With a broad, interdisciplinary focus and logically and clearly running through the issues involved in thinking about the future, this provides students with a clearly written, historically grounded textbook for future studies courses. Future studies has been around for a while, but, especially at the moment, never has it been so important - the volume engages with things that are on everyone's minds at the moment. The volume provides a different sweep of coverage to other future studies, being both broadly interdisciplinary whilst grounded in history, but also in covering a broader sweep of questions and topics than most other books on future studies and engaging wholeheartedly with the strategy of backcasting as a way of turning ideal futures into reality.

One of the only volumes that brings the humanities, social sciences and even the natural sciences under one remit to look at how they can be researched in an integrated and useful way, with policy and real world implications in terms of how we relate in and to the world. Interdisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity have been around for a long time, but as as we move through a digital age they are becoming more and more important and interesting to the scholarly community and beyond. There is nothing on the market that pulls all of these subjects across disciplines together and works out a framework to construct the analysis in a way that asks and answers useful questions.

With a broad, interdisciplinary focus and logically and clearly running through the issues involved in thinking about the future, this provides students with a clearly written, historically grounded textbook for future studies courses. Future studies has been around for a while, but, especially at the moment, never has it been so important - the volume engages with things that are on everyone's minds at the moment. The volume provides a different sweep of coverage to other future studies, being both broadly interdisciplinary whilst grounded in history, but also in covering a broader sweep of questions and topics than most other books on future studies and engaging wholeheartedly with the strategy of backcasting as a way of turning ideal futures into reality.

Providing a global perspective on the development of American technology, Technology and American Society offers a historical narrative detailing major technological transformations over the last three centuries. With coverage devoted to both dramatic breakthroughs and incremental innovations, authors Gary Cross and Rick Szostak analyze the cause-and-effect relationship of technological change and its role in the constant drive for improvement and modernization. This fully-updated 3rd edition extends coverage of industry, home, office, agriculture, transport, constructions, and services into the twenty-first century, concluding with a new chapter on recent electronic and technological advances. Technology and American Society remains the ideal introduction to the myriad interactions of technological advancement with social, economic, cultural, and military change throughout the course of American history.

One of the only volumes that brings the humanities, social sciences and even the natural sciences under one remit to look at how they can be researched in an integrated and useful way, with policy and real world implications in terms of how we relate in and to the world. Interdisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity have been around for a long time, but as as we move through a digital age they are becoming more and more important and interesting to the scholarly community and beyond. There is nothing on the market that pulls all of these subjects across disciplines together and works out a framework to construct the analysis in a way that asks and answers useful questions.

Providing a global perspective on the development of American technology, Technology and American Society offers a historical narrative detailing major technological transformations over the last three centuries. With coverage devoted to both dramatic breakthroughs and incremental innovations, authors Gary Cross and Rick Szostak analyze the cause-and-effect relationship of technological change and its role in the constant drive for improvement and modernization. This fully-updated 3rd edition extends coverage of industry, home, office, agriculture, transport, constructions, and services into the twenty-first century, concluding with a new chapter on recent electronic and technological advances. Technology and American Society remains the ideal introduction to the myriad interactions of technological advancement with social, economic, cultural, and military change throughout the course of American history.

This book proposes a novel approach to classification, discusses its myriad advantages, and outlines how such an approach to classification can best be pursued. It encourages a collaborative effort toward the detailed development of such a classification. This book is motivated by the increased importance of interdisciplinary scholarship in the academy, and the widely perceived shortcomings of existing knowledge organization schemes in serving interdisciplinary scholarship. It is designed for scholars of classification research, knowledge organization, the digital environment, and interdisciplinarity itself. The approach recommended blends a general classification with domain-specific classification practices. The book reaches a set of very strong conclusions: -Existing classification systems serve interdisciplinary research and teaching poorly. -A novel approach to classification, grounded in the phenomena studied rather than disciplines, would serve interdisciplinary scholarship much better. It would also have advantages for disciplinary scholarship. The productivity of scholarship would thus be increased. -This novel approach is entirely feasible. Various concerns that might be raised can each be addressed. The broad outlines of what a new classification would look like are developed. -This new approach might serve as a complement to or a substitute for existing classification systems. -Domain analysis can and should be employed in the pursuit of a general classification. This will be particularly important with respect to interdisciplinary domains. -Though the impetus for this novel approach comes from interdisciplinarity, it is also better suited to the needs of the Semantic Web, and a digital environment more generally. Though the primary focus of the book is on classification systems, most chapters also address how the analysis could be extended to thesauri and ontologies. The possibility of a universal thesaurus is explored. The classification proposed has many of the advantages sought in ontologies for the Semantic Web. The book is therefore of interest to scholars working in these areas as well.

