Thinking about the World

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
John W. Meyer ◽  
Mathias Risse
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
World Society ◽  
The Other ◽  
Global Integration ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
Social Scientific

In recent decades the world has grown together in some unprecedented ways. This integration is linked to a greatly expanded public and collective awareness of global integration and interdependence. Academics across the social sciences and humanities have been trying to make sense of this expanded world within the confines of their disciplines. In sociology, since the 1970s, notions of the world as a society have become more and more prominent. John Meyer, among others, has put forward, theoretically and empirically, a general world society approach. In philosophy, much more recently, Mathias Risse has proposed the grounds-of-justice approach. Even though one is a social scientific approach and the other a philosophical one, the approaches of Meyer and Risse have much in common. Both call attention to the expanded array of injustice claims arising from unregulated globalization. This chapter brings these two approaches into a conversation.

scholarly journals Unholy goals and flawed methods

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlotte Wien ◽  
Bertil Fabricius Dorch
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
The Other ◽  
H Index ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Future Production ◽  
The Social ◽  
Job Advertisements ◽  
The World ◽  
Incomplete Databases

A problematic practice has evolved, which is threatening to undermine research in the social sciences and humanities. Bibliometrics is often claimed to be able to measure researchers’ efficiency. We find this quite problematic and, in this article, we illustrate this point by discussing two different bibliometric practices. One is the so-called h-index, the other the so-called BFI-points (Den bibliometriske Forskningsindikator, The Bibliometric Research Indicator). The BFI was never intended to be used for evaluating individual researchers and their productivity. Yet since its introduction in 2008 especially the social sciences and the humanities experience a pressure to deliver “BFI points” and academic job advertisements within the social sciences and the humanities increasingly mention expectations for people’s past and/or future production of BFI points. The h-index is even more problematic because no one academic database covers all the research publications in the world. The whole thing is completely disorganized, and as many as five different h-indexes exist for each researcher. What makes the h-index even more useless is that it will not let you make comparisons across disciplines. Furthermore, like other simple measurements, it is liable to be manipulated and misinterpreted. On that background, it is remarkable that numbers extracted from incomplete databases are used for describing the quality of researchers and their institutions.

Benson and Miller in Perspective

1979 ◽  
Vol 3 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 242-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Kuklick
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Applied Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Knowledge ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The One ◽  
Stock Of Knowledge

Despite differences in coloration Miller and Benson are birds of a feather. Although he is no Pollyanna, Miller believes that there has been a modest and decent series of advances in the social sciences and that the most conscientious, diligent, and intelligent researchers will continue to add to this stock of knowledge. Benson is much more pessimistic about the achievements of yesterday and today but, in turn, offers us the hope of a far brighter tomorrow. Miller explains Benson’s hyperbolic views about the past and future by distinguishing between pure and applied science and by pointing out Benson’s naivete about politics: the itch to understand the world is different from the one to make it better; and, Miller says, because Benson sees that we have not made things better, he should not assume we do not know more about them; Benson ought to realize, Miller adds, that the way politicians translate basic social knowledge into social policy need not bring about rational or desirable results. On the other side, Benson sees more clearly than Miller that the development of science has always been intimately intertwined with the control of the environment and the amelioration of the human estate.

scholarly journals A Sociology of Foreign Aid and the World Society

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liam Swiss
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Aid ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
Scientific Literature ◽  
World Society ◽  
World Society Theory ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
New Research ◽  
Society Research

This article highlights an emerging research agenda for the study of foreign aid through a World Society theory lens. First, it briefly summarizes the social scientific literature on aid and sociologists' earlier contributions to this research. Next, it reviews the contours of world society research and the place of aid within this body of literature. Finally, it outlines three emergent threads of research on foreign aid that comprise a new research agenda for the sociology of foreign aid and its role in world society globalization.

