'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.

'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.

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...

This novel of a young carpenter who leaves his rural English village to seek work in London in the late 19th century is an impressive description of unemployment and poverty. Radical Fiction Series.

List of Figures - List of Tables - Acknowledgements - PART 1 INTRODUCTION - Introduction: How to Study the Force of Science; M.Callon, J.Law and A.Rip - PART 2 THE POWER OF TEXTS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - The Sociology of an Actor-Network: The Case of the Electric Vehicle; M.Callon - Laboratories and Texts; J.Law - Writing Science: Fact and Fiction: The Analysis of the Process of Reality Construction through the Application of Socio-Semiotic Methods to Scientific Texts; B.Latour and F.Bastide - The Heterogeneity of Texts; J.Law - Mobilising Resources through Texts; A.Rip - PART 3 MAPPING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Qualitative Scientometrics; M.Callon, A.Rip and J.Law - Aquaculture: A Field by Bureaucratic Fiat; S.Bauin - State Intervention in Academic and Industrial Research: The Case of Macromolecular Chemistry in France; W.Turner and M.Callon - Pinpointing Industrial Invention: An Exploration of Quantitative Methods for the Analysis of Patents; M.Callon - Technical Issues and Developments in Methodology; J-P.Courtial - Future Developments; M.Callon, J-P.Courtial and W.Turner - PART 4 CONCLUSIONS - Putting Texts in their Place; M.Callon, J.Law and A.Rip - Glossary - Bibliography - Index

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.

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.

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.

The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg are three separate European countries that have their own railway systems, with much integration between each other. They are united by all running regular passenger train services, mostly hourly or more frequent, within each country and beyond. Nederlandse Spoorwegen supplies the principal rail service within the Netherlands, supplemented by other operators such as Arriva and Syntus, who run a few local lines. All the passenger services within Belgium are operated by NMBS/SNCB (Nationale Maatschappij der Belgische Spoorwegen or Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Belges), uniting the Flemish and Wallonian parts of the country. CFL (correctly called Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois) has a surprisingly large rail network, with frequent internal services and innumerable cross-border operations, including those from Germany and France. John Law has been visiting the railways of this part of Europe since the early 1970s and has travelled on nearly all the lines opened to passenger traffic. He has photographed the changing scene over the years and has compiled a huge number of images, the best of which are within these pages.

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.

For thirty years, the British economy has repeated the same old experiment of subjecting everything to competition and market because that is what works in the imagination of central government. This book demonstrates the repeated failure of that experiment by detailed examination of three sectors: broadband, food supply and retail banking. The book argues for a new experiment in social licensing whereby the right to trade in foundational activities would be dependent on the discharge of social obligations in the form of sourcing, training and living wages. Written by a team of researchers and policy advocates based at the Centre for Research on Socio Cultural Change, this book combines rigour and readability, and will be relevant to practitioners, policy makers, academics and engaged citizens. -- .

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.

List of Figures - List of Tables - Acknowledgements - PART 1 INTRODUCTION - Introduction: How to Study the Force of Science; M.Callon, J.Law and A.Rip - PART 2 THE POWER OF TEXTS IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - The Sociology of an Actor-Network: The Case of the Electric Vehicle; M.Callon - Laboratories and Texts; J.Law - Writing Science: Fact and Fiction: The Analysis of the Process of Reality Construction through the Application of Socio-Semiotic Methods to Scientific Texts; B.Latour and F.Bastide - The Heterogeneity of Texts; J.Law - Mobilising Resources through Texts; A.Rip - PART 3 MAPPING SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY - Qualitative Scientometrics; M.Callon, A.Rip and J.Law - Aquaculture: A Field by Bureaucratic Fiat; S.Bauin - State Intervention in Academic and Industrial Research: The Case of Macromolecular Chemistry in France; W.Turner and M.Callon - Pinpointing Industrial Invention: An Exploration of Quantitative Methods for the Analysis of Patents; M.Callon - Technical Issues and Developments in Methodology; J-P.Courtial - Future Developments; M.Callon, J-P.Courtial and W.Turner - PART 4 CONCLUSIONS - Putting Texts in their Place; M.Callon, J.Law and A.Rip - Glossary - Bibliography - Index

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.