This book proposes a novel approach to classification, discusses its myriad advantages, and outlines how such an approach to classification can best be pursued. It encourages a collaborative effort toward the detailed development of such a classification. This book is motivated by the increased importance of interdisciplinary scholarship in the academy, and the widely perceived shortcomings of existing knowledge organization schemes in serving interdisciplinary scholarship. It is designed for scholars of classification research, knowledge organization, the digital environment, and interdisciplinarity itself. The approach recommended blends a general classification with domain-specific classification practices. The book reaches a set of very strong conclusions: -Existing classification systems serve interdisciplinary research and teaching poorly. -A novel approach to classification, grounded in the phenomena studied rather than disciplines, would serve interdisciplinary scholarship much better. It would also have advantages for disciplinary scholarship. The productivity of scholarship would thus be increased. -This novel approach is entirely feasible. Various concerns that might be raised can each be addressed. The broad outlines of what a new classification would look like are developed. -This new approach might serve as a complement to or a substitute for existing classification systems. -Domain analysis can and should be employed in the pursuit of a general classification. This will be particularly important with respect to interdisciplinary domains. -Though the impetus for this novel approach comes from interdisciplinarity, it is also better suited to the needs of the Semantic Web, and a digital environment more generally. Though the primary focus of the book is on classification systems, most chapters also address how the analysis could be extended to thesauri and ontologies. The possibility of a universal thesaurus is explored. The classification proposed has many of the advantages sought in ontologies for the Semantic Web. The book is therefore of interest to scholars working in these areas as well.

What are the causes of economic growth? As billions of people still live in poverty, this is perhaps the most important question in human science. It is also a very complex one, as rates of economic growth are influenced by a multitude of economic as well as political, geographical and sociological factors. This books attempts to advance a nuanced understanding of the process of economic growth by synthesizing the insights of several social science disciplines. Different theories and methods employed by economists and other social scientists to study the causes of economic growth are analyzed and it is shown how and why those insights should be integrated by applying best-practice techniques of interdisciplinary analysis. Scholars and practitioners are thus provided with a wide array of potential strategies for encouraging growth as well as guidance on how these strategies may interact.

Classification is the essential first step in science. The study of science, as well as the practice of science, will thus benefit from a detailed classification of different types of science.

In this book, science - defined broadly to include the social sciences and humanities - is first unpacked into its constituent elements: the phenomena studied, the data used, the theories employed, the methods applied, and the practices of scientists. These five elements are then classified in turn. Notably, the classifications of both theory types and methods allow the key strengths and weaknesses of different theories and methods to be readily discerned and compared. Connections across classifications are explored: should certain theories or phenomena be investigated only with certain methods? What is the proper function and form of scientific paradigms? Are certain common errors and biases in scientific practice associated with particular phenomena, data, theories, or methods? The classifications point to several ways of improving both specialized and interdisciplinary research and teaching, and especially of enhancing communication across communities of scholars. The classifications also support a superior system of document classification that would allow searches by theory and method used as well as causal links investigated.

Interdisciplinary Research: Process and Theory by Allen F. Repko and Rick Szostak offers a comprehensive, systematic presentation of the interdisciplinary decision-making process by drawing on student and professional work from the natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, and applied fields. Designed for active learning and problem-based approaches, the Fourth Edition includes expanded discussion of epistemology; creativity within the interdisciplinary research process; confirmation bias and social media; the philosophy of integration; student work patterns, mapping, and the importance of performing independent research while working through this book. A instructor website accompanies with book with test questions, Powerpoint slides, and tables and figures from the book.

