Suchergebnisse

This article is a contribution towards an assessment of economic idea in Portugal during the past 30 years. Following its renewal in the post-war period, it was with democracy that a significant academic community was created. It is possible to establish at least two phases that distinguish
epistemological orientations and analytical interests. During the first phase a social science was constructed, the object of which was the economic system and its problems and dynamics. The interdisciplinary nature and substantive vocation of this were notable. In the second phase we witnessed
what could be described as a disciplinary regression, with the domination of formalistic analyses. Empirically, through the analysis of three peer-reviewed journals (two economic and one interdisciplinary) and of the projects approved by Portugal's Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT
– Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia), we conclude there are several ways forward from the crossroads at which we now find ourselves. One of these is the insistence that economics is a 'science of the markets', which is legitimising and normative. Another values
it as an open science that is based on pluralism and which has a critical relationship with reality.

Abstract This paper introduces key current themes in social sciences of energy that look beyond conventional concerns with energy consumers. Close, detailed studies of energy practices at all levels can offer insights into the ways that energy systems are enmeshed in social, legal, cultural, economic and political frameworks that pre-empt expectations about energy production, distribution and consumption. By bringing a sociological and anthropological focus onto the energy industries themselves, social sciences can offer new theoretical perspectives, reveal the political relations that accompany energy flows, and offer new ways to think about the potentials for current and future energy systems.

Cover Page -- Title Page -- Mihi Whakatau -- Introduction -- Part I: The Big Picture -- 1. The Purposes of Research -- 2. Science and Social Science -- 3. Research with Māori: Learning from Kaupapa Māori Research -- 4. Doing Cross-cultural Research in New Zealand -- 5. Feminist Social Science Research in New Zealand -- 6. Politics and Ethics: Ethical Research Following the Canterbury Earthquakes -- Part II: The Basics -- 7. Literature Review -- 8. Research Design -- 9. Collecting and Analysing Quantitative Data -- 10. Collecting and Analysing Qualitative Data -- 11. Writing about Your Research -- Part III: Techniques of Social Research -- Quantitative Methods -- 12. Research with National Surveys -- 13. Evaluation -- 14. Longitudinal Research -- 15. Official Statistics -- 16. Secondary Sources -- 17. Predictive Modelling -- Qualitative Methods -- 18. Visual Ethnography -- 19. Historical Research: Pulling Together a History of New Zealand's Teenagers -- 20. Focus Groups -- 21. Action Research: Peer Researchers, Refugees and the Canterbury Earthquakes -- 22. Observation and Ethnographic Fieldwork -- 23. Using Conversation Analysis -- Mixed Methods -- 24. The Incredible Complexities and Tensions of Researching with Māori: A Mixed Methods Autoethnography -- 25. Distress Purchases: A Mixed Methods Study -- 26. Nature in Children's Environments: A Mixed Methods Study -- Conclusion: Many Paths to Understanding -- References -- Index -- Copyright Page

The Social Sciences in Canada is about the background and history of the Social Science Federation of Canada in honour of its fifty years of national activity. There can be little doubt that during the last fifty years the federation, and its predecessors, have had a substantial impact on the development of the social sciences in Canada. The history of this organization is probably the best barometer that we have for recording the changes that have occurred in the relation between social scientists and Canadian society.

This article responds to recent criticism regarding the application of consequentialism and rational choice theory in the social and moral sciences. It clarifies the limited scope of the presented criticism and its overly simplistic view of social scientific inquiry that, together, lead to the presentation of an argument that claims more than it warrants. Moreover, I argue that the criticism overlooks one of the most important uses of instrumentalism in moral theory that may be considered the most challenging case for the application of rational choice theory.

Universals and particulars of affect -- Embodying affect -- Political economies of affect -- Affect, power and justice