A H Halsey and W G Runciman (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- January 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780197263426
- eISBN:
- 9780191734298
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197263426.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Research and Statistics
These eleven chapters look at sociology in Britain from a number of intriguing perspectives. How important is it for British sociologists to be aware of the historical development of their subject in ...
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These eleven chapters look at sociology in Britain from a number of intriguing perspectives. How important is it for British sociologists to be aware of the historical development of their subject in this country? How is British sociology seen by British scholars working in related fields, such as social history, social anthropology and demography? And how are British sociologists perceived by their colleagues working abroad, in particular in continental Europe? A concluding chapter by the President of the British Sociological Association identifies the recurring themes in these reflections.Less
These eleven chapters look at sociology in Britain from a number of intriguing perspectives. How important is it for British sociologists to be aware of the historical development of their subject in this country? How is British sociology seen by British scholars working in related fields, such as social history, social anthropology and demography? And how are British sociologists perceived by their colleagues working abroad, in particular in continental Europe? A concluding chapter by the President of the British Sociological Association identifies the recurring themes in these reflections.
Alan Bowman and Andrew Wilson (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199562596
- eISBN:
- 9780191721458
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199562596.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE
This book contains a number of chapters on the Roman economy which discuss methods of analysing the performance of the economy of the Mediterranean world under Roman imperial rule in the period c.100 ...
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This book contains a number of chapters on the Roman economy which discuss methods of analysing the performance of the economy of the Mediterranean world under Roman imperial rule in the period c.100 BC to AD 350 through quantification. It focuses on the methods and problems involved in identifying and analyzing the characteristics of economic integration, growth, and decline in this period. In particular, it attempts to suggest how a complex and diverse economic world can be better understood by using quantifiable and proxy data to measure these processes in different parts of the Mediterranean world. The data are drawn from both documentary and archaeological sources, and the book emphasizes the need to draw together different kinds of written and artefactual evidence and to describe the ways in which they complement each other. This approach is pursued in a series of analyses of approaches specific economic sectors: demography, urbanization and settlement patterns, the agrarian economy, patterns of trade and commerce, mining, metal supply, and coinage. The book offers a survey of the opportunities for advancing understanding of the economic and technological development of the Roman empire by using the tools and techniques of economic history and statistical analysis.Less
This book contains a number of chapters on the Roman economy which discuss methods of analysing the performance of the economy of the Mediterranean world under Roman imperial rule in the period c.100 BC to AD 350 through quantification. It focuses on the methods and problems involved in identifying and analyzing the characteristics of economic integration, growth, and decline in this period. In particular, it attempts to suggest how a complex and diverse economic world can be better understood by using quantifiable and proxy data to measure these processes in different parts of the Mediterranean world. The data are drawn from both documentary and archaeological sources, and the book emphasizes the need to draw together different kinds of written and artefactual evidence and to describe the ways in which they complement each other. This approach is pursued in a series of analyses of approaches specific economic sectors: demography, urbanization and settlement patterns, the agrarian economy, patterns of trade and commerce, mining, metal supply, and coinage. The book offers a survey of the opportunities for advancing understanding of the economic and technological development of the Roman empire by using the tools and techniques of economic history and statistical analysis.
David Levine and Keith Wrightson
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780198200666
- eISBN:
- 9780191674761
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198200666.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History
This is the first intensive study of an industrial community in early modern England. Whickham, a village built on an underground mountain of coal in north-east England, was arguably Britain's first ...
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This is the first intensive study of an industrial community in early modern England. Whickham, a village built on an underground mountain of coal in north-east England, was arguably Britain's first modern industrial society. The authors of this book employ the latest techniques of socio-historical research and make full use of a wide variety of contemporary sources to explore many aspects of life in Whickham between 1560 and 1765. They bring together vital strands – including industrial development, agrarian change, social stratification, demography, religion, work, leisure, living standards, kinship, and the family – to produce a rounded and vivid picture, which throws into relief the achievements, benefits, and costs of the complex process of industrialization. The development of Whickham is set in the larger context of socio-economic change during this period.Less
This is the first intensive study of an industrial community in early modern England. Whickham, a village built on an underground mountain of coal in north-east England, was arguably Britain's first modern industrial society. The authors of this book employ the latest techniques of socio-historical research and make full use of a wide variety of contemporary sources to explore many aspects of life in Whickham between 1560 and 1765. They bring together vital strands – including industrial development, agrarian change, social stratification, demography, religion, work, leisure, living standards, kinship, and the family – to produce a rounded and vivid picture, which throws into relief the achievements, benefits, and costs of the complex process of industrialization. The development of Whickham is set in the larger context of socio-economic change during this period.
