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Able Minds and Practiced Hands: Scotland's Early Medieval Sculpture in the 21st Century (The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monographs #Vol. 23)
by SallyM. FosterOne hundred years on from J Romilly Allen and Joseph Anderson's 1903 landmark publication, The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland, twenty six essays explore the current state of knowledge of early medieval sculpture in Scotland. They demonstrate the unique value of this material in contributing to our understanding of the society and people that created it between 1000 to 1500 years ago. Today's approaches and techniques offer new insights, as well as great hope, for what might be learnt from future study of 'familiar' and new material alike. The essays exemplify the ever-diversifying, interdisciplinary approaches that are being taken to the study of early medieval sculpture. Key themes that emerge include: the interdependence of conservation, research and access; the need for a 21st-century inventory of the sculpture; the breadth and value of the wide range of the research tools that now exist; conservation issues, including the politics of how and where sculpture should be protected, and the pressing need to identify priorities for action; and, what is probably the most important development over the last 100 years, the increase in awareness of the range of values and significances that attaches to early medieval sculpture, including appreciation of context.
Able Minds and Practiced Hands: Scotland's Early Medieval Sculpture in the 21st Century (The Society for Medieval Archaeology Monographs)
by SallyM. FosterOne hundred years on from J Romilly Allen and Joseph Anderson's 1903 landmark publication, The Early Christian Monuments of Scotland, twenty six essays explore the current state of knowledge of early medieval sculpture in Scotland. They demonstrate the unique value of this material in contributing to our understanding of the society and people that created it between 1000 to 1500 years ago. Today's approaches and techniques offer new insights, as well as great hope, for what might be learnt from future study of 'familiar' and new material alike. The essays exemplify the ever-diversifying, interdisciplinary approaches that are being taken to the study of early medieval sculpture. Key themes that emerge include: the interdependence of conservation, research and access; the need for a 21st-century inventory of the sculpture; the breadth and value of the wide range of the research tools that now exist; conservation issues, including the politics of how and where sculpture should be protected, and the pressing need to identify priorities for action; and, what is probably the most important development over the last 100 years, the increase in awareness of the range of values and significances that attaches to early medieval sculpture, including appreciation of context.
Aboriginal Art, Identity and Appropriation (Anthropology and Cultural History in Asia and the Indo-Pacific)
by Elizabeth Burns ColemanThe belief held by Aboriginal people that their art is ultimately related to their identity, and to the continued existence of their culture, has made the protection of indigenous peoples' art a pressing matter in many postcolonial countries. The issue has prompted calls for stronger copyright legislation to protect Aboriginal art. Although this claim is not particular to Australian Aboriginal people, the Australian experience clearly illustrates this debate. In this work, Elizabeth Burns Coleman analyses art from an Australian Aboriginal community to interpret Aboriginal claims about the relationship between their art, identity and culture, and how the art should be protected in law. Through her study of Yolngu art, Coleman finds Aboriginal claims to be substantially true. This is an issue equally relevant to North American debates about the appropriation of indigenous art, and the book additionally engages with this literature.
Aboriginal Art, Identity and Appropriation (Anthropology and Cultural History in Asia and the Indo-Pacific)
by Elizabeth Burns ColemanThe belief held by Aboriginal people that their art is ultimately related to their identity, and to the continued existence of their culture, has made the protection of indigenous peoples' art a pressing matter in many postcolonial countries. The issue has prompted calls for stronger copyright legislation to protect Aboriginal art. Although this claim is not particular to Australian Aboriginal people, the Australian experience clearly illustrates this debate. In this work, Elizabeth Burns Coleman analyses art from an Australian Aboriginal community to interpret Aboriginal claims about the relationship between their art, identity and culture, and how the art should be protected in law. Through her study of Yolngu art, Coleman finds Aboriginal claims to be substantially true. This is an issue equally relevant to North American debates about the appropriation of indigenous art, and the book additionally engages with this literature.
Accounts Of Innocence (PDF): Sexual Abuse, Trauma, And The Self
by Joseph E. DavisSince a new sensitivity and orientation to victims of injustice arose in the 1960s, categories of victimization have proliferated. Large numbers of people are now characterized and characterize themselves as sufferers of psychological injury caused by the actions of others. In contrast with the familiar critiques of victim culture, Accounts of Innocence offers a new and empirically rich perspective on the question of why we now place such psychological significance on victimization in people's lives.
