Social Science

This edited collection focuses on the virtue theory and the ethics of social science research.

The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Social Science is an outstanding guide to the major themes, movements, debates, and topics in the philosophy of social science. It includes thirty-seven newly written chapters, by many of the leading scholars in the field, as well as a comprehensive introduction by the editors. Insofar as possible, the material in this volume is presented in accessible language, with an eye toward undergraduate and graduate students who may be coming to some of this material for the first time. Scholars too will appreciate this clarity, along with the chance to read about the latest advances in the discipline. The Routledge Companion to Philosophy of Social Science is broken up into four parts. Historical and Philosophical Context Concepts Debates Individual Sciences Edited by two of the leading scholars in the discipline, this volume is essential reading for anyone interested in the philosophy of social science, and its many areas of connection and overlap with key debates in the philosophy of science.

One of the very first books to explore the role of the social sciences in historical, sociological, and global perspectives, it does so by analyzing the practical making and discursive aspects of social scientific disciplines, including sociology, economics, psychology, business and administration studies, social gerontology, gender studies, educational science, geography, and political science. It looks at them not only in their academic setting but also in extra-academic contexts and in a broader global setting. The volume includes 15 chapters written by an international and multidisciplinary group of scholars. The overall aim of the book is to encourage a contextual and reflexive understanding of the complex and dynamic relationship between the social sciences and society of the past and in today’s globalized world. It is concerned with the bonds between the social sciences and society at large, including themes such as gender and power, science and politics, academic boundaries and global power relations, and postcolonial perspectives.

History and Philosophy of Science and Technology is a component of Encyclopedia of Physical Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias. The Theme on History and Philosophy of Science and Technology in four volumes covers several topics such as: Introduction to the Philosophy of Science; The Nature and Structure of Scientific Theories Natural Science; A Short History of Molecular Biology; The Structure of the Darwinian Argument In The Origin of Species; History of Measurement Theory; Episodes of XX Century Cosmology: A Historical Approach; Philosophy of Economics; Social Sciences: Historical And Philosophical Overview of Methods And Goals; Introduction to Ethics of Science and Technology; The Ethics of Science and Technology; The Control of Nature and the Origins of The Dichotomy Between Fact And Value; Science and Empires: The Geo-Epistemic Location of Knowledge; Science and Religion; Scientific Knowledge and Religious Knowledge - Significant Epistemological Reference Points; Thing Called Philosophy of Technology; Transitions from Function-Oriented To Effect-Oriented Technologies. Some Thought on the Nature of Modern Technology; Technical Agency and Sources of Technological Pessimism These four volumes are aimed at a broad spectrum of audiences: University and College Students, Educators and Research Personnel.

Concepts have always been foundational to the social science enterprise. This book is a guide to working with them. Against the positivist project of concept "reconstruction"—the formulation of a technical, purportedly neutral vocabulary for measuring, comparing, and generalizing—Schaffer adopts an interpretivist approach that he calls "elucidation." Elucidation includes both a reflexive examination of social science technical language and an investigation into the language of daily life. It is intended to produce a clear view of both types of language, the relationship between them, and the practices of life and power that they evoke and sustain. After an initial chapter explaining what elucidation is and how it differs from reconstruction, the book lays out practical elucidative strategies—grounding, locating, and exposing—that help situate concepts in particular language games, times and tongues, and structures of power. It also explores the uses to which elucidation can be put and the moral dilemmas that attend such uses. By illustrating his arguments with lively analyses of such concepts as "person," "family," and "democracy," Schaffer shows rather than tells, making the book both highly readable and an essential guide for social science research.

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.

In this innovative approach to the practice of social scienceÇharles Ragin explores the use of fuzzy sets to bridge the divide between quantitive and qualitative methods. He argues that fuzzy sets allow a far richer dialogue between ideas and evidence in social research than previously possible.