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The Secular Revolution is an examination of the means by which the university as an institution enabled the secularization of America. From a dominant Protestant establishment in the mid‐1800s, science, psychology, law, journalism, medicine and biology authorized the secular revolution. A rising capitalism, a continuing immigrant population increasing the power of cities, also played important roles in this radical shift. Beyond analysis, the problem of this book is strategic, attempting virtually to undo the secular revolution, and to return America to its rightful scientific, political, and religious form.

Society’s relations to animals pose possible blind spots in sociological theory that may be revealed and illuminated by studying systems of human‐animal interaction. By investigating whether and how animals enter into key processes that shape self and society we may determine the ways in which animals might be included in the core subject matter of sociology. An earlier discussion of the role of animals in sociology initiated by Weber is reviewed. Issues that debate raised about the extent of linguistically‐mediated human‐animal intersubjectivity are updated. It is in principle difficult to rule out animal languages, and some animals have acquired human language. But sociology may follow a more fecund empirical route by examining successful human‐animal performances produced by enduring interspecies relationships. Following this route, this paper specifically argues that the human self should be seen to take root in the available mixed species community. To show this, the work of G.H. Mead is revisited and corrected in light of recent work on early human development, and conceptual analyses of language, the body, and the self. The formation of the self is not dependent on only linguistic exchanges; a nonverbal nonhuman other can contribute to the self‐reflective sense of being a human self. Based on this reasoning, examples of studies of humans with wild and domestic animals illustrate the potential for a human‐animal sociology.

Explains that international mobility forms an integral part of the academic work of most faculty members. Considers some implications of faculty mobility in cyberspace and some of the constraints of the virtual world. Formulates recommendations for the enhancement of faculty mobility in the virtual world at the international and department levels. Discusses new cultural, social and educational challenges related to virtual mobility. Concludes that through virtual mobility, the real collaborative links become even more efficient and that real mobility is an added value to virtual mobility and vice versa.