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Books in Social sciences and humanities

  • Politics and Religion

    • 1st Edition
    • October 22, 2013
    • 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.
  • Progress in Behavior Modification

    Volume 13
    • 1st Edition
    • October 22, 2013
    • Michel Hersen + 2 more
    • English
    Progress in Behavior Modification, Volume 13 covers the developments in the study of behavior modification. The book discusses the critical analysis of assessment, facilitation, and generalization procedures on classroom sharing; hypnosis and related behavioral approaches in the treatment of addictive behaviors; and the behavior modification of children's written language. The text also describes the physical and emotional benefits of social support, with focus on the application to obesity, smoking, and alcoholism; and the behavioral factors in the etiology and treatment of myopia. Behavioral homework and overcorrection are also considered. Psychologists and psychiatrists will find the book invaluable.
  • Stabilization Policy in France and the Federal Republic of Germany

    • 1st Edition
    • Volume 153
    • October 22, 2013
    • G. de Ménil + 1 more
    • English
    The object of this book is to compare the macroeconomic characteristics of the French and German economies. It focusses on the effect of stabilization policy and of international disturbances and tries to find out the trade-offs of economic policy. The study is based on a simulation analysis using large-scale econometric models of the two countries. Instead of using models as black boxes the dynamic structures are compared in considerable detail. This entails decomposing the models into blocs of strategic sets of equations. Comparing bloc by bloc allows one to distinguish between the contribution of various economic processes (price-wage dynamics, monetary mechanism, multiplier-accelerat... interaction) to macroeconomic performance.Main features: Franco-German comparison of macroeconomic response to policy measures and international shocks; Evaluation of policy trade-offs; Detailed institutional and historical background to macro-policy in France and Germany.
  • Religious Assortative Marriage

    in the United States
    • 1st Edition
    • October 22, 2013
    • Robert Alan Johnson
    • English
    Religious Assortative Marriage in the United States aims to formulate and apply to American religious data, macrosociological models of assortative marriage in pluralistic populations. These models postulate that the factors determining assortative marriage are population structure, social divisions, and norms of endogamy. An important application of these models is to counter the ideological assumption, implicit in the popular image of a ""melting pot of nations,"" that the amalgamation of groups in the marriage market is the inevitable outcome of a historical plan of assimilation. The book begins by establishing a demographic framework by embedding assortative marriage in a broader model of the replacement of religious composition. This is followed by separate chapters on specialized theories concerned with the social determinants of assortative marriage; available religious marital selection data in the United States; and regional, residential, and cohort differentials in assortative marriage. The final chapter discusses how the ""general marriage market model,"" that is sufficiently flexible to be broadly applicable to diverse structures of religious or other assortative marriage, can be mathematically manipulated to generate laws of social statics and dynamics.
  • London Docklands

    Urban Design in an Age of Deregulation
    • 1st Edition
    • October 22, 2013
    • Brian C. Edwards
    • English
    London Docklands: Urban Design in an Age of Deregulation discusses the process and products of the first 10 years of the London Docklands. The book is comprised of 10 chapters that are organized into three parts. The first part talks about the potentials of the London Docklands. The second part presents the area of studies, which are the Isle of Dogs, Surrey Docks, Wapping, and the Royal Docks. The last part deals with the observations and speculations. The text will be a great source to urban planners, particularly those who are involved in projects that deal with cities that are in close proximity to large bodies of water.
  • Human Judgment and Decision Processes in Applied Settings

    • 1st Edition
    • October 22, 2013
    • Martin F. Kaplan + 1 more
    • English
    Human Judgment and Decision Processes in Applied Settings is the second to two volumes that attempt to define the areas of progress in the understanding of human decision making processes. The first volume, Human Judgment and Decision Processes (Academic Press, 1975) was concerned with formal and mathematical approaches to the problems of judgment and decision making. The major theoretical orientations (information integration theory, signal detection theory, portfolio theory, and multiattribute-utili... measurement) were presented and their rationales discussed. The present volume is concerned with the application of these theories, and the various techniques derived from them, to the problems of decision making in the everyday world. The chapters reflect the many modifications and adjustments that must be made to mathematical rules in order to apply decision theory models in the real world. The tools described serve a broad variety of interests: those of the urban health or social planner, the organizational manager, the researcher, the educator, and, in fact, all of those who must weight evidence to reach decisions. Planner, manager, researcher, teacher, policymaker—all will find assistance in overcoming the commonly encountered roadblocks when one must choose between alternatives in what remains an uncertain world.
  • Rethinking the Process of Operational Research & Systems Analysis

