This collection of papers investigates the most recent debates about individualism and holism in the philosophy of social science. The debates revolve mainly around two issues: firstly, whether social phenomena exist "sui generis" and how they relate to individuals. This is the focus of discussions between ontological individualists and ontological holists. Secondly, to what extent social scientific explanations may and should, focus on individuals and social phenomena respectively. This issue is debated amongst methodological holists and methodological individualists.

In social science and philosophy, both issues have been intensively discussed and new versions of the dispute have appeared just as new arguments have been advanced. At present, the individualism/holism debate is extremely lively and this book reflects the major positions and perspectives within the debate. This volume is also relevant to debates about two closely related issues in social science: the micro-macro debate and the agency-structure debate.

This book presents contributions from key figures in both social science and philosophy, in the first such collection on this topic to be published since the 1970s.

Don Lamberton was one of the first scholars to recognise the need for information to be taken seriously, he has spent much of his career persuading others. Focusing on his contribution, this volume explores the struggle for recognition of a way of thinking which is fundamental to our understanding of the social and economic role of information.

Each of the thirty authors, prominent in information economics and related fields have written a contribution especially for this volume. Vital issues, central to Lamberton's concerns and often ignored in euphoric approaches to information - the plight of the information poor, the poverty of information policy, the future of universal service, quality of employment, organisational and market failure to effect information transactions, the role of information in economic development, problems of codifying, classifying and managing information, the limitations of information systems - are emphasised throughout.

The whole encapsulates the vast progress which has been made, not just in academic thinking about information, but in the part this thinking now plays in corporate strategy and government policy. The volume is both an affectionate account of Don Lamberton's contribution to the understanding of information, and also the most comprehensive and authoritative of collections on the social and economic significance of information.

This book explores the complex problem of how to measure the 'success' of social organisations, projects and activities. Whether improving a local situation, organizing a campaign around sustainability, or assessing the intangible effects of perceived social benefits, currently we have only have a very limited range of mechanisms for judging effectiveness. On the one hand, a market-driven logic demands that qualitative perceptions and experiences are quantified into simplified and numerically defined variables. On the other, community projects are left un-assessed, as one-off outcomes of local and situated processes that must somehow automatically 'make things better'. For academics, researchers and other professionals working in this field this has resulted in the deep frustration of not being able to assess the things that are most centrally important: higher human values such as integrity, trust, respect, equality and social justice. Measuring Intangible Values argues that we can make shared social values - and their measurement - central to decisions about improving civil society. But because these social values are intangible, we need to develop ways of eliciting and validating them at the local level that can capture people's shared meanings across multiple goals and perspectives. We need to develop mechanisms for evaluating whether these values are met that use rigorous but also relevant measures. And we need to develop ways of doing this that are scalable, transferable and comparable across different kinds of organisations and fields of activity. This book will be valuable for researchers in all social science disciplines which touch on human values, such as sociology, social psychology, human geography, social policy, architecture and planning, design and community studies.

Fliegel overviews and summarizes research on the spread of innovations through rural populations. The volume begins with a look at the discovery of diffusion as a patterned process in the 1940s and examines the creation of the classical model to explain diffusion as a transfer of information. Fliegel then notes how the classical model changed to accommodate the particular socioeconomic condition when the model was applied to developing countries after 1945. He concludes by commenting on the revival of interest in diffusion research, the further development and refinement of the classical model, and the modern emphasis on conservation-oriented innovations rather than on innovations that enhance production. Fliegel overviews and summarizes research on the spread of innovations through rural populations. The volume gives detailed attention to the development and utilization of diffusion research from the 1940s to 1970 and traces the creation of the classical model for explaining the spread of innovations. Because the classical model seemed inadequate when applied to the diffusion of innovations in lesser-developed countries after World War II, the model changed to accommodate new research. The book notes the role of diffusion research in developing countries after the second world war, the change of the classical model to include socioeconomic conditions peculiar to these countries, and the growth and development of diffusion research to the present day. The first part of the book provides an historical survey of diffusion research through 1970. The chapters in this section discuss the discovery of diffusion as a patterned process, the development of the classical model to explain diffusion as an information transfer, and the implementation of diffusion research in developing countries after 1945. The second part, devoted to recent trends, includes chapters on the further development and refinement of the classical model, the revival of interest in diffusion research, and the modern emphasis on conservation-oriented innovations rather than on ones that enhance production. An extensive bibliography concludes this comprehensive study.

The purpose of this book is to break a number of the conventions of research texts by writing an academic text on methodology as a case study of building case studies, one that cites classic works in the field and contains autobiographical considerations throughout its account, one that narrates the conscious process of designing a framework from the range of philosophies that were involved in chronicling this topic.

This volume covers such topics as varieties in governance reform and political constraint and policy choices in the field of research in consumer behaviour.

