"Mahoney's starting point is the problem of essentialism in social science. Essentialism--the belief that the members of a category possess hidden properties ("essences") that make them members of the category and that endow them with a certain nature--is appropriate for scientific categories ("atoms", for instance) but not for human ones ("revolutions," for instance). Despite this, much social science research takes place from within an essentialist orientation; those who reject this assumption goes so far in the other direction as to reject the idea of an external reality, independent of human beings, altogether. Mahoney proposes an alternative approach that aspires to bridge this enduring rift in the social sciences between those who take a scientific approach and assume that social science categories correspond to external reality (and thus believe that the methods used in the natural sciences are generally appropriate for the social sciences) and those who take a constructivist approach and believe that because the categories used to understand the social world are humanly-constructed, they cannot possibly follow the science of the natural world. As the name suggests, scientific constructivism brings in aspects of both views and attempts to unite them. Drawing from cognitive science, it focuses on using the rational parts of our brain machinery to overcome the limitations and deeply seated biases (such as essentialism) of our evolved minds. Specifically, Mahoney puts forth a "set-theoretic analysis" that focuses on "sets" of categories as they exist in the mind that are also subject to the mathematical logic of set-theory. He spends the first four chapters of the book establishing the foundations and methods for set-theoretic analysis, the next four chapters looking and how this analysis fits with the existing tools of social science, and the final four chapters focusing on how this approach can be used to study and understand cases"--

To develop theories and research designs requires concepts. Gary Goertz provides advice on the construction and use of social science concepts and their use in case selection and theories. He also cites examples from political science and sociology to illustrate the theoretical and practical issues of concept construction and use.

"Through six successful editions of Power and Society, Thomas R. Dye has encouraged readers to pursue their interests in the social sciences by illustrating how important these disciplines are to understanding many conditions of our lives." "As Dye introduces readers to the central concepts of sociology, anthropology, economics, political science, history, and psychology, he links elements of these disciplines through a dynamic and unifying theme: the manifestation of power in society. With this idea in mind, readers gain a real sense of social scientists' interests as they explore power in the context of social problems such as racism, sexism, poverty, crime, violence, urban decay, and international and ideological conflict." "Dye's presentation includes analyses of social science research studies and the contributions of masters of social thought such as Bertrand Russell, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Evocative discussions are enhanced with case studies and cross-national perspectives to highlight critical ideas, including the power and society theme." "The approach of learning to understand power as an integral part of our social world continues with great impact in this seventh edition. Among the new topics readers will find how men and women view their relations today; evolutionary psychology: the mating game; the burdens of government debt; Native Americans: an historical overview; social scientists look at sex in America; treating mental illness; a brief history of the cold war; the long history of women's protests; sexual harassment and the law; and should we limit the terms of Congress members?"--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

New approach demonstrating how social science can be successful, focusing on context, values, and power.

Featuring over 1,800 concise definitions of key terms, the Dictionary of the Social Sciences is the most comprehensive, authoritative single-volume work of its kind. With coverage on the vocabularies of anthropology, sociology, political science, economics, human geography, cultural studies, and Marxism, the Dictionary is an integrated, easy-to-use, A-to-Z reference tool. Designed for students and non-specialists, it examines classic and contemporary scholarship including basic terms, concepts, theories, schools of thought, methodologies, issues, and controversies. As a true dictionary, it also contains concise, jargon-free definitions that explain the rich, sometimes complex language of these increasingly visible fields.

A discussion of the social sciences and of their relation to the physical and biological sciences. Homans believes that these all form a single science, sharing the same subject and explanatory principles.

This volume offers selected papers exploring issues arising from scientific discovery in the social sciences. It features a range of disciplines including behavioural sciences, computer science, finance, and statistics with an emphasis on philosophy. The first of the three parts examines methods of social scientific discovery. Chapters investigate the nature of causal analysis, philosophical issues around scale development in behavioural science research, imagination in social scientific practice, and relationships between paradigms of inquiry and scientific fraud. The next part considers the practice of social science discovery. Chapters discuss the lack of genuine scientific discovery in finance where hypotheses concern the cheapness of securities, the logic of scientific discovery in macroeconomics, and the nature of that what discovery with the Solidarity movement as a case study. The final part covers formalising theories in social science. Chapters analyse the abstract model theory of institutions as a way of representing the structure of scientific theories, the semi-automatic generation of cognitive science theories, and computational process models in the social sciences. The volume offers a unique perspective on scientific discovery in the social sciences. It will engage scholars and students with a multidisciplinary interest in the philosophy of science and social science.

First published in 1993. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.