    • 1st Edition
    • October 22, 2013
    • R. Tomlinson + 1 more
    • English
    Invited contributions from distinguished practitioners and methodologists of operational research and applied systems analysis which represent a true state-of-the-art and which provide, perhaps for the first time, a coherent, interlocking, set of ideas which may be considered the foundations of the subject as a science in its own right.
  • Sociology

    Made Simple
    • 1st Edition
    • October 22, 2013
    • Jane L. Thompson
    • English
    Sociology: Made Simple covers issues being discussed in contemporary sociology. The book tackles Sociology with regard to its definition, social sciences, theories, and different approaches (i.e., positivism, functionalism, symbolic interactionism, and Marxist sociology). The text also discusses social class in Britain; family life in contemporary Britain; the main aspects of the sociology of education; and studies in youth culture. The effects of mass media, industrialization, work, poverty, welfare, state, politics, and distribution of power in the process of social control are also considered. Each chapter of the book is provided with lists of further reading. Students engaged in sociology course and general readers will find the book invaluable.
  • Policy Sciences

    Methodologies and Cases
    • 1st Edition
    • October 22, 2013
    • Arie Y. Lewin + 1 more
    • English
    Policy Sciences presents the framework of situational normativism, a descriptive-normativ... methodology by which the components of policy sciences may be pragmatically integrated and applied to real decision problems. The uniqueness of this approach derives from the integration of behavioral, political, and social considerations with a broad range of systems and quantitative methodologies. Furthermore, this approach encompasses specific considerations of implementation, political feasibility, and organization redesign. Organized into three parts, this book begins with an overview of policy sciences followed by a description of the adaptive analytical framework of situational normativism. Policy making is considered as a process of adaptation and a policy-making system generally composed of two or more coupled policy makers, each of whom is viewed as an adaptive purposeful system, is described. The last part consists of nine original cases that demonstrate the application of specific methodologies to real-world problems within the framework of situational normativism. Three of the case studies focus on the zoning decision process in the city of Pittsburgh; the use of a Delphi procedure to isolate and define the influential goals of an organization; and national policies toward foreign private investment. This monograph is intended for senior undergraduates and graduates taking a course in policy sciences and inter-organizational decision making and similar courses.
  • Aspects of British Politics 1904–1919

    The Commonwealth and International Library: History Division
    • 1st Edition
    • October 22, 2013
    • Doreen Collins
    • G. M. D. Howat
    • English
    Aspects of British Politics 1904-1919 investigates various aspects of British politics during the period 1904-1919, with emphasis on the varied reactions to the changes in British foreign policy that were made after losing its power at the beginning of the twentieth century and the resulting diminution of confidence in the government's handling of foreign affairs. The effect of World War II both on the nature of foreign affairs and on the traditional machine for the execution of foreign policy in Britain is discussed, along with the loss of morale within the Foreign Service. This book is comprised of eight chapters and begins with an introduction to the objectives and conduct of British foreign policy, followed by an analysis of developments in Whitehall concerning diplomacy. Subsequent chapters focus on the debate over the conduct of foreign policy, especially before World War II; the fusion of politics and strategy during World War II with respect to the conduct of foreign affairs; and the setbacks suffered by British diplomacy in the first years of the war in the Balkans. Two developments with implications for foreign affairs are examined: the recognition of the importance of the economic factor in modern warfare and the development of propaganda techniques. The final two chapters are devoted to the Anglo-American relations and the demand for greater democracy in international affairs in Britain during the closing stages of World War II. This monograph will appeal to politicians, diplomats, political scientists, and others interested in the nature of international relations.