Research in Social Anthropology

Author: Social Science Research Council (Great Britain). Committee on Social Anthropology,Social Science Research Council (U.S.)

Publisher: Heinemann Educational Publishers

ISBN: N.A

Category: Ethnology

Page: 110

View: 4332

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Behavioralism in Political Science

Author: Richard J. Gelles

Publisher: Routledge

ISBN: 1351314343

Category: Psychology

Page: 169

View: 2906

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Changes in the thinking of science are usually accompanied by lively intellectual conflicts between opposing or divergent points of view. The clash of ideas is a major ingredient in the stimulation of the life of the mind in human culture. Such arguments and counter-arguments, of proofs and disproofs, permit changes in the arts and sciences to take place. Political science is not exempt from these conflicts. Since the middle of the twentieth century, the study of politics has been rocked by disagreements over its scope, theories, and methods. These disagreements were somewhat less frequent than in most sciences, natural or behavioral, but they have been at times bitter and persuasive. The subject matter of political sciencepolitics and all that is involved in politicshas a halo effect. The stakes of politics make people fight and sometimes die for what they claim as their due. Political scientists seem to confuse academic with political stakes, behaving as if the victories and defeats on the battleground of the intellect resemble those on the battleground of political life. Three issues seem critical to political science at the time this volume first appeared in the 1960s: First, disagreement over the nature of the knowledge of political thingsis a science of politics possible, or is the study of politics a matter of philosophy? Second, controversy over the place of values in the study of politicsa controversy that makes for a great deal of confusion. Third, disagreements over the basic units of analysis in the study of politicsshould the political scientist study individual and collective behavior, or limit the work to the study of institutions and large-scale processes? This collection brings together the most persuasive writings on these topics in the mid-1960s.
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Bringing the State Back In

Author: Social Science Research Council (U.S.). Committee on States and Social Structures,Joint Committee on Latin American Studies,Joint Committee on Western Europe

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

ISBN: 9780521313131

Category: Political Science

Page: 390

View: 8636

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Until recently, dominant theoretical paradigms in the comparative social sciences did not highlight states as organizational structures or as potentially autonomous actors. Indeed, the term 'state' was rarely used. Current work, however, increasingly views the state as an agent which, although influenced by the society that surrounds it, also shapes social and political processes. The contributors to this volume, which includes some of the best recent interdisciplinary scholarship on states in relation to social structures, make use of theoretically engaged comparative and historical investigations to provide improved conceptualizations of states and how they operate. Each of the book's major parts presents a related set of analytical issues about modern states, which are explored in the context of a wide range of times and places, both contemporary and historical, and in developing and advanced-industrial nations. The first part examines state strategies in newly developing countries. The second part analyzes war making and state making in early modern Europe, and discusses states in relation to the post-World War II international economy. The third part pursues new insights into how states influence political cleavages and collective action. In the final chapter, the editors bring together the questions raised by the contributors and suggest tentative conclusions that emerge from an overview of all the articles. As a programmatic work that proposes new directions for the analysis of modern states, the volume will appeal to a wide range of teachers and students of political science, political economy, sociology, history, and anthropology.
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Usable Knowledge

Social Science and Social Problem Solving

Author: Sterling Professor of Economics and Political Science Charles E Lindblom,Charles Edward Lindblom,David K. Cohen

Publisher: Yale University Press

ISBN: 9780300023367

Category: Social Science

Page: 129

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An agenda of basic questions about the impact of social science and research on real life problems, and how social scientists are often crippled by a misunderstanding of their own trade.
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