Skip to main content

Books in Social sciences

The Social Sciences collection forms a definitive resource for those entering, researching, or teaching in any of the many disciplines making up this interdisciplinary area of study. Written by experts and researchers from both Academic and Commercial domains, titles offer global scope and perspectives.

Key subject areas include: Library and Information Science; Transportation; Urban Studies; Geography, Planning, and Development; Security; Emergency Management.

  • Politics and Religion

    • 1st Edition
    • Sami Nair
    • English
    In Paris in the autumn of 1989 three Muslim girls, observing their own religious custom, went to school wearing Muslim headscarves. The ensuing political storm, which continued unabated into 1990, has brought sharply into focus one of the fundamental questions related to Western democracy: the nature of the relationship between religion and the state. The 'scarves affair' was primarily a dispute between practitioners of Islam and the secular state. However, the controversy in France and similar recent controversies elsewhere have forced a general and radical reappraisal of the wide and complex issue of religion and its relation to politics. This issue of Contemporary European Affairs is a contribution to that debate.
  • Educating Europe

    • 1st Edition
    • David J. Bell
    • English
    The last few years have seen monumental battles over education both in Britain and in continental Europe. While the need for the state to take responsibility for raising educational standards has never been fully accepted in Britain, on the continent of Europe the state is seen to have a legitimate and necessary role in providing better education for the bulk of its citizens. This difference will take on greater importance after '1992' when competition will depend on a skilled, that is educated, workforce. In the Europe of the future there will be little room for unskilled, low-paid workers. This issue of Contemporary European Affairs discusses present and future aspects of the education systems of the UK, France, Germany and Italy.
  • The Manufacture of Knowledge

    An Essay on the Constructivist and Contextual Nature of Science
    • 1st Edition
    • K.D. Knorr-Cetina
    • English
    The anthropological approach is the central focus of this study. Laboratories are looked upon with the innocent eye of the traveller in exotic lands, and the societies found in these places are observed with the objective yet compassionate eye of the visitor from a quite other cultural milieu. There are many surprises that await us if we enter a laboratory in this frame of mind... This study is a realistic enterprise, an attempt to truly represent the social order of life in laboratories and institutes of research, just as they are. By bringing the philosophical issues to the surface as matters not of prejudgement but as matters of concern, Karin Knorr-Cetina has developed the first really positive challenge to the philosophy of science since the days of paradigms and internal definitions of meanings
  • Political Economy

    Volume 2
    • 1st Edition
    • Oskar Lange
    • English
    Political Economy, Volume 2 provides information pertinent to the problems of political economy. This book presents the economic theory of social systems. Organized into four chapters, this book begins with an overview of the basic problems of the process of reproduction. This text then examines the theory of reproduction, mainly in terms of physical relationships, and the theory of commodity production. Other chapters consider the problems of generation and distribution of the surplus product, the social structure, the role of the superstructure, and the kinds of economic incentives that are specific to different social systems. This book discusses as well the theory of social systems, commodity production, and the law of value. The final chapter deals with the requirements of reproduction, which determine the production of specific quantities of commodities and their material form. This book is a valuable resource for economists.
  • Sampling Source Book

    A Indexed Bibliography of the Literature of Sampling
    • 1st Edition
    • C L Thomas
    • English
    The Sampling Source Book is an invaluable guide to the world's literature on sampling and provides a timely and much needed focus on what is a diverse and important subject. Based on an exhaustive search of the world's literature, this index containsbibliographi... references to journal articles, patents, conference proceedings, books, technical reports and standards. Details of databases searched and outlines are provided as to how the searches were conducted to facilitate update of the data by usersof the index. The material contained in this source book has been assessed by specialists in sampling operations; assuring relevance of the material included. Comprehensive lists of suppliers of sampling equipment, consultants and professional bodieswith expertise and interests in sampling are also presented.
  • Inadvertent Nuclear War

