The Social Science Encyclopedia / Edition 3

by Adam Kuper, Jessica Kuper

Overview

The Social Science Encyclopedia, first published in 1985 to acclaim from social scientists, librarians and students, was thoroughly revised in 1996, when reviewers began to describe it as a classic. This third edition has been radically recast. Over half the entries are new or have been entirely rewritten, and most of the balance have been substantially revised.
Written by an international team of contributors, the Encyclopedia offers a global perspective on key issues within the social sciences. Some 500 entries cover a variety of enduring and newly vital areas of study and research methods. Experts review theoretical debates from neo-evolutionism and rational choice theory to poststructuralism, and address the great questions that cut across the social sciences. What is the influence of genes on behaviour? What is the nature of consciousness and cognition? What are the causes of poverty and wealth? What are the roots of conflict, wars, revolutions and genocidal violence?
This authoritative reference work is aimed at anyone with a serious interest in contemporary academic thinking about the individual in society.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415476355
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	11/24/2008
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	1160
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 9.60(h) x 2.00(d)

About the Author

Adam Kuper is an anthropologist, author of many books, regular broadcaster and contributer to TLS and the London Review of Books. He is a Fellow of the British Academy.

Jessica Kuper retired in 2002 as senior commissioning editor in the social sciences at Cambridge University Press.

Table of Contents

accountability; accounting; activation and arousal; actor, social; adolescence; affirmative action; ageing; age-sex structure; agricultural economics; alcoholism and alcohol abuse; alienation; altruism and co-operation; anarchism; anger, hostility and aggression; Annales School; anthropology; anxiety; Aristotle (384-322 BC); art, sociology of; artificial intelligence; asymmetric information; attitudes; auctions; authoritarian and totalitarian systems; authority; balance of payments; banking; bargaining; basic needs; behavioural economics; Bentham, Jeremy (1748-1832); Boas, Franz (1858-1942); body; Bourdieu (1930-2002); Braudel, Fernand (1902-85); bureaucracy; Burke, Edmund (1729-97); business cycles; business studies; cannibalism; capital, credit and money markets

Editorial Reviews

Acclaim for previous editions of the Social Science Encyclopedia

'...this is an excellent and authoritative publication.' - Adrian L. James, Professor of Applied Social Sciences, University of Bradford - Social Work and Social Sciences Review: An International Journal of Applied Research

'Well written and authoritative, this is a work truly deserving of the accolade "classic".Needs to be added to all reference collections serving a clientele with social science interests as well as general collections of any size.' - Reference Reviews

'A useful addition to any social sciences research collection.' - Reference Books Bulletin

'consistently high level of scholarship......recommended for all libraries.' - Choice

'There is much to applaud in the Encyclopedia. The entries are in general well written and informative, and pitched at the right level for likely readers. Particularly good are the longer "master entries" on whole disciplines.' - Times Literary Supplement

'This collection of essays goes a long way towards supplying a reasonable single-volume reference work that covers all the main disciplines and problem areas that exist within the field of the social sciences.' - Times Education Supplement

From the Publisher

This somewhat eccentric work includes entries under the disciplines of biology, medicine, philosophy, and psychiatry. A page-long entry on ``semantics'' ex plains what is actually meant by the sentence, ``Mary hit Alice.'' While in formative, this properly belongs in an encyclopedia of linguistics or logic, not in an already truncated social-science volume. Others of the entries are equal ly misplaced, and some are uneven in quality; 500 scholars contributed to the effort, but editorial control seems lack ing. While the publication of a work of interdisciplinary thought is welcome, users cannot rely on finding the expect ed. ``Acculturation'' refers the reader to the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences for further read inggood advice to follow for a first reading. Bill Bailey, Newton Gresh am Lib., Huntsville, Tex.

Library Journal

The authoritative second edition surveying the central disciplines in the social sciences and reviewing theories, topics of special interest, and key historical figures in the formative schools of thought, which include: anthropology, business, communications, education, economics, women's studies, public policy, law, linguistics, philosophy, psychology, and sociology. Extensive revision has been completed for this volume, particularly in the areas of feminism and the treatment of cultural research. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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