Essential Reads from Combined Academic Publishers Spring/Summer 2021 Averting Catastrophe
Creator Culture
Explores how governments ought to make decisions in times of imminent disaster. Argues that using the “maximin rule,” which calls for choosing the approach that eliminates the worst of the worst-case scenarios, may be necessary when public officials lack important information, and when the worst-case scenario is too disastrous to contemplate.
There is a new class of cultural producers— YouTube vloggers, Instagram influencers, TikTokers and more —who are part of a rapidly emerging industry of monetized “user-generated” content. Defines this new field of study and the emergence of creator culture.
Decision Theory for COVID-19, Climate Change, and Potential Disasters of All Kinds Cass R. Sunstein
An important and timely insight into decision making in crisis situations, required reading at a time when decision making has been so scrutinised and hotly debated. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS April 2021 | 176pp | 9781479808489 | £14.99 | HB
An Introduction to Global Social Media Entertainment Edited by Stuart Cunningham & David Craig
The ways artists reach their audiences and earn a living are changing and the number of people exploring these new routes to market has grown significantly over this past year. The trends and platforms outlined are here to stay and this is essential reading for anyone working in the arts today. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS June 2021 | 1 b&w illus. | 336pp | 9781479817979 | £26.99 | PB
Design, Control, Predict
Identity Capitalists
Technology has fundamentally transformed urban life. But today’s “smart” cities look little like what experts had predicted. Aaron Shapiro shows us the true face of the revolution in urban technology, taking the reader on a tour of today’s smart city.
In Identity Capitalists, legal scholar Nancy Leong reveals how powerful people and institutions use diversity to their own advantage and how the rest of us can respond—and do better.
Logistical Governance in the Smart City Aaron Shapiro
An essential exploration of the potential pitfalls of using data-driven technologies to govern urban life. Indispensable reading at a time when powerful advocates see these technologies as infallible answers to all our problems. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS December 2020 | 15 b&w illus. | 344pp | 9781517908270 | £20.99 | PB
The Powerful Insiders Who Exploit Diversity to Maintain Inequality Nancy Leong
With practical tools to help recognise and respond to those who exploit diversity and the raised public interest in it, we think this is an eye-opening and essential read, especially in light of, for example, the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as issues of performative allyship. STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS February 2021 | 240pp | 9781503610132 | £20.99 |HB
Management as a Calling
Reproducing Racism
Leading Business, Serving Society Andrew J. Hoffman
How Everyday Choices Lock In White Advantage Daria Roithmayr
Business leaders have tremendous power to influence our society, how it operates, whether it is fair, and the extent to which it impacts the environment. This book challenges future business leaders to consider their career differently—as a calling that is in service to society. If we are to ‘build back better’ postpandemic, it is crucial that business leaders recognise their responsibility - and the power they possess - to improve society and the world we live in. Hoffman’s book is a timely challenge to the business leaders of today and the business schools that provide the executives of tomorrow, to use their influence and market dynamics, to create something more than just profit or shareholder value. STANFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS March 2021 | 192pp | 9781503628779 | £17.99 | HB
This book is designed to change the way we think about racial inequality. Legal scholar Daria Roithmayr provocatively argues that racial inequality lives on because white advantage functions as a powerful selfreinforcing monopoly, reproducing itself automatically from generation to generation even in the absence of intentional discrimination. Racial inequality continues to be one of the most discussed issues of our day, this book explores the structural issues why this inequality is still a contemporary issue. NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS March 2021 | 256pp | 9781479811090 | £10.99 |PB