Suchergebnisse

Why Unitary Social Science? pleads for a comprehensive appraisal of social reality. Tracing the visionary and transformative paths of reality from the subjective to the objective points of view, Mukherjee argues that it is precisely the division of social science into discrete compartments as disciplines that thwarts the emergence of an objective science of society. Social science is seen here as unitary with diverse specialisations emerging from a single base but proliferating endlessly as k

Intro -- Preface -- Contents -- List of Figures -- List of Tables -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- Hypotheses from Heaven -- Into the Fog Without a Compass -- The Cart Before the Horse -- Picking Only the Sweet Fruits -- Unresearchable Problem Statements -- The Rule of Action -- Organisation of This Book -- References -- Chapter 2: Scientific Knowledge and Practice -- The Characteristics of Scientific Knowledge and Practice -- Scientific Statements -- Empirical Statements, Norms, and Practice -- More on Testing of Scientific Statements -- Our Social Construction of the World -- Science and Knowledge Development -- The Contested Truth -- From an Understanding of Knowledge to Social Science Practice -- References -- Chapter 3: Social Science as Reconstruction of Social Phenomena -- The Study of Social Facts and Phenomena -- Explanations in Social Science -- Social Science as Reconstruction of Social Patterns and Processes -- The Elements of Reconstruction -- Backgrounds -- Concepts -- Theories and Hypotheses -- Models -- Data Construction -- From the Building Stones of Reconstruction to the Logic of Reconstruction -- References -- Chapter 4: The Logic and Methodological Rules of Reconstruction -- Hypothetical-Deductive Research Logic: Explaining by Laws -- Abductive Research Logic: Uncovering Social Mechanisms -- Hermeneutic Research Logic: Interpretative Understanding of Social Phenomena -- Critical Theory -- Discourse Analytical Research Logic: Hegemonic and Alternative Frameworks of Understanding -- A Comparison of the Research Logics -- References -- Chapter 5: Design of Research Projects -- Research Purposes, Data Construction, and the Phases of the Design Process -- Research Designs and Purposes -- Theory- and Hypothesis-Testing Purposes -- Concept- and Theory-Developing Purposes and Questions -- Theoretically Interpretative Purposes.

For some time, the growing stature of political science as an independent social science has been a notable feature in American universities. Yet, up to the present time, the categories of this new field of scientific endeavor have not found their way into the indexing departments of libraries, nor have they been recognized by indexers of other collections. Even the editors of encyclopedias, people of great learning and ability, have omitted some of the most significant topics of political science, because of the lack of any accepted index indicating the range of the field and focusing attention upon its primary categories. The American Political Science Review itself is confronted with the problem of a suitable subject-index. The growing complexity of all kinds of materials bearing upon the work of political scientists, and more particularly the increasing mass of public documents, has become more and more baffling. Even the skillful indexers of the Congressional Record, for example, seem unaware of the major topics of interest for political science, and thus no sign-posts of the usual kind have been made available to workers in our field.