Dlittle30

LATEST ARTICLES ( 893 )

• Complexity and Contingency

  One of the more intriguing currents of social science research today is the field of complexity theory. Scientists like John Holland (Complexity: A Very Short... Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2017 SOCIETY

• Observation, Measurement, and Explanation

  

  An earlier post reiterated my reasons for doubting that the social sciences can in principle give rise to general theories that serve to organize and predict th... Read more

  Posted on 02 April 2017 SOCIETY

• Science Policy and the Cold War

  

  The marriage of science, technology, and national security took a major step forward during and following World War II. The secret Manhattan project,... Read more

  Posted on 31 March 2017 SOCIETY

• Social Science Or Social Studies?

  

  A genuinely difficult question is this: does the idea of a rigorous "social science" really make sense, given what we know of the nature of the social world, th... Read more

  Posted on 30 March 2017 SOCIETY

• The Soft Side of Critical Realism

  

  Critical realism has appealed to a range of sociologists and political scientists, in part because of the legitimacy it renders for the study of social... Read more

  Posted on 21 March 2017 SOCIETY

• Mechanisms According to Analytical Sociology

  

  One of the distinguishing characteristics of analytical sociology is its insistence on the idea of causal mechanisms as the core component of explanation. Read more

  Posted on 17 March 2017 SOCIETY

• Moral Limits on War

  

  World War II raised great issues of morality in the conduct of war. These were practical issues during the war, because that conflict approached "total war" --... Read more

  Posted on 09 March 2017 SOCIETY

• The Atomic Bomb

  

  Richard Rhodes' history of the development of the atomic bomb, The Making of the Atomic Bomb, is now thirty years old. The book is crucial reading for anyone wh... Read more

  Posted on 04 March 2017 SOCIETY

• Discovering the Nucleus

  

  In the past year or so I've been reading a handful of fascinating biographies and histories involving the evolution of early twentieth-century physics, paying... Read more

  Posted on 28 February 2017 SOCIETY

• How Organizations Adapt

  

  Organizations do things; they depend upon the coordinated efforts of numerous individuals; and they exist in environments that affect their ongoing success or... Read more

  Posted on 24 February 2017 SOCIETY

• Divided ...

  

  Why is part of the American electoral system so susceptible to right-wing populist appeals, often highlighting themes of racism and intergroup hostility? Read more

  Posted on 23 February 2017 SOCIETY

• Designing and Managing Large Technologies

  

  What is involved in designing, implementing, coordinating, and managing the deployment of a large new technology system in a real social, political, and... Read more

  Posted on 19 February 2017 SOCIETY

• Ideologies, Policies, and Social Complexity

  

  The approach to social and historical research that I favor is one that pays attention to the heterogeneity and contingency of social processes. Read more

  Posted on 02 February 2017 SOCIETY

• SSHA 2017 Call for Papers

  

  SSHA CALL FOR PAPERSMacrohistorical Dynamics Network42nd Annual Meeting of the Social Science History AssociationMontréal, Québec Canada
 2-5 November... Read more

  Posted on 01 February 2017 SOCIETY

• Trumpism

  

  What kind of political movement does Donald Trump represent? How did we get here? And what will be needed to defeat this divisive and anti-democratic political... Read more

  Posted on 29 January 2017 SOCIETY

• Survey Research on the Extreme Right in Europe

  

  Earlier posts have addressed the issue of the rise of extreme-right parties and ideologies in many parts of the world, including Western Europe and the United... Read more

  Posted on 19 January 2017 SOCIETY

• Signals Intelligence and the Management of Military Competition

  

  In the past few years many observers have been alarmed by the high-tech realities of cyber-security, cyber-spying, and cyber-warfare. Read more

  Posted on 17 January 2017 SOCIETY

• Path Dependency in Formation of Academic Disciplines

  

  The topic of the historicity of academic disciplines has come up numerous times in this forum. It is a conviction of mine that disciplines demonstrate a great... Read more

  Posted on 11 January 2017 SOCIETY

• Making of a Black Panther

  

  images: Rahman as keynote speaker at "Black Men in Unions" Institute, UM-Dearborn, 2012; Rahman with Huey Newton at Detroit Metro Airport, 1970In an earlier pos... Read more

  Posted on 07 January 2017 SOCIETY

• Making of a Black Intellectual

  

  Becoming an intellectual in any society is a chancy thing, and this is especially true for young people coming from backgrounds of disadvantage and... Read more

  Posted on 02 January 2017 SOCIETY