Adam Smith: The Invisible Hand And Spontaneous Order (Routledge Studies In Social And Political Thought Ser.)
by Craig Smith Christopher J. Berry Maria Pia PaganelliAdam Smith (1723-90) is a thinker with a distinctive perspective on human behaviour and social institutions. He is best known as the author of the An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776). Yet his work is name-checked more often than it is read and then typically it is of an uninformed nature; that he is an apologist for capitalism, a forceful promoter of self-interest, a defender of greed and a critic of any 'interference' in market transactions . To offset this caricature, this Handbook provides an informed portrait. Drawing on the expertise of leading Smith scholars from around the world, it reflects the depth and breadth of Smith's intellectual interests. After an introductory outline chapter on Smith's life and times, the volume comprises 28 new essays divided into seven parts. Five sections are devoted to particular themes in Smith's corpus - his views on Language, Art and Culture; his Moral Philosophy; his Economic thought, his discussions of History and Politics and his analyses of Social Relations. These five parts are framed by one that focuses on the immediate and proximate sources of his thought and the final one that recognizes Smith's status as a thinker of world-historical significance - indicating both his posthumous impact and influence and his contemporary resonance. While each chapter is a discrete contribution to scholarship, the Handbook comprises a composite whole to enable the full range of Smith's work to be appreciated.
Addiction, Assessment, and Treatment with Adolescents, Adults, and Families
by M. Carolyn HilarskiTime-effective intervention and prevention tools for dealing with addictionAddiction, Assessment, and Treatment with Adolescents, Adults, and Families examines addiction concerns ranging from prevention to relapse, offering effective intervention techniques and assessment tools to ensure delivery of the best possible service to clients who represent a variety of populations and mental health issues. Leading addiction researchers address new developments in theory, methodology, treatment, and assessment on counselor beliefs, contingency management, group treatment, rapid assessment instruments, behavioral couples therapy (BCT), family-based intervention, motivational interviewing, and 12-step programs and faith-based recovery. This essential professional and academic resource presents case studies, reviews, research findings, and empirical papers that offer unique perspectives on a variety of topics, including evidenced-based practice, theory of reasoned action, harm reduction, juvenile justice, and treatment outcomes.Addiction, Assessment, and Treatment with Adolescents, Adults, and Families presents sophisticated, cutting-edge theory and practice concepts that provide professionals, practitioners, and educators with a more varied focus than most current available books on addiction. Counselors working in mental health settings and EAP programs, psychiatric nurses working in hospitals and outpatient settings, social workers, and students pursuing degrees in social work, nursing, psychology, and criminal justice will benefit from the book&’s wide range of appropriate addiction, treatment, and prevention methodologies.Topics addressed in Addiction, Assessment, and Treatment with Adolescents, Adults, and Families include: understanding the gap between research and practice in substance abuse counseling prevalence and patterns of illicit drug use among juvenile offenders the relationship between the reported substance abuse of African-American and Hispanic youth and their perceived attachments with their primary caregivers using a harm reduction approach to the evaluation of treatment outcomes using a nonconfrontational approach to substance abuse counseling when addressing client denial why contingency management interventions are underutilized, especially in community settings how to determine if and when Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Adapted Motivational Interviewing (AMI) are effective how to use nonabstinence-based prevention services in working with adolescents how to use and score the K6 scale to screen serious mental illnesses how to use Receiver Operating Characteristics analysis to evaluate rapid assessment instrumentsAddiction, Assessment, and Treatment with Adolescents, Adults, and Families is a vital professional resource and an invaluable aid to adults, adolescents, and families of anyone suffering with some level of addiction.
