Has anyone ever pushed in front of you in a queue? Stolen your parking space? Talked on their mobile phone during a film at the cinema? In our everyday lives we all encounter rude and inconsiderate people. This unique book provides the first ever systematic investigation of typical encounters with rudeness. Through a meticulous analysis of over 500 events, it maps out what people experience as rude, where and when this happens and what takes place in the exchange between the participants. The inquiry further charts the emotional and social consequences of rudeness and victimization, with the results challenging the widespread assumption that bad behaviour is toxic to community life. In conclusion the study draws upon its findings and surveys a range of strategies for reducing the level of incivility in everyday life, identifying some simple and innovative solutions. Incivility will appeal to criminologists, sociologists and scholars of urban studies.

The Millennium Development Goals were announced to the world in the year 2000. Handed down by the United Nations, the Millennium Development Goals promised a new way forward for addressing global poverty on an international scale.A key ingredient for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals was an across-the-board increase of modest scale in the level of development aid contributed by wealthy countries. Yet, while having signed up for as much, there has been a strong tendency among the rich countries towards non-compliance, accompanied by a generalised failure to offer accounts for as much (i.e. provide reassurances). It is my concern here to look at an important factor that might help in going some way towards explaining the apparent ‘bad faith' of rich countries: the state of public sentiment around global poverty. A key line of inquiry I wish to explore here is the condition of ambivalence among the citizens and residents of wealthy countries to social problems beyond national border.It is my contention that the active indifference of the rich nation-state towards global poverty occurs under conditions where there exists a complementary blase attitudinal structure amongst its peoples. Using data from a 2005 national sample survey, this study provides information from Australia about the state of public dispositions around the Millennium Development Goals and global social problems.

Sociological literature lacks a firm evidentiary base with respect to how mass media usage works to forge patterns of collective attachment among socially diverse individuals within contemporary societies. This paper seeks to engage with this absence by examining the detailed ways in which complexities of media consumptions are linked with divergent popular visions of national belongingness and identity. Focusing in particular on variations in cultural genre and delivery technology, the study aims to help clarify extant disciplinary discussions about if and how media consumption interconnects with the substance of individual national imaginings in an era of cultural globalization. Using data from a large social survey of changing visions of national identity among contemporary Australians, the study shows that established media technologies and the consumption of lowbrow genres harden individual attachment to a traditional imagining of the nation. By contrast use of the Internet and highbrow genres foster a more inclusive vision of nation identity. In terms of sustaining these different national identity configurations, cultural genre is revealed to be of greater consequence than technological medium. Furthermore, and in a more general way, the findings suggest that notwithstanding the complexity of effects, mass media usage stands up alongside a more established concern with individual social structural background as a highly salient factor in shaping contemporary formations of national attachment.

An area of long-standing interest in sociological studies of nationality and ethnicity has been the implications of widespread cross-border movements of peoples for cultural identity. One important stream of research has been concerned with peoples who have moved to a new country that is culturally different from their “homeland”. Yet, far less attention has typically been given to those who shift to a country that is culturally alike. The study examines how peoples who have relocated from Great Britain to Australia feel about various ideas at the heart of contemporary debates about Australian national identity. Drawing on data from a 2001 survey of Australian national identity, analysis indicated that (i) British-born residents differ from the Australian-born in how their attitudes to key ideas about Australian national identity are “packaged” together, and (ii) among the British-born, views about Australian national identity vary across subgroups with different configurations of national pride.

Commonplace incivility is a topic of longstanding interest within social theory, perhaps best exemplified by Goffman's studies of the interaction order. Nevertheless we know very little about its distribution and expression in everyday life. Current empirical work is dominated by criminological agendas. These tend to focus on more serious and illegal activities rather than minor deviant acts that are simply inconsiderate or rude. The paper reports findings from a focus group study conducted in Melbourne, Australia that set out to benchmark everyday incivilities. The results suggest that perpetrators of incivility have a surprisingly broad social distribution as does the range of locales that might be characterised as ‘high risk’. Turning to the work of Putnam and Wolfe, we call for a research focus on low-level incivilities as key symptoms of the state of civic virtue and the strength of moral ties within civil society. Drawing on Virilio, Bauman and Durkheim, it is suggested that the experience of incivility is underpinned by the growth of freedom and movement in contemporary urban settings, and has ambivalent implications that not only invoke boundary maintenance and retreatism, but also offer the possibility for boundary expansion and tolerance of difference.

