The New Political Sociology Of Science

In the twenty-first century, the production and use of scientific knowledge is more regulated, commercialized, and participatory than at any other time. The stakes in understanding those changes are high for scientist and nonscientist alike: they challenge traditional ideas of intellectual work and property and have the potential to remake legal and professional boundaries and transform the practice of research. A critical examination of the structures of power and inequality these changes hinge upon, this book explores the implications for human health, democratic society, and the environment.

The 21st century has witnessed a fundamental transformation of political institutions and society, alongside cultural, global and complexity turns in social theory. This provocative text gives an overview of key issues, argues for an 'existential turn' in political sociology and brings the study of politics and society up to date.

The World of Political Science - New volumes The book traces the disciplinary development of political sociology and the transdisciplinary research into the overlapping issues involving politics and society. The contributions cover overviews of the history, methodological and theoretical development of this academic discipline. Successes as well as failures in past, unexplored areas and salient issues in ongoing research are also highlighted. From the Contents: Subrata K. Mitra and Malte Pehl, Taking Stock of Political Sociology Dirk Berg-Schlosser, Political Culture at a Crossroads? Kay Lawson and Mildred Schwartz, Parties, Interest Groups and Social Movements: Shall Change be Mid - wife to Truth? Eva Etzioni-Halevy, Socio-Political Inequalities: Elites, Classes and Democracy Prakash Sarangi, Contemporary Approaches to the Study of the State Jan van Deth, Political Sociology: Old Concerns and New Directions

The Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology brings together thirty-eight original essays covering the wide inter-disciplinary field of political sociology. Represents the most comprehensive overview available in the field of political sociology Covers traditional questions as well as emerging topics including recent debates on gender, citizenship, and political identity Includes detailed editorial introduction, abstracts, further reading lists, and a consolidated bibliography.

"Drawing extensively from archival sources and in-depth interviews, Kelly Moore examines the features of American science that made it an attractive target for protesters in the early cold war and Vietnam eras, including scientists' work in military research and activities perceived as environmentally harmful. She describes the intellectual traditions that protesters drew from - liberalism, moral individualism, and the New Left - and traces the rise and influence of scientist-led protest organizations such as Science for the People and the Union of Concerned Scientists. Moore shows how scientist protest activities disrupted basic assumptions about science and the ways scientific knowledge should be produced, and recast scientists' relationships to political and military institutions."--Jacket.

Political sociology is the interdisciplinary study of power and the intersection of personality, society and politics. The field also examines how the political process is affected by major social trends as well as exploring how social policies are altered by various social forces. Political sociologists increasingly use a wide variety of relatively new quantitative and qualitative methodologies and incorporate theories and research from other social science cognate disciplines. The contributors focus on the current controversies and disagreements surrounding the use of different methodologies for the study of politics and society, and discussions of specific applications found in the widely scattered literature where substantive research in the field is published. This approach will solidly place the handbook in a market niche that is not occupied by the current volumes while also covering many of the same theoretical and historical developments that the other volumes cover. The purpose of this handbook is to summarize state-of-the-art theory, research, and methods used in the study of politics and society. This area of research encompasses a wide variety of perspectives and methods that span social science disciplines. The handbook is designed to reflect that diversity in content, method and focus. In addition, it will cover developments in the developed and underdeveloped worlds.

When initially published in 1972, Foundations of Political Sociology was acknowledged to be the first unified study of the field. It still provides a cross-fertilization of knowledge concerning the interrelation of social class and political power. Taking into account new specializations in social theory, the book covers all major social systems on a comparative international basis. The opening remarks prepared for this new printing provide an estimate of how the field has changed during the past quarter century, and what unexpected challenges have arisen in areas of public trust and personal privacy. This book examines fascism, communism, anarchism, conservatism, and liberalism as systems of rule as well as domains of theory. It is thus a unique effort at linking problems of history with problems of policy. The six sections of the book detail the historical and theoretical antecedents of this relatively new hybrid area in social research: policy coordinates of political sociology, types of social systems, forms of political ideologies, polarities of revolution and counter-revolution, civil-military relations, mass vs. elite contradictions, and threads of consensus and conflict running through these themes. "Horowitz presents as his central thesis that in today's world no economic determinism can do justice to social reality. Foundations is the work of a politically sensitive and knowledgeable scholar."Louis Schneider, Social Forces "Foundations of Political Sociology reflects extensive teaching and research in the area of political sociology. The book combines analytical insight with a provocative cutting edge and represents the best of Professor Horowitz."Thomas R. McFaul, The Annals "Horowitz's political stance is interesting. Though he knows the radical literature, he distances himself from it. He sympathizes with everyone and strives to be provocative and yet elusivea personal voice in a dogmatic discipline."W.J.M. Mackenzie, Political Studies