Mary Douglas's innovative explanations for styles of human thought and for the dynamics of institutional change have furnished a distinctive and powerful theory of how conflicts are managed, yet her work remains astonishingly poorly appreciated in social science disciplines. This volume introduces Douglas's theories, and outlines the ways in which her work is of continuing importance for the future of the social sciences. Mary Douglas: Understanding Human Thought and Conflict shows how Douglas laid out the agenda for revitalizing social science by reworking Durkheim's legacy for today, and reviews the growing body of research across the social sciences which has used, tested or developed her approach.

This book provides a comprehensive, accessible guide to social science methodology. In so doing, it establishes methodology as distinct from both methods and philosophy. Most existing textbooks deal with methods, or sound ways of collecting and analysing data to generate findings. In contrast, this innovative book shows how an understanding of methodology allows us to design research so that findings can be used to answer interesting research questions and to build and test theories. Most important things in social research (e.g., beliefs, institutions, interests, practices and social classes) cannot be observed directly. This book explains how empirical research can nevertheless be designed to make sound inferences about their nature, effects and significance. The authors examine what counts as good description, explanation and interpretation, and how they can be achieved by striking intelligent trade-offs between competing design virtues. Coverage includes: * why methodology matters; * what philosophical arguments show us about inference; * competing virtues of good research design; * purposes of theory, models and frameworks; * forming researchable concepts and typologies; * explaining and interpreting: inferring causation, meaning and significance; and * combining explanation and interpretation. The book is essential reading for new researchers faced with the practical challenge of designing research. Extensive examples and exercises are provided, based on the authors' long experience of teaching methodology to multi-disciplinary groups. Perri 6 is Professor of Social Policy in the Graduate School in the College of Business, Law and Social Sciences at Nottingham Trent University. Chris Bellamy is Emeritus Professor of Public Administration in the Graduate School, Nottingham Trent University.

These two volumes present the most important recent developments in the institutional theory of culture and demonstrate their practical applications. Sometimes called 'grid-group analysis' or 'cultural theory', they derive from the work of Durkheim in the 1880s and 1900s and develop the insights of the anthropologist Mary Douglas and her followers from the 1960s on. First redefined within social and cultural anthropology, the theory's influence is shown in recent years to have permeated all the main disciplines of social science with substantial implications for politics, history, business, work and organizations, the environment, technology and risk, and crime and consumption. Today, the institutional theory of culture now rivals the rational choice, Weberian and postmodern outlooks in influence across the social sciences.

This book provides a comprehensive, accessible guide to social science methodology. In so doing, it establishes methodology as distinct from both methods and philosophy. Most existing textbooks deal with methods, or sound ways of collecting and analysing data to generate findings. In contrast, this innovative book shows how an understanding of methodology allows us to design research so that findings can be used to answer interesting research questions and to build and test theories. Most important things in social research (e.g., beliefs, institutions, interests, practices and social classes) cannot be observed directly. This book explains how empirical research can nevertheless be designed to make sound inferences about their nature, effects and significance. The authors examine what counts as good description, explanation and interpretation, and how they can be achieved by striking intelligent trade-offs between competing design virtues. Coverage includes: * why methodology matters; * what philosophical arguments show us about inference; * competing virtues of good research design; * purposes of theory, models and frameworks; * forming researchable concepts and typologies; * explaining and interpreting: inferring causation, meaning and significance; and * combining explanation and interpretation. The book is essential reading for new researchers faced with the practical challenge of designing research. Extensive examples and exercises are provided, based on the authors' long experience of teaching methodology to multi-disciplinary groups. Perri 6 is Professor of Social Policy in the Graduate School in the College of Business, Law and Social Sciences at Nottingham Trent University. Chris Bellamy is Emeritus Professor of Public Administration in the Graduate School, Nottingham Trent University.

The search for a more holistic approach to policy and management looks set to be as much a hallmark of public service reform in the early twenty first century as the changes introduced under the rubric of 'new public management' or 'reinventing government' were in the closing decades of the twentieth. Towards Holistic Governance presents an authoritative assessment of successes and failures to date and a new framework for analysis and implementation based on extensive research both in the UK - where the New Labor government has been an early enthusiast and pathfinder for 'joined-up government' just as its predecessors were for privatization and contracting out - and elsewhere.

The search for a more holistic approach to policy and management looks set to be as much a hallmark of public service reform in the early twenty first century as the changes introduced under the rubric of 'new public management' or 'reinventing government' were in the closing decades of the twentieth. Towards Holistic Governance presents an authoritative assessment of successes and failures to date and a new framework for analysis and implementation based on extensive research both in the UK - where the New Labour government has been an early enthusiast and pathfinder for 'joined-up government' just as its predecessors were for privatisation and contracting out - and elsewhere.