Addiction, Assessment, and Treatment with Adolescents, Adults, and Families
by M. Carolyn HilarskiTime-effective intervention and prevention tools for dealing with addictionAddiction, Assessment, and Treatment with Adolescents, Adults, and Families examines addiction concerns ranging from prevention to relapse, offering effective intervention techniques and assessment tools to ensure delivery of the best possible service to clients who represent a variety of populations and mental health issues. Leading addiction researchers address new developments in theory, methodology, treatment, and assessment on counselor beliefs, contingency management, group treatment, rapid assessment instruments, behavioral couples therapy (BCT), family-based intervention, motivational interviewing, and 12-step programs and faith-based recovery. This essential professional and academic resource presents case studies, reviews, research findings, and empirical papers that offer unique perspectives on a variety of topics, including evidenced-based practice, theory of reasoned action, harm reduction, juvenile justice, and treatment outcomes.Addiction, Assessment, and Treatment with Adolescents, Adults, and Families presents sophisticated, cutting-edge theory and practice concepts that provide professionals, practitioners, and educators with a more varied focus than most current available books on addiction. Counselors working in mental health settings and EAP programs, psychiatric nurses working in hospitals and outpatient settings, social workers, and students pursuing degrees in social work, nursing, psychology, and criminal justice will benefit from the book&’s wide range of appropriate addiction, treatment, and prevention methodologies.Topics addressed in Addiction, Assessment, and Treatment with Adolescents, Adults, and Families include: understanding the gap between research and practice in substance abuse counseling prevalence and patterns of illicit drug use among juvenile offenders the relationship between the reported substance abuse of African-American and Hispanic youth and their perceived attachments with their primary caregivers using a harm reduction approach to the evaluation of treatment outcomes using a nonconfrontational approach to substance abuse counseling when addressing client denial why contingency management interventions are underutilized, especially in community settings how to determine if and when Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Adapted Motivational Interviewing (AMI) are effective how to use nonabstinence-based prevention services in working with adolescents how to use and score the K6 scale to screen serious mental illnesses how to use Receiver Operating Characteristics analysis to evaluate rapid assessment instrumentsAddiction, Assessment, and Treatment with Adolescents, Adults, and Families is a vital professional resource and an invaluable aid to adults, adolescents, and families of anyone suffering with some level of addiction.
Adolescence, Sexuality, and the Criminal Law: Multidisciplinary Perspectives
by Vern L BulloughGain an understanding of the threat to freedom that is posed by state regulation of adolescent sexual behaviorSexual autonomy encompasses both the right to engage in wanted sexual activity and the right to be free and protected from unwanted sexual aggression. Only when both aspects of adolescents&’ rights are recognized can human sexual dignity be fully respected. In Adolescence, Sexuality, and the Criminal Law, experts from several disciplines use case studies, legal analysis, empirical examinations, and tables and figures to provide you with an insightful contribution to the debate surrounding child sexual abuse.Much has been written about the undisputedly essential fight against child sexual exploitation. In Adolescence, Sexuality, and the Criminal Law, experts investigate for the first time what distinguishes the sexual contacts of adolescents from those of children and why they should be treated separately. This updated version of the papers delivered to the International Association for the Treatment of Sex Offenders in 2002 is an essential guide for lawmakers, sexologists, psychologists, and lawyers interested in an interdisciplinary approach to adolescent sexuality and the criminal law. This resource carefully examines child sexual abuse laws that fail to distinguish between children and adolescents. The text includes discussions of the history of the age of consent, adolescent sexuality, relations between adolescents and adults, and adolescent prostitution and pornography that will leave you better informed about the sexual rights of adolescents and the criminal politics of youth protection.Adolescence, Sexuality, and the Criminal Law examines adolescent sexuality and the various policies that threaten adolescents&’ autonomy, including: the question of youthful sexuality and how society has attempted to deal with it recent attempts to deny youthful sexuality through abstinence or changes in the law intergenerational sexual interaction child pornography and much more!As the debate surrounding child sexual abuse laws escalates, the value of this authoritative and timely text will continue to increase. Whether you are a lawmaker, a sexologist, a social worker, a lawmaker, or a lawyer, Adolescence, Sexuality, and the Criminal Law is a resource that you&’ll return to again and again as you work to understand the importance of adolescent sexual rights.
Adolescence, Sexuality, and the Criminal Law: Multidisciplinary Perspectives
by Vern L BulloughGain an understanding of the threat to freedom that is posed by state regulation of adolescent sexual behaviorSexual autonomy encompasses both the right to engage in wanted sexual activity and the right to be free and protected from unwanted sexual aggression. Only when both aspects of adolescents&’ rights are recognized can human sexual dignity be fully respected. In Adolescence, Sexuality, and the Criminal Law, experts from several disciplines use case studies, legal analysis, empirical examinations, and tables and figures to provide you with an insightful contribution to the debate surrounding child sexual abuse.Much has been written about the undisputedly essential fight against child sexual exploitation. In Adolescence, Sexuality, and the Criminal Law, experts investigate for the first time what distinguishes the sexual contacts of adolescents from those of children and why they should be treated separately. This updated version of the papers delivered to the International Association for the Treatment of Sex Offenders in 2002 is an essential guide for lawmakers, sexologists, psychologists, and lawyers interested in an interdisciplinary approach to adolescent sexuality and the criminal law. This resource carefully examines child sexual abuse laws that fail to distinguish between children and adolescents. The text includes discussions of the history of the age of consent, adolescent sexuality, relations between adolescents and adults, and adolescent prostitution and pornography that will leave you better informed about the sexual rights of adolescents and the criminal politics of youth protection.Adolescence, Sexuality, and the Criminal Law examines adolescent sexuality and the various policies that threaten adolescents&’ autonomy, including: the question of youthful sexuality and how society has attempted to deal with it recent attempts to deny youthful sexuality through abstinence or changes in the law intergenerational sexual interaction child pornography and much more!As the debate surrounding child sexual abuse laws escalates, the value of this authoritative and timely text will continue to increase. Whether you are a lawmaker, a sexologist, a social worker, a lawmaker, or a lawyer, Adolescence, Sexuality, and the Criminal Law is a resource that you&’ll return to again and again as you work to understand the importance of adolescent sexual rights.
