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'Research Methods': a compulsory course, loved by some but hated by
many This stimulating book is about what went wrong with 'research
methods'. Its controversial argument is radical, and at times, even
revolutionary. John Law argues that methods don't just describe
social realities but are also involved in creating them. The
implications of this argument are highly significant, as if this is
the case, methods are always political, and it raises the question
of what kinds of social realities we want to create. Most current
methods look for clarity and precision. It is usually said that
only poor research produces messy findings, and the idea that
things in the world might be fluid, elusive, or multiple is
unthinkable. Law's startling argument is that this is wrong and it
is time for a new approach. Many realities, he says, are vague and
ephemeral. If methods want to know and to help to shape the world,
then they need to reinvent themselves and their politics to deal
with mess. That is the challenge. Nothing less will do. This book
is essential reading for students, postgraduates and researchers
with an interest methodology.
'Research Methods': a compulsory course, loved by some but hated by
many! This stimulating book is about what went wrong with 'research
methods'. Its controversial argument is radical, and at times, even
revolutionary.
John Law argues that methods don't just describe social realities
but are also involved in creating them. The implications of this
argument are highly significant, as if this is the case, methods
are always political, and it raises the question of what kinds of
social realities we want to create.
Most current methods look for clarity and precision. It is usually
said that only poor research produces messy findings, and the idea
that things in the world might be fluid, elusive, or multiple is
unthinkable. Law's startling argument is that this is wrong and it
is time for a new approach. Many realities, he says, are vague and
ephemeral. If methods want to know and to help to shape the world,
then they need to reinvent themselves and their politics to deal
with mess. That is the challenge. Nothing less will do.
This book is essential reading for students, postgraduates and
researchers with an interest methodology.
The 1980s were some of the most tumultuous years for the British
bus industry. The Thatcher Government, in power throughout the
decade, brought about privatisation of the National Bus Company and
the Scottish Bus Group. In addition, 1986 saw the introduction of
full deregulation of bus services, with the exception of London.
Don't think that London was unaffected by these changes though, as
the omnibus operations of London Transport was split up and then
sold into private hands. Deregulation meant competition and "bus
wars" broke out in many parts of the country, sometimes in the most
unexpected of places. However, towards the end of the decade,
things began to settle down and we were able to witness the
emergence of larger groups, for example Stagecoach. The author was
fortunate enough to be able to capture the scene on colour film,
right through the decade, and the best of his results are seen
within these pages.
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to
www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books
for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book:
CHAPTER IV. Polybius knew no Taurinian hyperbasis. The Po of
Polybius. Looking at the period when Polybius wrote, one sees no
reason that he should have heard of a Pass through those middle
Alps, which Livy and Strabo alluded to in later times, one with the
term Taurinos saltus, the other by i/irep/Sacri? Sia Tavplviov: and
the feebleness of the light which those later writers throw on the
Italian descent from those mountains, makes it probable that still
less light had shone upon Polybius, who was fully 150 years
earlier. Turin was founded by Augustus: and there are now three
ready ways of going over the Alps from that place: one which,
crossing the plain to Pinerolo, finds the valley of the Clusone,
and goes over the Col de Sestriere before it brings you to Cesanue,
and the Mont Genevre: one which goes up through Susa to Cesanne and
the Mont Genevre: and a third, which, being the same to Susa,
strikes northward from thence over the Mont Cenis. The first was
probably opened by Pompey; and was used by Caesar sixteen years
afterwards: the second was established by Augustus, who made it his
approach to the same summit, when he was laying the foundations of
his new city Augusta Taurinorum: the third, according to Mr. Ellis,
is first named as crossed by Pepin in 755. See the Treatise, p.
159. Why must Polybius, who preceded Pompey by a century, have been
acquainted with any pass through these Alps ? He was an
enterprising traveller: but this region was not inviting: in
matters of art and antiquity it had not the attraction which See
Brockcdon's Passes of the Alps, i. p. 15.belonged to other parts of
Italy, not the same interest from Greek connection. Strabo, v. 218,
says of the Ligurians of the Appennine, that they lived in
villages, and that their country...
