imperfection and impartiality liberal theory of social

George Kelly

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Fransella, Fay, PUBLISHER: Sage Publications (CA), George Kelly's personal construct theory, first published in , is as radical today as it was then. Describing how each one of us goes about our daily life trying to make sense of the events around us, it maintains that we are in charge of what we do in the world, that we do not merely react to events. This book reveals that George Kelly was a man of enormous intellect, of many talents and of great complexity. Fay Fransella outlines how his views have influenced the theory and practice of psychotherapy, and illustrates how his training in physics and mathematics influenced his theory and led to the development of one of his methods of measurement - the repertory grid. The book also describes Kelly's phil

Existential Sociology

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Douglas, J. D. / Johnson, J. M. / Douglas, Jack D., PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press, This collection of ten original essays was first published in . It engages the 'crisis in sociology' at the most fundamental level of thought and experience. Existential sociology is defined as the study and understanding of all forms of human existence. Without seeking to erect a pristine philosophical sanctuary of its own, Existential Sociology examines and criticizes the underlying philosophical assumptions of previous theories of social science, while elaborating its own approach to human understanding. The contributors are concerned with constructing practical as well as theoretical truths about social life - how we feel, think and act. In contrast to most other sociologies, the emphasis is on the independence and dominance of human feelings over the evaluative and cognitive features of social actions. Students and teachers of sociology and people in related fields interested in the connection between social science and their own subjects will find Existential Sociology useful and absorbing.

The Three-Edged Sword

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Potts, Maureen A., PUBLISHER: University Press of America, This book is a study of the complex, interconnected physical, psychological, social, and economic stresses that serious or chronic illness inflicts on patients in 20th-century America. The author explores these themes through the retelling of her own experience of a sixteenth-month search in (interspersed with some scholarly commentary) for a diagnosis of lupus and of the gradual evolution of coping strategies since. The author addresses the physical suffering and psychological ramifications of illness, the social stigma and economic disasters that often accompany such an experience, and the dehumanizing responses of the medical world.

Marketing Management for Nonprofit Organizations

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Sargeant, Adrian, PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press, USA, This book provides a comprehensive overview of the theory behind non-profit marketing, and analyzes key non-profit sectors such as fund-raising, the arts, education, healthcare, and social ideas. Second and third year undergraduate and postgraduate students taking courses in non-profit marketing, service marketing and public sector management will find this volume an invaluable course accompaniment.

Meta-Analytic Procedures for Social Research

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Rosenthal, Robert, PUBLISHER: Sage Publications (CA), Rosenthal sets out to describe meta-analytic procedures (the quantitative summary of a research domain) in sufficient detail for readers either to carry them out for themselves, or evaluate the procedures when used by others. The book addresses itself to techniques for solving the problems of poor cumulation and small effects -- both of which are sources of pessimism in the social and behavioural sciences. The level of mathematical sophistication required is that of elementary algebra and introductory data analysis, and the book is designed to be used by advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, and researchers in the social and behavioural sciences.

Communication Yearbook 25

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Gudykunst, William B., PUBLISHER: Routledge, "Communication Yearbook 25" is devoted to publishing state-of-the-art literature reviews in which authors critique and synthesize a body of communication research. This volume contains critical, integrative reviews of research on democracy and new communication technologies; the Federal Communication Commission's communication policymaking process; cognitive effects of hypermedia; mediation of children's television viewing; informatization, world systems, and developing countries; communication ethics; communication in culturally diverse work groups; and attitudes toward language. In addition, it also includes senior scholars' reviews of research on imagined interactions and symbolic convergence theory. Representing media, interpersonal, intercultural, and other areas of communication, this is an important reference on current research for scholars and students in the social sciences. Each of the chapters make a unique contribution to the field.

Political Theory: A Thematic Inquiry

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Wiser, James, PUBLISHER: Wadsworth Publishing Company, This gracefully written, intellectually rigorous book explores the major issues of political theory by presenting the perspectives of major theorists. It gives students necessary historical background while examining basic themes and assessing the validity of basic arguments. Written in a clear, direct style, it can be easily understood by students with little previous exposure to political science. Rather than simply presenting an abstract or formal discussion of the major issues of political theory, it examines how the issues were understood by specific political thinkers including Plato, Machiavelli, Locke, Hobbes, Marx, Dahl, Popper, Nozick. T.H. Green, and others. This is a useful thematic introduction to political theory that places theory in an interesting historical and intellectual context.

