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The impact agenda is set to shape the way in which social scientists prioritise the work they choose to pursue, the research methods they use and how they publish their findings over the coming decade, but how much is currently known about how social science research has made a mark on society? Based on a three year research project studying the impact of 360 UK-based academics on business, government and civil society sectors, this groundbreaking new book undertakes the most thorough analysis yet of how academic research in the social sciences achieves public policy impacts, contributes to economic prosperity, and informs public understanding of policy issues as well as economic and social ...
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.
This important book examines how social science is applied now and how it might be applied in the future in relation to social transformation in a time of crisis.
This best-selling text emphasizes why social and cultural changes are the pervasive realities of our time. A key theme of Contemporary Society is that the transition from an industrial to a post-industrial order in today’s world is fraught with difficulties, as was the transition from an agricultural to an industrial order in an earlier era. Within this framework, we can observe the increasing fragmentation of the social order today, which tends to lead people away from community and a common purpose, more often bringing conflict and disunity. Still, countervailing social forces are also at work, providing some stability--some shelter in a sea of change. Ever more, societies are faced with...
New approach demonstrating how social science can be successful, focusing on context, values, and power.
John Gerring's exceptional textbook has been thoroughly revised in this second edition. It offers a one-volume introduction to social science methodology relevant to the disciplines of anthropology, economics, history, political science, psychology and sociology. This new edition has been extensively developed with the introduction of new material and a thorough treatment of essential elements such as conceptualization, measurement, causality and research design. It is written for students, long-time practitioners and methodologists and covers both qualitative and quantitative methods. It synthesizes the vast and diverse field of methodology in a way that is clear, concise and comprehensive. While offering a handy overview of the subject, the book is also an argument about how we should conceptualize methodological problems. Thinking about methodology through this lens provides a new framework for understanding work in the social sciences.
Featuring over 1,800 concise definitions of key terms, the Dictionary of the Social Sciences is the most comprehensive, authoritative single-volume work of its kind. With coverage on the vocabularies of anthropology, sociology, political science, economics, human geography, cultural studies, and Marxism, the Dictionary is an integrated, easy-to-use, A-to-Z reference tool. Designed for students and non-specialists, it examines classic and contemporary scholarship including basic terms, concepts, theories, schools of thought, methodologies, issues, and controversies. As a true dictionary, it also contains concise, jargon-free definitions that explain the rich, sometimes complex language of these increasingly visible fields.
The book covers the main developments in the social sciences after World War Two. Chapters on economics, human geography, political science, psychology, social anthropology, and sociology will interest anyone wanting short, accessible histories of those disciplines; they will also make it easy for readers to compare disciplines. A final chapter offers a blueprint for writing the history of the social sciences as a whole, drawing attention to the role of interdisciplinary work and to the importance of factors from the Second World War to the sixties and the fall of communism.
Featuring over 900 entries, this resource covers all disciplines within the social sciences with both concise definitions & in-depth essays.
What forms of knowledge can social science claim to produce? Does it employ causal analysis, and if so what does this entail? What role should values play in the work of social scientists? These are the questions addressed in this book. They are closely interrelated, and the answers offered here challenge many currently prevailing assumptions. They carry implications both for research practice, quantitative or qualitative, and for the public claims that social scientists make about the value of their work. The arguments underpinning this challenge to conventional wisdom are laid out in detail in the first half of the book. In later chapters their implications are explored for two substantive areas of intrinsic importance: the study of social mobility and educational inequalities; and explanations for urban riots, notably those that took place in London and other English cities in the summer of 2011.