The scientific study of society / by Max Steuer.

Format:

• Book

Author/Creator:

• Steuer, Max David.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

• Social sciences.
• Social sciences--Methodology.

Physical Description:

xix, 464 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Boston : Kluwer Academic Publishers, [2003]

Summary:

This book presents an abstract discussion of social science, in a period when science in all forms is under attack, does little to inform the debate on its role and progress. Moreover, there is a strong and growing tendency for work that is far from scientific to go under the label of social sciences. The Scientific Study of Society undertakes the novel approach of reviewing the journal literature on six different topics by each of the five social sciences, and so highlights the contrasting approaches of each of the disciplines. Recent work by anthropologists, economists, political scientists, social psychologists and sociologists on crime, migration, the family, housing, money and religion is examined. The topics are of concern to policy makers and the book argues that policy makers should make wider use of scientific knowledge in addressing these and other social issues.

Contents:

• Normal science 4
• Social science 5
• The 'science' in social science 7
• Friends, frauds and pretenders 8
• What are the social sciences? 9
• Selecting topics 10
• Support disciplines 11
• Pulling the threads together 13
• Research, pure and applied 14
• 2. What Is Social Science? 17
• Friends and enemies of natural and social science 17
• Science as culture 18
• Understanding 20
• How does science, natural or social, work? 23
• The common element in science 25
• Scientific establishments 26
• Science as structure 28
• Facts, theories and assumptions 30
• Ordinary scientific work 32
• Is social science the same? 34
• Three Differences of Degree 36
• Experiments 37
• Open to bias? 38
• The social sciences 42
• 3. Valid and Invalid Alternatives to Social Science 45
• Art 45
• The basic distinction between art and science 48
• History 49
• Philosophy 52
• Pretending to be Social Science 54
• Social revelation 55
• Social Criticism 57
• Social Poetry 58
• Seeing value in incoherence 60
• 4. The Five Social Sciences and Their Sister Subjects 63
• Divisions Between Disciplines 63
• The Five Social Sciences 66
• Anthropology 66
• Economics 68
• Political Science 70
• Social Psychology 72
• Sociology 74
• The Input Sister Subjects 76
• Demography 76
• Geography 77
• Lingusitics 78
• The Interdisciplinary Sister Subjects 79
• Subject matter based subjects 79
• International Relations 80
• Industrial Relations 80
• Media Studies 80
• Choices and Methods 81
• 5. Crime 87
• Anthropology 92
• Food sharing among the Meriam 93
• Crime and Delinquency in the United States 96
• Anthropologist as Expert Witness 100
• An Anthropological Dispute on Rural Vigilantism 101
• Sociology 104
• Sentencing 105
• The Causes of Crime 111
• Street Life 117
• Crime and the Media 120
• White Collar Crime 121
• Economics 122
• Cheating on Taxes 124
• Is Risking Arrest Rational? 127
• Deterring Homicide 130
• Hiring Illegal Labour
• An Experimental Investigation 131
• Gun Control 133
• Social Psychology 136
• How Do Juries Decide? 137
• Rape 143
• Judging from Appearances 150
• Police under Pressure 154
• Minor Crimes 156
• Political Science 158
• State Laws on Drugs, and in Use of the Death Penalty 159
• Crime and Race in America 162
• Mafia Culture, and Mafia-Like Organisations in Russia 163
• The Politics of Corruption Cleanups 164
• Violations of Environmental Law by Firms 166
• Some Politics of Policing 167
• The Crime of Pornography 168
• 6. Migration 171
• The Reasons for Migrating 173
• The Experience of Immigrants in the Host Country 182
• Attitudes towards Immigrants 190
• Do Immigrants 'Fit In'? 194
• Stay or Return? 199
• Immigrants or Refugees? 200
• Controlling Migration 202
• 7. The Family 207
• Who Cares? 209
• Direct Facts 213
• Contextual Facts 215
• Compiled Facts 216
• Stylised Facts 218
• High Order Facts 221
• Casual Theory 227
• Measuring Effects 227
• Abstract Models 229
• Testing Theories 234
• 8. Money 241
• The Priceless Institution 241
• Anthropology 244
• Political Science 250
• Social Psychology 256
• Sociology 260
• Economics 265
• 9. Housing 273
• Why Housing? 273
• Applications to policy 275
• Remote from policy 276
• Potential for policy 287
• Direct policy applications 299
• 10. Religion 311
• Causes and Consequences of Belief 311
• Sociology 313
• Social psychology 325
• Political Science 336
• Economics 346
• Anthropology 355
• 11. What Social Science is 365
• Valid generalising 365
• The objectives 366
• A balanced and accurate picture? 367
• What are they like? 373
• Why five disciplines? 391
• Interdisciplinary Social Science 394
• The Economics 'Take-over' 397
• How are we doing? 398
• 12. Social Science and Public Policy 409
• Social science as applied knowledge 409
• Social science compared to the alternatives 410
• Economics as applied social science 412
• Knowledge can be used, or ignored 415
• Is it better to be certain, or scientific? 417
• Social science and the legal profession 420
• Science and ideology 421
• Curiosity and applicability 423
• Journals 463.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 425-443) and indexes.

ISBN:

1402073216

OCLC:

51046774