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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.
  • Soviet Economic Thought and Political Power in the USSR

    Pergamon Policy Studies on The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
    • 1st Edition
    • Aron Katsenelinboigen
    • English
    Soviet Economic Thought and Political Power in the USSR examines the evolution of economic theory in the Soviet Union from uniformity under Josef Stalin to diversity in the post-Stalin period. The reasons for uniformity and diversity in Soviet economics are analyzed, along with the structure of this diversity, the paradoxes in its development, and the conditions under which it will continue. The connection between leaders of Soviet economics and the Communist Party rulers is also discussed. Emphasis is placed on one of the principal trends in Soviet economics in the post-Stalin period: mathematical economics. This book is comprised of six chapters and begins with a discussion on the development of the economic-mathematica... trend in the USSR. The social environment in the Soviet Union is examined in macro terms, along with the role of various mutations among the economists and the institutionalization of such mutations, especially in the framework of the existing research institutes and universities. The book also considers the attitudes of various factions of economists such as reactionaries, conservatives, and modernizers toward the question of the limitation of the leaders' power and toward some areas of economics, such as problems of mathematical modeling and institutional economics, and toward the Marxist ideology. The final chapter highlights the confusing struggle among the various trends in Soviet economics and the ways in which this struggle is supported by the country's political leaders. This monograph will be of interest to economists, political scientists, politicians, and economic policymakers.
  • Science for Public Policy

    • 1st Edition
    • H. Brooks + 1 more
    • English
    Since World War II, national and international policy makers have been confronted by a growing number of complex problems the resolution of which hangs, to a significant degree, on scientific knowledge or technical insights. This puts a premium on the quality and clarity of scientific/technical advice they receive. From their vantage points as scientists, policy makers or science advisors from both East and West, the authors of this book examine the issues involved in science for public policy and explore ways to improve the quality and timeliness of the scientific advice available to decision makers. Environmental problems provide much of the focus for the analysis.
  • The Economics of Urban Areas

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 3
    • B. Goodall
    • English
    Urban and Regional Planning Series, Volume 3: The Economics of Urban Areas focuses on the importance of economic considerations in the functioning of urban systems. The publication first elaborates on the economic dimension of urbanization, nature of economic analysis, urban policy and planning implications, and use of economic models. The text then examines the economic basis of urban areas, urban real property market, and urban land-use patterns. Discussions focus on differences in land-use patterns between urban areas, generalized pattern of urban land use, determination of real property prices, nature of urban land and property values, and the nature and function of the urban real property market. The book takes a look at urban location decisions, urban growth, and level of urban economic activity. Topics include urban growth versus fluctuations in urban economic activity, planning and redevelopment, economics of redevelopment, factor influencing expansion patterns and choice of residential location, and determination of urban land-use patterns. The manuscript also examines the size and spacing of urban areas and urban economic growth. The publication is a valuable source of data for researchers interested in the economics of urban areas.
  • 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
  • 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.
  • Microelectronics and Society

    For Better or for Worse
    • 1st Edition
    • G. Friedrichs + 1 more
    • English
    Through automation and miniaturisation, microelectronics has vast potential for thrusting society into a new phase. It promises to revolutionise the information handling aspects of our lives. But to gain maximum benefit from this breakthrough, microelectronics must be harnessed to society's needs. To help this process a multidisciplinary group of authors has prepared a report to the Club of Rome on the likely impact of microelectronics on our futures
  • The Methods and Materials of Demography

    • 1st Edition
    • Henry S. Shryock
    • English
    Like the original two-volume work, this work attempts to present a systematic and comprehensive exposition, with illustrations, of the methods used by technicians and research workers in dealing with demographic data. The book is concerned with how data on population are gathered, classified, and treated to produce tabulations and various summarizing measures that reveal the significant aspects of the composition and dynamics of populations. It sets forth the sources, limitations, underlying definitions, and bases of classification, as well as the techniques and methods that have been developed for summarizing and analyzing the data.
  • Cognitive Development

    The Child's Acquisition of Diagonality
    • 1st Edition
    • David R. Olson
    • David S. Palermo
    • English
    Cognitive Development: The Child's Acquisition of Diagonality is an empirical and rational enquiry into the child's development of a conceptual system relating to the concept of the diagonal during the age range three to six years. A detailed examination will be made of why a young child has difficulty with such a problem, and what occurs during development that removes this difficulty. In the context of these empirical arguments, the book considers such theoretical questions as the nature of intellectual skills and conceptual or symbolic knowledge, as well as the role of experience and instruction in their development. The study concludes with a description of the child's reconstruction of the diagonal in terms of what at least poses as a general model of perceptual and intellectual development, and accounts for, among other things, man's increasing ability to apprehend and theorize about the motion of the stars. It shows that it is the elaboration of the child's perceptual knowledge in the context of his performatory attempts in such cultural media as language and geometry that accounts for his ability to copy a diagonal in particular and his intellectual development in general.
  • Essays on Planning Theory and Education

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 20
    • A. Faludi
    • English
    A selection of essays concerned with the evolution of thought in the fields of both planning theory and education. A joint treatment of these closely related themes adds to the understanding of planning theory as a conceptual basis for planning and aims to engender discussion of improvements to the education of planners.