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In this article, the author attempts three things: (a) to describe the main beliefs of the "continental empiricist" epistemology that dominated the study of the social sciences in North America since the mid 1930s; (b) to speak of the influence of this epistemology on the dominant or mainstream school in the study of politics; and (c) to propose a new-old approach to the study of politics, based on the thinking of Michael Polanyi (1891-1976).

Die Entwicklung der Atomkraft-Industrie in den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika Ende der 40er und Anfang der 50er Jahre kann nachweislich weder durch Knappheiten konventioneller Brennstoffe noch durch die Begeisterung der Wissenschaft für die neue Technik der Energieerzeugung noch durch reines Profitstreben der Industrie erklärt werden. Vielmehr kommen internationale Beweggründe des amerikanischen Kongresses und des Präsidenten zum tragen, die die Involvierung der Industrie bewußt herbeigeführt haben, was zum Aufbau der ersten Kernkraftanlage führte . (SWP-Tth)

Geoff Mulgan, a pioneer in the global field of social innovation, explains how it provides answers to today's global social, economic and sustainability issues. He argues for matching R & D in technology and science with a socially focused R & D and harnessing creative imagination on a larger scale than ever before

Bayesian methods are increasingly being used in the social sciences, as the problems encountered lend themselves so naturally to the subjective qualities of Bayesian methodology. This book provides an accessible introduction to Bayesian methods, tailored specifically for social science students. It contains lots of real examples from political science, psychology, sociology, and economics, exercises in all chapters, and detailed descriptions of all the key concepts, without assuming any background in statistics beyond a first course. It features examples of how to implement the methods using W

AbstractHistorians and social scientists routinely, and inevitably, rely on sources that are unrepresentative of the past. The articles in this special issue of the journal illustrate the widespread prevalence of selection bias in historical sources, and the ways in which historians negotiate this challenge to reach useful conclusions from valuable, if imperfect sources.

"In times of global capitalist crisis we are witnessing a return of critique in the form of a surging interest in critical theories (such as the critical political economy of Karl Marx) and social rebellions as a reaction to the commodification and instrumentalization of everything. On one hand, there are overdrawn claims that social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc) have caused uproars in countries like Tunisia and Egypt. On the other hand, the question arises as to what actual role social media play in contemporary capitalism, crisis, rebellions, the strengthening of the commons, and the potential creation of participatory democracy. The commodification of everything has resulted also in a commodification of the communication commons, including Internet communication that is today largely commercial in character. This book deals with the questions of what kind of society and what kind of Internet are desirable, how capitalism, power structures and social media are connected, how political struggles are connected to social media, what current developments of the Internet and society tell us about potential futures, how an alternative Internet can look like, and how a participatory, commons-based Internet and a co-operative, participatory, sustainable information society can be achieved"--

This book presents an overview and assessment of the conceptual advances in economics during the last century. The book relies heavily on engaging examples, intended to draw in the reader and to demonstrate the far-reaching application of economic reasoning to social phenomena

It is suggested that the relative newness of an indigenous social science community & the recent transformations in social science research & teaching are key to understanding the problems of social sciences in Africa. The historical development of the social sciences in Africa is examined in relation to colonialism. Also discussed are the issue of "developmentalism," & the relationship between basic & applied research. Problems plaguing African social science include: a weak empirical basis for theorizing, material limits to empirical work, dependency on foreign consultants, poor funding, & the internal weakness of the indigenous scientific community. It is concluded that increased institutional support & academic freedom offer a bright future for the social sciences in Africa. 11 References. W. Howard

This 1996 book defends the prospects for a science of society. It argues that behind the diverse methods of the natural sciences lies a common core of scientific rationality that the social sciences can and sometimes do achieve. It also argues that good social science must be in part about large-scale social structures and processes and thus that methodological individualism is misguided. These theses are supported by a detailed discussion of actual social research, including theories of agrarian revolution, organizational ecology, social theories of depression, and supply-demand explanations in economics. Professor Kincaid provides a general picture of explanation and confirmation in the social sciences and discusses the nature of scientific rationality, functional explanation, optimality arguments, meaning and interpretation, the place of microfoundations in social explanation, the status of neo-classical economics, the role of idealizations and non-experimental evidence, and other specific controversies