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This chapter presents an exposition of the Generalized Fechner–Thurstone (GFT) direct utility function, the system of demand functions derived from it, other systems of demand functions from which it can be derived, and its purpose and the econometric circumstances that motivated its original development. Its use in econometrics is demonstrated by an application to household consumer survey data which explores the relationship between prices, on the one hand, and expected exogenous preference changers such as household size, schooling of heads of household, and other social factors, on the other.

To examine some of the complex relationships that exist between sports work and mental health and illness.

This chapter draws upon prevalence data, athlete testimonies, and theoretical works to examine: (1) the prevalence of depression and suicide in professional sport and the wider society; (2) athlete experiences of depression and suicidal ideation, particularly among men; and (3) some of the key sociological ideas which might help to explain experiences of mental health and illness in professional sports work.

Although there are plentiful data on the societal prevalence of depression and suicide, increasing interest in the mental health of professional athletes (and other types of sports workers) has occurred largely in response to individual or clusters of often publicly known, sometimes high profile, cases rather than in response to systematic empirical grounded data. Athlete experiences of mental illness are shown to be related in complex ways to various constraints associated with their public and private lives, to the constraints of their interdependency networks, and to experiences of shame which can have a series of deleterious acute and chronic health costs.

Since much of what is currently known about the links between sports work and mental health and illness is derived from largely psychological studies and media-led or autobiographical accounts, more sociological research is needed to better understand the costs of mental health of working in often very public and highly pressurized, medicalized, scientized, and performance-focused performance sport settings.

X-Men is a movie franchise spanning 11 films centered on monsters and mutants (Braidotti, 1996), that is, the superheroes that appeared in the Marvel comics (Lauren Shuler Donner, 2000–2017). The franchise includes a rich compendium of male and female characters. Characters from both gender categories are gifted with powers and enjoy a remarkable focus from the plot. However, there are fewer female characters than male, and the former's powers are mainly related to the mind, rather than physical strength. If it is possible to immediately criticise the above-mentioned male focus, or the unequal distribution of powers, at the same time it is impossible to deny that both gender categories – male and female – reintroduce the gender binary that structures everyday reality in our current society (Butler, 2015). Such binary is a structural part of the cisgender and heteronormative system, inside which human beings carry out their existence. For these reasons, X-Men was interpreted by many transgender movements as a possible monstrous reclamation because it confers visibility to those bodies which are outside the norm (Preciado, 2020b) and it includes them in the context of a possible recognition as part of the cultural imaginary. This analysis, therefore, glimpses a possible liberation from the epistemological and material violence of the cisgender norm. This chapter will focus on the way in which the X-Men saga isn't faithful to a revolutionarily monstrous possibility, but rather carries out, through an apparatus of capture (Deleuze & Guattari, 2009), the reenactment of cis- and heteronormativity. In fact, those mutant and monstrous bodies represented here can be part of a highly popular franchise because they are part of the cisgender and heterosexual norm (Wittig, 1992) and because they put their monstrosity not outside the devices of power (Foucault, 2015), but at their service.

A growing religious-environmental movement is working to reconcile environmental thought and practice with the mission and ministry of religious organizations. We examine two leading interfaith social change organizations and identify key strategies they routinely employ to create shared meaning and alignment between environmentalism and faith. They reframe stewardship in religious organizations by (1) highlighting and interpreting environmental themes in sacred texts and scriptures, (2) celebrating and fostering mutual awareness of environmental action by faith-based organizations, and (3) providing resources and creating linkages between clergy and lay leaders across religious congregations. By emphasizing moral and spiritual rationales for the adoption of resource-saving products and behaviors at both the congregational and household level, these networked organizations help shift the perception of global climate change from an insurmountable problem to one that is being addressed in cooperation with similar others. Our investigation reveals organizational actors deeply engaged in growing moral calls for political action to address climate change and underscores the need for more socially realistic models of technology adoption and behavior change.