Adolescents and risk: Behaviors, functions and protective factors
by Silvia Bonino Elena Cattelino Silvia CiairanoThis informative and useful volume provides a substantial contribution to the understanding of adolescent risk behavior. The book combines theoretical analysis and the findings of a broad-based research project, with accessible presentation throughout.
Advances in Accounting (ISSN #Volume 21)
by Philip M. J. ReckersNow in its twenty-first edition, Advances in Accounting continues to provide an important forum for discourse among and between academic and practicing accountants on issues of significance to the future of the discipline. Emphasis continues to be placed on original commentary, critical analysis and creative research - research that promises to substantively advance our understanding of financial markets, behavioral phenomenon and regulatory policy. Technology and aggressive global competition have propelled tremendous changes over the two decades since AIA was founded. A wide array of unsolved questions continues to plague a profession under fire in the aftermath of one financial debacle after another and grabbling with the advent of international accounting standards. This volume of Advances in Accounting not surprisingly includes articles reflective of recent focus on corporate governance, earnings management and the influence of the CEO, the accuracy of earnings forecasts and the value relevance or voluntary and mandated disclosures. This volume also looks at challenges facing the academic community with respect to technology and addresses pedagogical advances holding promise. AIA continues its commitment to the global arena by publishing research with an international perspective in the International Section inaugurated in Volume 20. As never before the accounting profession is seeking ways to reinvent itself and recapture relevance and credibility. AIA likewise continues to champion forward thinking research.
Advances in International Accounting (ISSN #Volume 18)
by J. Timothy SaleAdvances in International Accounting is a refereed, academic research annual, that is devoted to publishing articles about advancements in the development of accounting and its related disciplines from an international perspective. This serial examines how these developments affect the financial reporting and disclosure practices, taxation, management accounting practices, and auditing of multinational corporations, as well as their effect on the education of professional accountants worldwide. Advances in International Accounting welcomes traditional and alternative approaches, including theoretical research, empirical research, applied research, and cross-cultural studies.
The Adventures of the Little Tin Tortoise: A Self-Esteem Story with Activities for Teachers, Parents and Carers (PDF)
by Deborah PlummerThe Adventures of the Little Tin Tortoise is a practical, interactive storybook for building and maintaining self-esteem in children aged seven to nine. Using the tradition of oral story-telling, Deborah Plummer encourages children to consider the self-esteem issues encountered by a little tin tortoise on a journey to discover who he really is. The various obstacles and helpers he encounters along the way include worries, bullying, making decisions and friendship and children will gain age-appropriate insights from the story depending on their needs and level of understanding. Activity sheets and expansion topics also prompt children to explore the seven key elements of healthy self-esteem - self-knowledge, self and others, self-acceptance, self-reliance, self-expression, self-confidence and self-awareness - through active participation and discussion in pairs or groups. Teachers, parents, carers and all who support children in the development of healthy self-esteem will find this an essential resource.
Advertising to Children on TV: Content, Impact, and Regulation
by Barrie Gunter Caroline Oates Mark BladesConcern is growing about the effectiveness of television advertising regulation in the light of technological developments in the media. The current rapid growth of TV platforms in terrestrial, sattelite, and cable formats will soon move into digital transmission. These all offer opportunities for greater commercialization through advertising on media that have not previously been exploited. In democratic societies, there is a tension between freedom of speech rights and the harm that might be done to children through commercial messages. This book explores all of these issues and looks to the future in considering how effective codes of practice and regulation will develop.
