Books
Selected books by Oxford academics
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Who Needs Migrant Workers?
By Martin Ruhs and Bridget Anderson | 29 Sep 10
(Full story)
Are migrant workers needed to 'do the jobs that locals will not do' or are they simply a more exploitable labour force? Do they have a better 'work ethic' or are they less able to complain? Whatever one thinks about the merits of a cap and reduced labour immigration, slowing or reducing Britain’s increasing reliance on migrant workers will require more than changes in labour immigration policy, argue Drs Martin Ruhs and Bridget Anderson in their new book Who Needs Migrant Workers?
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The Gacaca Courts, Post-Genocide Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda
by Phil Clark | 13 Sep 10
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A new book constitutes the first academic analysis of the whole gacaca process following the deaths of hundreds of thousands during the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. The gacaca process consisted of eight years of village-level hearings into those crimes and the book follows an in-depth investigation by author, Dr Phil Clark, a Research Fellow in Courts and Public Policy in the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford. -
'Child labour in the British industrial revolution'
by Jane Humphries | 24 Jun 10
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A new book vividly depicts the hardships faced by children during the classic era of industrialisation in Britain (1790-1850). Childhood and child labour in the British industrial revolution, by Jane Humphries, Professor of Economic History at Oxford University, is based on the recollections of more than 600 working men of the 18th and 19th centuries and documents the upsurge of child labour during this period. -
'The Plundered Planet'
by Paul Collier | 14 May 10
‘Is it possible to continue to feed and clothe ourselves without despoiling the planet for future generations?’ is the question posed by Oxford Professor Paul Collier in his new book The Plundered Planet.Professor Collier is Professor of Economics and Director of the University’s Centre for the Study of African Economies (CASE). In his award-winning book The Bottom Billion, he tackled the issue of global poverty. This new book sets him an even more ambitious goal: to reconcile the immediate needs of the world’s burgeoning population with a sustainable environmental future.
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'Music and Mind in Everyday Life'
by Eric Clarke (Heather Professor of Music at Oxford), Nicola Dibben and Stephanie Pitts | 11 Feb 10
No human culture has been discovered that does not have music, and
in many societies music is ever-present and incessant. So why do we spend so much time engaged with music, what impact does it have on people's lives, and how can psychological research shed light on this human obsession? Music and Mind in Everyday Life co-authored by Eric Clarke, Heather Professor of Music, tackles these questions.
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'How Many Friends Does One Person Need?'
by Robin Dunbar | 04 Feb 10
(Full story)
We are the product of our evolutionary history and this colours our everyday lives - including the number of friends we can have, according to a book published by Professor Robin Dunbar. Robin Dunbar, Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at the University of Oxford, says 150 is the maximum number of friendships that the human mind is capable of handling. 'Dunbar's number', as it is known, even applies to the Facebook generation.