Hardbound. In 1997 Science for Peace invited experts on Yugoslavia to Toronto for a conference to discuss the lessons learnt from the Yugoslav conflict and eventual break-up of the former country. Although each expert addressed a specific range of problems, there was also a surprising degree of consensus.Before this book was ready for publication, war broke out in Kosovo and therefore additional papers were invited to analyse the Kosovan conflict. The resulting review of the Yugoslav tragedy is a comprehensive one, representing a variety of perspectives. The issues discussed include the ambiguous state of international law as it applies to disputes over secession; structural features of the society such as the distribution of ethnic groups within enclaves; the impact of foreign countries on Yugoslav politics; Tito's legacy in defining the constitution and decentralising power; the Dayton process and the following Bosnian elections; the conflict

This book explores the main methods, models, and approaches of food consumer science applied to six countries of the Western Balkans, illustrating each of these methods with concrete case studies. Research conducted between 2008 and 2011 in the course of the FOCUS-BALKANS project forms an excellent database for exploring recent changes and trends in food consumption.

In this volume of "Research in the Sociology of Health Care" a variety of topics concerning patients, consumers, providers and caregivers are covered.

The Handbook series provides a compendium of thorough and integrative literature reviews on a diverse array of topics of interest to the higher education scholarly and policy communities. Each chapter provides a comprehensive review of research findings on a selected topic, critiques the research literature in terms of its conceptual and methodological rigor, and sets forth an agenda for future research intended to advance knowledge on the chosen topic.

This book helps college instructors in all disciplines design library research projects that students will enjoy writing, and faculty will enjoy reading. It is a librarian's contribution to the literature of the Writing Across the Curriculum movement. The ideas and techniques presented are offered not as prescriptions, but as starting points for the construction of projects to meet the needs and use the resources of a wide range of curricula, students, faculty, and libraries. The book helps instructors desing appropriate undergraduate library research projects with specific practical suggestions for selecting and assigning topics and for fully utilizing available library resources. The author also suggests meaningful ways to teach scholarly documentation, and to design plagiarism-proof assignments. Appendices include tips for grading research papers, sample research worksheets, and a sample selection of topics.

The personal anecdotes and candid reflections on the lives and work of these important critical scholars, and their predictions on the future of the field, make this book a valuable resource for scholars and students of communication, media studies, political economy, political science, and those interested in critical theoretical approaches.

This book investigates how mental health in South Africa is conceptualised and constructed in public policy. Critiquing embedded assumptions within existing policy documentation, the book advocates for policy solutions centred on poverty alleviation and economic development.

Mental health in South Africa has historically been neglected within the health-care system, a stark reality underscored by the Life Esidimeni tragedy, which exposed widespread mismanagement, negligence, and insufficient resources in mental health-care services. While South Africa has enacted progressive mental health policies, their effective implementation remains hindered by systemic challenges. This book investigates the dominant problems represented in mental health policies, including the segregation of mental health from general health services, inadequate intersectoral collaboration in mental health care, community disconnection from mental health services, the association between poverty and mental health issues, and infringements upon the rights of individuals with mental health problems. Overall, the book underscores mental health as a socio-economic issue, requiring new policy solutions.

This book will be an essential read for mental health professionals and policy makers in South Africa, as well as for researchers working on the good governance of mental health, both within the country and at global and multilateral levels.

The market for residential solid waste management and disposal has experienced dramatic changes over the past 20 years. This collection of outstanding published research examines these changes and thoroughly analyzes the strategies popularized by municipal governments over the past two decades. Kerbside recycling, unheard of in the 1970s, is currently available to 46% of Americans. Thousands of towns across the nation have also implemented user fees requiring households to pay a fee for every bag of garbage they generate. These policy shifts have attracted the attention of environmental economists interested in knowing the best strategy for managing solid waste. The editors, both long-time scholars of these trends, offer theoretical solutions for the optimal pricing of garbage and recycling collection. They provide original data collection and suggest appropriate econometric techniques that correct for statistical biases. A policy focus provides information relevant to municipal governments as well as researchers. This excellent volume will be useful for policymakers, students and scholars in environmental economics.

This text explores and celebrates imaginative and creative approaches to youth research, showcasing a wide range of innovative methods including music elicitation, mental mapping, blog analysis and mobile methods.

This is the tenth volume in a series on research in community and mental health.

This is the eighth volume in a series on research in community and mental health.

This comprehensive collection contributes to, advances and consolidates discussions of the range of research methods in criminology through the presentation of diverse international case studies in which contributors reflect upon their experiences with powerless and powerful individuals or groups.

This is the 13th volume in the series on "Research in Marketing."

This work examines the conflict between movements and regimes using dynamic mathematical modeling methods. Most of the deaths from political violence in the world in this century have not been caused by war, but by conflict between governments and dissenters. It is hoped that scholars will improve their understanding of these conflicts, and thus help to reduce the costs.

The Handbook series provides a compendium of thorough and integrative literature reviews on a diverse array of topics of interest to the higher education scholarly and policy communities. Each chapter provides a comprehensive review of research findings on a selected topic, critiques the research literature in terms of its conceptual and methodological rigor, and sets forth an agenda for future research intended to advance knowledge on the chosen topic.

The Handbook series provides a compendium of thorough and integrative literature reviews on a diverse array of topics of interest to the higher education scholarly and policy communities. Each chapter provides a comprehensive review of research findings on a selected topic, critiques the research literature in terms of its conceptual and methodological rigor, and sets forth an agenda for future research intended to advance knowledge on the chosen topic.

The faculty at the University of Houston's program in Futures Studies share their comprehensive, integrated approach to preparing foresight professionals and assisting others doing foresight projects. Provides an essential guide to developing classes on the future or even establishing whole degree programs.