Notions of social change are often divided into local versus international. But what actually happens at the national level-where policies are ultimately made and implemented-when policy-making is interdependent worldwide? How do policy-makers take into account the prior choices of other countries? Far more research is needed on the process of interdependent decision-making in the world polity. National Policy-Making: domestication of global trends offers a unique set of hybrid cases that straddle these disciplinary and conceptual divides. The volume brings together well-researched case studies of policy-making from across the world that speak to practical issues but also challenge current theories of global influence in local policies. Distancing itself from approaches that conceive narrowly of policy transfer as a "one-way street" from powerful nations to weaker ones, this book argues instead for an understanding of national decision-making processes that emphasize cross-national comparisons and domestic field battles around the introduction of worldwide models. The case studies in this collection show how national policies appear to be synchronized globally yet are developed with distinct "national" flavors. Presenting new theoretical ideas and empirical cases, this book is aimed globally at scholars of political science, international relations, comparative public policy, and sociology.

'This is a smart and compelling book. Difficult ideas are presented in an accessible manner, with plenty of supporting illustrations...Students will enjoy the research material and other supporting material. A definite winner!'-

"Professor Jay Gubrium, University of Missouri

"

This book gets to the heart of what the social sciences really know about the elusive and contradictory object of research: human reality.

"

"Drawing on a wide range of international examples and scenarios, Social Theory and Human Reality examines key sociological concepts that we use to understand human behaviour such as: norms, rules and meanings; language and discourse; ritual; and personality and identity construction.

"

"Alasuutari clearly and convincingly demonstrates:

- The constant interplay between routines and reflexivity that grounds social order

- how the body and our bodily experiences mediate our social reality

- that language plays a multi-faceted role as it describes, reflects and constructs human reality

"

"Building on the work started by Berger and Luckmann in The Social Construction of Reality, this book is a lucid and contemporary analysis of the premises shared across the social sciences, and of the kaleidoscope of 'human reality'.

"

"This important book will be welcomed by students and scholars alike in the fields of Cultural Studies, Sociology and Anthropology.

 Are current models of audience research and audience ethnography appropriate to the contemporary media environment? Collectively, the contributors to this volume argue that we need a new agenda to account for the role of the media in every day life. Only this new agenda, they suggest, can adequately account for our ubiquitous, highly reflexive, participation in modern media culture.

• Offers a thorough survey of reception studies
• Argues for a new agenda for reception research and qualtitative analysis
• Exemplifies the implications of this new agenda for empirical research, as well as social and cultural theory
• Includes contributions from Ann Gray, Joke Hermes, John Tulloch and David Morley

It will be essential reading for all students of media and cultural studies for not only does it provide a state-of-the-art summary of the field, it also offers a provocative pointer to future directions and trends

Notions of social change are often divided into local versus international. But what actually happens at the national level-where policies are ultimately made and implemented-when policy-making is interdependent worldwide? How do policy-makers take into account the prior choices of other countries? Far more research is needed on the process of interdependent decision-making in the world polity. National Policy-Making: domestication of global trends offers a unique set of hybrid cases that straddle these disciplinary and conceptual divides. The volume brings together well-researched case studies of policy-making from across the world that speak to practical issues but also challenge current theories of global influence in local policies. Distancing itself from approaches that conceive narrowly of policy transfer as a "one-way street" from powerful nations to weaker ones, this book argues instead for an understanding of national decision-making processes that emphasize cross-national comparisons and domestic field battles around the introduction of worldwide models. The case studies in this collection show how national policies appear to be synchronized globally yet are developed with distinct "national" flavors. Presenting new theoretical ideas and empirical cases, this book is aimed globally at scholars of political science, international relations, comparative public policy, and sociology.

The SAGE Handbook of Social Research Methods is a must for every social-science researcher. It charts the new and evolving terrain of social research methodology, covering qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods in one volume. The Handbook includes chapters on each phase of the research process: research design, methods of data collection, and the processes of analyzing and interpreting data. The volume maintains that there is much more to research than learning skills and techniques; methodology involves the fit between theory, research questions research design and analysis. The book also includes several chapters that describe historical and current directions in social research, debating crucial subjects such as qualitative versus quantitative paradigms, how to judge the credibility of types of research, and the increasingly topical issue of research ethics. The Handbook serves as an invaluable resource for approaching research with an open mind. This volume maps the field of social research methods using an approach that will prove valuable for both students and researchers.

The Synchronization of National Policies shows how it is possible that there is remarkable uniformity in the policies that the nation-states adopt, although there is no world government. Mainstream research attributes such global governance to the influence of leading countries, to functional requirements created by capitalism and technological development, or to international organizations. This book argues that to understand how national policies are synchronized we need to realize that the global population forms a single global tribe of moderns, divided into some 200 clans called nations. While previous research on the world culture of moderns has focused on the diffusion of ideas, this book concentrates on the active role of local actors, who introduce global models and domesticate them to nation-states. In national policymaking, actors justify new policies by international comparisons, by the successes and failures of models adopted in other countries, and by building and appealing to the authority of international organizations. Consequently, national policies are synchronized with each other. Yet, because of the way such domestication of global trends takes place, citizens retain and reproduce the understanding that they follow a sovereign national trajectory. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology, world culture theory, globalization, international relations, and political science.