The Flight from Reality in the Human Sciences

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Shapiro, Ian, PUBLISHER: Princeton University Press, In this captivating yet troubling book, Ian Shapiro offers a searing indictment of many influential practices in the social sciences and humanities today. Perhaps best known for his critique of rational choice theory, Shapiro expands his purview here. In discipline after discipline, he argues, scholars have fallen prey to inward-looking myopia that results from--and perpetuates--a flight from reality. In the method-driven academic culture we inhabit, argues Shapiro, researchers too often make display and refinement of their techniques the principal scholarly activity. The result is that they lose sight of the objects of their study. Pet theories and methodological blinders lead unwelcome facts to be ignored, sometimes not even perceived. The targets of Shapiro's critique include the law and economics movement, overzealous formal and statistical modeling, various reductive theories of human behavior, misguided conceptual analysis in political theory, and the Cambridge school of intellectual history. As an alternative to all of these, Shapiro makes a compelling case for problem-driven social research, rooted in a realist philosophy of science and an antireductionist view of social explanation. In the lucid--if biting--prose for which Shapiro is renowned, he explains why this requires greater critical attention to how problems are specified than is usually undertaken. He illustrates what is at stake for the study of power, democracy, law, and ideology, as well as in normative debates over rights, justice, freedom, virtue, and community. Shapiro answers many critics of his views along the way, securing his position as one of the distinctive social and political theorists of our time.

Fundamentals of Physics, a Student's Companion E-Book to

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Walker, Jearl / Resnick, Robert / Halliday, David, PUBLISHER: John Wiley & Sons, No other book on the market today can match the success of Halliday, Resnick and Walker's Fundamentals of Physics In a breezy, easy-to-understand style the book offers a solid understanding of fundamental physics concepts, and helps readers apply this conceptual understanding to quantitative problem solving. The extended edition provides coverage of developments in Physics in the last 100 years, including: Einstein and Relativity, Bohr and others and Quantum Theory, and the more recent theoretical developments like String Theory. This book offers a unique combination of authoritative content and stimulating applications.

Responsible Management of Information Systems

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Stahl, Bernd Carsten, PUBLISHER: IGI Global, Responsible Management of Information Systems discusses the question how can information systems be used and managed in a responsible manner. It does so by first defining the central concepts of information systems as the business use of information technology and the underlying concepts of ethics and morality. The term responsibility is introduced as a mediation of ethics and morality and a promising approach to normative questions. After demonstrating that the traditional notion of responsibility runs into many problems when applied to information systems the book develops a new, a reflective theory of responsibility. This theory that emphasizes the central characteristics of responsibility, namely openness, consequentialism, and teleology, is then applied to normative problems in information systems. It is shown that with the use of this theory the central moral and legal problems of information systems such as privacy or intellectual property can be successfully addressed.

Cultural Theory and Popular Culture: A Reader

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Storey, John, PUBLISHER: University of Georgia Press, This new edition is a companion volume to An Introduction to Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, just published in its second edition. The Reader supplements and extends the cultural terrain of the introductory volume by offering students the opportunity to experience firsthand the work of many cultural theorists and critics. Intended as a theoretical, analytical, and historical introduction to the study of popular culture within cultural studies, the current edition contains nine new readings, a new general introduction, and a fully updated bibliography. The readings cover the culture and civilization tradition, culturalism, structuralism and post-sttucturalism, Marxism, feminism, and postmodernism, as well as current debates in the study of popular culture. Used in conjunction with An Introduction to Cultural Theory and Popular Culture, or on its own, this collection will be invaluable to scholars and students.

Rhetoric

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Richards, Jennifer, PUBLISHER: Routledge, The term 'rhetoric' describes the effective use of language, usually to persuade or influence. Frequently set up in opposition to 'truth' or 'plain speech', it has attracted much critical debate from ancient philosophy to current literary theory. Examining both the practice and theory of this controversial concept, Jennifer Richards looks at: historical and contemporary definitions of the term 'rhetoric' uses of rhetoric in literature, by authors such as William Shakespeare, Mary Shelley and James Joyce classical traditions of rhetoric, as seen in the work of Plato, Aristotle and Cicero the rebirth of rhetoric in the Renaissance and its return to the contemporary academy through Composition and Literature courses the current position and way forward for rhetoric in literary and critical theory, as envisaged by critics such as Paul de Man, Jacques Derrida and Kenneth Burke. This insightful volume offers an honest and accessible account of this debatable yet unavoidable term, making this book invaluable reading for students of literature, philosophy and cultural studies.

Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Latour, Bruno, PUBLISHER: Oxford University Press, USA, Reassembling the Social is a fundamental challenge from one of the world's leading social theorists to how we understand society and the 'social'. Bruno Latour's contention is that the word 'social' as used by Social Scientists has become laden with assumptions to the point where it has become a misnomer. When the adjective is applied to a phenomenon, it is used to indicate a stabilized state of affairs, a bundle of ties that in due course may be used to account for another phenomenon. Latour also finds the word used as if it described a type of material, in a comparable way to an adjective such as 'wooden' or 'steely'. Rather than simply indicating what is already assembled together, it is now used in a way that makes assumptions about the nature of what is assembled. It has become a word that designates two distinct things: a process of assembling: and a type of material, distinct from others. Latour shows why "the social" cannot be thought of as a kind of material or domain, and disputes attempts to provide a "social explanation" of other states of affairs. While these attempts have been productive (and probably necessary) in the past, the very success of the social sciences mean that they are largely no longer so. At the present stage it is no longer possible to inspect the precise constituents entering the social domain. Latour returns to the original meaning of "the social" to redefine the notion and allow it to trace connections again. It will then be possible to resume the traditional goal of the social sciences, but using more refined tools. Drawing on his extensive work examining the "assemblages" of nature, Latour finds it necessary to scrutinize thoroughly the exact content of what is assembled under the umbrella of Society. This approach, a "sociology of associations" has become known as Actor-Network-Theory, and this book is an essential introduction both for those seeking to understand Actor-Network-Theory, or the ideas of one of its most influential proponents.

A Trial of Witches: A Seventeenth Century Witchcraft

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Geis, Gilbert / Bunn, Ivan, PUBLISHER: Routledge, In , Amy Denny and Rose Cullender were accused of witchcraft, and, in one of the most important of such cases in England, stood trial and were hanged in Bury St Edmunds. A Trial of Witches is a complete account of this sensational trial and an analysis of the court procedures, and the larger social, cultural and political concerns of the period. In a critique of the official process, the book details how the erroneous conclusions of the trial were achieved. The authors consider the key participants in the case, including the judge and medical witness, their institutional importance, their part in the fate of the women and their future careers. Through detailed research of primary sources, the authors explore the important implications of this case for the understanding of hysteria, group mentality, social forces and the witchcraft phenomenon as a whole.

Cinema Wars: Hollywood Film and Politics in the Bush-Cheney

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Kellner, Douglas, PUBLISHER: Wiley-Blackwell, "Cinema Wars" explores the intersection of film, politics, and US culture and society through a bold critical analysis of the films, TV shows, and documentaries produced in the early s Offers a thought-provoking depiction of Hollywood film as a contested terrain between conservative and liberal forces Films and documentaries discussed include: "Black Hawk Down," "The" "Dark Knight," "Star Wars," "Syriana, " "WALL-E," "Fahrenheit 9/11" and other Michael Moore documentaries, amongst others Explores how some films in this era supported the Bush-Cheney regime, while others criticized the administration, openly or otherwise Investigates Hollywood's treatment of a range of hot topics, from terrorism and environmental crisis to the Iraq war and the culture wars of the s Shows how Hollywood film in the s brought to life a vibrant array of social protest and helped create cultural conditions to elect Barack Obama

Discourse and Dominion in the Fourteenth Century: Oral

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Gellrich, Jesse M., PUBLISHER: Princeton University Press, This wide-ranging study of language and cultural change in fourteenth-century England argues that the influence of oral tradition is much more important to the advance of literacy than previously supposed. In contrast to the view of orality and literacy as opposing forces, the book maintains that the power of language consists in displacement, the capacity of one channel of language to take the place of the other, to make the source disappear into the copy. Appreciating the interplay between oral and written language makes possible for the first time a way of understanding the high literate achievements of this century in relation to momentous developments in social and political life. Part I reasseses the "nominalism" of Ockham and the "realism" of Wyclif through discussions of their major treatises on language and government. Part II argues that the chronicle histories of this century are tied specifically to oral customs, and Part III shows how "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Chaucer's "Knight's Tale confront outright the displacement of language and dominion. Informed by recent discussions in critical theory, philosophy, and anthropology, the book offers a new synoptic view of fourteenth-century culture. As a critique of the social context of medieval literacy, it speaks directly to postmodern debate about the politics of historicism today.

