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Duncan MacRae analyzes the ways in which experts can aid a
political community in choosing public statistics for citizens to
use in making policy judgments. In contrast to the study of social
indicators, which has emphasized descriptions and models of social
change, he stresses that the relevant measures should be selected
in view of their potential applications.
The usefulness of a public statistical series depends on the goals
it represents and on our knowledge of how to act collectively to
achieve those ends. The measures chosen, MacRae notes, can include
gauges of social objectives, such as health and education
improvements or crime reduction, and administrative inputs that
promote them. He recommends, however, that the measures should be
organized around general ends such as net economic benefit,
subjective well-being, and equity. Knowledge about how to further
collective aims, MacRae contends, requires strenthening of
"technical communities" of researchers who study the means to the
ends that policy indicators measure.
"Policy Indicators" provides a critical review of the field of
social indicators, stressing the uses of statistics in policy
debate. For applied social scientists and policy analysts, it
presents broad proposals for the roles of their fields in a
democracy.
Originally published in 1985.
A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the
latest in digital technology to make available again books from our
distinguished backlist that were previously out of print. These
editions are published unaltered from the original, and are
presented in affordable paperback formats, bringing readers both
historical and cultural value.
Scholars have long emphasized the importance of scripture in
studying religion, tacitly separating a few privileged "religions
of the Book" from faiths lacking sacred texts, including ancient
Roman religion. Looking beyond this distinction, Duncan MacRae
delves into Roman religious culture to grapple with a central
question: what was the significance of books in a religion without
scripture? In the last two centuries BCE, Varro and other learned
Roman authors wrote treatises on the nature of the Roman gods and
the rituals devoted to them. Although these books were not sacred
texts, they made Roman religion legible in ways analogous to
scripture-based faiths such as Judaism and Christianity. Rather
than reflect the astonishingly varied polytheistic practices of the
regions under Roman sway, the contents of the books comprise Rome's
"civil theology"-not a description of an official state religion
but one limited to the civic role of religion in Roman life. An
extended comparison between Roman books and the Mishnah-an early
Rabbinic compilation of Jewish practice and law-highlights the
important role of nonscriptural texts in the demarcation of
religious systems. Tracing the subsequent influence of Roman
religious texts from the late first century BCE to early fifth
century CE, Legible Religion shows how two major developments-the
establishment of the Roman imperial monarchy and the rise of the
Christian Church-shaped the reception and interpretation of Roman
civil theology.
This volume discusses teacher training, pay and incentives, equity
and diversity among the student population, and the use of
indicators to assess educational progress and to inform decision
making. Chapters in each section emphasize policies that schools
should adopt to address the respective issues.
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