugee Resettlement. University of California Press.

War, persecution, and climate change too often force people from their homes and across borders. Most remain in difficult conditions in neighboring countries. The less than one percent of refugees offered resettlement to a different country gain an alternative path forward, with access to specialized supports and services that are traditionally understood as a solution to displacement and a program of integration. Examining the complexities of refugees’ lived experiences, Molly Fee’s deeply humanistic ethnography reframes resettlement as a period of disruption and disorientation, when newly arrived refugees must navigate the rules and expectations of a new country. For those who have already rebuilt their lives numerous times, resettlement becomes yet another uprooting. Believing in Light after Darkness reveals how humanitarian solutions, though well intentioned, do not immediately resolve the conditions of displacement.

Managing Corporate Virtue: The Politics of Workplace Diversity in New York and Paris

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Bereni, Laure, , Managing Corporate Virtue: The Politics of Workplace Diversity in New York and Paris (New York, NY
, 2025; online edn, Oxford Academic, 22 Sept. 2025), https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197785768.002.0004

A major tenet of contemporary capitalism holds that what is good for business can align with what is good for society. Efforts toward more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplaces epitomize this rising ideology, termed responsible capitalism. An increasingly common managerial mantra is “diversity means business.” But how does it play out in the daily life of organizations? Drawing on interviews with diversity managers, a historical review of practitioner literature, and observations from organizations in New York City and Paris, Managing Corporate Virtue goes beyond the rhetoric of diversity initiatives to uncover the concrete challenges faced by those tasked with implementing them. This book reveals the persistent fragility of diversity efforts, which are often sidelined; subject to the variations of the legal, social, and political environment; and require constant efforts to sustain managerial support. Practitioners must prove their programs are neither merely virtue signaling nor the Trojan horse of political, legal, or moral pressures that would unsettle the corporate order. Ultimately, by exploring the day-to-day work of diversity managers in the United States and France, the book exposes the contradictions lurking beneath the neoliberal promise of harmony between profit and virtue.

Right-wing Populist Political Movements

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Morgül, Kerem. (2025). “Right-Wing Populist Political Movements.” Pp.7-13 in D. Snow, D. McAdam, & D. Moss (eds), Contemporary Social Movements: Historical and Descriptive Accounts. Wiley Blackwell.

The twenty-first century has seen a marked rise in the political influence of the right-wing populist parties and movements, distinguished by antiestablishment rhetoric, ethnonationalist fervor, and authoritarian tendencies. This chapter analyzes the defining characteristics of this global trend and the factors driving its ascent. Right-wing populism is conceptualized as an amalgamation of populism, ethnonationalism, and authoritarianism. Populism is defined by the mobilization of unified people around a transgressive political endeavor, simplifying politics into a conflict between the sovereign people and self-serving elites. Ethnonationalism underscores a shared ethnic identity as the foundation for national belonging, frequently advocating stringent immigration controls. Authoritarianism is evident in centralized power, the erosion of the rule of law, and constrained political freedoms. The proliferation of right-wing populism has been particularly pronounced in Europe, with notable instances in Hungary, Poland, Italy, and the Netherlands. Influential populist figures like Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro have also emerged globally, often challenging democratic institutions and advancing (ethno)nationalist agendas. The chapter explores the implications of these movements for democratic governance and societal cohesion. The rise of right-wing populism is examined through demand-side and supply-side explanations.

Corporate Accountability for Human Rights Violations: Civil Society and Transnational Action across the World

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Grosesçu, Raluca and John G. Dale, eds. Corporate Accountability for Human Rights Violations: Civil Society and Transnational Action across the World (Series on Interdisciplinary Studies in Human Rights, vol.16, Springer Nature, Cham, Switzerland). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-05569-9.

This edited volume is the first collection to critically explore the role, limitations, and internal fragmentation of social activism for corporate accountability across Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe. It analyses a variety of NGOs, trade unions, and grassroots movements and their transnational mobilizations for holding accountable business actors involved in human rights violations and environmental degradation. The book emphasizes the diverse visions and strategies extolled by these civic actors: from civil and criminal litigations, efforts to prohibit and punish business misconduct through national and international legislation, to boycotts, and memorialization projects. By adopting an actor-focused perspective and examining their national and transnational activism, the collection provides an innovative perspective across three main themes: civil society and social movements as key drivers of corporate accountability efforts; the fragmentation of the global corporate accountability movement across ontological, ideological, regional, and professional lines; the Janus-faced paradigm of transnational activism for corporate accountability. The volume argues that corporate accountability coalitions are successful especially when social actors form alliances across borders and professional sectors. Such transnational and intersectoral engagements create counter-hegemonic discourses against corporate impunity, push for more inclusive justice projects, and multiply spaces and ideas of accountability. Yet, civil societies and social movements themselves are fragmenting over the meaning, scope, and tactics of corporate accountability due to different local, national and regional contexts, ideological variations regarding human rights and economic development, and diverse professional understandings of accountability processes. This is an open access book.

Pious Politics: Cultural Foundations of the Islamist Movement in Turkey

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Ozgen, Z. (2025). Pious Politics. In Pious Politics: Cultural Foundations of the Islamist Movement in Turkey (pp. i–i). half-title-page, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

A sociological examination of the rise and resilience of Islamist politics in contemporary Turkey. Drawing on two years of research, Zeynep Ozgen explores religious political contention and, more broadly, the complex relationship between culture and politics in shaping reality.