Post-modernism and the social sciences : insights, inroads, and intrusions / Pauline Marie Rosenau.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Rosenau, Pauline Vaillancourt.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Postmodernism--Social aspects.

Postmodernism.

Social sciences--Philosophy.

Social sciences.

Social movements.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (250 pages)

Edition:

Course Book

Place of Publication:

Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, c1992.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Post-modernism offers a revolutionary approach to the study of society: in questioning the validity of modern science and the notion of objective knowledge, this movement discards history, rejects humanism, and resists any truth claims. In this comprehensive assessment of post-modernism, Pauline Rosenau traces its origins in the humanities and describes how its key concepts are today being applied to, and are restructuring, the social sciences. Serving as neither an opponent nor an apologist for the movement, she cuts through post-modernism's often incomprehensible jargon in order to offer all readers a lucid exposition of its propositions. Rosenau shows how the post-modern challenge to reason and rational organization radiates across academic fields. For example, in psychology it questions the conscious, logical, coherent subject; in public administration it encourages a retreat from central planning and from reliance on specialists; in political science it calls into question the authority of hierarchical, bureaucratic decision-making structures that function in carefully defined spheres; in anthropology it inspires the protection of local, primitive cultures from First World attempts to reorganize them. In all of the social sciences, she argues, post-modernism repudiates representative democracy and plays havoc with the very meaning of "left-wing" and "right-wing." Rosenau also highlights how post-modernism has inspired a new generation of social movements, ranging from New Age sensitivities to Third World fundamentalism. In weighing its strengths and weaknesses, the author examines two major tendencies within post-modernism, the largely European, skeptical form and the predominantly Anglo-North-American form, which suggests alternative political, social, and cultural projects. She draws examples from anthropology, economics, geography, history, international relations, law, planning, political science, psychology, sociology, urban studies, and women's studies, and provides a glossary of post-modern terms to assist the uninitiated reader with special meanings not found in standard dictionaries.

Contents:

Front matter

CONTENTS

PREFACE

GLOSSARY OF POST-MODERN TERMS

ONE. Into the Fray: Crisis, Continuity, and Diversity

TWO. Abandoning the Author, Transforming the Text, and Re-orienting the Reader

THREE. Subverting the Subject

FOUR. Humbling History, Transforming Time, and Garbling Geography (Space)

FIVE. A Theory of Theory and the Terrorism of Truth

SIX. Repudiating Representation

SEVEN. Epistemology and Methodology: Post-Modern Alternatives

EIGHT. Post-Modern Political Orientations and Social Science

NINE. Elements for an Assessment

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Backmatter

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [185]-216) and index.

ISBN:

9786612751516

9781400809820

1400809827

9781400810154

1400810159

9781400820610

1400820618

9781282751514

1282751514

9781400813193

1400813190

OCLC:

699474631