Search Results

Data Analysis

Elizabeth Ann Danto

in Historical Research

This chapter provides illustrated guidelines for analyzing historical data in social work and social welfare. It argues that the analysis of historical data is really an interpretation, or a ... More

This chapter provides illustrated guidelines for analyzing historical data in social work and social welfare. It argues that the analysis of historical data is really an interpretation, or a reinterpretation, of obtainable materials. In looking at history, researchers do not develop new data, but rather rearrange existing data according to a new hypothesis; the study’s hypothesis is the core of the analysis.Less

Testing the Argument

Patricia L. Sullivan

in Who Wins?: Predicting Strategic Success and Failure in Armed Conflict

This chapter explains how historical data is employed here to evaluate how well the theory previously developed—referred to as the war aims model—stacks up against alternative explanations of violent ... More

This chapter explains how historical data is employed here to evaluate how well the theory previously developed—referred to as the war aims model—stacks up against alternative explanations of violent conflict outcomes. It begins by asking what we would expect to observe if the model accurately represents the primary determinants of war outcomes. It derives specific, falsifiable hypotheses from this theory and the competing theories described in Chapter 1. It then discusses the data brought to bear on the problem and how the concepts are operationalized and measured in the hypotheses.Less

Neoliberal Policies and Supporting Actors

Aldo Madariaga

in Neoliberal Resilience: Lessons in Democracy and Development from Latin America and Eastern Europe

This chapter undertakes an empirical analysis based on quantitative and qualitative data to discover the patterns of support and opposition to neoliberalism in two concrete policy domains: exchange ... More

This chapter undertakes an empirical analysis based on quantitative and qualitative data to discover the patterns of support and opposition to neoliberalism in two concrete policy domains: exchange rate and industrial policies. It provides an understanding of neoliberalism as a political project based on the gradual and purposeful erosion of democracy. It also connects economic and political actors with their policy preferences and political behavior. The chapter describes patterns of support and opposition to concrete policies that reveal whether certain countries maintained their neoliberal trajectories or switched to alternatives as they contested or even dismantled neoliberalism. It gives a regression analysis based on historical data from different countries and investigates which economic actors demanded and supported the implementation and continuity of neoliberal policies.Less

The Study of Chinese History: Retrospect and Prospect

Ying-shih Yü

Josephine Chiu-Duke and Michael S. Duke (eds)

in Chinese History and Culture: Seventeenth Century Through Twentieth Century

This essay delineates the main trends of modern Chinese historiography through a critical review of the two major historical schools—“the school of historical data,” and “the school of historical ... More

This essay delineates the main trends of modern Chinese historiography through a critical review of the two major historical schools—“the school of historical data,” and “the school of historical interpretation.” The “Data school” is seen to be deliberately indifferent to its own time and the “Interpretation school” is shown to make a too close connection between its interpretations and the times in which they are made. It suggests going beyond the positivistic confines of these two schools, affirms that Chinese culture has its own unique pattern, and can be more fully understood through comparative studies.Less

Historical Research: Oneida Online

William Sims Bainbridge

in Faithful Measures: New Methods in the Measurement of Religion

This chapter uses a well-known religious group of the nineteenth century to illustrate many of the ways historical data can be assembled, and many of the problems faced in using online sources to ... More

This chapter uses a well-known religious group of the nineteenth century to illustrate many of the ways historical data can be assembled, and many of the problems faced in using online sources to develop a coherent and theory-relevant picture of the past. Originally emerging in New England, the Oneida community was established in upstate New York in 1848, under the leadership of John Humphrey Noyes, a religious leader who believed he had achieved perfection and knew how to lead others to that goal. The example of Oneida allows us to explore with efficiency and clarity the possibilities for studying historical religious phenomena via online resources. Of necessity, this chapter often emphasizes details of research methodology, to alert the reader to problems and their possible solutions, but it also will consider how the data relate to larger theoretical issues.Less

Inside Creekridge Park

Sarah Mayorga-Gallo

in Behind the White Picket Fence: Power and Privilege in a Multiethnic Neighborhood

This chapter discusses relevant research on the integration, segregation, and multiethnic settings of Durham as a new Latino destination city. It presents interviews with White residents. It also ... More

This chapter discusses relevant research on the integration, segregation, and multiethnic settings of Durham as a new Latino destination city. It presents interviews with White residents. It also provides background information and demographic and historical data about Creekridge Park. It also analyses how a statistically integrated community may still exhibit the norms of high levels of social distance between white, black, and Latino residents. The chapter concludes by summarizing Durham's economic development and its racial history.Less

Introduction

Gabrielle Fack and Camille Landais

in Charitable Giving and Tax Policy: A Historical and Comparative Perspective

This chapter provides an overview of the conference volume and presents unique evidence on the historical and comparative evolution of charitable giving and tax policies. It summarizes the main ... More

