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Discusses the historical & current relationship between the social sciences, the scientific method, & postmodern theory. Drawing on the methodology & conclusions of Galileo, modern science has attempted to reduce the distance between science & reality through objective methodology & heightened rationality. It is argued here that the scientific method relies more on the choice of appropriate language & vocabulary than on actual correspondence between methodology & fact. Social scientists have traditionally adopted this skewed approach to life through the scientific method, which blurs rather than reveals reality. The boundaries between explanation & understanding, or nature & humanity, have little meaning in the real world, & it is suggested that the social sciences must be seen as continuous with literature, history, anthropology, politics, etc. Both Thomas Dewey & Michel Foucault advocate rejection of traditional notions of rationality, objectivity, method, & truth. However, it is concluded that Dewey's vocabulary allows more room for hope & solidarity within the social sciences. T. Sevier

Argues that the sociology of law should continue its long-standing focus on law & governmentality, but also should expand its analysis to an examination of the interaction of legal & nonlegal forms of governance. The beginning of such an enterprise is provided by the work of Michel Foucault (1977), raising the question of law's role in modern forms of governmental rationality. It is suggested that Foucault's analysis ought to be revised to attend to the plurality of forms of law & governance, & to focus more explicitly on forms of state power. Using this conception, it is contended that the key link between law & modern power is that law plays the organizational & ideological role of providing temporary moments of unification within dispersed fields of social power. This approach to law & governance is favored over others because it facilitates an account that remains sensitive to variations in modes of governance & local power while remaining attentive to the role of the state in the condensation of power relations. 69 References. D. M. Smith

The increasing role of social science in environmental policy & knowledge generation has resulted in an environmental discourse that is epistemologically realist, postivistic, disembedded, technological, & cognitivist. Such a discourse tends to mask important cultural, social, & existential dimensions of environmental crises & has become part of the modern environmental problem rather contributing to its solution. A constructivist, hermeneutic, poetic, & situated approach to environmental phenomena is needed. Examples of such accounts in three broad domains are highlighted: (1) environment, knowledge, & indeterminancy; (2) subjectivity & individuation; & (3) problems with current ways of incorporation of environmental considerations within political institutions. Ulrich Beck's contributions to illuminating the modern environmental problematic are discussed. 10 References. D. Generoli

"SozioNet forms part of a forthcoming national social science information portal, which is currently being developed by the German Infoconnex initiative. Inspired by successful examples like MathNet or SOSIG, SozioNet provides access to freely available web resources with relevance to social science. It is based on a network of social science institutions and scientists, to agree on and establish common metadata standards. SozioNet implements a general infrastructure for the creation of semantically rich metadata, and for the harvesting and retrieval of relevant resources with a domain specific focus." (author's abstract)