Producing scientific knowledge that can inform solutions and guide policy-making is one of the most important functions of social science. Nonetheless, if social science is to become more relevant and influential so as to impact on the drawing and execution of policy, certain measures need to be taken to narrow its distance from the policy sphere. This decision is less obvious than it seems. Both research and experience have proved that policy-making is a complex, often sub-rational, interactive process that involves a wide range of actors such as decision makers, bureaucrats, researchers, organized interests, citizen and civil society representatives and research brokers. In addition, social science often needs to defend both its relevance to policy and its own scientific status. Moving away from instrumental visions of the link between social research and policy, this collective volume aims to highlight the more constructed nature of the use of social knowledge.

How the NSF became an important yet controversial patron for the social sciences, influencing debates over their scientific status and social relevance. In the early Cold War years, the U.S. government established the National Science Foundation (NSF), a civilian agency that soon became widely known for its dedication to supporting first-rate science. The agency's 1950 enabling legislation made no mention of the social sciences, although it included a vague reference to "other sciences." Nevertheless, as Mark Solovey shows in this book, the NSF also soon became a major--albeit controversial--source of public funding for them.

The interest of physicists in economic and social questions is not new: for over four decades, we have witnessed the emergence of what is called nowadays “sociophysics” and “econophysics”, vigorous and challenging areas within the wider “Interdisciplinary Physics”. With tools borrowed from Statistical Physics and Complexity, this new area of study have already made important contributions, which in turn have fostered the development of novel theoretical foundations in Social Science and Economics, via mathematical approaches, agent-based modelling and numerical simulations. From these foundations, Computational Social Science has grown to incorporate as well the empirical component --aided by the recent data deluge from the Web 2.0 and 3.0--, closing in this way the experiment-theory cycle in the best tradition of Physics.

The third edition of this leading textbook offers a contemporary, lively and accessible overview of international actors and social policy formation, identifying key issues, debates and priorities for action in social policy across the Global South and North.

The rapid advances of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years have led to numerous creative applications in science. Accelerating the productivity of science could be the most economically and socially valuable of all the uses of AI.

Is more government aid needed? Who will pay for care of aging baby boomers? Will all Americans finally get health insurance? These are just some of the topics covered in Issues for Debate in Social Policy. Engaging and reader-friendly articles encourage students to think critically about some of the most pressing social policy issues of our time. Classroom discussions will sparkle as a result! About CQ Researcher Readers In the tradition of nonpartisanship and current analysis that is the hallmark of CQ Press, readers investigate important and controversial policy issues. Offer your students the balanced reporting, complete overviews, and engaging writing that has consistently provided for more than 80 years. Each article gives substantial background andanalysis of a particular issue as well as useful pedagogical features to inspire critical thinking andto help students grasp and review key material: A Pro/Con box that examines two competing sides of a single question A detailed chronology of key dates and events An annotated bibliography and Web resources Outlook sections that address possible regulation and initiatives from Capitol Hill and the White House over the next 5 to 10 years Photos, charts, graphs, and maps

This unique book provides a multidisciplinary review of current, climate-change research projects at universities around the globe, offering perspectives from all of the natural and social sciences. Numerous universities worldwide pursue state-of-the-art research on climate change, focussing on mitigation of its effects as well as human adaptation to it. However, the 2015 Paris 21st Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) (COP 21)” demonstrated that there is still much room for improvement in the role played by universities in international negotiations and decision-making on climate change. To date, few scientific meetings have provided multidisciplinary perspectives on climate change in which researchers across the natural and social sciences could come together to exchange research findings and discuss methods relating to climate change mitigation and adaption studies. As a result the published literature has also lacked a broad perspective. This book fills that gap and is of interest to all researchers and policy-makers concerned with global climate change regardless of their area of expertise.

This volume is a serious attempt to open up the subject of European philosophy of science to real thought, and provide the structural basis for the interdisciplinary development of its specialist fields, but also to provoke reflection on the idea of ‘European philosophy of science’. This efforts should foster a contemporaneous reflection on what might be meant by philosophy of science in Europe and European philosophy of science, and how in fact awareness of it could assist philosophers interpret and motivate their research through a stronger collective identity. The overarching aim is to set the background for a collaborative project organising, systematising, and ultimately forging an identity for, European philosophy of science by creating research structures and developing research networks across Europe to promote its development.

The first of two volumes in the Advances in Child Development and Behavior series, Equity and Justice in Developmental Science: Theoretical and Methodological Issues focuses on conceptual issues, definitions, and critical concepts relevant to equity and justice for the developmental sciences. This volume covers critical methodological issues that serve to either challenge or advance our understanding of, and ability to promote, equity and justice in the developmental sciences. Both volumes bring together a growing body of developmental scholarship that addresses how issues relevant to equity and justice (or their opposites) affect development and developmental outcomes, as well as scholarship focused on mitigating the developmental consequences of inequity, inequality, and injustice for young people, families, and communities and ensuring that all young people have opportunities to develop and thrive. Contains contributions from leading authorities in the field of child development and behavior Presents a coherent picture of the importance of the development of children’s participation in ongoing activity Provides a major step forward in highlighting patterns and variability in the normative development of the everyday lives of children, expanding beyond the usual research populations that have extensive Western schooling in common Focuses on conceptual issues, definitions, and critical concepts relevant to equity and justice for the developmental sciences