Rein Taagepera
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199534661
- eISBN:
- 9780191715921
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199534661.003.0018
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, Political Economy
Society needs more from social sciences than they have delivered, and this book offers openings. To the society at large, quantitative social scientists presently seem no better at prediction than ...
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Society needs more from social sciences than they have delivered, and this book offers openings. To the society at large, quantitative social scientists presently seem no better at prediction than qualitative historians, philosophers, and journalists — they just look more boring. computers could be a boon to social sciences, but they have turned out a curse in disguise, by enabling people with insufficient understanding of scientific process to use canned computer programs and grind out reams of numbers parading as “results,” to be printed — and hardly ever used again. One may discard this book on the basis of errors of detail, but the problems it points out will still be there. Unless corrected, they will lead to a Ptolemaic dead end.Less
Society needs more from social sciences than they have delivered, and this book offers openings. To the society at large, quantitative social scientists presently seem no better at prediction than qualitative historians, philosophers, and journalists — they just look more boring. computers could be a boon to social sciences, but they have turned out a curse in disguise, by enabling people with insufficient understanding of scientific process to use canned computer programs and grind out reams of numbers parading as “results,” to be printed — and hardly ever used again. One may discard this book on the basis of errors of detail, but the problems it points out will still be there. Unless corrected, they will lead to a Ptolemaic dead end.
John Levi Martin
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199773312
- eISBN:
- 9780199897223
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199773312.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
The social sciences have increasingly placed all their bets on a notion of explanation that turns on linking abstractions through causal relations. This explanatory vocabulary is, if analysts deem it ...
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The social sciences have increasingly placed all their bets on a notion of explanation that turns on linking abstractions through causal relations. This explanatory vocabulary is, if analysts deem it necessary, set against that developed by actors, and we justify this by pointing to everyday people’s limited abilities to survive destructive interrogation of their motives. We are wronger than they; it is possible to produce a rigorous social science that systematizes and organizes actors’ experiences as opposed to negating them. Such an approach would partake of the formal characteristics of an aesthetics, and this book attempts to make a sustained plausibility argument for such a social aesthetics.Less
The social sciences have increasingly placed all their bets on a notion of explanation that turns on linking abstractions through causal relations. This explanatory vocabulary is, if analysts deem it necessary, set against that developed by actors, and we justify this by pointing to everyday people’s limited abilities to survive destructive interrogation of their motives. We are wronger than they; it is possible to produce a rigorous social science that systematizes and organizes actors’ experiences as opposed to negating them. Such an approach would partake of the formal characteristics of an aesthetics, and this book attempts to make a sustained plausibility argument for such a social aesthetics.
Frank Fischer
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199242641
- eISBN:
- 9780191599255
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019924264X.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This is the first of four chapters offering a postempiricist methodology for policy inquiry based on the logic of practical discourse, and examines the problems of policy research from an ...
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This is the first of four chapters offering a postempiricist methodology for policy inquiry based on the logic of practical discourse, and examines the problems of policy research from an epistemological perspective. Focusing on the empiricist and technocratic aspects of policy analysis, the discussion first offers a critique of the neopositivist premises that have shaped and guided the enterprise; then, drawing on the theories of social constructivism and practical discourse, it sets out the foundations of a value-critical postempiricist framework for policy inquiry, emphasizing the need to integrate empirical and normative inquiry. The analysis shows the way in which what is understood as ‘science’ is influenced by the socio-historical context in which in emerges, and that social meanings and value judgements are built into scientific practices otherwise described as ‘value neutral’. In particular, it shows that in a world of multiple realities there is no ‘objective’ reality in which a scientific social science can anchor itself, rather, social science –– like science generally Vis a social activity and its products are based more on consensus than proof in the traditional understanding of the term. Towards this end, postempiricism offers a craft-oriented discursive or deliberative approach to policy science, one that better explains what social scientists are already doing; in this view, the analyst functions as an interpretive mediator between the available analytical frameworks of social science and the competing local perspectives. The chapter closes with a discussion of the problem of relativism traditionally associated with intepretivist approaches.Less
This is the first of four chapters offering a postempiricist methodology for policy inquiry based on the logic of practical discourse, and examines the problems of policy research from an epistemological perspective. Focusing on the empiricist and technocratic aspects of policy analysis, the discussion first offers a critique of the neopositivist premises that have shaped and guided the enterprise; then, drawing on the theories of social constructivism and practical discourse, it sets out the foundations of a value-critical postempiricist framework for policy inquiry, emphasizing the need to integrate empirical and normative inquiry. The analysis shows the way in which what is understood as ‘science’ is influenced by the socio-historical context in which in emerges, and that social meanings and value judgements are built into scientific practices otherwise described as ‘value neutral’. In particular, it shows that in a world of multiple realities there is no ‘objective’ reality in which a scientific social science can anchor itself, rather, social science –– like science generally Vis a social activity and its products are based more on consensus than proof in the traditional understanding of the term. Towards this end, postempiricism offers a craft-oriented discursive or deliberative approach to policy science, one that better explains what social scientists are already doing; in this view, the analyst functions as an interpretive mediator between the available analytical frameworks of social science and the competing local perspectives. The chapter closes with a discussion of the problem of relativism traditionally associated with intepretivist approaches.