Hans-Peter Kohler
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199244591
- eISBN:
- 9780191596544
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199244596.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Considerable controversy exists among demographers, economists, and sociologists over the causes of fertility change in developing and developed countries. The neoclassical economic approach to ...
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Considerable controversy exists among demographers, economists, and sociologists over the causes of fertility change in developing and developed countries. The neoclassical economic approach to fertility is embraced by its supporters because it facilitates the application of sophisticated consumer and household production theory to one of the most private and intimate questions: a couple's reproductive behaviour. Despite the theoretical appeal of the economic approach, it has been eschewed by many critics because of its lack of social and institutional context, its neglect of cultural factors and its requirements of ‘rationality’. The integration of social interaction with economic fertility models in this book emerges as a powerful tool to overcome many of these criticisms. First, the analysis provides a formal integration of economic, sociological, and other approaches to fertility and shows that there is a useful and promising agenda at the intersection of these schools. The second and more important goal is to sharpen the analytic lens with which theorists from different schools investigate fertility. For economists, the work shows the advantages of moving beyond individual decision‐making and embedding the fertility decisions in a ‘local environment’ with interpersonal information flows, ‘atmospheric’ or social externalities, norms, and customs. For sociologists, this work intends to show that the theorizing about the interaction in social network can be more sophisticated. Thirdly, the findings have important implications for population policy. The analyses in this book show when family planning is likely to diffuse and lead to rapid adoption of birth control, and they derive conditions when Pareto‐improving policy measures are likely to exist.Less
Considerable controversy exists among demographers, economists, and sociologists over the causes of fertility change in developing and developed countries. The neoclassical economic approach to fertility is embraced by its supporters because it facilitates the application of sophisticated consumer and household production theory to one of the most private and intimate questions: a couple's reproductive behaviour. Despite the theoretical appeal of the economic approach, it has been eschewed by many critics because of its lack of social and institutional context, its neglect of cultural factors and its requirements of ‘rationality’. The integration of social interaction with economic fertility models in this book emerges as a powerful tool to overcome many of these criticisms. First, the analysis provides a formal integration of economic, sociological, and other approaches to fertility and shows that there is a useful and promising agenda at the intersection of these schools. The second and more important goal is to sharpen the analytic lens with which theorists from different schools investigate fertility. For economists, the work shows the advantages of moving beyond individual decision‐making and embedding the fertility decisions in a ‘local environment’ with interpersonal information flows, ‘atmospheric’ or social externalities, norms, and customs. For sociologists, this work intends to show that the theorizing about the interaction in social network can be more sophisticated. Thirdly, the findings have important implications for population policy. The analyses in this book show when family planning is likely to diffuse and lead to rapid adoption of birth control, and they derive conditions when Pareto‐improving policy measures are likely to exist.
Alan Bowman and Andrew Wilson (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199602353
- eISBN:
- 9780191731570
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199602353.001.0001
- Subject:
- Classical Studies, European History: BCE to 500CE, Archaeology: Classical
This volume is a collection of studies focusing on population and settlement patterns in the Roman empire in the perspective of the economic development of the Mediterranean world c. 100 BC to AD ...
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This volume is a collection of studies focusing on population and settlement patterns in the Roman empire in the perspective of the economic development of the Mediterranean world c. 100 BC to AD 350. The analyses offered here highlight the issues of regional and temporal variation: Italy, Spain, Britain, Egypt, Crete, Asia Minor from the Roman republic to the early Byzantine period. Although they are by no means exhaustive, the contributions to this volume sketch out the varied landscapes in which the many general issues raised need to be further analysed. The relationship between urban settlements and their environs and the economy of rural settlements in or beyond those environs is crucial, and the authors suggest particular aspects that might repay analysis: the physical size of settlements and the relationship between size, location, and distribution. The chapters fall into two main groups, the first dealing with the evidence for rural settlement as revealed by archaeological field surveys, and the attendant methodological problems of extrapolating from that evidence to a view of population; and the second with city populations and the phenomenon of urbanization. They proceed to consider hierarchies of settlement in the characteristic classical pattern of city plus territory, the way in which those entities are defined, from the highest to the lowest level: the empire as ‘city of Rome plus territory‘, then regional and local hierarchies, and, more precisely, the identity and the nature of the ‘instruments‘ that enable them to function in economic cohesion.Less
This volume is a collection of studies focusing on population and settlement patterns in the Roman empire in the perspective of the economic development of the Mediterranean world c. 100 BC to AD 350. The analyses offered here highlight the issues of regional and temporal variation: Italy, Spain, Britain, Egypt, Crete, Asia Minor from the Roman republic to the early Byzantine period. Although they are by no means exhaustive, the contributions to this volume sketch out the varied landscapes in which the many general issues raised need to be further analysed. The relationship between urban settlements and their environs and the economy of rural settlements in or beyond those environs is crucial, and the authors suggest particular aspects that might repay analysis: the physical size of settlements and the relationship between size, location, and distribution. The chapters fall into two main groups, the first dealing with the evidence for rural settlement as revealed by archaeological field surveys, and the attendant methodological problems of extrapolating from that evidence to a view of population; and the second with city populations and the phenomenon of urbanization. They proceed to consider hierarchies of settlement in the characteristic classical pattern of city plus territory, the way in which those entities are defined, from the highest to the lowest level: the empire as ‘city of Rome plus territory‘, then regional and local hierarchies, and, more precisely, the identity and the nature of the ‘instruments‘ that enable them to function in economic cohesion.
