Synopsis
It can no longer be taken for granted that existing expert knowledges will be greeted as the undisputed truth. Social change in the 20th century has brought with it the realization that all forms of knowledge, the social sciences included, must be seen and understood in their social contexts. This book provides an introduction to key philosophical and epistemological issues in the social sciences, to both positivist and interpretative methodologies, through comparing and evaluating the debates surrounding change in the areas of medicine, religion, politics and the environment.
Présentation de l'éditeur
Knowledge and the Social Sciences takes as its point of departure the claims that all forms of knowledge, the social sciences included, must be seen and understood in their social context. It argues that the social sciences both describe and transform their object of study, though rarely in ways that social scientists intend, and introduces students to the key epistemological and philosophical terms and issues essential for further study in the social sciences.
In a radical and yet lucid and practical introduction to ways of thinking and knowing in the social sciences this text investigates:
* the origins and consequences of different types of knowledge in substantive areas of social change: medical practice, religious beliefs, and the environment
* whether there is a decline in public trust of expert knowledge systems
* whether we are entering a knowledge society, a fragmented post-modern society, or a risk society.
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