Synergetic scientism and social picture of the world

10.12737/3395 ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Карпин ◽  
Vladimir Karpin
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Fundamental Problem ◽  
Social Systems ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Nonequilibrium Systems ◽  
Evolutionary Mechanisms ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Special Scientific

The paper discusses possible ways of solving the fundamental problem of the community of scientific knowledge – the integration of natural and social sciences and humanities. Attempts to find common patterns of special scientific pictures of the world, in particular, biological and social, have led to a discussion of an interdisciplinary science as sociobiology which attempts to explain the social behavior of living beings by set of certain advantage generated in the course of evolution. Research field of sociobiology intersects with the study of evolutionary theory, zoology, genetics and other disciplines. In the field of social sciences it is close to evolutionary psychology exploring the behavior theory. Attempts to explain such behaviors as altruism, aggression are made using evolutionary mechanisms. Today we are witnessing the birth of the third, synergetic paradigm based on emerging, formation, development and change (evolution) of complex open nonlinear nonequilibrium systems. The theory of self-organization claims to interdisciplinarity and universality, including in the field of creation of the modern social picture of the world. The central problem under the consideration is the fact that synergy deals with the collective, mass processes, with complex social systems and is the most rational key to this problem solving.

Reflections on the “World Revolution” of 1940

1941 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Brooks
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
First World War ◽  
The Other ◽  
World War ◽  
The Social ◽  
The First World War ◽  
The World ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Infinite Variety ◽  
First World

So controversial is the subject of thai address–“Reflections on the ‘World Revolution’ of 1940”–that a few words of justification in in order. You may be assured that it was not chosen without considerable thought and trepidation. To begin with, I made a study of the addresses of my thirty-four predecessors, as presented in the pages of the American Political Science Review. Without exception, these papers impressed me as wise, scholarly, finely stated, and cogently argued. Occasionally they were lightened by the lambent play of humor. On the other hand, several of them wen decidedly dry–a quality lees refreshing in discourses than in wines. Many of my predecessors dealt penetratingly and profoundly with topics taken from the fields of specialisation wherein they were masters, often the greatest of American masters. Others discussed broadly and philosophically the nature of political science, its relations to the social sciences in general, or the problems encountered in teaching this science.Of course so brief a summary cannot do justice to the almost infinite variety of materials presented by past presidents of our Association. There was, however, one type of subject which as a rule they avoided—that of contemporary, controversial political affairs. Even during the years of the First World War and immediately thereafter, this proved to be the case with only one or two exceptions. No doubt the motive which prompted most of my predecessors to avoid issues of the day was a sound one.

scholarly journals PARADIGMA DASAR FENOMENOLOGIS, HERMENEUTIKA DAN TEORI KRITIS

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-20
Author(s):  
Wisri Wisri ◽  
Abd. Mughni
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Critical Theory ◽  
The Other ◽  
Valuable Contribution ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Interpretation System ◽  
To Come ◽  
Holy Book

Attempts to understand reality as it exists in its purity without the need to "intervention" by anything and anyone. Regardless of that advantages and disadvantages, that has provided a valuable contribution to the world of science, overcoming the crisis of methodology, and could become an influential discipline. Phenomenology tries to come near to the object of the study critically and carefully in observation, by not prejudiced with any previous conceptions. Therefore, it is seen as a rigorous science (a tight science) by the phenomenologist. Hermeneutic initially "only" interpret the texts of holy book, in the development becoming more expansive. It spread abroad to the other fields in the social sciences, especially philology, dassein and existential understanding, interpretation, and interpretation system. Finally phenomenology and hermeneutic can be firmly united by Ricoeur. They reputed that they can not be separated and should be accompanied each other. Phenomenology is a basic "irreplaceable" assumption for hermeneutic. On the contrary, hermeneutic is the proponent for phenomenology to running the program well. While the goal of critical theory is to eliminate the various forms of domination and encourage freedom, justice and equality. This theory uses the reflective method by getting constructive critisism to the social administration or institution, politic or economic, which tended to obstructive to the attainment of freedom, justice, and equality.

scholarly journals A case of the evil eye in Genesis 16:4-5: A social-scientific perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zacharias Kotze
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Social Function ◽  
Biblical Literature ◽  
Evil Eye ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Scientific Approach ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Social Scientific ◽  
And Function