Rein Taagepera
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199534661
- eISBN:
- 9780191715921
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199534661.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, Political Economy
Society needs more from social sciences than they have delivered. One reason for falling short is that social science methods have depended excessively on regression and other statistical approaches, ...
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Society needs more from social sciences than they have delivered. One reason for falling short is that social science methods have depended excessively on regression and other statistical approaches, neglecting logical model building. Science is not only about the empirical “What is?” but also very much about the conceptual “How should it be on logical grounds?” Statistical approaches are essentially descriptive, while quantitatively formulated logical models are predictive in an explanatory way. This book contrasts the predominance of statistics in today's social sciences with predominance of quantitatively predictive logical models in physics. It shows how to construct predictive models and gives social science examples. Only secondary school mathematics is often needed, plus willingness to simplify reality outrageously. The book also shows how to use and report basic statistical analysis in more informative ways, including emphasis on symmetric regression.Less
Society needs more from social sciences than they have delivered. One reason for falling short is that social science methods have depended excessively on regression and other statistical approaches, neglecting logical model building. Science is not only about the empirical “What is?” but also very much about the conceptual “How should it be on logical grounds?” Statistical approaches are essentially descriptive, while quantitatively formulated logical models are predictive in an explanatory way. This book contrasts the predominance of statistics in today's social sciences with predominance of quantitatively predictive logical models in physics. It shows how to construct predictive models and gives social science examples. Only secondary school mathematics is often needed, plus willingness to simplify reality outrageously. The book also shows how to use and report basic statistical analysis in more informative ways, including emphasis on symmetric regression.
Carola M. Frege
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199208067
- eISBN:
- 9780191709159
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208067.003.0006
- Subject:
- Business and Management, HRM / IR
This chapter explores the broader context of scientific knowledge institutions and social science traditions in the three countries, which originate in the 19th century and were shaped by different ...
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This chapter explores the broader context of scientific knowledge institutions and social science traditions in the three countries, which originate in the 19th century and were shaped by different state policies on higher education and scientific research. These scientific traditions matter, in particular, when seeking explanations for cross-national methodological and epistemological differences in employment studies.Less
This chapter explores the broader context of scientific knowledge institutions and social science traditions in the three countries, which originate in the 19th century and were shaped by different state policies on higher education and scientific research. These scientific traditions matter, in particular, when seeking explanations for cross-national methodological and epistemological differences in employment studies.
Daniel Steel
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195331448
- eISBN:
- 9780199868063
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195331448.001.0001
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Philosophy of Science
The biological and social sciences often generalize causal conclusions from one context to others that may differ in some relevant respects, as is illustrated by inferences from animal models to ...
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The biological and social sciences often generalize causal conclusions from one context to others that may differ in some relevant respects, as is illustrated by inferences from animal models to humans or from a pilot study to a broader population. Inferences like these are known as extrapolations. How and when extrapolation can be legitimate is a fundamental question for the biological and social sciences that has not received the attention it deserves. This book argues that previous accounts of extrapolation are inadequate and proposes a better approach that is able to answer methodological critiques of extrapolation from animal models to humans.Less
The biological and social sciences often generalize causal conclusions from one context to others that may differ in some relevant respects, as is illustrated by inferences from animal models to humans or from a pilot study to a broader population. Inferences like these are known as extrapolations. How and when extrapolation can be legitimate is a fundamental question for the biological and social sciences that has not received the attention it deserves. This book argues that previous accounts of extrapolation are inadequate and proposes a better approach that is able to answer methodological critiques of extrapolation from animal models to humans.