Mary Douglas's innovative explanations for styles of human thought and for the dynamics of institutional change have furnished a distinctive and powerful theory of how conflicts are managed, yet her work remains astonishingly poorly appreciated in social science disciplines. This volume introduces Douglas's theories, and outlines the ways in which her work is of continuing importance for the future of the social sciences. Mary Douglas: Explaining Human Thought and Conflict shows how Douglas laid out the agenda for revitalizing social science by reworking Durkheim's legacy for today, and reviews the growing body of research across the social sciences which has used, tested or developed her approach.

What is political judgement? Why do politicians exhibit such contrasting thought styles in making decisions, even when they agree ideologically? What happens when governments with contrasting thought styles have to deal with each other? In this book Perri 6 presents a fresh, rigorous explanatory theory of judgement, its varieties and its consequences, drawing upon Durkheim and Douglas. He argues that policy makers will understand - and misunderstand - their problems and choices in ways that reproduce their own social organisation. This theory is developed by using the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 as an extended case study, examining the decision-making of the Kennedy, Castro and Khrushchev regimes. Explaining Political Judgement is the first comprehensive study to show what a neo-Durkheimian institutional approach can offer to political science and to the social sciences generally.

What is political judgement? Why do politicians exhibit such contrasting thought styles in making decisions, even when they agree ideologically? What happens when governments with contrasting thought styles have to deal with each other? In this book Perri 6 presents a fresh, rigorous explanatory theory of judgement, its varieties and its consequences, drawing upon Durkheim and Douglas. He argues that policy makers will understand - and misunderstand - their problems and choices in ways that reproduce their own social organisation. This theory is developed by using the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 as an extended case study, examining the decision-making of the Kennedy, Castro and Khrushchev regimes. Explaining Political Judgement is the first comprehensive study to show what a neo-Durkheimian institutional approach can offer to political science and to the social sciences generally.

The impact of information technology (IT) on government in the last five years has been profound. Using the governments of Canada and Ontario (both recognized as international leaders in the use of IT) as case studies, Digital State at the Leading Edge is the first attempt to take a comprehensive view of the impact of IT upon the whole of government, including politics and campaigning, public consultation, service delivery, knowledge management, and procurement. Using the concepts of channel choice, procurement market analysis, organizational integration, and digital leadership, this study explores the inter-relationships among all these aspects of the application of IT to government and politics. The authors seek to understand how IT is transforming government and what the nature of that transformation is. In the process, they offer an explanation of Canada's relative success, and conclude with practical advice to politicians and public servants about how to manage IT in government more effectively. Based on new and original research undertaken over the last five years, the findings of this intriguing study will be of interest to those studying or working in the fields of public administration, political science, and information technology.

This book explores the unintended and unanticipated effects associated with 'modernization' projects and tackles the key question that they provoke - why do policy-makers persist in such enterprises in the face of evidence that they tend to fail? Paradoxes of Modernization first discusses what is meant by 'modernization' and 'unintended consequences', placing public policy reform within more general intellectual and social trends. It presents eight case study 'modernization' projects. Their architects promised faster trains, a more efficient and reactive health service, a more motivated public service, better performing local government, enhanced information for prospective US university students, reduced rates of child malnutrition in developing countries, and a free, open, safe, interconnected cyberspace for people to conduct their social and political life. Each case provides a neat story with a paradox that varies the modernization theme and tackles the question: why was the project pursued? The conclusion categorizes the cases in terms of their outcome, from success to disappointment, and suggests some strategies for a more balanced version of modernization for current and future policy-makers

This book explores the unintended and unanticipated effects associated with 'modernization' projects and tackles the key question that they provoke - why do policy-makers persist in such enterprises in the face of evidence that they tend to fail?
Paradoxes of Modernization first discusses what is meant by 'modernization' and 'unintended consequences', placing public policy reform within more general intellectual and social trends. It presents eight case study 'modernization' projects. Their architects promised faster trains, a more efficient and reactive health service, a more motivated public service, better performing local government, enhanced information for prospective US university students, reduced rates of child malnutrition in developing countries, and a free, open, safe, interconnected cyberspace for people to conduct their social and political life. Each case provides a neat story with a paradox that varies the modernization theme and tackles the question: why was the project pursued? The conclusion categorizes the cases in terms of their outcome, from success to disappointment, and suggests some strategies for a more balanced version of modernization for current and future policy-makers.