Mega-events like the Olympics, the World Cup of soccer, the World Series of baseball, cycling's Tour de France, and the Super Bowl draw our attention to the deep cultural significance of sport and its role in fostering social bonds. Yet when it comes to sport, there is no shortage of debate: stereotypes regarding sexuality, race, gender, and children have been hotly contested by critics for over 40 years. Even today, sport is one of the very few socially accepted sites of violence, intense competition and controlled forms of social disorder. Battleground: Sports presents the 100 most contentious public and private controversies of the sports world. Highlighted throughout are debates surrounding ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and social identity, sports fan behavior, as well as the role of governments and corporations. Engaging and accessible to a wide variety of readers, this fascinating reference illustrates how sports controversies reflect the historically enduring and changing nature of our broader cultures, and the social battles we engage on a day-to-day basis surrounding the struggles for equality, debates about social violence, the ethics of competition, the politics of civic life, the creation of global communities, and the State's role in protecting citizens. Entries contain an array of thoughtful perspectives on historic and current controversies, and allow readers to formulate their own conclusions. Enhanced with a timeline, a thorough guide of print and electronic resources for high school and undergraduate student research, this one-stop reference goes beyond the newspaper headlines to provide readers with a guide map for understanding what sport controversies teach us about our culture and ourselves.

Business is one of the most potent cultural forces today, profoundly affecting every facet of our lives whether we are working in a corporate environment or not. This book surveys some of the most controversial issues and topics central to the contemporary business world. Included are more than 70 alphabetically arranged entries written by expert contributors. Each entry explores a topic's relevance and influence, highlights opposing viewpoints, provides sidebars of interesting information, and lists resources for further research. For students and general readers, this book is an engaging, accessible, and essential resource on the role of business in society. Globalization. Outsourcing. Downsizing. These are some of the economic issues at the center of today's society. Time after time, we see that business is one of the most powerful forces in the modern world, profoundly affecting every facet of our lives whether we work in a corporate environment or not. Because in one way or another the world is all about economics, students need to understand and appreciate the role of business in their lives. This book overviews the most important topics and issues characterizing the role of business in today's society. Included are alphabetically arranged entries on more than 70 critical issues or topics central to the role of business in our lives. Each is written by an expert contributor and provides a summary of the topic's relevance and influence, a consideration of opposing viewpoints, and a list of resources for further research. For students and general readers, this book is an engaging, accessible, and essential resource on the role of business in everyday life.

Covering some of the most hotly contested topics in crime and criminal justice, including proposed sentencing and prison reforms, controversial developments like Stand Your Ground laws, and Supreme Court decisions, this work supplies essential background, current data, and a range of viewpoints on these important issues. Should people be able to use lethal force before retreating? What are the arguments for and against executing mentally ill inmates? Should police always need warrants to search individuals or their property? How can we best hold accountable white collar offenders? Why do men perpetrate crime at higher rates than women? This two-volume set grapples with the answers to these complex questions and many more, enabling readers to better understand current crime/punishment issues within the context of America's ever-evolving culture, economy, and politics. This multidisciplinary reference work offers a current and thorough compilation of the most important and hotly contested topics related to crime and criminal justice. Organized alphabetically, each entry presents scholarly research and authoritative sources to inform readers about the subject.

No topic sparks an argument faster among the American public, even with relatively apolitical people, than how their children are taught. In schools across the country, school boards, parents, teachers, and students themselves debate issues ranging from charter schools, to the first amendment rights of students, to the efficacy of the No Child Left Behind Act. School districts in Georgia and Pennsylvania have seen battles over the teaching of evolution; places as diverse as Colorado, Washington, and Kentucky have had debates over how best to protect children while at school. Battleground: Schools provides an in-depth, balanced overview of these controversial topics and enables teachers, students, and their parents to better understand the foundations of these conflicts.

Contains alphabetically arranged entries that examine competitive athletics and their social importance to the history of North America; and covers parent misconduct through yoga and alternative fitness.

Through a detailed exploration of the viewpoints involved, this balanced and incisive work promotes understanding of the most divisive issues in American government today. Government and politics is an area in which there are no "right" answers, but much room for debate. Battleground: Government and Politics allows students and general readers alike to consider key political debates from all sides and to arrive at their own considered convictions, based on a firm understanding of the issues and points of view involved. This two-volume work explores dozens of the most contentious issues in contemporary life, issues that impact how our government is run today and how it will be run in the future. Each topic is examined in a balanced way, providing not only an overview of the issues involved, but an objective assessment of the stance of all sides. Readers can use these entries as thorough and solid summaries of the most contentious controversies in contemporary society, or as starting points for more in-depth research into the debates.

The modern world is filled with debate and controversy, and science and technology—the most characteristic features of the modern world—are not immune. Science and technology are implicated in many if not all of the issues, troubles, and problems students are likely to come across in their classes and in their everyday lives. Science and technology serve as a primary pathway to understanding front page headlines on everything from war to AIDS, and from oil exploration to global warming. Battleground: Science and Technology examines the most hot-button issues involving science and technology and provides a balanced assessment of the arguments on all sides of the often strident debates. The approximately 100 issues examined in Battleground: Science and Technology include topics in the brain sciences, including the controversies over the cause of autism and the reliability of memory, as well as the debates over parapsychology; debates surrounding information technology, such as only privacy, the impact of video games on social behavior, and the advent of virtual reality; the complexity over drugs and medications, such as the testing of the efficacy of medications, the war on recreational drugs, and the costs of pharmaceutical research; and hot-button topics that are constantly in the news, such as evolution and creationism, DNA testing, stem-cell research, and genetically modified organisms. Each entry provides a list of accessible resources useful for further research.