Download or read book The Social Scientific Gaze written by Assoc Prof Per Wisselgren and published by Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. This book was released on 2015-12-28 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Social Scientific Gaze examines the discursive formation of academic social science in the historical context of the 'social question', that is, the protracted and wide-ranging discussions on the social problems of modernity that were being debated with increased intensity during the nineteenth century. Empirically, the study focuses on the Lorén Foundation, a combined private funding agency and early research institute, which was set up in 1885 to promote the rise of Swedish social science and to investigate the social question. Comprising an heuristic case, the close analysis of the Foundation makes it possible not only to reconstruct its basic ideas and practices, but also to situate its activities in broader historical and sociological context.
Download or read book The Social Scientific Gaze written by Per Wisselgren and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-02-24 with total page 286 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The social sciences have, ever since they were first established as academic disciplines, played a foundational role in most spheres of modern society - in policy-making, education, the media and public debate - and hence also, indirectly, for our self-understanding as social beings. The Social Scientific Gaze examines the discursive formation of academic social science in the historical context of the 'social question', that is, the protracted and wide-ranging discussions on the social problems of modernity that were being debated with increased intensity during the nineteenth century. Empirically, the study focuses on the Lorén Foundation, a combined private funding agency and early research institute, which was set up in 1885 to promote the rise of Swedish social science and to investigate the social question. Comprising an heuristic case, the close analysis of the Foundation makes it possible not only to reconstruct its basic ideas and practices, but also to situate its activities in broader historical and sociological context. The Social Scientific Gaze argues that the rise of Swedish social science may be seen not only as an 'answer' to the social 'question', but also as one attempt alongside others - including contemporary social literature, the philantropic reform movement, and the introduction of modern social policy - to conceptualize, mobilize and regulate the social sphere. In this process it is furthermore shown how an ambigious yet distinct 'social scientific gaze' was discursively articulated.
Download or read book Transparent and Reproducible Social Science Research written by Garret Christensen and published by University of California Press. This book was released on 2019-07-23 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recently, social science has had numerous episodes of influential research that was found invalid when placed under rigorous scrutiny. The growing sense that many published results are potentially erroneous has made those conducting social science research more determined to ensure the underlying research is sound. Transparent and Reproducible Social Science Research is the first book to summarize and synthesize new approaches to combat false positives and non-reproducible findings in social science research, document the underlying problems in research practices, and teach a new generation of students and scholars how to overcome them. Understanding that social science research has real consequences for individuals when used by professionals in public policy, health, law enforcement, and other fields, the book crystallizes new insights, practices, and methods that help ensure greater research transparency, openness, and reproducibility. Readers are guided through well-known problems and are encouraged to work through new solutions and practices to improve the openness of their research. Created with both experienced and novice researchers in mind, Transparent and Reproducible Social Science Research serves as an indispensable resource for the production of high quality social science research.
Download or read book For Science in the Social Sciences written by David Papineau and published by Springer. This book was released on 1978-06-17 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Science of Social Vision The Science of Social Vision written by Reginald B. Adams and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 502 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The human visual system is particularly attuned to and remarkably efficient at processing social cues. This text examines the functional and neuroanatomical mechanisms which underpin social vision.
Download or read book The Social Scientist as Public Intellectual written by Charles F. Gattone and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2006-03-14 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is the role of the social scientist in public affairs? How have changes in the structure of the university system and the culture of academia reshaped the opportunities and constraints facing contemporary scholars? The Social Scientist as Public Intellectual addresses these and other questions by reviewing the ideas of seminal thinkers in Europe and the United States, and relating their conclusions to today's world. In this book, Charles Gattone examines the analyses of Max Weber, Thorstein Veblen, Karl Mannheim, Joseph Schumpeter, C. Wright Mills, John Kenneth Galbraith, and Pierre Bourdieu, tracing their perspectives through two World wars, the Cold War, and into the present. Gattone situates the ideas of these authors in historical context, showing the ways the realities of their time - fascism , totalitarianism, the rise of bureaucratic institutions, and the expansion of industrial democracy - informed their assessments regarding the place of the intellectual in the political realm. He brings their work into the current context, addressing the difficulties involved in bridging the gap between the ideas of scholarly inquiry and the practical realities of politics, and examining the ways newer factors such as the mass media relate to the character and trajectories of popular sentiment. Gattone argues that although political and economic institutions continue to influence the course of academic knowledge, opportunities remain for social scientists to act independently and develop insight that can ultimately be of value to a wide spectrum of the population in the modern order. Rather than follow the habit of striving to satisfy the narrow demands of institutional supporters, Gattone suggests that social scientists have the potential to approach their work from the standpoint of a broader orientation, and address social issues as public intellectuals.
