Social inequalities refer to the unequal distribution of resources, opportunities, and privileges among social groups. Inequalities are characterized by systematic access disparities in various aspects of life, such as income, education, healthcare, and social status. When individuals attribute social disparities to a lack of individual effort, despite evidence of systemic biases, discriminatory attitudes can result in denying access to opportunities for certain segments of the population. Developmental scientists have studied the origins of conceptions about social inequalities in everyday contexts. We review research on children’s awareness of social inequalities, their responses to social disparities, and the role of peer and authority influences on children’s evaluations of social inequalities. Factors discussed include the sociopolitical system, children’s ethnic and racial background, and their own socioeconomic status. Finally, we describe intervention programs designed to reduce biases and promote positive intergroup attitudes and how identity influences one’s perspective about the broader societal landscape.

From its humble beginnings in the hills of Appalachia – where Weber, while witnessing a baptism, had his epiphany about the importance of clubs and groups as resources – the concept of social capital has captured the attention of thousands of social scientists. It is a concept that lends itself to multidimensional interpretations in many disciplines, including sociology, economics, and political science. Classical theorists such as de Tocqueville, Durkheim, Weber, and Simmel laid the groundwork for more focused treatments of the concept. These include unique conceptualizations and expansions that have focused on different aspects forms of social network ties, stemming from the work of scholars such as Bourdieu, Coleman, Burt, Lin, and Putnam. Together, these theories culminated in the perspective that social connections are valuable resources that can change the course of people’s lives. They point to the role that hidden features of social structure, such as the presence of structural holes in networks, play in channeling resources across social groups. They also raise the specter that valuable features of networks are unequally distributed throughout the population in such a way as to confer greater advantage upon those who are already wealthy and powerful.

If the past half-century of social science research has taught us anything, it has taught us both that people can gain advantages and resources through social networks and, at the same time, that any valuable resource is prone to unsparing social inequality. This book is therefore motivated by the worrying concern that access to social network ties is not, in fact, distributed equally throughout the population. This chapter outlines the scope and structure of our foray into this complex problem. It briefly discusses the outline of the book, addressing what we cover in each chapter: the theoretical origins of and controversies surrounding the concept of social capital, introducing the questions of how it is distributed throughout society and whether it is linked to other forms of capital (Chapter 2); an overview of the data and methods we use to study this topic (Chapter 3); a detailed set of analyses using multiple indicators and data sources to ascertain how social capital is distributed (Chapter 4); an examination of how social capital is linked to other valuable resources, such as money (Chapter 5); and our ultimate conclusions and suggestions for future research on this topic (Chapter 6).

EU legal scholarship has a strong tradition of contextual, somewhat theoretical analysis. That tradition has been facilitated by the open nature of EU law, the grand social goals of the EU, and the need to construct legitimating legal stories around these, but also by the interconnected community of EU law scholars and professionals, which have given the field a kind of autonomy from more doctrinal national law. Yet lacking empirical evidence beyond legal texts, EU law’s free-ranging scholarship is suffering a crisis of disillusionment, paralleled by the crisis of the EU itself, which invites scholars to reconsider the nature of their role. In this context, empirical legal studies is enjoying a huge rise in popularity among EU legal scholars, with its promise of answers to important questions, rather than mere commentary. That leads to synergies as well as conflicts – for resources, and about methods – but above all it seems likely to reorientate EU legal scholarship away from its path of the last five decades and towards a new stylistic and methodological mix.

In conflict and conflict-affected areas, the environment can take a backseat to other pressing issues. Whether due to limited capability, capacity, or will, the environment is often neglected during conflict activities, resulting in substantial risks to human health and environmental quality. Understanding how this happens and what can be done is critical to prevention and, where needed, remediation in conflict settings to promote human and environmental flourishing. This chapter explores how and why the environment can become neglected in conflict and what the key implications of this are.

