Applying social science

The role of social research in politics, policy and practice

David Byrne, Byrne, David

• Publisher: Policy Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781847424518
• eBook ISBN: 9781447315131
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Social Policy
• Index: Politics & International Relations

In complex contemporary societies social science has become increasingly interwoven into the whole fabric of governance. At the same time there is an increasing recognition that attempts to understand the social world which seek to mimic the linear approaches of the conventional 'hard sciences' are mostly useless given the complex systems character of society in all its aspects. This book draws on a synthesis of critical realism and complexity theory to examine how social science is applied now and how it might be applied in the future in relation to social transformation in a time of crisis. A central argument is that there is no such thing as a 'pure' science of the social and that a recognition of the inevitability of application imposes obligations on social scientists wherever they work which challenge the passivity of most in the face of inequality and injustice.

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• Abbreviations and acronyms
• Introduction
• ONE: The methodological foundations of applied social science
• TWO: Constructing evidence: the development of knowledge which is to be applied
• THREE: Surveying the social world: assembling knowledge as a basis for action
• FOUR: Evaluating: determining the worth of social interventions
• FIVE: Legitimating: the selective use of social science in justifying policy and practice
• SIX: Consulting: the role of social research in relation to new modes of governance
• SEVEN: Modelling: representing the world in order to understand how it works
• EIGHT: Acting
• NINE: The academy and beyond: applied social research in the real world
• TEN: Concluding
• Bibliography