Suchergebnisse

"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)

This chapter places Oakeshott's criticism of the demarcation in the current debate on the separation of social sciences from the natural sciences & history. Nineteenth century thinking on the epistemological status of historical inquiry resulted in a hermeneutic tradition that purports to generate knowledge detached from values, interests & practical concerns that compose that experience. The deeply rooted error in the hermeneutic tradition is the failure to question the premises of the sciences it seeks to theorize. In "On Human Conduct," Oakeshott identifies the ambiguity of social science attempts at explaining intelligent conduct as the outcome of non-intelligent processes. Human conduct cannot be explained in general categories or social circumstances, or through the pretense of statistical generalizations, but must be understood through open-ended interpretations such as the controlled use of metaphor, exploration of the contextuality of meaning of action, & the evanescent & emergent quality of the relationship to other actions, or a historical explanation proper. 15 References. J. Harwell

"International Relations as a Social Science" published on by Oxford University Press.

"Process Tracing Methods in the Social Sciences" published on by Oxford University Press.

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