The nature and function of Evil Eye Belief and Practice (EEBP) in the world of the Old Testament has been understudied. The majority view has been that the belief was limited to the notion of largesse in this collection of literature. This article demonstrated that the idiom  םינעב  ללק in Genesis 16:4-5, routinely interpreted as a metaphor for scorn on the part of Hagar, could in fact be interpreted as a linguistic vehicle for the concept of the malevolent eye of Sarai. The author argued for an interpretation wherein Sarai, driven by envy, accused Hagar of casting the evil eye on her and used this alleged transgression as an excuse to abuse her slave. The evil eye in the Old Testament was not restricted to the idea of generosity, but was also closely associated with the concept of envy, as has been the case in the majority of ancient and modern cultures in which EEPB has featured. It further confirmed that the social function of the evil eye in the ancient world was not only constrained to the avoidance of envy-related violence but also served as an instrument of oppression in the hands of the rich and privileged. The key method utilised in this study was the social-scientific approach to the interpretation of biblical literature.

scholarly journals Individuality and liminarity: some considerations concerning rites of passage and modernity

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto DaMatta
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Classical Tradition ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Social Life ◽  
Rites Of Passage ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Critical Link

Abstract This article explores a critical link between two concepts which are central to the social sciences: the idea of liminarity, engendered by the anthropological tradition of self-centred and self-referred monographic studies; and the idea of individuality, a key concept within the classical tradition of the socio-historical studies of great civilizations (as well as being the crucial and familiar category of our civil and political universe). The author seeks to show how a bridge can be established between these two concepts, which may at first appear distant, by focusing on certain under-discussed aspects of rites of passage. He argues that the ‘liminal’ phase of rites of passage is tied to the ambiguity brought about through the isolation and individualization of the initiate. It is thus the experience of being ‘outside-the-world’ that brings forth and characterises liminal states, not the other way around - in short, it is individuality that engenders liminarity. Rites of passage transform this experience into complementarity, into an immersion within a network of social relationships, which the ordeals, in contrast, establish as a model for the plenitude of social life.

scholarly journals Sanitation under challenge: contributions from the social sciences

Water Policy ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 797-809 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bas J. M. van Vliet ◽  
Gert Spaargaren ◽  
Peter Oosterveer
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Technical Change ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Technical Issue ◽  
Sanitation Services ◽  
Dead End ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Social Scientific

This paper reviews the contribution the social sciences can make to the challenge of providing access to sustainable sanitation services and infrastructures for billions of people, in both the over- and underdeveloped parts of the world. The paper reviews and discusses three particular social scientific topics relevant for the sanitation challenge: the nature of socio-technical change, the issue of multilevel governance, and the role of the citizen-consumer. It is argued that sanitation is as much a social as it is a technical issue, and that the role of social scientific knowledge needs to be strengthened and given more attention in this context. The key contribution from the social sciences is to be found in its capacity to help widen the narrow, technical definitions of sanitation by including actors and their needs and belief systems, and by highlighting the alternative socio-technical tools and governance arrangements that are instrumental in moving beyond some of the dead-end roads of traditional water engineering and sanitation provision.

Editorial

2007 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-391
Author(s):  
Martha Crago
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Great Pleasure ◽  
Global Context ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
Cold Snap ◽  
Full Swing ◽  
Bare Minimum

It gives me great pleasure to introduce this Special Issue of Applied Psycholinguistics. One might say that it was very Canadian in its conception. The period between Christmas and New Years 2004 was particularly cold in Montreal and Toronto. It was during this very cold snap that Ellen Bialystok, Fred Genesee, and I decided to apply to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for special funding to host a conference on bilingualism. To make matters worse, one of our universities only heated its offices to the bare minimum during the holidays, and Ellen Bialystok's furnace broke down. With cold fingers, time running short, and the holiday period in full swing, we nevertheless managed to contact a dozen leading researchers from several countries who consented to become main speakers at the conference, Language Acquisition and Bilingualism: Consequences for a Multilingual Society, held in Toronto in May 2006 (a much warmer event). These researchers were joined by more than 300 people from 34 countries around the world, 119 of whom presented posters of their research (chosen from 250 submissions). The eager response of our research and practitioner communities for the conference and the compelling importance of the policy, educational, and program implications of bilingualism in a global context convinced me, as Editor of the Journal, that we should share the interest of the conference with you, the readers of Applied Psycholinguistics. This Special Issue contains articles by a number of the conference's speakers, and it was jointly edited by Ellen Bialystok and me with the help of Fred Genesee.

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