Sydney Finkelstein, Donald C. Hambrick, and Albert A. Cannella
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- January 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780195162073
- eISBN:
- 9780199867332
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195162073.003.0004
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Strategy
This chapter deals with the more observable aspects of executives' personal orientations, specifically their experiences. The basic idea is that executives' experiences shape their perceptions and ...
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This chapter deals with the more observable aspects of executives' personal orientations, specifically their experiences. The basic idea is that executives' experiences shape their perceptions and outlooks; similarly, experiences often provide rough proxies for less observable psychological properties, such as values or personality. The chapter provides comprehensive reviews and integration of the literature on the effects of the following executive characteristics on strategy and performance: tenure in position, functional background, formal education, and international experience. The chapter concludes with a detailed discussion of the factors that affect the strength of predictive associations between executives' experiences and their strategic actions.Less
This chapter deals with the more observable aspects of executives' personal orientations, specifically their experiences. The basic idea is that executives' experiences shape their perceptions and outlooks; similarly, experiences often provide rough proxies for less observable psychological properties, such as values or personality. The chapter provides comprehensive reviews and integration of the literature on the effects of the following executive characteristics on strategy and performance: tenure in position, functional background, formal education, and international experience. The chapter concludes with a detailed discussion of the factors that affect the strength of predictive associations between executives' experiences and their strategic actions.
Laurence D. Mueller, Casandra L. Rauser, and Michael R. Rose
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- September 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199754229
- eISBN:
- 9780199896714
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199754229.001.0001
- Subject:
- Biology, Evolutionary Biology / Genetics
This book addresses the most paradoxical finding of recent aging research: the cessation of demographic aging. The authors show that aging stops at the level of the individual organism, and explain ...
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This book addresses the most paradoxical finding of recent aging research: the cessation of demographic aging. The authors show that aging stops at the level of the individual organism, and explain why evolution allows this. The implications of this counter-intuitive conclusion are profound. Aging research now needs to accept three uncomfortable truths. First, aging is not a cumulative physiological process. Second, the fundamental theory that is required to explain, manipulate, and probe the phenomena of aging comes from evolutionary biology. Third, strong-inference experimental strategies for aging must be founded in evolutionary research, not cell or molecular biology. But there are also significant consequences of this work for human aging. First, biomedical strategies that are founded on the traditional cell-molecular theories of aging are bound to fail, because their fundamental premises are incorrect. Second, the ultimate technological problem of controlling human aging is redefined by the authors as having two parts:(a) ameliorating an aging phase that can now be seen as merely transitory; and (b) achieving an earlier and healthier post-aging phase. Third, the authors propose one possibility by which both of these goals might be achieved. The outcome of fifteen years of research by the authors, this book brings together new applications of evolutionary theory, new models for demography, and massive experimentation. As hard as it is to deal scientifically with the paradoxes and complexities of aging that stops, this key finding unlocks the box containing one of the most profound mysteries of biology.Less
This book addresses the most paradoxical finding of recent aging research: the cessation of demographic aging. The authors show that aging stops at the level of the individual organism, and explain why evolution allows this. The implications of this counter-intuitive conclusion are profound. Aging research now needs to accept three uncomfortable truths. First, aging is not a cumulative physiological process. Second, the fundamental theory that is required to explain, manipulate, and probe the phenomena of aging comes from evolutionary biology. Third, strong-inference experimental strategies for aging must be founded in evolutionary research, not cell or molecular biology. But there are also significant consequences of this work for human aging. First, biomedical strategies that are founded on the traditional cell-molecular theories of aging are bound to fail, because their fundamental premises are incorrect. Second, the ultimate technological problem of controlling human aging is redefined by the authors as having two parts:(a) ameliorating an aging phase that can now be seen as merely transitory; and (b) achieving an earlier and healthier post-aging phase. Third, the authors propose one possibility by which both of these goals might be achieved. The outcome of fifteen years of research by the authors, this book brings together new applications of evolutionary theory, new models for demography, and massive experimentation. As hard as it is to deal scientifically with the paradoxes and complexities of aging that stops, this key finding unlocks the box containing one of the most profound mysteries of biology.
