How Social Science Creates the World - A Conversation with Mark Bevir

Howard Burton

• Publisher: Ideas Roadshow
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781771700306
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Comparative Politics
• Index: Social Sciences

This book is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and UC Berkeley political scientist Professor Mark Bevir, who is an internationally acclaimed expert in the theory of governance. This thought-provoking conversation explores how attempts to shoehorn political science into a natural science framework commonly fail and how correctly appreciating what social science is and does has a direct bearing on our everyday social lives. By adopting the false belief that the social world is composed of some unchanging, fundamental entities on par with atoms or molecules—be they markets or classes or what have you—we will have no means of recognizing, or even describing, what happens when circumstances change and a new social dynamic is created.This carefully-edited book includes an introduction, One of a Kind, and questions for discussion at the end of each chapter: I. Creating a Political Philosopher - From mathematics to social scienceII. The Power of Philosophy - How to change the worldIII. What is Political Science, Anyway? - Science vs. interpretationIV. Knowing One's Limits - Distinguishing heuristic utility from a scientific truthV. Missing the Boat - Beyond outdated dichotomiesVI. Networks - What they are and how they aroseVII. Analyzing Governance - How social science makes the worldVIII. The Mechanisms of Influence - Investigating social tractionIX. From Theory to Practice - Appreciating a mix of strategiesX. Doing Things Better - The importance of listeningXI. Starting Over - A lone wolf takes charge, at least theoreticallyXII. Going Global - Encouraging pluralism and open patternsAbout Ideas Roadshow Conversations Series: This book is part of an expanding series of 100+ Ideas Roadshow conversations, each one presenting a wealth of candid insights from a leading expert in a focused yet informal setting to give non-specialists a uniquely accessible window into frontline research and scholarship that wouldn't otherwise be encountered through standard lectures and textbooks. For other books in this series visit our website: https://ideasroadshow.com/.

Table of contents

• A Note on the Text
• Introduction
• The Conversation
• Continuing the Conversation