Download or read book The 360 Gaze written by Christian Stiegler and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2021-05-25 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive study of the pervasive role of immersion and immersive media in postmodern culture, from a humanities and social sciences perspective. Virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality, and other modes of digitally induced immersion herald a major cultural and economic shift in society. Most academic discussions of immersion and immersive media have focused on the technological aspects. In The 360° Gaze, Christian Stiegler takes a humanities and social science approach, emphasizing the human implications of immersive media in postmodern culture. Examining characteristics common to all immersive experiences, he uncovers dominant metaphors, such as the rabbit hole, and prevailing ideologies. He raises fundamental questions about opportunities and risks associated with immersion, as well as the potential effects on individuals, communities, and societies.
Download or read book Revolution in the Social Sciences written by Bernard S. Phillips and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2012 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Revolution in the Social Sciences centers on integrating knowledge from sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, political science and economics in order to confront increasing worldwide problems that threaten all of us. That integration of knowledge of human behavior is essential for understanding those problems, given their enormous complexity coupled with the highly specialized nature of the social sciences and their limited communication across specialized fields. It carries further the ideas developed by the Sociological Imagination Group in the seven books it has published since its founding in 2000 (www.sociological-imagination.org): Beyond Sociology's Tower of Babel, Toward a Sociological Imagination, The Invisible Crisis of Contemporary Society, Understanding Terrorism, Armageddon or Evolution? Bureaucratic Culture and Escalating World Problems, and Saving Society. In addition to visible problems like war and terrorism with weapons of mass destruction that are becoming ever more threatening, there are relatively invisible problems. For example, there is an increasing gap between what people throughout the world want--including a decent standard of living and freedom from patterns of hatred like racism, sexism and ageism--and what they are in fact able to get. There is, then, an increasing aspirations-fulfillment gap, largely produced by the "revolution of rising expectations" over the past five centuries. Political leaders who attempt to confront problems can only make limited progress on them, largely because of the failure of social scientists to integrate their knowledge and thus yield the understanding of these complex problems that is required.
Download or read book The Global Enterprise written by James D. Wright and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-07-18 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There are approximately 200 nations on Earth and the social sciences are being practiced in each one, yet too little of this global enterprise is known to Western, particularly American, social scientists. Drawing upon five years of experience as editor-in-chief of a major international encyclopedia of the social and behavioral sciences, James D. Wright provides social scientists a representative sampling of the work of their international colleagues. The volume includes investigations into a myriad of questions. How have Muslims accommodated to life in Western societies? What were the demographic consequences of World War I? What are the economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits of hosting a cruise ship terminal? Has the situation of Honduran street children improved in the past two decades? What is the state of public health in Africa? Wright shows how social scientists outside the United States have answered all of these questions and many more. From efforts at historical preservation in the Peoples Republic of China to the sexual abuse of children in New Zealand, and from earthquake research in Japan to network jihadi terrorism, The Global Enterprise includes research that will intrigue anyone interested in what social scientists contribute to our understanding of contemporary social trends and advances, both locally and globally. Key research is underway in social science around the world, and it is far past time that Western social scientists learned of and learned from these findings.