Scholars have noted that many of the surviving tablets from Dodona pose agriculturally related questions of a general manner. My essay suggests this is because agricultural resources were religiously framed in the ancient Greek world. In this context, I argue that oracles functioned as sites where material practices of daily life could be negotiated with the gods in a ritual as well as communal context. Oracles, in other words, presented a way of communicating with the natural world. On the other hand, they were also places where the individual could present himself (or herself) in relation to this world: how he or she depended on its fruits for survival; but also how he (or she) could make or remake the resources it had to offer so that it would flourish. As I want to show, this particular interrelationship between agricultural labour and oracular consultation relied as much on the performative act of enquiry as it did on practical knowledge. In order to illustrate these interconnections, the essay draws on recent trends in environmental history and in resilience studies. It will reconsider the ancient evidence of the Zeus Oracle at Dodona in light of these approaches.

This chapter introduces the central puzzle that motivates the book: why do some South African communities protest far more frequently than others, despite experiencing similar levels of grievances and resource deprivation? It opens with two contrasting vignettes that highlight this variation and set the stage for the book’s theoretical and empirical contributions. The chapter critiques existing theories of protest for their limited ability to explain this localized variation and introduces the core argument – that a fuller understanding of protest requires attention to the “technology of mobilization.” Specifically, it emphasizes the critical role of protest brokers: intermediaries who connect elites seeking to mobilize protest with communities of potential protesters. In the absence of these brokers, it argues, many elites are unable to leverage the local knowledge, trust, and social networks necessary to mobilize effectively, helping to explain where protest happens. Furthermore, the chapter argues that protest brokers are not a monolithic group; their differences help explain not just whether protests occur, but also how they unfold – shaping variation in protest variety, duration, tactics, and the likelihood of violence. This chapter lays the foundation for the rest of the book.

This chapter describes the Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP) and the mhGAP-Intervention Guide (mhGAP-IG) developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), aimed at scaling up suicide prevention and management services to bridge unmet need.The mhGAP-IG is an evidence-based tool for mental disorders with structured and operationalised guidelines for clinical decision-making targeting non-specialist community and primary care workers in low and middle-income countries (LMICs).

The Introduction outlines the central themes of economic history, focusing on the efficient use of resources and its implications for welfare. It explains how societies have historically used natural, human and manufactured resources to improve living standards, exploring the critical roles of technology and institutions in driving efficiency and growth. The chapter introduces the concept of total factor productivity as a measure of economic efficiency, and emphasizes how historical developments have shaped the wealth of nations. It also links economic history to contemporary concerns by discussing the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and their relevance to resource management and welfare. By tracing historical improvements in efficiency and productivity, the Introduction sets the stage for understanding how economic history informs modern debates on sustainability and inequality.

This chapter analyses the relationship between population growth and resource constraints in European history, focusing on the Malthusian theory, which posits that population growth leads to stagnation due to finite resources. The chapter challenges this view by examining how technological innovations, agricultural improvements and changes in fertility strategies affected population dynamics. It explores how societies adapted to resource constraints and avoided the Malthusian trap through mechanisms such as the demographic transition. The chapter also uses case studies such as the decline of the Roman Empire to discuss the relevance of simple models for interpreting historical processes and presents nuanced insights into the complex interplay between population, resources and economic development.

The formative years of life provide the most important elements to equip children with the capacity to learn. Therefore, underpinnings for art pedagogy for Australian First Nations early childhood education should ensure that educators and teachers may contribute environmental foundations for children’s learning while ensuring that children have effective resources to prepare them for an ever-changing world. The challenge is balancing the expectations of the home with the expectations of teaching and learning in early childhood educational settings.

Matching available health resources to consumer needs is challenging. Governments and health bureaucracies with finite resources face increasing demands from their client populations, which often have complex health issues. No country prioritises resources to meet every single health need of every citizen; consequently, effective health service planning is critical to maximising population health outcomes and ensuring value for the available money. Due to the inherent contradictions existing between the high demand for and the limited responsive supply capacity by health services, health service planning is often characterised by negotiation, lobbying and compromise among various interest groups. A consensus can best be achieved if stakeholders agree upon a set of core values, and all involved in the process endorse principles and the procedures of planning. This chapter focuses on the practice of health service planning.