Oksana Yakushko Boeken

Exploring the character of Pollyanna and her "glad games," this book critiques the historical application of Pollyannaism in Western science. It examines how this optimistic approach has been leveraged to promote happiness while dismissing negative emotions and environmental factors. The author highlights the role of scientists in popularizing these ideas, emphasizing the societal pressures to maintain a positive outlook towards science. Ultimately, it reveals the strategies that compel individuals to adopt an overly optimistic perspective on scientific narratives.

This book engages the topic of xenophobia from both psychological and socio-political approaches. Recently, xenophobia as a social standpoint or social attitude has come under increased scrutiny by the public, scholars, and educators; however, few works have directly summarized current theories of xenophobia as well as articulated critical perspectives on the issue. This work provides an overview of the concept, historical factors related to its development, and a review of varied theoretical perspectives. The intertwining of psychological and sociological perspectives allows the author to present a multi-dimensional, multi-layered argument in a way which effectively prevents any attempt to apply any one single over-arching theory, and thus effectively presents the complexity of the topic at hand.