Download or read book The Logic of Social Science written by James Mahoney and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-17 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Mahoney's starting point is the problem of essentialism in social science. Essentialism--the belief that the members of a category possess hidden properties ("essences") that make them members of the category and that endow them with a certain nature--is appropriate for scientific categories ("atoms", for instance) but not for human ones ("revolutions," for instance). Despite this, much social science research takes place from within an essentialist orientation; those who reject this assumption goes so far in the other direction as to reject the idea of an external reality, independent of human beings, altogether. Mahoney proposes an alternative approach that aspires to bridge this enduring rift in the social sciences between those who take a scientific approach and assume that social science categories correspond to external reality (and thus believe that the methods used in the natural sciences are generally appropriate for the social sciences) and those who take a constructivist approach and believe that because the categories used to understand the social world are humanly-constructed, they cannot possibly follow the science of the natural world. As the name suggests, scientific constructivism brings in aspects of both views and attempts to unite them. Drawing from cognitive science, it focuses on using the rational parts of our brain machinery to overcome the limitations and deeply seated biases (such as essentialism) of our evolved minds. Specifically, Mahoney puts forth a "set-theoretic analysis" that focuses on "sets" of categories as they exist in the mind that are also subject to the mathematical logic of set-theory. He spends the first four chapters of the book establishing the foundations and methods for set-theoretic analysis, the next four chapters looking and how this analysis fits with the existing tools of social science, and the final four chapters focusing on how this approach can be used to study and understand cases"--
Download or read book Social Science written by Delanty, Gerard and published by McGraw-Hill Education (UK). This book was released on 2005-06-01 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What is social science? Does social scientific knowledge differ from other kinds of knowledge, such as the natural sciences and common sense? What is the relation between method and knowledge? This concise and accessible book provides a critical discussion and comprehensive overview of the major philosophical debates on the methodological foundations of the social sciences. From its origins in the sixteenth century when a new system of knowledge was created around the idea of modernity, the author shows how the philosophy of social science developed as a reflection on some of the central questions in modernity. Visions of modernity have been reflected in the self-understanding of the social sciences. From the positivist dispute on explanation vs. understanding to controversies about standpoint to debates about constructivism and realism, Delanty outlines the major shifts in the philosophy of social science. He argues that social science is an intellectual framework for the transformation of the social world. The new edition is updated and expanded throughout with the latest developments in the field, including a new chapter on feminist standpoint epistemology, and additional material on neo-positivism, pragmatism, and reflexivity. This is one of the most ambitious and wide-ranging texts in recent years on debates on method and the contemporary situation of social science. It is of interest to undergraduate students and postgraduates as well as to professional researchers with an interest in the philosophy of the social sciences and social theory.
Download or read book How the Social Sciences Think about the World s Social written by Michael Kuhn and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the beginning of the new millennium, the social sciences took an epochal 'turn' that revolutionized their theory-building. As a response to what they called the globalization of the social, they found the need to globalize their theorizing as well. It is curious that only after two centuries of colonialism and imperialism, after two world wars and several economic world crises, did they discover that there is a world beyond the national socials; it is even more strange that the social sciences globalize their theorizing by comparing theories about nationally confined socials and by creating all sorts of 'local' theories, as if any national social was a secluded social biotope. Trying to globalize the social sciences, they argue that globalizing social science theorizing means finding a way of theorizing that must, above all, be liberated from 'scientism' in order to allow a 'provincialization' of thinking. Not surprisingly, the globalizing social sciences have also rediscovered mythological and moral thinking as a means for a true scientific universalism. Michael Kuhn argues that the oddities of the globalizing social sciences are not accidents, but a consequence of the nature of how the social sciences theorize about the social.
Download or read book Explanation and Experience in Social Science written by Robert Brown and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: According to their critics, social scientists rarely ask the right questions and cannot provide satisfactory answers even to the questions they ask themselves. Social scientists often discuss the nature of knowledge in their fields with a notable lack of clarity. Explanation and Experience in Social Science by Robert Brown dispels the confusion with cogency and wit; it is a systematic, sensible, and lucid analysis of the nature of the explanations put forward by social scientists. Explanation-making is first distinguished from "describing" and "reporting," and then classified into different types, based on different kinds of information used. The greater part of the book consists in discussion and examination of these types of explanation and their relationships, in which the usefulness and limitations of each are assessed. An extraordinary variety of examples from contemporary work in all the social sciences is used, including the fields of sociology, anthropology, psychology, history, demography, political science. and economics. The author makes it clear that good social explanation is possible and that it conforms to the requirements of all good scientific explanation. Explanation and Experience in Social Science is of interest to the practicing scientist--in fact--it is a must-have for any personal or public library with collections in the social sciences. Most studies in the philosophy of the sciences, natural and social, fall into two distinct groups: those written by philosophers for other philosophers and those produced by scientists for their fellow-scientists. The aim of this book is to discuss questions of philosophical interest as they come to be imbedded in the work of social scientists. Robert Brown received a degree in anthropology at the University of New Mexico and did field studies among American Indians before taking up graduate work in anthropology and philosophy at the University of Chicago. He has been at the Australian National University, as well as a fellow of its Institute of Advanced Studies.