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to
www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books
for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book:
CHAPTER IV. Polybius knew no Taurinian hyperbasis. The Po of
Polybius. Looking at the period when Polybius wrote, one sees no
reason that he should have heard of a Pass through those middle
Alps, which Livy and Strabo alluded to in later times, one with the
term Taurinos saltus, the other by i/irep/Sacri? Sia Tavplviov: and
the feebleness of the light which those later writers throw on the
Italian descent from those mountains, makes it probable that still
less light had shone upon Polybius, who was fully 150 years
earlier. Turin was founded by Augustus: and there are now three
ready ways of going over the Alps from that place: one which,
crossing the plain to Pinerolo, finds the valley of the Clusone,
and goes over the Col de Sestriere before it brings you to Cesanue,
and the Mont Genevre: one which goes up through Susa to Cesanne and
the Mont Genevre: and a third, which, being the same to Susa,
strikes northward from thence over the Mont Cenis. The first was
probably opened by Pompey; and was used by Caesar sixteen years
afterwards: the second was established by Augustus, who made it his
approach to the same summit, when he was laying the foundations of
his new city Augusta Taurinorum: the third, according to Mr. Ellis,
is first named as crossed by Pepin in 755. See the Treatise, p.
159. Why must Polybius, who preceded Pompey by a century, have been
acquainted with any pass through these Alps ? He was an
enterprising traveller: but this region was not inviting: in
matters of art and antiquity it had not the attraction which See
Brockcdon's Passes of the Alps, i. p. 15.belonged to other parts of
Italy, not the same interest from Greek connection. Strabo, v. 218,
says of the Ligurians of the Appennine, that they lived in
villages, and that their country...
What can one man accomplish, even a great man and brilliant
scientist? Although every town in France has a street named for
Pasteur, was he alone able to stop people from spitting, persuade
them to dig drains, influence them to undergo vaccination?
Pasteur's success depended upon a whole network of forces,
including the public hygiene movement, the medical profession (both
military physicians and private practitioners), and colonial
interests. It is the operation of these forces, in combination with
the talent of Pasteur, that Bruno Latour sets before us as a prime
example of science in action.
Latour argues that the triumph of the biologist and his
methodology must be understood within the particular historical
convergence of competing social forces and conflicting interests.
Yet Pasteur was not the only scientist working on the relationships
of microbes and disease. How was he able to galvanize the other
forces to support his own research? Latour shows Pasteur's efforts
to win over the French public--the farmers, industrialists,
politicians, and much of the scientific establishment.
Instead of reducing science to a given social environment,
Latour tries to show the simultaneous building of a society and its
scientific facts. The first section of the book, which retells the
story of Pasteur, is a vivid description of an approach to science
whose theoretical implications go far beyond a particular case
study. In the second part of the book, "Irreductions," Latour sets
out his notion of the dynamics of conflict and interaction, of the
"relation of forces." Latour's method of analysis cuts across and
through the boundaries of the established disciplines of sociology,
history, and the philosophy of science, to reveal how it is
possible not to make the distinction between reason and force.
Instead of leading to sociological reductionism, this method leads
to an unexpected irreductionism.
For the 2013 Hamlyn Lectures, Sir John Laws explored the
constitutional balance between law and government in the United
Kingdom. He argues that the unifying principle of the constitution
is the common law and that its distinctive method has endowed the
British State with profoundly beneficial effects, before examining
two contemporary threats to the constitutional balance: extremism
and the effect of Europe-made laws on the domestic English system.
The 1950s and 1960s were a transformative period in Britain, and an
important part of this was how Britons' lives were changed when
they began flying abroad for their holidays. In A World Away
Michael John Law investigates how something that previously only
the rich could afford became available to working-class
holidaymakers. A World Away moves beyond the big players in the
tourist industry and technical accounts of the airplanes used by
tour operators to tell the histories of the people who were there,
both tourists and tour guides, using their personal testimonies.
Until now there has been uncertainty about the identity of these
new tourists: some feared they were working-class intruders who
might invade the pristine destinations favoured by the elite;
others claimed that most were from the middle class. Using new data
derived from flight accident investigations, Law explains the
complex origins of these new flyers. In British society this
unprecedented mobility could not go unpunished, and the new
tourists were lampooned in books and newspapers aimed at the middle
classes. Law shows how popular culture, movies, and music
influenced the decision to travel, and what actually happened when
these new holidaymakers went abroad. Law investigates the package
tour industry from its mid-century origins through its inherent
weaknesses, governmental interference, and unforeseen world events
that contributed to its partial failure in the early 1970s. A World
Away provides the definitive account of this important change in
postwar British society.
In the 1970s the main UK bus groups were the National Bus Company,
the Scottish Bus Group, the Passenger Transport Executives and
various council owned concerns. Today we have Stagecoach, First and
Arriva, plus several smaller groups, with just a handful of
councils still owning bus operations. Throughout these major
changes to the bus industry, there have been hundreds of smaller
independent bus companies running stage carriage services on the
roads of the United Kingdom. In this book we look at these, from
the small operators with just one or two buses, to the larger
fleets, such as Lancashire United. Many independent companies have,
since the 1970s, been swallowed up by larger groups one or two have
ceased trading. However, many are still thriving and other
operators have taken the place of those that we've lost.
