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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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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