Using It Effectively: A Guide to Technology in the Social

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Henry, Milsom / Henry, Millsom S. / Henry Millsom, PUBLISHER: Taylor & Francis Group, Using IT Effectively is an important collection which examines the development and implementation of computer-assisted-learning in the social sciences. Encouraging both students and academics to improve the quality of their teaching and learning by using the wide range of new technologies effectively, this path-breaking work highlights some of the pros and cons of technology, critically evaluating the technological process and its potential in the field. Encouraging the social science community to take an increasingly active role in this debate, the contributors examine key issues and emphasize areas in need of attention. This book will provide social scientists with a unique, up-to-date analysis of the role to be played by technology in this field.

The Theory and Philosophy of Organizations: Critical Issues

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Hassard, John / Pym, Denis, PUBLISHER: Routledge, "The Theory and Philosophy of Organisations" assesses and analyzes the assumptions upon which our understanding of organizations is based and in doing so aims to redirect the ways in which organizational research is conceived and executed. Contributions to the volume emphasize how all approaches to the study of organizations are influenced by deep metatheoretical assumptions about the nature of science and society. It is argued that these differences create a spectrum of valid perspectives and methods, and the book outlines how conceptual problems in the field have given rise to innovative forms of empirical enquiry such as symbolism, postmodernism, ethnomethodology and structuralism. Criticizing the conservatism which has characterized much of the work in this field, the authors offers this range of methods as a starting point for obtaining richer and more grounded explanations of organizations.

The Liberal Ideal and the Demons of Empire: Theories of

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Semmel, Bernard, PUBLISHER: Johns Hopkins University Press, As Great Britain and other Western nations built empires--both formal and informal--writers on economic and social questions developed theories to explain why and how advanced industrial states exercised control over colonial regions. Different schools of thought emerged: some anticipated the growth of a cosmopolitaneconomic order, others believed in a brutal imperialism necessary for an expanding capitalism, still others saw evil precapitalist forces at work. In The Liberal Ideal and the Demons of Empire, noted historian Bernard Semmel traces the evolution of the ideas about imperialism and discusses four major schools of thought: the classical economists, the social theorists, the national economists, and the Marxists. From Adam Smith to Lenin, the subject of colonialism--and then imperialism--remained controversial. Although classical economists offered visions of a prosperous world economy based on free trade, and liberal idealists argued that rational self-interest would eliminate aggressive mercantilism and wars of conquest, such "utopian" ideals proved elusive. Even defenders of capitalism noted contradictions between the harsh realities of the emerging industrial system and the optimistic economic theories that attempted to describe it. In the end the critics--including liberal sociologists, national economists, and Marxists--would win the day by defining imperialism in terms of historic demons: feudal aristocrats, medieval usurers, and evil empires. These ideas, Semmel concludes, became props of the liberal, socialist, and fascist ideologies of our time. "A generation ago, Richard Koebner traced the changing meanings of the word imperialism from its rather surprisingNapoleonic beginnings. Now, building on a succession of books with which he has enriched the literature, Bernard Semmel addresses the wider question of the evolution in thought to which the evolution of the word was, so to speak, an index. Semmel's book will beunquestionably useful to historians--particularly those outside the confines of European expansion--and will be valuable as supplemental reading in college courses. One wonders if it will have the effect one would most like to see--on politicians, publicists, and praters who continue to use the word imperialism so inappropriately."--Robert K. Webb, University of Maryland, Baltimore County Bernard Semmel is Distinguished Professor of History at the Graduate School of the City University of New York. His studies of imperialism include Imperialism and Social Reform, Jamaican Blood and Victorian Conscience, and The Rise of Free Trade Imperialism. He has also written on Methodism, John Stuart Mill, and naval strategy.

