Social Science and Soviet Administrative Behavior

1972 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 444-471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik P. Hoffmann

Few scholars have utilized contemporary social science theory in designing research on Communist countries. And fewer still have in systematically incorporated data from Communist countries into the existing body of social science theory. That is, middle-range theories such as organization, development, and socialization theory have not significantly shaped Western research on Communist systems. And surprisingly few one-, two-, and multivariable generalizations from the existing social science literature have been confirmed, rejected, or refined—even tentatively—with data from Communist countries.

2017 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 35-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Callaghan

Management theory has a long history of drawing from social science theory to provide useful theoretical frameworks for managers. In resource constricted times, and in global contexts of uncertainty, the need for theory to provide insights for managers has perhaps never been so important. The objective of this research is to provide an analysis of seminal theory of paradigms and their incommensurability, and to offer a model which includes contemporary literature relevant to the challenges faced by management as a field. While certain pillars of social science theory have provided the bedrock upon which management has built certain of its literature, this paper argues not all social science tenets have been immune to the vagaries of contextual change over past decades. This paper seeks to revisit seminal social science literature on paradigms, and to derive a model of paradigm relationships in relation to management’s relationships to other social sciences. Central to this reflexive engagement is the argument that social science validity is contingent on a multiplicity of perspectives, and that paradigm incommensurability is antithetical to notions of contemporary validity. Implications for management are drawn from the analysis.


Author(s):  
Marc J. Stern

Social science theory for environmental sustainability: A practical guide makes social science theory accessible and usable to anyone interested in working toward environmental sustainability at any scale. Environmental problems are, first and foremost, people problems. Without better understandings of the people involved, solutions are often hard to come by. This book answers calls for demonstrating the value of theories from the social sciences for solving these types of problems and provides strategies to facilitate their use. It contains concise summaries of over thirty social science theories and demonstrates how to use them in diverse contexts associated with environmental conflict, conservation, natural resource management, and other environmental sustainability challenges. The practical applications of the theories include persuasive communication, conflict resolution, collaboration, negotiation, enhancing organizational effectiveness, working across cultures, generating collective impact, and building more resilient governance of social-ecological systems. Examples throughout the book and detailed vignettes illustrate how to combine multiple social science theories to develop effective strategies for environmental problem solving. The final chapter draws out key principles for enhancing these efforts. The book will serve as a key reference for environmental professionals, business people, students, scientists, public officials, government employees, aid workers, or any concerned citizen who wants to be better equipped to navigate the social complexities of environmental challenges and make a meaningful impact on any environmental issue.


2021 ◽  
pp. 003802612110192
Author(s):  
Alex Broom ◽  
Sophie Lewis ◽  
Rhiannon Parker ◽  
Leah Williams Veazey ◽  
Katherine Kenny ◽  
...  

What does migrancy mean for personhood, and how does this flow through caring relations? Drawing on life history interviews and photo elicitation with 43 people who identify as migrants and live with cancer, here we argue for the significance of recognising complex personhood as it inflects illness and care. Drawing on social science theory around temporalities, moralities and belonging, we assemble a series of cross-cutting themes at the intersection of personhood and care; relations that transcend cultural origins yet are vividly illustrated in relation to migrant pasts. In seeking a multidimensional view of personhood, we attend to the intersecting layers of complexity that make up care in this context vis-a-vis an emphasis on forms of difference, vulnerability and otherness. In this way, we develop an approach to personhood and care that broadens the lens on migrancy and cancer, but also, one that speaks to the importance of recognition of complexity and how it shapes care more generally.


2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 255-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALEXANDRA HUNEEUS

AbstractThis article argues that human rights law – which mediates between claims about universal human nature, on the one hand, and hard-fought political battles, on the other – is in particular need of a richer exchange between jurisprudential approaches and social science theory and methods. Using the example of the Inter-American Human Rights System, the article calls for more human rights scholarship with a new realist sensibility. It demonstrates in what ways legal and social science scholarship on human rights law both stand to improve through sustained, thoughtful exchange.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahendran Roobavannan ◽  
Tim H. M. van Emmerik ◽  
Yasmina Elshafei ◽  
Jaya Kandasamy ◽  
Matthew Sanderson ◽  
...  

Abstract. Sustainable water resources management relies on understanding how societies and water systems co-evolve. Many place-based socio-hydrology (SH) studies use proxies, such as environmental degradation, to capture key elements of the social component of system dynamics. Parameters of assumed relationships between environmental degradation and the human response to it are usually obtained through calibration. Since these relationships are not yet underpinned by social science theories, confidence in the predictive power of such place-based socio-hydrologic models remains low. The generalisability of SH models therefore requires major advances in incorporating more realistic relationships, underpinned by appropriate hydrological and social science data, and theories. The latter is a critical input, since human culture – especially values and norms arising from it – influences behaviour and the consequences of behaviours. This paper reviews a key social science theory that links cultural factors to environmental decision-making, assesses how to better incorporate social science insights to enhance SH models, and raises important questions to be addressed in moving forward. This is done in the context of recent progress in socio-hydrological studies and the gaps that remain to be filled. The paper concludes with a discussion of challenges and opportunities in terms of generalisation of SH models and the use of available data to allow future prediction and model transfer to ungauged basins.


Author(s):  
Alan Chong

This chapter seeks to define the term “cyberinsecurity” as the intersection of human fears and errors with user behaviour in a digital setting. Examining links between psychology and human-computer interaction, the author explores several case studies set against the context of cyber-authoritarianism in Asian countries and argues that any attempts to address or advance studies in cybersecurity and cyberwarfare must be grounded in a solid foundation of current social science theory.


Author(s):  
George W. Breslauer

Strategies of modernization are legion within the social science literature. Stalin’s Revolution from Above—but not the Great Terror—is set within this literature as a revolutionary, as opposed to a reformist, strategy. Features of the revolutionary strategy may have been considered necessary to urgently create the capacity to defend the country in a hostile world. But the extent of revolutionary violence against the peasantry cannot be justified in those terms.


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