Advertising to Children on TV: Content, Impact, and Regulation
by Barrie Gunter Caroline Oates Mark BladesConcern is growing about the effectiveness of television advertising regulation in the light of technological developments in the media. The current rapid growth of TV platforms in terrestrial, sattelite, and cable formats will soon move into digital transmission. These all offer opportunities for greater commercialization through advertising on media that have not previously been exploited. In democratic societies, there is a tension between freedom of speech rights and the harm that might be done to children through commercial messages. This book explores all of these issues and looks to the future in considering how effective codes of practice and regulation will develop.
The Aesthetics of Survival: A Composer's View of Twentieth-Century Music
by George RochbergA revised paperback edition of composer George Rochberg's landmark essays "Rochberg presents the rare spectacle of a composer who has made his peace with tradition while maintaining a strikingly individual profile. . . . [H]e succeeds in transforming the sublime concepts of traditional music into contemporary language." ---Washington Post "An indispensable book for anyone who wishes to understand the sad and curious fate of music in the twentieth century." ---Atlantic Monthly "The writings of George Rochberg stand as a pinnacle from which our past and future can be viewed." ---Kansas City Star As a composer, George Rochberg has played a leading role in bringing about a transformation of contemporary music through a reassessment of its relation to tonality, melody, and harmony. In The Aesthetics of Survival, the author addresses the legacy of modernism in music and its related effect on the cultural milieu, particularly its overemphasis on the abstract, rationalist thinking embraced by contemporary science, technology, and philosophy. Rochberg argues for the renewal of holistic values in order to ensure the survival of music as a humanly expressive art. A renowned composer, thinker, and teacher, George Rochberg has been honored with innumerable awards, including, most recently, an Alfred I. du Pont Award for Outstanding Conductors and Composers, and an André and Clara Mertens Contemporary Composer Award. He lives in Pennsylvania.
Africa Unchained: The Blueprint for Africa's Future
by G. AyitteyIn Africa Unchained , George Ayittey takes a controversial look at Africa's future and makes a number of daring suggestions. Looking at how Africa can modernize, build, and improve their indigenous institutions which have been castigated by African leaders as 'backward and primitive', Ayittey argues that Africa should build and expand upon these traditions of free markets and free trade. Asking why the poorest Africans haven't been able to prosper in the Twenty-first-century, Ayittey makes the answer obvious: their economic freedom was snatched from them. War and conflict replaced peace and the infrastructure crumbled. In a book that will be pondered over and argued about as much as his previous volumes, Ayittey looks at the possibilities for indigenous structures to revive a troubled continent.
African American Settlements in West Africa: John Brown Russwurm and the American Civilizing Efforts
by A. BeyanJohn Brown Russwurm and African American Settlement in West Africa examines Russwurm's intellectual accomplishments and significant contributions to the black civil rights movement in America from 1826 - 1829, and more significantly explores the essential characteristics that distinguished his thoughts and endeavours from other black leaders in America, Liberia and Maryland in Liberia. Not surprisingly, the most controversial of Russwurm's ideas was his unwavering support of the American Colonization Society (ACS) and the Maryland State Colonization Society (MSCS), two organizations that most civil rights activists found racist and pro-slavery. Beyan probes the social and intellectual sources, underlying motives and the legacies of Russwurm's thoughts and endeavours, all in an attempt to dissect why Russwurm acted and made the choices that he did.
African Gender Studies: A Reader
This is the first comprehensive reader that brings African experiences to bear on the ongoing global discussions of women, gender, and society. Bringing together the essential writing on this topic from the last 25 years, these essays discuss gender in Africa from a multi-disciplinary perspective.
African Masculinities: Men in Africa from the Late Nineteenth Century to the Present
by L. Ouzgane R. MorrellWhile masculinity studies enjoys considerable growth in the West, there is very little analysis of African masculinities. This volume explores what it means for an African to be masculine and how male identity is shaped by cultural forces. The editors believe that to tackle the important questions in Africa-the many forms of violence (wars, genocides, familial violence and crime) and the AIDS pandemic-it is necessary to understand how a combination of a colonial past, patriarchal cultural structures and a variety of religious and knowledge systems creates masculine identities and sexualities. The work done in the book particularly bears in mind how vulnerability and marginalization produce complex forms of male identity. The book is interdisciplinary and is the first in-depth and comprehensive study of African men as a gendered category.