Download or read book The Structural Change of Knowledge and the Future of the Social Sciences written by Ronald Pohoryles and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-03-14 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a compendium of pragmatism in the social sciences. While addressing several distinct spheres, it carries a common message: the future of the social sciences depends on a shared understanding of society based on the knowledge of various disciplines and transcending the currently forbidding borders between scientific knowledge and the other forms of knowledge. Looking back at the social science traditions this is nothing new. To ensure a fruitful future for the social sciences a paradigm shift is unavoidable. The consequence of the increase of knowledge in the last two centuries was the specialization of the sciences. The nineteenth century saw the separation of humanities and social sciences; the twentieth century is even characterized by specialization within the disciplines and the occurrence of competing schools of thought. This book tries to overcome the barriers that are built between and within the disciplines, and to counteract the unnecessary barriers created by the emergence of "schools of thoughts" that distrust each other and the social sciences as a whole. This book was originally published as a special issue of Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research.
Download or read book Social Science in Context written by Rickard Danell and published by Nordic Academic Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social Science in Context is one of the first ventures to explore the relationship between social science and society in historical, sociological and global perspective. What impact has the research in these areas had on society? How are research fields established and to what ends? Social Science in Context is a compilation of articles by an international and multidisciplinary group of scholars. The authors analyse the practical making and discursive aspects of social scientific knowledge and examples are drawn from a broad range of disciplines such as sociology, psychology, economics, and gender studies. The overall aim of the book is to encourage a contextual and reflexive understanding of the complex relationship between the social sciences and society. The bonds of the past and today are made up by reciprocity and involve key elements such as gender and power, science and politics, academic boundaries and global power relations. The book should be of interest to researchers, graduate students or anyone else interested in understanding and reflecting upon the uses, roles and functions of social science in today's globalised world. Book jacket.
Download or read book Knowledge and the Social Sciences written by David Goldblatt and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2004-08-02 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Knowledge and the Social Sciences takes as its point of departure the claims that all forms of knowledge, the social sciences included, must be seen and understood in their social context. It argues that the social sciences both describe and transform their object of study, though rarely in ways that social scientists intend, and introduces students to the key epistemological and philosophical terms and issues essential for further study in the social sciences. In a radical and yet lucid and practical introduction to ways of thinking and knowing in the social sciences this text investigates: * the origins and consequences of different types of knowledge in substantive areas of social change: medical practice, religious beliefs, and the environment * whether there is a decline in public trust of expert knowledge systems * whether we are entering a knowledge society, a fragmented post-modern society, or a risk society.
Download or read book Cognitive Dimensions of Social Science written by Mark Turner Professor of English and Member of the Doctoral Faculty in Neuroscience and Cognitive Science University of Maryland and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2001-08-16 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What will be the future of social science? Where exactly do we stand, and where do we go from here? What kinds of problems should we be addressing, with what kinds of approaches and arguments? In Cognitive Dimensions of Social Science, Mark Turner offers an answer to these pressing questions: social science is headed toward convergence with cognitive science. Together they will give us a new and better approach to the study of what human beings are, what human beings do, what kind of mind they have, and how that mind developed over the history of the species. Turner, one of the originators of the cognitive scientific theory of conceptual integration, here explores how the application of that theory enriches the social scientific study of meaning, culture, identity, reason, choice, judgment, decision, innovation, and invention. About fifty thousand years ago, humans made a spectacular advance: they became cognitively modern. This development made possible the invention of the vast range of knowledge, practices, and institutions that social scientists try to explain. For Turner, the anchor of all social science - anthropology, political science, sociology, economics - must be the study of the cognitively modern human mind. In this book, Turner moves the study of those extraordinary mental powers to the center of social scientific research and analysis.