Nikolas Rose and Joelle M. Abi-Rached
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691149608
- eISBN:
- 9781400846337
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691149608.003.0009
- Subject:
- Neuroscience, Development
This concluding chapter suggests that for the human sciences, there is nothing to fear in the rise to prominence of neurobiological attempt to understand and account for human behavior. It is ...
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This concluding chapter suggests that for the human sciences, there is nothing to fear in the rise to prominence of neurobiological attempt to understand and account for human behavior. It is important to point out the many weaknesses in the experimental setups and procedures, for example, in the uses of animal models and in the interpretations of brain imaging data generated in the highly artificial social situations of the laboratory. In the necessity for this criticism, there is also opportunity. There are many opportunities for a more positive role for the social and human sciences that engages directly with these truth claims, that seizes on the new openness provided by conceptions of the neuromolecular, plastic, and social brain to find some rapprochement.Less
This concluding chapter suggests that for the human sciences, there is nothing to fear in the rise to prominence of neurobiological attempt to understand and account for human behavior. It is important to point out the many weaknesses in the experimental setups and procedures, for example, in the uses of animal models and in the interpretations of brain imaging data generated in the highly artificial social situations of the laboratory. In the necessity for this criticism, there is also opportunity. There are many opportunities for a more positive role for the social and human sciences that engages directly with these truth claims, that seizes on the new openness provided by conceptions of the neuromolecular, plastic, and social brain to find some rapprochement.
Rein Taagepera
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199534661
- eISBN:
- 9780191715921
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199534661.003.0017
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, Political Economy
Some aspects of social sciences can be made more predictive and, in this sense, more like natural sciences. Electoral studies have many variables with a natural zero (ratio variables), which makes ...
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Some aspects of social sciences can be made more predictive and, in this sense, more like natural sciences. Electoral studies have many variables with a natural zero (ratio variables), which makes them amenable to certain types of logical model building and sets them apart from other social sciences. Still, plenty of ratio variables occur in other social sciences too, and here electoral studies may offer valuable methodological tips. From temperature to political involvement, looser scales sometimes have a way to turn into ratio scales, if we dare to play with them.Less
Some aspects of social sciences can be made more predictive and, in this sense, more like natural sciences. Electoral studies have many variables with a natural zero (ratio variables), which makes them amenable to certain types of logical model building and sets them apart from other social sciences. Still, plenty of ratio variables occur in other social sciences too, and here electoral studies may offer valuable methodological tips. From temperature to political involvement, looser scales sometimes have a way to turn into ratio scales, if we dare to play with them.
Neil Fligstein and Doug McAdam
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199859948
- eISBN:
- 9780199951178
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199859948.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
Finding ways to understand the nature of social change and social order—from political movements to market meltdowns—is one of the enduring problems of social science. This book draws together ...
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Finding ways to understand the nature of social change and social order—from political movements to market meltdowns—is one of the enduring problems of social science. This book draws together far-ranging insights from social movement theory, organizational theory, and economic and political sociology to construct a general theory of social organization and strategic action. This book proposes that social change and social order can be understood through what the book calls strategic action fields. It posits that these fields are the general building blocks of political and economic life, civil society, and the state, and the fundamental form of order in our world today. Similar to Russian dolls, they are nested and connected in a broader environment of almost countless proximate and overlapping fields. Fields are mutually dependent; change in one often triggers change in another. At the core of the theory is an account of how social actors fashion and maintain order in a given field. This sociological theory of action, what they call “social skill,” helps explain what individuals do in strategic action fields to gain cooperation or engage in competition. To demonstrate the breadth of the theory, the book makes its abstract principles concrete through extended case studies of the Civil Rights Movement and the rise and fall of the market for mortgages in the U.S. since the 1960s. The book also provides a “how-to” guide to help others implement the approach and discusses methodological issues.Less
Finding ways to understand the nature of social change and social order—from political movements to market meltdowns—is one of the enduring problems of social science. This book draws together far-ranging insights from social movement theory, organizational theory, and economic and political sociology to construct a general theory of social organization and strategic action. This book proposes that social change and social order can be understood through what the book calls strategic action fields. It posits that these fields are the general building blocks of political and economic life, civil society, and the state, and the fundamental form of order in our world today. Similar to Russian dolls, they are nested and connected in a broader environment of almost countless proximate and overlapping fields. Fields are mutually dependent; change in one often triggers change in another. At the core of the theory is an account of how social actors fashion and maintain order in a given field. This sociological theory of action, what they call “social skill,” helps explain what individuals do in strategic action fields to gain cooperation or engage in competition. To demonstrate the breadth of the theory, the book makes its abstract principles concrete through extended case studies of the Civil Rights Movement and the rise and fall of the market for mortgages in the U.S. since the 1960s. The book also provides a “how-to” guide to help others implement the approach and discusses methodological issues.
