Childhood statelessness is an urgent global human rights issue. Yet, there is limited ethnographic data on the everyday and varied experiences of stateless children and youth, whose representations in mainstream media and campaign materials tend to transmute them into generalized subjects with an ostensibly universal experience of total abjection. Drawing on thirteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in northern Thailand, this chapter examines the process of ‘learning to be stateless’ among Shan youth participants and the impact of statelessness during their various life stages. The chapter argues that statelessness is not necessarily a fully and actively internalized status since birth but a dynamic condition that constantly undergoes re-interpretation by the affected youth at punctuated moments and at various life stages. By examining the contemporary regime of statelessness in a country such as Thailand, where stateless persons have access to certain rights as children but not as adults, this chapter calls attention to the intersection of life stages and statelessness and the complex ways in which such regimes of simultaneous inclusion and exclusion place the emotional and practical burdens on stateless persons as they transition from childhood into adolescence and adulthood.

Involuntary celibates (“incels”) are men who desire romantic or sexual partners but purportedly cannot attain them. Their ideology – the Blackpill – holds that their exclusion from successful romantic and sexual relationships is due almost entirely to their relative unattractiveness. Furthermore, the consequences of being an unattractive man bleed over into other aspects of their lives, marring their interpersonal relationships, job prospects, and overall well-being. Blaming women as the chief architects of their unhappiness, incels sometimes commit mass acts of violent retribution. In this chapter, we explicate the incel ideology; explore the interrelated phenomena of social exclusion, self-verification, and identity fusion among incels; describe who incels are; and provide a framework for de-fusing incels from the group.

Both ostracism experiences and conspiracy beliefs have been discussed as formative ingredients of radicalization trajectories and violent extremism. The present chapter provides a brief introduction to the psychology of conspiracy beliefs and the connections made to violent extremism. In its central part, it discusses the connection between the two in discussing (1) direct evidence for ostracism experiences increasing conspiracy belief, (2) indirect evidence via highlighting how the four fundamental needs postulated to be threatened by ostracism have also been connected to conspiracy beliefs, and (3) a discussion of the reverse causation of expressing conspiracy beliefs leading to being ostracized. In all sections, specific emphasis will be dedicated to the question of how reliable and strong the available evidence is, with experimental evidence weighing heavier than correlational evidence and repeatedly replicated and meta-analytically robust effect weighing heavier than single demonstrations.

Being left out by others is a painful experience that threatens basic needs. When people are excluded, they may merely distance themselves from those who have wronged them to avoid further rejection. However, some individuals may engage in compensatory actions to defend their self, their group, or the interplay between them in a way that could be a first step for radicalization leading to violence. How and when people opt for each strategy might vary depending on psychosocial mechanisms as well was macro-level cultural differences. Here, we focus on a mechanism useful for capturing who is more willing to fight or flee under social exclusion – identity fusion, a profound alignment between the personal self and a group, individual, value, or ideological conviction – and on a global cultural factor of relevance for the link between exclusion and extremism, as it is the distinction between WEIRD and non-WEIRD populations.

Norwegian terrorist Anders Breivik was reported to have been excluded throughout his life, much like German extremist Fabian D. In many cases of terrorism like these, social exclusion is found in the life course of terrorists. This chapter therefore explores the relationship between exclusion and terrorism in greater depth. First, central concepts are defined and explained. The chapter then focuses on theoretical and, in particular, empirical findings on the exclusion–terrorism link. According to these findings, there is a causal relationship between exclusion and a terrorist mindset. However, the link between exclusion and terrorism is probably not direct and instead works indirectly, through processes such as deprived needs and higher social susceptibility. Ultimately, exclusion is likely to act as an early cognitive opener for terrorism via its individual- and group-level consequences. A corresponding exclusion–terrorism model is postulated. The chapter concludes with directions for future research and practical implications regarding the exclusion–terrorism link.

Chapter 5 turns to social embeddedness, describes this in terms of two kinds of social identities people have, and explains how a world stratified by social groups produces two kinds of shortfalls in the capability development of people in disadvantaged social groups. First, a microlevel mechanism, social group stigmatization, or social identity stereotyping operates in relational social identity settings, limits stigmatized individuals’ ability to develop their capabilities, and results in what I call capability devaluations. Second, a macro-level process, sorting people over club goods and common pool goods types of social economic locations, produces social group inequalities especially by race/ethnicity and gender, limits lower ranked groups’ capability development, and results in what I call capability deficits. How these two kinds of capability shortfalls combine and reinforce a hierarchical ordering of social groups is explained using a basic complexity theory analysis from Simon. Combatting these two capability shortfalls – motivated by the goal of creating nonhierarchical, democratic societies that promote individuals’ capability development irrespective of social identity – is associated with policies to eliminate social discrimination in the case of capability devaluations and to advance social group reparations in the case of capability deficits.

Chapter 1 presents the contexts for the making and circulation of books in late colonial Peru. It analyses three limiting factors related to society, legislation, and materiality, and concludes that circulation was never unfettered owing to various barriers imposed by the colonial administration. Addressing illiteracy, this chapter shows how educational reforms promoted by contemporary theories of Enlightenment pedagogy and alternative ways of acquiring reading skills created potential book customers. Although a double mechanism of control – before as well as after the publication – determined the book market, actual practice differed from legislation. Finally, an analysis of the material constraints reveals how dependence on paper and printing types restricted Peruvian print production. Notwithstanding these confines, an increasing number of people learned how to read, regulations were not always fully enforced, materials were re-used, and tools were invented, allowing printed commodities to enter the colonial market.

To find answers for the worldwide proliferation of constitutions we need to look at root causes: the sources of constitutions. These are found and human nature. Men are social animals. During human evolution our brains have been wired to work together in communities up to a maximum of 150 members (the Dunbar number). Beyond that number it is difficult to cooperate: we can only do that if there are form of artificial trust and recognition available: and that is what constitutions do and provide. Abstract - imagined - concepts that help us jump the Dunbar threshold and cooperate in large scale groups, and overcome our brain limitations for large scale cooperation

Irrespective of where you end up working in the field of human services, most of the people you work with will be living in relative poverty and experiencing a combination of problems that create a vicious cycle of disadvantage for children and families. In this chapter, we draw upon social work as a case study of a profession working to prevent and address poverty, while actively engaging with, and supporting, affected individuals, families, and communities. An understanding of the complexity and inter-relatedness of issues associated with living in poverty is vital to ensure, at a minimum, that practitioners do no (further) harm and do not perpetuate or replicate dominant or oppressive notions of the deserving and undeserving poor, or individual versus structural explanations of poverty. Social workers and human service professionals therefore need to develop their capacities in relation to poverty-aware practice and the multiple actions that are required to address this complex issue.