This collection seeks to contribute to the many long-standing discussions on modernity, but also and more specifically to the more recent debates over trends to pluralize modernity. These debates are current in many different academic disciplines such as sociology, anthropology, literature and postcolonial studies. Hitherto, most engagements with modernity in the plural have remained conspicuously confined to one or other intra-disciplinary notion of modernities, such as that of Shmuel Eisenstadt's "multiple modernities" which has triggered a host of conference papers and publications largely within sociology: all the while, it seems that the literatures, for instance, of multiple modernities and alternative modernities are each distinguished by the fact that one ignores the other. It is the principal aim of this edited volume to subject these disciplinary discussions to a more encompassing view, assembling contributions from different scholars who not only work in different disciplines and regional settings, but who also engage with their research topics in a variety of approaches and at different levels of analysis. The volume thus transcends the sometimes narrow boundaries of the debates over modernities within the established academic disciplines and seeks to turn the unavoidable friction brought about by this interdisciplinary setting into most original and insightful scholarship.

Social theory is the theoretical core of the social sciences, clearly distinguishable from political theory and cultural analysis. This book offers a unique overview of the development of social theory from the end of the Second World War in 1945 to the present day. Spanning the literature in English, French and German, it provides an excellent background to the most important social theorists and theories in contemporary sociological thought, with crisp summaries of the main books, arguments and controversies. It also deals with newly emerging schools from rational choice to symbolic interactionism, with new ambitious approaches (Habermas, Luhmann, Giddens, Bourdieu), structuralism and antistructuralism, critical revisions of modernization theory, feminism and neopragmatism. Written by two of the world's leading sociologists and based on their extensive academic teaching, this unrivalled work is ideal both for students in the social sciences and humanities and for anyone interested in contemporary theoretical debates.

Social theory is the theoretical core of the social sciences, clearly distinguishable from political theory and cultural analysis. This 2009 book offers a unique overview of the development of social theory from the end of the Second World War in 1945 to the present day. Spanning the literature in English, French and German, it provides an excellent background to the most important social theorists and theories in contemporary sociological thought, with crisp summaries of the main books, arguments and controversies. It also deals with newly emerging schools from rational choice to symbolic interactionism, with new ambitious approaches (Habermas, Luhmann, Giddens, Bourdieu), structuralism and antistructuralism, critical revisions of modernization theory, feminism and neopragmatism. Written by two of the world's leading sociologists and based on their extensive academic teaching, this unrivalled work is ideal both for students in the social sciences and humanities and for anyone interested in contemporary theoretical debates.

This book, the first of its kind, provides a sweeping critical history of social theories about war and peace from Hobbes to the present. Distinguished social theorists Hans Joas and Wolfgang Knobl present both a broad intellectual history and an original argument as they trace the development of thinking about war over more than 350 years--from the premodern era to the period of German idealism and the Scottish and French enlightenments, and then from the birth of sociology in the nineteenth century through the twentieth century. While focusing on social thought, the book draws on many disciplines, including philosophy, anthropology, and political science.

Joas and Knobl demonstrate the profound difficulties most social thinkers--including liberals, socialists, and those intellectuals who could be regarded as the first sociologists--had in coming to terms with the phenomenon of war, the most obvious form of large-scale social violence. With only a few exceptions, these thinkers, who believed deeply in social progress, were unable to account for war because they regarded it as marginal or archaic, and on the verge of disappearing. This overly optimistic picture of the modern world persisted in social theory even in the twentieth century, as most sociologists and social theorists either ignored war and violence in their theoretical work or tried to explain it away. The failure of the social sciences and especially sociology to understand war, Joas and Knobl argue, must be seen as one of the greatest weaknesses of disciplines that claim to give a convincing diagnosis of our times."

Bachelorarbeit aus dem Jahr 2010 im Fachbereich VWL - Innovationsokonomik, Note: 1, Campus02 Fachhochschule der Wirtschaft Graz, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Zusammenfassung Die Bewertung von Technologien ist fur Unternehmen von entscheidender Bedeutung. Um daraus strategische Schritte ableiten zu konnen, ist vorab aber eine Positionierung innerhalb des Lebenszyklus einer Technologie notwendig. In dieser Arbeit werden die grundsatzlichen Begriffe erklart und auf verschiedene Modelle zur Technologieprognose eingegangen. Der Fokus liegt hierbei auf dem S-Kurven Konzept von McKinsey, welches auch im entwickelten Vorgehensmodell Eingang findet. Fur das Modell erfolgen die Erarbeitung des Zusammenhangs mit dem Begriff Reifegrad, sowiedieErklarungdergrundsatzlichenEinordnungvon Vorgehensmodellen. Das erarbeitete Vorgehensmodell bietet die Moglichkeit der Positionierung und kann als Ausgangspunkt fur weitere Schritte bezogen auf Technologieentscheidungen dienen. Abstract Assessment of technologies is a major cornerstone for companies. This thesis focuses on the positioning inside a technology life cycle. Further to this strategic steps can be taken for the future. Research is based on general terms and the explanation of models used for predicting technology evolutions. Different types are reviewed with the focus on the S-curve concept from McKinsey. This concept is also a part of the developed procedure model. The procedure model section gives an insight into the degree of maturity as well as the general positioning of procedure models. The research shows that with this procedure model it is possible to evaluate the phase of a technology lifecycle. We can conclude from the survey that this could be used for further steps within the technology management.

Bachelorarbeit aus dem Jahr 2009 im Fachbereich BWL - Sonstiges, Note: 3, Campus02 Fachhochschule der Wirtschaft Graz, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: Im den letzten Jahrzehnten wurde die Bewertung von Patenten als Unternehmenswert zunehmend wichtiger. Vor allem die Valuierung der monetaren Werte eines Patents bietet hier ein breites Spektrum an Moglichkeiten. Die Zielsetzung dieser Arbeit liegt in der Darstellung der Vorteile einer speziellen Methode genannt apud - Modell fur Klein- und Mittelbetriebe. Um dies moglich zu machen werden zunachst die Vor- und Nachteile der retrospektiven Valuierungs- und Evaluierungsmethoden dargestellt und darauf Bezug genommen. Die Arbeit basiert auf Recherchearbeiten, welche im Zeitraum von Dezember 2008 bis April 2009 stattfanden und auf Interviews welche in diesem Zeitraum gefuhrt wurden. Das Ergebnis zeigt ein nicht direkt monetar interpretierbares Ergebnis des apud - Modells welches allerdings auf eine breite Anwendbarkeit und damit auf Flexibilitat fur Unternehmen setzt. Abstract The area of patents has become increasingly important for companies over the last number of decades. Especially the patent valuation offered a lot of possibilities so far. It is the aim of this study to outline the advantage of one method called APUD for small and medium sized companies, in contrast to the broad set of scientific methods which already exist. To do this, this study focuses on the group of bottom-up valuation and other evaluation methods where the advantages and disadvantages got compared to the APUD method. In order to do that information was collected over a 4 month period between December 2008 and March 2009. The study is based on the information obtained from the research and on interviews done during that time. The advantages and disadvantages are shown for the so called classical methods as well as for the APUD method. The result makes that the APUD method provides a value which is not a monetary one and is based on a broa