Deregulation in 1986 brought a host of new bus operators, competing
for business with the companies that had run their services for
many years. Inevitably, there were some casualties, but today the
independent bus sector is alive and well. The purpose of this book
is to illustrate the great variety of independent buses that have
graced Britain's roads, from the early 1970s to the present day.
In 1938: Modern Britain, Michael John Law demonstrates that our
understanding of life in Britain just before the Second World War
has been overshadowed by its dramatic political events. 1938 was
the last year of normality, and Law shows through a series of case
studies that in many ways life in that year was far more modern
than might have been thought. By considering topics as diverse as
the opening of a new type of pub, the launch of several new
magazines, the emergence of push-button radios and large screen
televisions sets, and the building of a huge office block, he
reveals a Britain, both modern and intrigued by its own modernity,
that was stopped in its tracks by war and the austerity that
followed. For some, life in Britain was as consumerist, secular,
Americanized and modern as it would become for many in the late
1950s and early 1960s. Presenting a fresh perspective on an
important year in British social history, illuminated by six
engaging case studies, this is a key study for students and
scholars of 20th-century Britain.
Two large bus companies once ruled this rural part of the United
Kingdom. Midland Red had the territory around Shrewsbury and
Eastern Shropshire, while Crosville operated from Oswestry to
Aberystwyth and all the places in between. Prior to privatisation
both companies were split, with Midland Red North and Crosville
Wales taking over. These eventually became part of British Bus and
were later incorporated into Deutsche Bahn-owned Arriva. Despite
the domination of the big boys, there has always been room for the
independent sector and even today a good number of small firms
running bus services can be found. Minsterley Motors, Owen's
Coaches, Lloyd's of Machynlleth and Tanat Valley are just a few of
the present-day operators. Names from the past include Vagg's
Coaches, Mid Wales Motorways and Williamsons, plus a host of
others. John Law has been photographing the buses of the area since
the early 1970s and has built up a vast collection, the best and
most interesting of which are included here. He takes us to
Llanrhaedr-yn-Mochnant, Bishops Castle, Knockin Heath and
Stiperstones, as well as the major towns on his journey through
this fascinating area.
Although much recent social science and humanities work has been a
revolt against simplification, this volume explores the contrast
between simplicity and complexity to reveal that this dichotomy,
itself, is too simplistic. John Law and Annemarie Mol have gathered
a distinguished panel of contributors to offer--particularly within
the field of science studies--approaches to a theory of complexity,
and at the same time a theoretical introduction to the topic.
Indeed, they examine not only ways of relating to complexity but
complexity "in practice."
Individual essays study complexity from a variety of perspectives,
addressing market behavior, medical interventions, aeronautical
design, the governing of supranational states, ecology,
roadbuilding, meteorology, the science of complexity itself, and
the psychology of childhood trauma. Other topics include complex
wholes (holism) in the sciences, moral complexity in seemingly
amoral endeavors, and issues relating to the protection of African
elephants. With a focus on such concepts as multiplicity, partial
connections, and ebbs and flows, the collection includes narratives
from Kenya, Great Britain, Papua New Guinea, the Netherlands,
France, and the meetings of the European Commission, written by
anthropologists, economists, philosophers, psychologists,
sociologists, and scholars of science, technology, and
society.
"Contributors." Andrew Barry, Steven D. Brown, Michel Callon,
Chunglin Kwa, John Law, Nick Lee, Annemarie Mol, Marilyn Strathern,
Laurent Thevenot, Charis Thompson
Online Learning, Instruction, and Research in Post-Pandemic Higher
Education in Africa, edited by Martin Munyao, brings together
interdisciplinary authors to address online learning, teaching
online, educational technology, online/remote research,
institutional collaboration in online higher education, and
teaching STEM online. This book argues that beyond survival,
universities need to adapt to technology-mediated communication
learning to thrive. Disruptive technologies have recently proved to
be means of thriving for institutions of higher learning. This is
what one contributor calls 'switching to SIDE-mode.' They call for
not just teaching for the sake of it, but teaching to communicate
and to achieve the desired learning outcomes that seek to transform
the whole person. Effective technology mediated teaching for
communication does exactly that. Because universities are also
research hubs, this book also addresses remote research. It
reflects on how change in teaching and learning in Higher Education
Institutions (HEI) has impacted Africa through digital
transformation. In particular, institutions are collaborating more
now than ever before. Finally, this book addresses the challenges
of teaching STEM programs online in Africa.
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