Archaeology has always been marked by its particular care, obligation, and loyalty to things. While archaeologists may not share similar perspectives or practices, they find common ground in their concern for objects monumental and mundane. This book considers the myriad ways that archaeologists engage with things in order to craft stories, both big and small, concerning our relations with materials and the nature of the past.Literally the "science of old things," archaeology does ...

Digitalization and computerization are now pervasive in science. This has deep consequences for our understanding of scientific knowledge and of the scientific process, and challenges longstanding assumptions and traditional frameworks of thinking of scientific knowledge. Digital media and computational processes challenge our conception of the way in which perception and cognition work in science, of the objectivity of science, and the nature of scientific objects. They bring about new re...

This book provides the first clear, comprehensive, and accessible account of complex adaptive social systems, by two of the field's leading authorities. Such systems--whether political parties, stock markets, or ant colonies--present some of the most intriguing theoretical and practical challenges confronting the social sciences. Engagingly written, and balancing technical detail with intuitive explanations, Complex Adaptive Systems focuses on the key tools and ideas that have eme...

"Full of interesting arguments and insights that will turn many deep-seated beliefs about American politics on their head." —Stefan Fergus, Civilian ReaderOn the night of the 2000 presidential election, Americans watched on television as polling results divided the nation's map into red and blue states. Since then the color divide has become symbolic of a culture war that thrives on stereotype—pickup-driving red-state Republicans who vote...

The long-awaited concluding volume of Pádraig Yeates' 'Dublin at War' trilogyIn A City in Civil War: Dublin 1921–1924, acclaimed historian Pádraig Yeates turns his attention to Ireland's bloody and hard-fought Civil War and its impact on the capital city and its inhabitants.The fascinating A City in Civil War tells the story of Dublin's troubled passage to independence amidst the acrimony and upheaval of the Civil War, a period in which Dublin became the capital city of an independent Iris...

"Written with clarity and a lively eye both for detail and for the progress of feminism in the United States."SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLEIn this fascinating study of American women inventors, historian Anne Macdonald shows how creative, resourceful, and entrepreneurial women helped to shatter the ancient stereotypes of mechanically inept womanhood. In presenting their stories, Anne Macdonald's thorough research in patent archives and her engaging use of period magazine, journals,...

Video provides unprecedented opportunities for social science research, enabling fine-grained analysis of social organisation, culture and communication. Video in Qualitative Research provides practical guidance for students and academics on how to use video in qualitative research, how to address the problems and issues that arise in undertaking video-based field studies and how to subject video recordings to detailed scrutiny and analysis.Heath, Hindmarsh and Luff consider the et...

The twenty-first century has seen a breathtaking expansion of statistical methodology, both in scope and in influence. 'Big data', 'data science', and 'machine learning' have become familiar terms in the news, as statistical methods are brought to bear upon the enormous data sets of modern science and commerce. How did we get here? And where are we going? This book takes us on an exhilarating journey through the revolution in data analysis following the introduction of electronic computati...

The Dispossessed has been described by political thinker Andre Gorz as 'The most striking description I know of the seductions-and snares-of self-managed communist or, in other words, anarchist society.' To date, however, the radical social, cultural, and political ramifications of Le Guin's multiple award-winning novel remain woefully under explored. Editors Laurence Davis and Peter Stillman right this state of affairs in the first ever collection of original essays devoted to Le...

Bringing together one of the most important bodies of research into people's working practices, this volume outlines the specific character of the ethnomethodological approach to work, providing an introduction to the key conceptual resources ethnomethodology has drawn upon in its studies, and a set of substantive chapters that examine how people work from a foundational perspective. With contributions from leading experts in the field, including Graham Button, John Hughes and Wes Sharrock...

Qualitative researchers have long made use of many different interview forms. Yet, for novice researchers, making the connections between "theory" and "method" is not always easy. This book provides a theoretically-informed guide for researchers learning how to interview in the social sciences.In order to undertake quality research using qualitative interviews, a researcher must be able to theorize the application of interviews to investigate research problems in social science res...

This concise, hands-on book by author Elizabeth A. Wentz is essential reading for any graduate student entering the dissertation process in the social or behavioral sciences. The book addresses the importance of ethical scientific research, developing your curriculum vitae, effective reading and writing, completing a literature review, conceptualizing your research idea, and translating that idea into a realistic research proposal using research methods.The author also offers insig...