This chapter provides an overview of the conference volume and presents unique evidence on the historical and comparative evolution of charitable giving and tax policies. It summarizes the main aspects of the comparative history of tax incentives, focusing on countries for which original historical panels of tax data have been collected: US, Canada, France and Denmark. It then discuss the advantages of using tax data to analyze charitable giving and presents some original results on the comparison of the long run evolution of charitable contributions across these countries. Finally, it presents the main policy questions addressed in the volume, from the positive analysis of the behavioural responses to charitable incentives to the normative analysis of the optimal tax treatment of gifts.Less

The Early History of Chinese Alchemy and the Way of the Great Clarity

in Great Clarity: Daoism and Alchemy in Early Medieval China

This chapter reviews available evidence on the earliest history of alchemy in China. It considers the ambiguity of historical data on Zou Yan (ca. 350–270 bce), who is traditionally considered to be ... More

This chapter reviews available evidence on the earliest history of alchemy in China. It considers the ambiguity of historical data on Zou Yan (ca. 350–270 bce), who is traditionally considered to be the founder of the School of Yin and Yang (yinyang jia), and the edict issued in 144 bce by Han Jingdi (r. 156–141) forbidding the counterfeiting of gold. Li Shaojun and the earliest alchemical texts are also discussed. The evidence suggests that alchemy was practiced in the imperial court from the mid-second century bce and, in that milieu, was placed under the Yellow Emperor's patronage. Its practice involved ceremonies to the stove performed in order to summon supernatural beings, and the elixirs were either ingested or used to cast tools for eating and drinking. The first known text that described the compounding of elixirs is the now-lost Arts from the Garden of Secrets of the Great Treasure (Hongbao yuanbi shu), which dated from the mid-second century bce and was used for waidan practices at court about one hundred years later.Less

Introduction: War, Violence, Sexuality

Regina Mühlhäuser

in Sex and the Nazi Soldier: Violent, Commercial and Consensual Encounters during the War in the Soviet Union, 1941-45

This chapter sets out the parameters of the book. It begins with the introduction of the perpetrators. Who were these men and how can we understand their actions? To grasp what they did to whom, the ... More

This chapter sets out the parameters of the book. It begins with the introduction of the perpetrators. Who were these men and how can we understand their actions? To grasp what they did to whom, the chapter argues for examining not only sexual violence in the narrow sense, but more generally sexual perceptions, sensations, and desires in times of extreme violence. In order to cover the whole spectrum of sexual contacts between two or more persons, the term "sexual encounters" is introduced, which covers the different moments of encounter - between men and women, between power and powerlessness, between different cultures and positions. The chapter introduces recent research on gender, sexuality, violence and harm in contemporary conflicts and argues that the historical sources must be re-read and re-evaluated in light of this new knowledge.Less

The Discovery of Oriental Antiquity

Daniel Stolzenberg

in Egyptian Oedipus: Athanasius Kircher and the Secrets of Antiquity

This chapter examines Kircher's study of Near Eastern texts, focusing on two cases. In his study of Arabic literature about Egypt and Hermes Trismegistus, Kircher carried out significant, original ... More

This chapter examines Kircher's study of Near Eastern texts, focusing on two cases. In his study of Arabic literature about Egypt and Hermes Trismegistus, Kircher carried out significant, original investigations of Oriental sources. In his treatise on the Kabbalah, on the other hand, he exaggerated his firsthand study of Jewish authors and concealed his reliance on Latin secondary sources. Since Egyptian Oedipus was, to a large extent, cobbled together from the texts of unacknowledged early modern authors, a careful examination of its sources is needed to appreciate the mixture of original and derivative learning that Kircher set indiscriminately before his reader. In his scholarship, the antiquarian imperative to expand the historical data pool trumped the skeptical imperative of critical philology.Less

Destinies Converged

Kathleen Deagan and José María Cruxent

in Columbus's Outpost among the Tainos: Spain and America at La Isabela, 1493-1498

This chapter discusses the beginnings of European colonialism in America, which took place at La Isabela. Any thoughtful analysis of colonial development must take into account the contours of the ... More

This chapter discusses the beginnings of European colonialism in America, which took place at La Isabela. Any thoughtful analysis of colonial development must take into account the contours of the original Columbian venture, its failure, and the recasting of Spain's economic and social policies in the Americas in response to that failure. It has been maintained throughout this book that the trajectory of this first colony was profoundly shaped by the local experiences and actions of the non-elite residents of the colony, both Europeans and American Indians. It has also adhered to the principle that the archaeological record is often the only direct source of information about cultural practice and daily life of nonliterate participants in the colonial arena. This final chapter compares and interprets the archaeological and historical data from some Spanish sites of the very early colonial period to more precisely articulate La Isabela's role in colonial development.Less