John Levi Martin
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199773312
- eISBN:
- 9780199897223
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199773312.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
Chapter 1 introduces the problem by beginning with the difference between “first person” and “third person” explanations. The former refer to the world that we inhabit as ...
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Chapter 1 introduces the problem by beginning with the difference between “first person” and “third person” explanations. The former refer to the world that we inhabit as individual actors; the latter are an explanatory construct that we generally only employ when discussing others. In the social sciences, we not only privilege the latter, but we tend to think that explanations that rest with the former are somehow inadequate or second rate, if not somehow threatening the discipline itself. The great theory, on the other hand, not only does not rely on first person accounts, it transcends them, it ignores them, it may even obliterate them. That is because the great theory is one that is general, and the general theory is one that involves the linking of concepts that are relatively abstract. When two substantively disparate phenomena are explained jointly as instances of one and the same abstraction, we are satisfied that we have done a masterful job of explanation. This is especially true when we can link two or more abstractions with a relationship of causality between them.Less
Chapter 1 introduces the problem by beginning with the difference between “first person” and “third person” explanations. The former refer to the world that we inhabit as individual actors; the latter are an explanatory construct that we generally only employ when discussing others. In the social sciences, we not only privilege the latter, but we tend to think that explanations that rest with the former are somehow inadequate or second rate, if not somehow threatening the discipline itself. The great theory, on the other hand, not only does not rely on first person accounts, it transcends them, it ignores them, it may even obliterate them. That is because the great theory is one that is general, and the general theory is one that involves the linking of concepts that are relatively abstract. When two substantively disparate phenomena are explained jointly as instances of one and the same abstraction, we are satisfied that we have done a masterful job of explanation. This is especially true when we can link two or more abstractions with a relationship of causality between them.
Mike Savage
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199587650
- eISBN:
- 9780191740626
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199587650.003.0006
- Subject:
- Sociology, Comparative and Historical Sociology
This chapter traces the institutional rise of sociology within the academic social sciences in Great Britain during the 1960s. It shows that sociology was directly implicated in claims to modernity ...
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This chapter traces the institutional rise of sociology within the academic social sciences in Great Britain during the 1960s. It shows that sociology was directly implicated in claims to modernity and novelty during this period, and that it can be considered as a social movement concerned to challenge traditional forms of knowing in the name of a new, rational mode of expertise which embraced science. The chapter considers the launch of New Society in the early 1960s and suggests that, during this period, the social scientists were not innocent observers of change, but imported it as an essential feature of their self-identity.Less
This chapter traces the institutional rise of sociology within the academic social sciences in Great Britain during the 1960s. It shows that sociology was directly implicated in claims to modernity and novelty during this period, and that it can be considered as a social movement concerned to challenge traditional forms of knowing in the name of a new, rational mode of expertise which embraced science. The chapter considers the launch of New Society in the early 1960s and suggests that, during this period, the social scientists were not innocent observers of change, but imported it as an essential feature of their self-identity.
Rein Taagepera
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199534661
- eISBN:
- 9780191715921
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199534661.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics, Political Economy
When a number of social scientists were given synthetic data that fitted the universal law of gravitation, they all missed the underlying pattern. Yet they found results satisfactory and complete by ...
