Examining exactly what social scientists mean by the term tourism, and what it means to be a tourist, this collection charts the sociological changes that have occurred in tourism, as well as the shift from the upper-class ‘grand tours’ of the late nineteenth-century to the mass tourism of the present day.  Meer

Material culture is the study of material products of human manufacturing processes, or 'the history of things'. Since material culture studies re-emerged within Anglo-American archaeology and anthropology in the late 1960s, this field of study has spread to a variety of other disciplines including cultural studies, history, literary studies, semiotics, consumer studies, market research, museum studies, linguistics, design and art history, to name but a few.  Meer

These volumes comprise the most extensive guide to past and current research on the topic of consumption ever created. Ranging from the classic discussions of a century and more ago to the latest evidence for the diversity of consumption as it is actually practiced, this set is an essential foundation for one of the most rapidly growing areas of contemporary academic study.  Meer

Animals are crucial to the functioning of any society: they provide humans with food, labour, raw materials, modes of transport, companionship, scientific knowledge through observation and experimentation, and forms of leisure and entertainment.  Meer

Cultural Geography is one of the most vibrant areas of geographical research, encompassing a wide range of issues including the study of space, place and time in culture, as well as the analysis of cultural elements such as artefacts, tools, techniques, attitudes, customs, languages and religious beliefs.  Meer

Nowadays, migration seems never far from the top of the political agenda. Whether as a consequence of civil and ethnic unrest, or as one response to the widening gulf between the wealthy and poor zones of the world, international population movement for sanctuary or settlement has become as prevalent as increased capital flows.  Meer

A term of antique provenance, ‘cosmopolitanism’ has developed and cohered into a critical concept in contemporary social and cultural analysis. However, the daunting quantity (and variable quality) of the available research exploring the many, often controversial, issues attendant upon cosmopolitanism—and the breadth and complexity of the canon on which it draws—makes it difficult to discriminate the useful from the tendentious, superficial, and otiose.  Meer

Demography is the scientific study of human populations. Classical demography has at its core three processes: fertility, migration, and mortality. To be human is to be part of the demographic process, so contemporary studies of population focus not only on the implications of population size and change, but also on how social influences affect individual behaviour and how actions at the individual level contribute to the composition of the population.  Meer

‘Social capital’ is a major conceptual and theoretical idea that has received in the last three decades much attention across many social-science disciplines.  Meer

'Nature' is perhaps the most contested term in the social sciences. It has a huge variety of possible meanings, and an equally great number of implications as to what human life actually is and how it should be studied.  Meer

Game theory is rapidly becoming one of the cornerstones of the social sciences. The articles gathered here chart the intellectual history of game theory from its place in the Enlightenment tradition, through the explosion of literature in the late 1970s, to issues of current and emerging debates.  Meer

Until about two hundred years ago, almost everyone faced the prospect of a life that was poor, nasty, brutish, and short, with few if any prospects for betterment.  Meer

Edited by two leading scholars in the field, Leisure Studies is a new title in the Routledge Major Works series, Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences.  Meer

In this fascinating six volume set, Stuart Corbridge brings together more than one hundred articles dealing with the discipline of development in all its diversity.  Meer

Edited by two leading scholars in the field, this new title in the Routledge Major Works series, Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences, is a four-volume collection of canonical and cutting-edge research in sustainable tourism.  Meer

The eleven countries that make up the Southeast Asian region provide a rich and diverse context in which to view the development process and experience.  Meer

In the last five years or so, there has been a huge explosion of scholarly work on the history of food and, likewise, pressing problems such as food scares and genetic modification, as well as anorexia and obesity, have become increasingly present in the public consciousness.  Meer

Economic geography has long been a key branch of human geography as a whole, but in recent years the subject has undergone considerable theoretical, empirical and public growth.  Meer

Under what social conditions do particular sorts of arts and aesthetics arise and flourish, and under what conditions do they decline and disappear? What types of artistic and aesthetic practices exist outside of museums, galleries, and other high-cultural institutions?  Meer

This anthology synthesises a wealth of published research to provide students of the city with a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the key concepts and themes in contemporary urban studies.  Meer