If our contemporary understanding of politics begins to emerge during the Romantic period, the very terms “culture” and “aesthetics” owe much of their presiding, definitional energies to that time as well. In both eighteenthcentury Continental and British philosophy, thoughts on a number of related expressions such as the sublime, the beautiful, taste, and genius set the vocabulary for later conversations about the possibility of an aesthetic space independent of other social, material, or psychic practices, with Kant’s wagers on aesthetic judgment especially casting a formidable influence on investigations within and beyond the Romantic period. At the same time, an increased martial and economic awareness of what lies beyond Europe combines with an attendance to past Western and non-Western civilizations, creating a field of inquiry Rousseau and others will delve into, founding the idea of culture as the investigative horizon for anthropological endeavor. As Raymond Williams has shown, in Romanticism culture comes also to mean high, elite aesthetic culture even as art and aesthetics can also be simply construed as one cultural activity among others. Running through the Romantic archive, the energy of that semantic volatility continues to inform studies in literature and humanities to this day, including such foundational debates as ones over the binary between Nature and Culture (with a capital “C”), and inquiries into form and value as well.

This chapter explores the practical applications of the capability approach (CA) in organisational settings. The chapter presents real-world examples of how the CA can be implemented at various levels – individual, team, and organisational – through initiatives such as guided conversations between supervisors and employees about work values, reflective dialogues and workshops, capability counselling sessions, leadership awareness training, and boardroom support. By presenting real-world examples, this chapter aims to provide insight into the practical applicability of the CA and how its adaptable framework can be tailored to various organisational settings. We hope that the examples inspire readers, as they address pressing societal challenges that affect us all, calling for urgent reflection and collective action.

Chapter 16 examines what it means to be a primary mathematics teacher in a professional context. It considers the attributes of effective mathematics educators, the requirements for professional accreditation, and the value of professional learning and engagement with mathematics education networks. You will also reflect on your preparation for the LANTITE and how to continue developing your identity as a confident and capable mathematics educator.

This chapter focuses on a framework of “content” of school renewal. It illustrates the development and validation of an instrument that could be used to measure the collective effort of principals and teachers who exercise their own unique leadership to generate integrated school leadership. Sound psychometric properties of the scale of Learning-Centered School Leadership were found, including the properties of the instrument in predicting student achievement at the school level. The instrument can indeed measure the kind of school leadership that really matters to student achievement. The seven dimensions as illustrated by the instrument point to the areas in which the principal and teachers could work together to bridge the fault line and become a framework of “content” for school renewal.

This chapter discusses the integrative aspects of the CA in two dimensions. The CA has had tremendous reach and influence in a relatively short period of time because of its productivity in being integrated into a wide range of academic disciplines and professional practices, including well-being at work. This integration is largely possible due to its informational openness to diverse forms of knowledge, both relevant facts and diverse values of people. This openness is due to at least two ethical reasons. To avoid violence, such as causing or tolerating deprivations of well-being and inequity. To engender the legitimacy of any policies and programmes informed by the CA, in presenting how to integrate them, the discussion focuses on identifying the core components and concepts of the CA as a starting point. The latter part of the chapter discusses the integration of the CA in daily practice, where individuals deal directly with the well-being of individuals. There is also a focused discussion on conversion factors and commodities, providing encouragement not to be limited by existing categories.

This chapter explores the Jewish American literature of Los Angeles by contrasting it with the more prominent Jewish literary traditions of New York and Chicago. Birns delves into the complexities of Jewish life in the city as represented in the works of Harris Newmark, Aben Kandel, Nathanael West, Budd Schulberg, and Eve Babitz. He also addresses the contributions of genre fiction writers like Jonathan and Faye Kellerman, Rochelle Krich, and Walter Mosley, and concludes by considering the differing approaches to history and memory offered in prose by Gina Nahai and Harry Turtledove, and in poetry by Boris Dralyuk. Birns suggests that, while the Jewish literary tradition of Los Angeles may not have commanded a level of attention to match those of other American metropolises, it is a powerfully future-facing tradition, resisting assimilative impulses and engaging consistently with multicultural and diasporic paradigms.

This chapter applies the capability approach (CA) to explore work capabilities across diverse occupations and countries. In a globalised world of work, the CA offers a human-centred framework for understanding how individual agency and structural conditions interact to shape people’s opportunities at work. The chapter begins by outlining the CA and its relevance to work and employment. It then examines key capabilities required in different occupations, focusing on how education, labour markets, workplace practices, and social policies support or constrain these capabilities. Cross-national and occupational comparisons highlight the variation in work capabilities across different contexts. In conclusion, the chapter offers recommendations for creating inclusive and enabling work environments that are relevant to policy and practice. By analysing work through the lens of the CA, this chapter contributes to a deeper understanding of how to expand human capabilities in the workplace and promote decent, empowering work across global contexts.