Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Synopsis
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.
Library Journal
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.