The proliferation of quantitative studies of national and other macro-level we-images points to a growing sociological interest in the contribution of imagined communities to self-identity. However, these studies have tended to present an oversimplified picture of this cultural phenomenon, relying on essentialist, one-dimensional and non-divisible conceptions of the social self. It is the contention of this paper that important clues for clarifying the less developed approaches to self-identity that feature in such quantitative work can be found in Benedict Anderson's landmark analysis of imagined communities. Anderson's treatment of this topic is used to sensitize a survey analysis of self-identification with large-scale geographic units among contemporary Australians. Findings from the investigation highlight a neglect in emerging quantitative research on self-attachment to imagined communities of (i) the plural sources, multi-dimensional nature and divisible character of self-identity, and (ii) the complex ways in which different layers of self-identity interlock to shape social attitudes.

In social science the 'national' has been studied extensively, but comparatively little attention has been given to the 'un-national'. The article takes up this challenge in an Australian context. Drawing on the work of Raymond Williams, investigation is centred around the keyword 'UnAustralian'. Participants in focus groups were asked to nominate and account for what they thought of as 'UnAustralian' people, places, values, activities, groups and organizations. Analysis of the data revealed that two factors underpinned an attribution: incivility and foreign influence. Contemporary uses revolve around outcomes from globalization and can be contrasted with the centrality of class politics to deployments of the concept in the first part of the 20th century.

Violent, but non-lethal, encounters between police and civilians are an important yet neglected social problem. Even more neglected are the spatial and temporal dynamics of these events. The paper draws on Giddens's structuration theory to operationalize these variables and test their explanatory power. A multivariate analysis of data derived from citizen complaints files shows that time-space variables are important predictors of the use of major physical force by police against civilians. An explanation for this result is developed using Giddens's concept of practical consciousness. The findings of the paper suggest a need to redirect criminological and policing research towards the exploration of time-space environments.

Recent discussions of Australian national identity have focused on official discourses or media representations, or have involved expert readings of popular texts. We know remarkably little about how 'ordinary' Australians (we use this term with considerable reservation) think about their nation. This issue was addressed using focus group methodology with recruitment according to demographic and regional criteria. Groups were asked to identify 'Australian' people, groups, places, activities, events and values. Whilst it was predicted that there would be great variability over the groups, we found remarkable homogeneity. Participants consistently recognised and endorsed traditional, older, past-oriented symbols and images of Australia as predicted in the Australian Studies literature. Progressive, abstract and inclusive concepts of the nation, such as those recently advanced by governmental agencies, were notably absent from discussion. These findings suggest popular concepts of the Australian are robust and have a relative autonomy from the alternative models and discourses proposed by Australia's contending elites.

Abstract In social science the ‘national’ has been studied extensively, but comparatively little attention has been ,given to the ,‘un-national’. The article takes up this challenge in an Australian context. Drawing on the work of Raymond Williams, investigation is centred ,around ,the keyword ,‘UnAustralian’. Participants in focus groups,were,asked,to nominate,and account,for what,they thought,of as‘UnAustralian’ people, places, values, activities, groups and organizations. Analysis of the ,data revealed ,that two ,factors underpinned ,an attribution: incivility and foreign influence. Contemporary,uses revolve around,outcomes from globalization and can be contrasted with the centrality of class politics to deployments,of the concept,in the first part of the 20th century. Keywords: Americanization,Australia, focus groups, foreign influence, global- ization, incivility, national identity, popular culture, UnAustralian, un-national