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When a number of social scientists were given synthetic data that fitted the universal law of gravitation, they all missed the underlying pattern. Yet they found results satisfactory and complete by the current social science norms: high R 2, degree of significance of input factors, and the direction of their impact. The design of this experiment can be criticized, but it still should give us pause. If some social phenomena existed that were of the form most prevalent in physics, then the quantitative methods currently dominant in social sciences might not suffice to discover them.Less
When a number of social scientists were given synthetic data that fitted the universal law of gravitation, they all missed the underlying pattern. Yet they found results satisfactory and complete by the current social science norms: high R 2, degree of significance of input factors, and the direction of their impact. The design of this experiment can be criticized, but it still should give us pause. If some social phenomena existed that were of the form most prevalent in physics, then the quantitative methods currently dominant in social sciences might not suffice to discover them.
Ted McCormick
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- September 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199547890
- eISBN:
- 9780191720529
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199547890.003.0010
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Early Modern History, Economic History
The conclusion draws together several of the main themes of the book, arguing that political arithmetic can only be understood properly from the manuscripts he circulated in his lifetime, and in the ...
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The conclusion draws together several of the main themes of the book, arguing that political arithmetic can only be understood properly from the manuscripts he circulated in his lifetime, and in the context of his lifelong engagement with natural philosophy and his Baconian interpretation of the methods and purposes of science. Petty's project to transform government through the systematic manipulation of populations in the interests of the state undermines any retrospective distinction between his contribution to social science and his interest in social engineering; the concept of ‘biopolitics', though equally anachronistic, is more appropriate. By the same token, however, the massive expansion (in real terms) of demographic manipulation after Petty's death suggests that political arithmetic's ambitions were not abandoned but merely concealed.Less
The conclusion draws together several of the main themes of the book, arguing that political arithmetic can only be understood properly from the manuscripts he circulated in his lifetime, and in the context of his lifelong engagement with natural philosophy and his Baconian interpretation of the methods and purposes of science. Petty's project to transform government through the systematic manipulation of populations in the interests of the state undermines any retrospective distinction between his contribution to social science and his interest in social engineering; the concept of ‘biopolitics', though equally anachronistic, is more appropriate. By the same token, however, the massive expansion (in real terms) of demographic manipulation after Petty's death suggests that political arithmetic's ambitions were not abandoned but merely concealed.
Frank Fischer
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199242641
- eISBN:
- 9780191599255
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019924264X.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This introductory chapter makes the point that public policy studies has been one of the fastest growing specializations in the social sciences, and has largely been an American phenomenon. It looks ...
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This introductory chapter makes the point that public policy studies has been one of the fastest growing specializations in the social sciences, and has largely been an American phenomenon. It looks at what the field includes, and at the previously dominant practice of technocratic policy analysis. The problems that have emerged with the technocratic practice of policy-analytic research are then examined by looking at the policy orientation in its broader political context. The emphasis here is on the American story, which best illustrates the limitations of the practice as it has emerged. The last section of the chapter looks at the postempiricist alternative. Policy argumentation and discourse (participatory policy analysis).Less
This introductory chapter makes the point that public policy studies has been one of the fastest growing specializations in the social sciences, and has largely been an American phenomenon. It looks at what the field includes, and at the previously dominant practice of technocratic policy analysis. The problems that have emerged with the technocratic practice of policy-analytic research are then examined by looking at the policy orientation in its broader political context. The emphasis here is on the American story, which best illustrates the limitations of the practice as it has emerged. The last section of the chapter looks at the postempiricist alternative. Policy argumentation and discourse (participatory policy analysis).
Roland Kley
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198279167
- eISBN:
- 9780191684289
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198279167.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This book examines the work of one of the most controversial figures in recent social and political thought. Revered by some as the most important 20th century theorist of the free society, Friedrich ...