Neil Gilbert
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780195140743
- eISBN:
- 9780199834921
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195140745.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
The four main factors influencing the change from a welfare to an enabling state are discussed. Two of these influences are large‐scale structural changes involving demographic trends and ...
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The four main factors influencing the change from a welfare to an enabling state are discussed. Two of these influences are large‐scale structural changes involving demographic trends and globalization of the economy that generate the kind of impersonal forces that drive the development of the welfare state according to the convergence theory. The other two influences stem from changing ideas and normative views on the consequences of social policies and the appropriate role of the state; these changes animate socio‐political processes that give rise to divergent types of welfare states according to the theory of distinct regimes. The rest of the chapter discusses the changes that accompany the shift from a welfare to an enabling state, and the emergence of new social accounting to accompany the emergence of the alternative framework for social protection.Less
The four main factors influencing the change from a welfare to an enabling state are discussed. Two of these influences are large‐scale structural changes involving demographic trends and globalization of the economy that generate the kind of impersonal forces that drive the development of the welfare state according to the convergence theory. The other two influences stem from changing ideas and normative views on the consequences of social policies and the appropriate role of the state; these changes animate socio‐political processes that give rise to divergent types of welfare states according to the theory of distinct regimes. The rest of the chapter discusses the changes that accompany the shift from a welfare to an enabling state, and the emergence of new social accounting to accompany the emergence of the alternative framework for social protection.
Richard Topf
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198294733
- eISBN:
- 9780191599699
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198294735.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Examines trends in electoral turnout across Western Europe during the post‐war period. It first tests the hypothesis that a strengthening of individualist values is taking place at the expense of ...
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Examines trends in electoral turnout across Western Europe during the post‐war period. It first tests the hypothesis that a strengthening of individualist values is taking place at the expense of collectivist values, and that this predicts a general trend towards lower levels of turnout. It then proceeds to examine the relationship between changes in turnout levels and demographic changes. Its main findings raise serious doubts about the declining turnout hypothesis, concluding that such changes in turnout levels, as there have been, can be primarily accounted for by demographic changes.Less
Examines trends in electoral turnout across Western Europe during the post‐war period. It first tests the hypothesis that a strengthening of individualist values is taking place at the expense of collectivist values, and that this predicts a general trend towards lower levels of turnout. It then proceeds to examine the relationship between changes in turnout levels and demographic changes. Its main findings raise serious doubts about the declining turnout hypothesis, concluding that such changes in turnout levels, as there have been, can be primarily accounted for by demographic changes.
Gøsta Esping‐Andersen
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198742005
- eISBN:
- 9780191599163
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198742002.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Starts by discussing the perennial welfare state crisis, making the point that the contemporary crisis differs notably from its forebears. Rigidity is an endogenous symptom of the crisis, and the ...
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Starts by discussing the perennial welfare state crisis, making the point that the contemporary crisis differs notably from its forebears. Rigidity is an endogenous symptom of the crisis, and the various symptoms include demographic ageing, and the growing risks of poverty and social exclusion (which spring from the malfunctioning of the labour market and the family). The aim of the book is to come to terms with the new political economy—the post‐industrial economy—that is emerging. To do this it pursues a set of interlinked arguments: the so‐called welfare state crisis, in which debate has been too focused on the state, when it should be on the interaction between the component parts of contemporary welfare regimes such as labour markets, the family, and the welfare state itself; the fact that the real crisis of contemporary welfare regimes lies in the disjuncture between the existing institutional construction and exogenous change; and the fact that the emerging risks of post‐industrial society come primarily from the revolution that is unfolding in both labour markets and households. Four phenomena form the unifying theme of the book: equality, risks, jobs, and the new political economy. Risks and jobs are dealt with in separate chapters; the introduction discusses equality and the new political economy.Less
Starts by discussing the perennial welfare state crisis, making the point that the contemporary crisis differs notably from its forebears. Rigidity is an endogenous symptom of the crisis, and the various symptoms include demographic ageing, and the growing risks of poverty and social exclusion (which spring from the malfunctioning of the labour market and the family). The aim of the book is to come to terms with the new political economy—the post‐industrial economy—that is emerging. To do this it pursues a set of interlinked arguments: the so‐called welfare state crisis, in which debate has been too focused on the state, when it should be on the interaction between the component parts of contemporary welfare regimes such as labour markets, the family, and the welfare state itself; the fact that the real crisis of contemporary welfare regimes lies in the disjuncture between the existing institutional construction and exogenous change; and the fact that the emerging risks of post‐industrial society come primarily from the revolution that is unfolding in both labour markets and households. Four phenomena form the unifying theme of the book: equality, risks, jobs, and the new political economy. Risks and jobs are dealt with in separate chapters; the introduction discusses equality and the new political economy.