    The Implications of the Changing Global Order
    • 1st Edition
    • Hå. Wiberg + 2 more
    • English
    Since the dramatic end of the Pacific War in 1945 the threat of nuclear war has exercised the minds of many. Initial fears concerned the risk that a political crisis between the Superpowers would escalate through miltary confrontation into a 'calculated' nuclear war. Another scenario pictured a new Hitler commanding a nuclear-capable state prepared to use such weapons 'irrationally', possibly sparking a 'catalytic' nuclear war between the major Powers. More recently attention has shifted towards the risk of the 'accidental' release of nuclear weapons. While the risk of intentional conflict between the major Powers has lessened, the arsenals have only been marginally reduced, leaving the possibility of accidental release as perhaps the most threatening case. Inadvertent Nuclear War presents the risk in terms of the reliability and instability of the human and technical systems governing release, with contributions ranging from the engineering of computer software to the psychology of the chain of command. As Dr Wiberg states in his introduction, "No known technical construction, human being or social organization is absolutely failsafe."
  • Handbook of Quantitative Studies of Science and Technology

    • 1st Edition
    • A.F.J. van Raan
    • English
    Quantitative studies of science and technology represent the research field of utilization of mathematical, statistical, and data-analytical methods and techniques for gathering, handling, interpreting, and predicting a variety of features of the science and technology enterprise, such as performance, development, and dynamics. The field has both strongly developed applied research as well as basic research characteristics.The principal purpose of this handbook is to present this wide range of topics in sufficient depth to give readers a reasonably systematic understanding of the domain of contemporary quantitative studies of science and technology, a domain which incorporates theory, methods and techniques, and applications. In addressing this domain, the handbook aims at different groups of readers: those conducting research in the field of science and technology, including (graduate) students, and those who are to use results of the work presented in this book.
  • The Sea Power of the State

    • 1st Edition
    • S.G. Gorshkov
    • English
    Admiral Gorshkov has transformed the Soviet fleet into a world sea power for the first time in Russian history. He is Russia's most brilliant naval strategist of all time. He has created the modern Soviet navy. His book examines the main components of sea power among which attention is focused on the naval fleet of the present day, capable of conducting operations and solving strategic tasks in different regions of the world's oceans, together with other branches of the armed forces and independently
  • A Reader in Planning Theory

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 5
    • Andreas Faludi
    • English
    Urban and Regional Planning Series, Volume 5: A Reader in Planning Theory focuses on the approaches, methodologies, applications, and mechanics involved in planning theory. The selection first elaborates on a choice theory of planning, sociological considerations in the evaluation of planning, and British town planning. Discussions focus on social scientific research and town planning ideology, town planning as part of broader social policy, critics of traditional planning, value formulation, means identification, and effectuation. The text then examines comprehensive planning and social responsibility and building the middle-range bridge for comprehensive planning. The publication takes a look at the science of "muddling through", beyond the middle-range planning bridge, and goals of comprehensive planning. Topics include comprehensiveness and public interest, community development programming, non-comprehensive analysis, relations between means and ends, and successive comparisons as a system. The book also ponders on community decision behavior, a conceptual model for the analysis of planning behavior, and advocacy and pluralism in planning. The selection is a dependable reference for researchers interested in planning theory.
  • Futures for a Declining City

    Simulations for the Cleveland Area
    • 1st Edition
    • Katharine L. Bradbury + 2 more
    • Edwin S. Mills
    • English
    Futures for a Declining City: Simulations for the Cleveland Area discusses the processes associated with decrease in urban population or “urban decline” and other measures of urban size or function. This book describes the case study that analyzes what will happen to a declining metropolitan area and its central city if current trends on urban decline continue, and how that outcome might be affected by various policies designed to counteract further loss. This case study focuses on the Cleveland Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA) and its central city, Cleveland. The likely future course of urban decline acquired through quantitative estimates and methodologies for comparing policies is also covered in this text. This publication is aimed primarily at economists, urban planners, and political scientists, including those who formulate policies affecting declining urban areas.