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This book examines the work of one of the most controversial figures in recent social and political thought. Revered by some as the most important 20th century theorist of the free society, Friedrich A. Hayek has been reviled by others as a mere reactionary. The book offers a clear exposition and balanced assessment that judges Hayek's theory on its own merits. This book argues that the key to understanding Hayek lies in an appreciation of the proper link between descriptive social science and normative political theory. It probes the idea of a spontaneous order and other notions central to Hayek's thought and concludes that they are unable to provide the ‘scientific’ foundation Hayek seeks for his liberalism. By drawing out the distinctive character of Hayek's thought, the book presents a picture of this important social and political theorist.Less
This book examines the work of one of the most controversial figures in recent social and political thought. Revered by some as the most important 20th century theorist of the free society, Friedrich A. Hayek has been reviled by others as a mere reactionary. The book offers a clear exposition and balanced assessment that judges Hayek's theory on its own merits. This book argues that the key to understanding Hayek lies in an appreciation of the proper link between descriptive social science and normative political theory. It probes the idea of a spontaneous order and other notions central to Hayek's thought and concludes that they are unable to provide the ‘scientific’ foundation Hayek seeks for his liberalism. By drawing out the distinctive character of Hayek's thought, the book presents a picture of this important social and political theorist.
Ziad Munson
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195305418
- eISBN:
- 9780199785094
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305418.003.0007
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This chapter argues that the common social science focus on identifying a singular authentic meaning of social phenomena leads us to misunderstand the role of religion in contemporary life. Using ...
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This chapter argues that the common social science focus on identifying a singular authentic meaning of social phenomena leads us to misunderstand the role of religion in contemporary life. Using data drawn from a national study of the American pro-life movement, it argues that the religious sphere frequently and easily overlaps with everyday domains such as politics and the family. In this overlap, events take on a polysemous character; they contain within them multiple, irreducible meanings that become available to both participants and outside observers. Ultimately, such polysemy is more than just an intellectual curiosity or problem of categorization; it is a key site of human agency in creating new possibilities for meaning and action.Less
This chapter argues that the common social science focus on identifying a singular authentic meaning of social phenomena leads us to misunderstand the role of religion in contemporary life. Using data drawn from a national study of the American pro-life movement, it argues that the religious sphere frequently and easily overlaps with everyday domains such as politics and the family. In this overlap, events take on a polysemous character; they contain within them multiple, irreducible meanings that become available to both participants and outside observers. Ultimately, such polysemy is more than just an intellectual curiosity or problem of categorization; it is a key site of human agency in creating new possibilities for meaning and action.
William H. Starbuck
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199288533
- eISBN:
- 9780191700521
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199288533.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies, Knowledge Management
This book reflects on a number of challenges associated with management and social science research — the search for a ‘behavioral science’, the limits of rationality, the unreliability of many ...
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This book reflects on a number of challenges associated with management and social science research — the search for a ‘behavioral science’, the limits of rationality, the unreliability of many research findings, the social shaping of research agendas, cultures, and judgements. The book is chronologically structured and includes discussions of research projects and various methodological debates. This is a feisty argument based on all aspects of research — carrying out research programmes, evaluating research, tirelessly questioning the assumptions and claims of social science research, and never avoiding the awkward theoretical or practical challenges that face organizational researchers.Less
This book reflects on a number of challenges associated with management and social science research — the search for a ‘behavioral science’, the limits of rationality, the unreliability of many research findings, the social shaping of research agendas, cultures, and judgements. The book is chronologically structured and includes discussions of research projects and various methodological debates. This is a feisty argument based on all aspects of research — carrying out research programmes, evaluating research, tirelessly questioning the assumptions and claims of social science research, and never avoiding the awkward theoretical or practical challenges that face organizational researchers.
Erik Grimmer-Solem
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199260416
- eISBN:
- 9780191717369
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199260416.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History, Economic History
Social science and social reform flourished in Imperial Germany, and the historical economist Gustav Schmoller made fundamental contributions to both. Despite this, historians have neglected him. ...