Work, Status, and Self-Esteem: A Theory of Selective Self

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Faunce, William A., PUBLISHER: University Press of America, The book presents a theory explaining variations in the extent to which work affects self-esteem. The conventional wisdom is that work necessarily influences self-esteem, but the research evidence presented in the text indicates that this is not the case. There is, in fact, considerable variation in the extent of this relationship. A systematic theory relating attributes of the self and characteristics of status assignment systems to the self-investment process is presented.

Methodology, Theory, and Knowledge in the Managerial and

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Geisler, Eliezer / Rogers, Everett M., PUBLISHER: Quorum Books, Geisler argues that the over-reliance on co-variation techniques and statistical methods, instead of process approach and in-depth analysis, produces meaningless knowledge in the managerial and organizational sciences, and indeed throughout all the social sciences. He offers instead a new and different approach, based on the notion of what he calls "dynamic morphologies"--an "architecture of slicing complex phenomena." This way it is possible to explain many inconsistencies in research findings, and to find a cohesive, systematic outlook on research, research design, and knowledge creation. Intellectually challenging and following in the footsteps of Kuhn, Argyris, and Popper, Geisler's approach is frankly revolutionary in research design and contains its own notions, terms, and nomenclature. A provocative discussion for academics and others well trained in the organizational, managerial, and social sciences. Geisler's dynamic morphologies provide a means to research complex phenomena and gain knowledge about them. They are composed of a chain of events, combined logically and temporally, and a method by which this process is studied. Geisler also contends that knowledge in the organizational and managerial sciences is only viable when it describes and explains the complex, higher-order phenomena. Therefore, theory building and research in these fields must be linked to higher-order constructs and the phenomena that they attempt to explain. This is the central notion of "amplitude" that Geisler introduces and describes. His book also criticizes the evolutionary epistemology view of knowledge creation and contends that knowledge in all of these fields of study in general is notevolutionary, but instead, cumulative and expansive.

Managing Web Usage in the Workplace: A Social, Ethical and

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Anandarajan, Murugan / Simmers, Claire A., PUBLISHER: IRM Press, The nature of the Internet is dramatically revolutionizing the manner in which organizations and individuals alike acquire and distribute information. Unfortunately the problem of Web abuse has developed in kind. This interesting new book includes chapters that embrace a wide array of Internet abuse issues such as, the impact of Web abuse on individuals, groups, organizations, and societies, and the problem of Web abuse within other cultures and countries. Geared toward business professionals, academicians and students from a variety of disciplines, Managing Web Usage in the Workplace: A Social, Ethical and Legal Perspective focuses on the phenomenon of Internet abuse and its consequences.

Controversies in Macroeconomics: Growth, Trade and Policy

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Dixon, Maurice, Jr. / Dixon, Robert Ed. / Dixon, Huw David, PUBLISHER: Wiley-Blackwell, "Controversies in Macroeconomics: Growth, Trade and Policy" presents debates from the world's leading researchers on some of the most important issues in economics today. Accessible to the general economics reader, this book is ideal for advanced undergraduates and graduates in intermediate macroeconomics, macroeconomic theory, development economics, growth theory and trade theory.

Nodal Discontinuous Galerkin Methods: Algorithms, Analysis,

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Hesthaven, Jan S. / Warburton, Tim, PUBLISHER: Springer, This book offers an introduction to the key ideas, basic analysis, and efficient implementation of discontinuous Galerkin finite element methods (DG-FEM) for the solution of partial differential equations. It covers all key theoretical results, including an overview of relevant results from approximation theory, convergence theory for numerical PDE's, and orthogonal polynomials. Through embedded Matlab codes, coverage discusses and implements the algorithms for a number of classic systems of PDE's: Maxwell's equations, Euler equations, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations, and Poisson- and Helmholtz equations.

The Ends and Means of Welfare: Coping with Economic and

ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Saunders, Peter, PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press, This book explores the relationship between economic liberalism and social policy in Australia. How do social policies operate in a fiercely individualist market economy, and what role should the government play to ensure effective market-based solutions? Why has quality of life diminished as the economy has undergone sustained growth? The book covers key trends in economic and social policy over the past twenty-five years. It reveals how economic liberalism, despite all positive economic indicators, has contributed to an increase in unemployment, inequality, social dysfunction and alienation.

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