Making Sense of World History is a comprehensive and accessible textbook that helps students understand the key themes of world history within a chronological framework stretching from ancient times to the present day. To lend coherence to its narrative, the book employs a set of organizing devices that connect times, places, and/or themes. This narrative is supported by: Flowcharts that show how phenomena within diverse broad themes interact in generating key processes and events in world history. A discussion of the common challenges faced by different types of agent, including rulers, merchants, farmers, and parents, and a comparison of how these challenges were addressed in different times and places. An exhaustive and balanced treatment of themes such as culture, politics, and economy, with an emphasis on interaction. Explicit attention to skill acquisition in organizing information, cultural sensitivity, comparison, visual literacy, integration, interrogating primary sources, and critical thinking. A focus on historical "episodes" that are carefully related to each other. Through the use of such devices, the book shows the cumulative effect of thematic interactions through time, communicates the many ways in which societies have influenced each other through history, and allows us to compare and contrast how they have reacted to similar challenges. They also allow the reader to transcend historical controversies and can be used to stimulate class discussions and guide student assignments. With a unified authorial voice and offering a narrative from the ancient to the present, this is the go-to textbook for World History courses and students. The Open Access version of this book has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.

Classification is the essential first step in science. The study of science, as well as the practice of science, will thus benefit from a detailed classification of different types of science.

In this book, science - defined broadly to include the social sciences and humanities - is first unpacked into its constituent elements: the phenomena studied, the data used, the theories employed, the methods applied, and the practices of scientists. These five elements are then classified in turn. Notably, the classifications of both theory types and methods allow the key strengths and weaknesses of different theories and methods to be readily discerned and compared. Connections across classifications are explored: should certain theories or phenomena be investigated only with certain methods? What is the proper function and form of scientific paradigms? Are certain common errors and biases in scientific practice associated with particular phenomena, data, theories, or methods? The classifications point to several ways of improving both specialized and interdisciplinary research and teaching, and especially of enhancing communication across communities of scholars. The classifications also support a superior system of document classification that would allow searches by theory and method used as well as causal links investigated.

What are the causes of economic growth? As billions of people still live in poverty, this is perhaps the most important question in human science. It is also a very complex one, as rates of economic growth are influenced by a multitude of economic as well as political, geographical and sociological factors. This books attempts to advance a nuanced understanding of the process of economic growth by synthesizing the insights of several social science disciplines. Different theories and methods employed by economists and other social scientists to study the causes of economic growth are analyzed and it is shown how and why those insights should be integrated by applying best-practice techniques of interdisciplinary analysis. Scholars and practitioners are thus provided with a wide array of potential strategies for encouraging growth as well as guidance on how these strategies may interact.

Is human progress possible? If so, how can it be achieved? Many progressive intellectuals and activists once turned to socialism for answers to both questions, but such individuals generally now appreciate that the answers provided were simplistic and misguided in important respects. Many have thus embraced nihilism, doubting that human progress is achievable or even conceivable. Such individuals then necessarily turn away from efforts to create a better world. The world would benefit from the outline of a coherent program for human progress that manages to escape the simplifications inevitable in adherence to one narrow ideological perspective. This book aims to describe such a program. Some elements of this program are concrete enough for activists to advocate immediately. In other cases there is much work for intellectuals to do in further clarifying the best policies for a society to undertake. This book is intended to revitalize the efforts of both intellectuals and activists. Whereas a generation or two ago there was widespread confidence that economic growth, technological advance, and/or the spread of democracy would gradually create a better world, many today fear that these processes generate more problems than they solve. This skepticism regarding the possibility of progress is closely associated with three other attitudes. There is widespread doubt, at least among the intellectual class, that human reason and ingenuity can solve the world's problems. This doubt is related to a concern that the contemporary world is too complex and unpredictable for purposeful human action to have much impact on the future course of events. Finally, there is doubt that there are universal ethical standards: if humanity cannot agree on what is the nature of the good life, we can hardly work toward progress nor recognize it if we achieve it. This book starts from a belief that there is considerable merit in these four related concerns. However, it will be argued that they need not lead to despair: the idea of human progress is still viable, though progress is not inevitable. This book will therefore outline a variety of goals for both activists and intellectuals to pursue in order to generate a progressive future for humanity. The legitimate concerns noted above regarding complexity, ethics, and the exercise of reason must first be addressed; it will turn out that answers to these three critiques will provide coherence to the various reform initiatives to be outlined. Firstly, a universal ethics can (ironically) be grounded in diversity by appreciating that diverse ethical perspectives often point in the same direction. This book identifies five types of ethical analysis and an 'ethical core' of statements supported by each of these. Secondly, complexity can be coped with in both scholarship and public policy analysis through the pursuit of interdisciplinarity and by organizing human understanding in terms of exhaustive classifications of the phenomena studied and theories and methods applied. These classifications are provided, as is a best-practice process of interdisciplinary analysis. Finally, the role of reason in human affairs can be enhanced by identifying and pursuing higher standards of human discourse.