Afrocentric Traditions
by Jr. ConyersEver since the first contacts between Europe and Africa, African people have operated from the fringes of Eurocentric experience in the Western mind. Much of what we have studied in African history and culture, or literature and linguistics, or politics and economics, has been orchestrated from the standpoint of Europe's interests. Whether it is a matter of economics, history, politics, geographical concepts, or art, Africans have been seen as peripheral. This volume reviews the past in order to evaluate the present and move ahead with appropriate policies for the future. The articles in this volume, the first in a new serial publication in Africana studies, cover a broad range of subject matter and methodology. Topics range from the W.E.B. DuBois-Booker T. Washington schism that led to the formation of the Niagara movement, to the popular dissemination of black hip-hop culture. It opens with a description of Afrocentricity by Molefi K. Asante. Kobi K.K. Kambon and Reginald Rackley discuss the construct, that produces European cultural "misidentification" among Africans. Nell Irvin Painter, in discussing the Shoah and Southern history, parallels the rhetoric of hate that permeated the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century German diatribes against Jews with that of the Southern white supremacists against blacks. Anthony B. Pinn notes similarities that tie together slavery and colonialism in a bond of existential and ontological destruction. Anthony J. Lemelle, Jr., examines critical issues about black masculinity. James B. Stewart elaborates on the development of Africana studies. Julius E. Thompson explores the historical importance of the African-American writer in Mississippi history. Cary DeCordova Wintz the basis of the conflict between W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington in an effort to expose its underlying causes. James L. Conyers, Jr. summarizes social and cultural movements, in particular the popular black hip-hop culture. Rounding out the pres
Afrocentric Traditions
by James L. Conyers Jr.Ever since the first contacts between Europe and Africa, African people have operated from the fringes of Eurocentric experience in the Western mind. Much of what we have studied in African history and culture, or literature and linguistics, or politics and economics, has been orchestrated from the standpoint of Europe's interests. Whether it is a matter of economics, history, politics, geographical concepts, or art, Africans have been seen as peripheral. This volume reviews the past in order to evaluate the present and move ahead with appropriate policies for the future. The articles in this volume, the first in a new serial publication in Africana studies, cover a broad range of subject matter and methodology. Topics range from the W.E.B. DuBois-Booker T. Washington schism that led to the formation of the Niagara movement, to the popular dissemination of black hip-hop culture. It opens with a description of Afrocentricity by Molefi K. Asante. Kobi K.K. Kambon and Reginald Rackley discuss the construct, that produces European cultural "misidentification" among Africans. Nell Irvin Painter, in discussing the Shoah and Southern history, parallels the rhetoric of hate that permeated the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century German diatribes against Jews with that of the Southern white supremacists against blacks. Anthony B. Pinn notes similarities that tie together slavery and colonialism in a bond of existential and ontological destruction. Anthony J. Lemelle, Jr., examines critical issues about black masculinity. James B. Stewart elaborates on the development of Africana studies. Julius E. Thompson explores the historical importance of the African-American writer in Mississippi history. Cary DeCordova Wintz the basis of the conflict between W.E.B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington in an effort to expose its underlying causes. James L. Conyers, Jr. summarizes social and cultural movements, in particular the popular black hip-hop culture. Rounding out the pres
After Method: Mess In Social Science Research (PDF)
by John LawJohn Law argues that methods don't just describe social realities but are also involved in creating them. The implications of this argument are highly significant. If this is the case, methods are always political, and it raises the question of what kinds of social realities we want to create. Most current methods look for clarity and precision. It is usually said that only poor research produces messy findings, and the idea that things in the world might be fluid, elusive, or multiple is unthinkable. Law's startling argument is that this is wrong and it is time for a new approach. Many realities, he says, are vague and ephemeral. If methods want to know and help to shape the world, then they need to reinvent themselves and their politics to deal with mess. That is the challenge. Nothing less will do.
After Method: Mess in Social Science Research (International Library of Sociology)
by John LawJohn Law argues that methods don't just describe social realities but are also involved in creating them. The implications of this argument are highly significant. If this is the case, methods are always political, and it raises the question of what kinds of social realities we want to create. Most current methods look for clarity and precision. It is usually said that only poor research produces messy findings, and the idea that things in the world might be fluid, elusive, or multiple is unthinkable. Law's startling argument is that this is wrong and it is time for a new approach. Many realities, he says, are vague and ephemeral. If methods want to know and help to shape the world, then they need to reinvent themselves and their politics to deal with mess. That is the challenge. Nothing less will do.