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Social science and social reform flourished in Imperial Germany, and the historical economist Gustav Schmoller made fundamental contributions to both. Despite this, historians have neglected him. Questioning the term ‘German Historical School’ associated with Schmoller, this book reveals the European context of Schmoller's thought and the influence of empiricism, statistics, and advances in the natural sciences on his choice of methods. By exploring the social context in detail, it demonstrates how the nexus of young scholars around Schmoller fundamentally transformed German economics into a tool of social reform which was directly relevant to the many ‘social questions’ raised by rapid industrialization and urbanization in Germany in the 1860s. These reform efforts were novel in that they put forth the idea that inequality and poverty were ills emerging from the division of labour which society had an obligation to remedy. As a result, an awareness of the social implications of individual economic action emerged which proved remarkably useful for the development of social policy. Although the dissemination of this reform message influenced public opinion and put social reform on the political agenda, this book shows that Schmoller and his colleagues remained a beleaguered group, attacked from all political directions. It brings the fissures within German liberalism into sharp relief, revealing the persistence of a potent ideal of classlessness that fundamentally shaped German social policy. The author makes a unique and much-needed contribution to our understanding of the thought and milieu of Gustav Schmoller, the origins of social reform, and the development of the social sciences in Germany. The resulting volume addresses central questions in the historiography of the German Empire.Less
Social science and social reform flourished in Imperial Germany, and the historical economist Gustav Schmoller made fundamental contributions to both. Despite this, historians have neglected him. Questioning the term ‘German Historical School’ associated with Schmoller, this book reveals the European context of Schmoller's thought and the influence of empiricism, statistics, and advances in the natural sciences on his choice of methods. By exploring the social context in detail, it demonstrates how the nexus of young scholars around Schmoller fundamentally transformed German economics into a tool of social reform which was directly relevant to the many ‘social questions’ raised by rapid industrialization and urbanization in Germany in the 1860s. These reform efforts were novel in that they put forth the idea that inequality and poverty were ills emerging from the division of labour which society had an obligation to remedy. As a result, an awareness of the social implications of individual economic action emerged which proved remarkably useful for the development of social policy. Although the dissemination of this reform message influenced public opinion and put social reform on the political agenda, this book shows that Schmoller and his colleagues remained a beleaguered group, attacked from all political directions. It brings the fissures within German liberalism into sharp relief, revealing the persistence of a potent ideal of classlessness that fundamentally shaped German social policy. The author makes a unique and much-needed contribution to our understanding of the thought and milieu of Gustav Schmoller, the origins of social reform, and the development of the social sciences in Germany. The resulting volume addresses central questions in the historiography of the German Empire.
Mike Savage
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199587650
- eISBN:
- 9780191740626
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199587650.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Comparative and Historical Sociology
This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this book, which is about socio-cultural change in Britain between 1940 and 1970. It examines how social science sampling methods associated with ...
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This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this book, which is about socio-cultural change in Britain between 1940 and 1970. It examines how social science sampling methods associated with letter writing, questionnaires, interviews, and surveys mined down to reveal mundane, ordinary life, in miniature, and how such research was implicated in a broader process of building a modern, rational, post-imperial nation. The chapter shows how the deployment of new research techniques involved the remaking of politics and culture, notably as the arts and the humanities were increasingly demarcated away from the everyday.Less
This introductory chapter discusses the theme of this book, which is about socio-cultural change in Britain between 1940 and 1970. It examines how social science sampling methods associated with letter writing, questionnaires, interviews, and surveys mined down to reveal mundane, ordinary life, in miniature, and how such research was implicated in a broader process of building a modern, rational, post-imperial nation. The chapter shows how the deployment of new research techniques involved the remaking of politics and culture, notably as the arts and the humanities were increasingly demarcated away from the everyday.
Christopher S. Chapman, David J. Cooper, and Peter B. Miller
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199546350
- eISBN:
- 9780191720048
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199546350.003.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Organization Studies, Finance, Accounting, and Banking
This chapter explores various trajectories of theoretical development that have helped to shape contemporary understandings of the context and role of accounting as social science. The chapter ...
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This chapter explores various trajectories of theoretical development that have helped to shape contemporary understandings of the context and role of accounting as social science. The chapter provides a set of sensitivities with which to engage the diverse analytical and empirical problems that are dealt with in the contributions that follow. Given the breadth and scope of the contributions to this collection, and still more the wider field, this should be understood as an attempt to sketch the contours of some intriguing points of cohesion rather than as an exhaustive mapping of the field overall.Less
This chapter explores various trajectories of theoretical development that have helped to shape contemporary understandings of the context and role of accounting as social science. The chapter provides a set of sensitivities with which to engage the diverse analytical and empirical problems that are dealt with in the contributions that follow. Given the breadth and scope of the contributions to this collection, and still more the wider field, this should be understood as an attempt to sketch the contours of some intriguing points of cohesion rather than as an exhaustive mapping of the field overall.
