Search results

Recent attempts to integrate the social sciences and humanities (SSH) in funding for interdisciplinary research have been challenged by a number of barriers. In funding programmes, such as the EU Horizon 2020, the SSH are absent in most calls for contributions. This article revisits the main policy drivers for embedding SSH research in interdisciplinary research. By analysing recent policy initiatives, the article shows how policymakers across the world continue to be ambivalent regarding the role of the SSH. While many stakeholders acknowledge the need to integrate SSH research in solving key societal challenges, such as climate change, migration or national security, funding for SSH is limited and tends to focus on strategic interventions and instrumental solutions. By accounting for the diversity of interdisciplinary collaborations the article recommends a more context-sensitive approach to research funding, which acknowledges the heterogeneity and volatility of research across different knowledge environments. This article is published as part of a thematic collection on the concept of interdisciplinarity.

Describes assessment activities by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences by department for the academic year 2011-2012 ; The College of Social and Behavioral Sciences summary of assessment report for the Office of Academic Assessment. Assessment activities in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences are conducted at the department level, facilitated by the College Assessment Coordinator. The college standard is that all departments are actively applying assessment data to improve their program???s learning outcomes. Eight out of the College's nine departments are doing so. The remaining department was directed to redesign their assessment program to be able to acquire meaningful data by Spring 2013. Departmental activities outlined include those of Anthropology, Geography, History, Pan African Studies, Political Science, Psychology, Social Work, Sociology, and Urban Studies and Planning.

In this book, Michael Brown provides original and critical analysis of the state of the social sciences and the humanities. He examines the different disciplines that address human affairs--from sociology, philosophy, political science, and anthropology to the humanities in general--to understand their common ground. He probes the ways in which we investigate the meaning of individuality in a society for which individuals are not the agents of the activities in which they participate, and he develops a critical method for studying the relations among activities, objects, and situations

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Original Title Page -- Original Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Table of Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- Part I Social representations and common sense -- 1 BUILDING CASTLES IN THE AIR: THE NATURE, FUNCTIONS AND PROCESSES OF SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS -- The nature of social representations: What are they? -- The functions of social representations: What do they do? -- The processes of social representations: How do they work? -- Summary -- 2 ANSWERING UNANSWERED QUESTIONS: THE INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY IN THE DYNAMICS OF SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS -- Thesis and antithesis: the force of society versus the potency of the individual -- Society and the individual in research on social representations -- The dynamics of social representations: some preliminary steps towards a synthesis -- Research on the dynamics of social representations -- 3 THE DOMAIN OF SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS -- Common sense in modern society -- Changing the boundaries -- Not a conclusion -- Part II Shifting paradigms and changing reality -- 4 FROM THE CARTESIAN TO THE HEGELIAN PARADIGM: THE RE-EMERGENCE OF SOCIETAL PSYCHOLOGY -- The individual and culture divided: a historical note -- Descartes and the philosophical roots of individualistic (social) psychology -- An alternative paradigm for social psychology -- The integration of the individual and culture -- Science and social psychology -- A note on social representations theory -- 5 THE SOCIAL INDIVIDUAL AND THE NATURE OF REALITY -- The socialization of the individual and the de-individualization of the social -- The definition of social reality -- The individual's role in the dynamics of social representations -- Summary -- Part III Science and common sense -- 6 THE REIFIED AND THE CONSENSUAL UNIVERSES- REALITY OR MYTH?.

Abstract
Is it possible that all of the social sciences could employ a common methodology? If so, what would it be? This article adresses these questions. It takes off from James Coleman's recent book, The Foundations of Social Theory. Coleman's social theory is built on the postulate that individuals are rational actors, the same postulate that most of modern economics is built upon. This article critiques the use of this postulate in economics, and thus questions whether it is a useful building block for the methodological foundations of social science research. It proposes an adaptive view of human behavior as an alternative in which preferences are conditioned by past experience. The work of Joseph Schumpeter is discussed as an exemplar of the methodology advocated here.

Based on interviews with scientists who have received the Distinguished Young Scientist award from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the paper examines the backgrounds, experiences, and attitudes of China's rising scientific elite, and explores how this new generation of scientists thinks about the conditions necessary for scientific distinction. The new elite scientists in China show signs of having mastered the institutional environment for research; individually, they seem to be able to find the resources and autonomy to build successful research enterprises. At the same time, as the elite seeks to bridge the norms and practices of the best of international science and Chinese realities, their collective lives are subject to tensions, uncertainties, and contradictions which make the building of a dynamic scientific community especially challenging. As the institutional environment within China changes, scientists receive mixed signals as to the balance between professional and commercial values of research.

This paper examines the political economy of Rwanda's Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme, concluding that strong government commitment to the programme has been shaped by the specific characteristics of the political settlement that was established around 2000. For the Rwandan government, the programme has never been just about social transfer, but a key part of the development strategy that aims to promote social stability and the legitimacy of the ruling coalition through rapid socioeconomic development. In particular, the programme originated in an emerging distributional crisis in the mid-2000s in which rapid economic growth alongside low rates of poverty reduction threatened the government narrative of inclusive development. While donor social protection ideas have also been influential, these are purposefully adapted by government with a view to meeting its developmental and political goals.

Il y a crise générale des sciences de l'homme : elles sont toutes accablées sous leurs propres progrès, ne serait-ce qu'en raison de l'accumulation des connaissances nouvelles et de la nécessité d'un travail collectif, dont l'organisation intelligente reste à mettre sur pied ; directement ou indirectement, toutes sont touchées, qu'elles le veuillent ou non, par les progrès des plus agiles d'entre elles, mais restent cependant aux prises avec un humanisme rétrograde, insidieux, qui ne peut plus leur servir de cadre. Toutes, avec plus ou moins de lucidité, se préoccupent de leur place dans l'ensemble monstrueux des recherches anciennes et nouvelles, dont se devine aujourd'hui la convergence nécessaire.

Proposé à la revue Socio, dans le cadre du numéro : « Les sciences humaines et sociales à l'ère du numérique : approches critiques. », cet article a été accepté par la revue mais a du être retiré à la demande de G. Garcia et n'a donc pas été publié. ; Dans un premier temps, disons durant la première décennie du siècle, les initiatives et les politiques en faveur de l'open access dans le domaine scientifique se sont focalisées sur le libre accès aux publications, cherchant notamment à contrer les stratégies commerciales des éditeurs privés. Mais dès 2010, le 'Manifeste des Digital Humanities' inscrit sans ambiguïté les données de la recherche dans l'open access : « Nous lançons un appel pour l'accès libre aux données et aux métadonnées. Celles-ci doivent être documentées et interopérables, autant techniquement que conceptuellement. » La volonté de partager les résultats de la recherche semble donc dorénavant aller de pair avec l'idée d'en partager la matière première : les sources ou, comme on dira plutôt dans les sciences sociales françaises, les observations ou les données. Ces deux objectifs, libre accès à la littérature scientifique et partage des données, aussi proches qu'ils puissent paraître, peuvent-ils pourtant viser de la même façon le public le plus large ? Nourris de l'expérience de création de la banque d'enquêtes qualitatives , beQuali, les auteurs prennent ici clairement position en faveur d'une limitation du partage du contenu des enquêtes aux professionnels de la recherche.