The Greek myth of Narcissus, like any other moral tale, warns its readers against the dangers of self absorption. In their new edited volume, Craig Freedman and Rick Szostak gather together a collection of fables and tales to warn the economics profession against parallel pitfalls in their own activities. Academics in this field have all too often been seduced by the dazzling reflection produced by their own theoretical constructs. This collection is meant to serve as required bedside reading for all economists, a serious if light-hearted look at the foibles currently plaguing the profession. Rather than committing the venial sin of didactic lecturing, the editors let economists speak for themselves in a series of reprinted articles. Intentionally or not, these articles illustrate the intractable blemishes currently disfiguring the face of economics. The reprints are by such noted economists as Blinder, Bronfenbrenner, Fair, Katzner, Learner, Leijonhufvud, and others. This thought-provoking range of ideas is further supplemented by the editors who tease out the underlying issues by means of their own original contributions.

Self-contained case studies teach students best practices in interdisciplinary research. Interdisciplinary research is a burgeoning field, largely due to its ability to tackle complex problems facing humanity that extend beyond a single disciplinary perspective and require interdisciplinary thinking and research for their resolution. Case Studies in Interdisciplinary Research successfully applies the model of the interdisciplinary research process outlined by author Allen F. Repko in Interdisciplinary Research, (SAGE c2008) to a wide spectrum of challenging research questions. Self-contained case studies, written by leaders in interdisciplinary research, and utilizing best-practice techniques in conducting interdisciplinary research shows students how to apply the interdisciplinary research process to a variety of problems.

Unifying Ethics provides a simple yet powerful response to the ethical challenge of our time: How can respect for diversity be encouraged, but also honesty, responsibility, and other desirable attitudes, values, and behaviors be encouraged? The book presents five approaches to ethical evaluation. These approaches are grounded respectively in consequences, virtues, deontology, intuition, and tradition. The book draws upon a previously developed list of the human science phenomena to perform a reasonably exhaustive survey of ethical questions. An "ethical core" is identified, comprising statements for which all five types of ethical analyses suggest the same conclusion. Connections across ethical issues are addressed throughout Unifying Ethics, suggesting that it is possible and desirable for societies to live in accordance with the propositions of the "ethical core."

Making Sense of World History is a comprehensive and accessible textbook that helps students understand the key themes of world history within a chronological framework stretching from ancient times to the present day. To lend coherence to its narrative, the book employs a set of organizing devices that connect times, places, and/or themes. This narrative is supported by: Flowcharts that show how phenomena within diverse broad themes interact in generating key processes and events in world history. A discussion of the common challenges faced by different types of agent, including rulers, merchants, farmers, and parents, and a comparison of how these challenges were addressed in different times and places. An exhaustive and balanced treatment of themes such as culture, politics, and economy, with an emphasis on interaction. Explicit attention to skill acquisition in organizing information, cultural sensitivity, comparison, visual literacy, integration, interrogating primary sources, and critical thinking. A focus on historical "episodes" that are carefully related to each other. Through the use of such devices, the book shows the cumulative effect of thematic interactions through time, communicates the many ways in which societies have influenced each other through history, and allows us to compare and contrast how they have reacted to similar challenges. They also allow the reader to transcend historical controversies and can be used to stimulate class discussions and guide student assignments. With a unified authorial voice and offering a narrative from the ancient to the present, this is the go-to textbook for World History courses and students. The Open Access version of this book has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license.