Schools of thought : twenty-five years of interpretive social science / edited by Joan W. Scott, Debra Keates.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Scott, Joan Wallach.

Keates, Debra.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social sciences--Congresses.

Social sciences.

Genre:

Conference papers and proceedings.

Physical Description:

vi, 401 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, [2001]

Summary:

Schools of Thought brings together a cast of prominent scholars to assess, with unprecedented breadth and vigor, the intellectual revolution over the past quarter century in the social sciences. This collection of twenty essays stems from a 1997 conference that celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Institute for Advanced Study's School of Social Science. The authors, who represent a wide range of disciplines, are all associated with the School's emphasis on interpretive social science, which rejects models from the hard sciences and opts instead for a humanistic approach to social inquiry.

Following a preface by Clifford Geertz, whose profound insights have helped shape the School from the outset, the essays are arranged in four sections. The first offers personal reflections on disciplinary changes; the second features essays advocating changes in focus or methodology; the third presents field overviews and institutional history; while the fourth addresses the link between political philosophy and world governance. Two recurring themes are the uses (and pitfalls) of interdisciplinary studies and the relation between scholarship and social change. This book will be rewarding for anyone interested in how changing trends in scholarship shape the understanding of our social worlds.

The contributors include David Apter, Kaushik Basu, Judith Butler, Nicholas Dirks, Jean Elshtain, Peter Galison, Wolf Lepenies, Jane Mansbridge, Andrew Pickering, Mary Poovey, Istvan Rev, Renato Rosaldo, Michael Rustin, Joan W. Scott, William H. Swell, Jr., Quentin Skinner, Charles Taylor, Anna Tsing, Michael Walzer, and Gavin Wright.

Contents:

Introduction: School Building: A Retrospective Preface / Clifford Geertz 1

Part 1 Blurred Genres: Reflections on Disciplinary Practices 13

Chapter 1 Political Theory after the Enlightenment Project / Quentin Skinner 15

Chapter 2 Twenty-five Years of Social Science and Social Change: A Personal Memoir / Wolf Lepenies 25

Chapter 3 Economic History as a Cure for Economics / Gavin Wright 41

Chapter 4 Can the "Other" of Philosophy Speak? / Judith Butler 52

Chapter 5 Reflections on Interdisciplinarity / Renato Rosaldo 67

Part 2 The State of the Art: New Methods and New Questions 83

Chapter 6 After History? / Joan W. Scott 85

Chapter 7 The Global Situation / Anna Tsing 104

Chapter 8 Modernity and Identity / Charles Taylor 139

Chapter 9 The Role of Norms and Law in Economics: An Essay on Political Economy / Kaushik Basu 154

Chapter 10 Material Culture, Theoretical Culture, and Delocalization / Peter Galison 179

Chapter 11 Science as Alchemy / Andrew Pickering 194

Part 3 Thick Description: Field Overviews and Institutional History 207

Chapter 12 Whatever Happened to the "Social" in Social History? / William H. Sewell, Jr. 209

Chapter 13 Postcolonialism and Its Discontents: History, Anthropology, and Postcolonial Critique / Nicholas B. Dirks 227

Chapter 14 Structure, Contingency, and Choice: A Comparison of Trends and Tendencies in Political Science / David E. Apter 252

Chapter 15 Interdisciplinarity at New York University / Mary Poovey 288

Part 4 The World in Pieces: Political Philosophy and World Governance 313

Chapter 16 Political Theory and Moral Responsibility / Jean Bethke Elshtain 315

Chapter 17 A "Moral Core" Solution to the Prisoners' Dilemma / Jane Mansbridge 330

Chapter 18 Reinterpreting Risk / Michael Rustin 348

Chapter 19 Retrotopia: Critical Reason Turns Primitive / Istvan Rev 364

Chapter 20 International Society: What Is the Best that We Can Do? / Michael Walzer 388.

Notes:

Papers presented at a conference.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

0691088411

069108842X

OCLC:

46685183