The Synchronization of National Policies shows how it is possible that there is remarkable uniformity in the policies that the nation-states adopt, although there is no world government. Mainstream research attributes such global governance to the influence of leading countries, to functional requirements created by capitalism and technological development, or to international organizations. This book argues that to understand how national policies are synchronized we need to realize that the global population forms a single global tribe of moderns, divided into some 200 clans called nations. While previous research on the world culture of moderns has focused on the diffusion of ideas, this book concentrates on the active role of local actors, who introduce global models and domesticate them to nation-states. In national policymaking, actors justify new policies by international comparisons, by the successes and failures of models adopted in other countries, and by building and appealing to the authority of international organizations. Consequently, national policies are synchronized with each other. Yet, because of the way such domestication of global trends takes place, citizens retain and reproduce the understanding that they follow a sovereign national trajectory. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of sociology, world culture theory, globalization, international relations, and political science.

This book argues that modern governance is performed by actors who seek social change epistemically, by drawing on widespread, public views of reality. Agents of change such as parliamentarians or social movement activists will assess and affect what they believe to be people's conceptions of what is possible, rational, and desirable. This often means that these key authority figures will invest in credible knowledge production, as well as appeal to individual and group identifications, emotions, and values. Alasuutari and Qadir show how this epistemic governance works in three important arenas of social change: parliaments, which debate laws that constitute the bulk of reforms; international organizations that circulate global norms; and social movements and NGOs. Through their analysis, the authors' detailed, innovative methodology for discourse analysis indicates the utility of epistemic governance as a new paradigm for research into global social change. This book will be of use to students in upper level degree programs who want to design empirical research into social change as well as researchers in sociology, political science and public policy.

The SAGE Handbook of Social Research Methods is a must for every social-science researcher. It charts the new and evolving terrain of social research methodology, covering qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods in one volume. The Handbook includes chapters on each phase of the research process: research design, methods of data collection, and the processes of analyzing and interpreting data. The volume maintains that there is much more to research than learning skills and techniques; methodology involves the fit between theory, research questions research design and analysis. The book also includes several chapters that describe historical and current directions in social research, debating crucial subjects such as qualitative versus quantitative paradigms, how to judge the credibility of types of research, and the increasingly topical issue of research ethics. The Handbook serves as an invaluable resource for approaching research with an open mind. This volume maps the field of social research methods using an approach that will prove valuable for both students and researchers.

'This is a smart and compelling book. Difficult ideas are presented in an accessible manner, with plenty of supporting illustrations...Students will enjoy the research material and other supporting material. A definite winner!'-

"Professor Jay Gubrium, University of Missouri

"

This book gets to the heart of what the social sciences really know about the elusive and contradictory object of research: human reality.

"

"Drawing on a wide range of international examples and scenarios, Social Theory and Human Reality examines key sociological concepts that we use to understand human behaviour such as: norms, rules and meanings; language and discourse; ritual; and personality and identity construction.

"

"Alasuutari clearly and convincingly demonstrates:

- The constant interplay between routines and reflexivity that grounds social order

- how the body and our bodily experiences mediate our social reality

- that language plays a multi-faceted role as it describes, reflects and constructs human reality

"

"Building on the work started by Berger and Luckmann in The Social Construction of Reality, this book is a lucid and contemporary analysis of the premises shared across the social sciences, and of the kaleidoscope of 'human reality'.

"

"This important book will be welcomed by students and scholars alike in the fields of Cultural Studies, Sociology and Anthropology.

Pertti Alasuutari provides a state-of-the-art summary of the field of audience research. With contributions from Ann Gray, Joke Hermes, John Tulloch and David Morley, a case is presented for a new agenda to account for the role of the media in everyday life. Only this new agenda, they suggest, can adequately account for our ubiquitous, highly reflexive, participation in modern media culture. Offering a thorough survey of audience research this volume also offers a provocative pointer to future directions and trends in reception research and qualitative analysis.

"A long-overdue book and one that is a most-welcome addition to the literature. . . . Now students of cultural studies have a way of empirically informing and connecting their work to the many traditions, perspectives, methods, and strategies that constitute qualitative research, which is a field in its own right. Pertti Alasuutari's work is clearly written, concrete in terms of examples and details, and thoroughly conversant with the most recent controversies that define these two fields of inquiry." --Norman K. Denzin, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign In this comprehensive volume, Pertti Alasuutari introduces approaches and methodological tools available for undertaking critical and rigorous research. Three main methods are considered: the qualitative traditions of sociological and anthropological research, including ethnography and symbolic interactionism; methods for studying images and language, including semiotics, narrative analysis, conversation analysis, and discourse analysis; and the relevance of quantitative analysis to the kind of data produced by research on culture. This fascinating volume will appeal to researchers, scholars, and students in cultural studies, language and discourse analysis, and qualitative methods.