Dissertation•
Disciplined reasoning: Styles of reasoning and the mainstream-heterodoxy divide in Swedish economics
01 Sep 2018-
TL;DR: The authors argue that the mainstream-heterodoxy divide is fruitfully understood in terms of the institutionalised stabilisation of a disciplinary style of reasoning, and show how economists understand their scientific approach and its merits.
Abstract: Economics is one of the most influential social science disciplines, with a high level of internal consent around a common theoretical and methodological approach to economic analysis. However, marginalised schools of thought have increasingly unified under the term “heterodox” economics, with their critical stance towards the “neoclassical mainstream” as common denominator. This has spawned debates among scholars about how to understand the nature of the mainstream-heterodoxy divide in economics.This thesis sets out to explain how such a common approach to science is generalised and stabilised in modern economics, and how this process is related to heterodoxy. Grounded in the sociology of science, it aims first to provide an empirical account of the mainstream-heterodoxy dynamics in Swedish economics, and second, to contribute to theory development. Drawing on the literature on distinct styles of reasoning in the history of science, I develop a theoretical framework of relational disciplinary styles of reasoning, which is used to analyse two bodies of empirical material from Swedish economics. The first is an in-depth interview study with researchers in economics, and the second is a document study of expert evaluation reports from the hiring of professors of economics at four of the top Swedish universities during 25 years. Through the two empirical studies, the fine-grained qualitative material provides an insight into the ways economists understand their discipline and the character of proper knowledge production.I argue that the mainstream-heterodoxy divide is fruitfully understood in terms of the institutionalised stabilisation of a disciplinary style of reasoning, and show how economists understand their scientific approach and its merits. The maintenance of the style of reasoning is the achievement of the thought collective of economists, where boundaries are constructed in relation to contesting heterodox economics and to other scientific disciplines. I show how the disciplinary style with its conception of good science and the notion of a core of the discipline is linked to the reproduction of disciplinary boundaries. I trace how this plays out through shifting quality evaluation practices, and show how top journal rankings have become a powerful judgement device which links the hierarchical ranking of top journals to the notion of a disciplinary core, and effectively functions as a mechanism of disciplinary stabilisation. In conclusion, I argue that these processes form a self-stabilising system in which the disciplinary style of reasoning and its boundaries is reproduced, with potential implications for how we understand intellectual dynamics and pluralism. (Less)
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TL;DR: To study the operational behaviour of λ-terms, this work will use the denotational (mathematical) approach to choose a space of semantics values, or denotations, where terms are to be interpreted.
Abstract: To study the operational behaviour of λ-terms, we will use the denotational (mathematical) approach. A denotational semantics for a language is based on the choice of a space of semantics values, or denotations, where terms are to be interpreted. Choosing a space with nice mathematical properties can help in proving the semantic properties of terms, since to this aim standard mathematical techniques can be used.
880 citations
TL;DR: Information is provided on how to identify the wood of several species common to the Northern Hemisphere using a hand-magnifying lens, as well as some techniques used in the study of Japan.
Abstract: Section (CRN) Meets in: Instructor: Office Ofc Hrs. STSH1110-01(60478) Carnegie 102 Jeanette Simmonds (simmoj@rpi.edu) Sage 5706 TBA STSS1110-01 (60138) Carnegie 205 Selma Sabanovic (sabans@rpi.edu) Sage 5703 Tue 4-5p IHSS1963-01 (62348) Sage 2701 Atsushi Akera (akeraa@rpi.edu) (see above) IHSS1963-02 (62349) DCC 236 Meredith Wells (wellsm@rpi.edu) TBA TBA IHSS1963-03 (62350) Sage 4203 Camar Diaz (diaztc@rpi.edu) Sage 5710 Tue./Fri. 4-5p IHSS1963-04 (62351) Carnegie 208 Lorna Ronald (ronall@rpi.edu) Sage 5706 TBA IHSS1963-05 (62352) Sage 2112 Jeffrey Hannigan (hannij@rpi.edu) Sage 5202 TBA *office hours also by appointment.
225 citations
Journal Article•
190 citations
01 Jan 2016
TL;DR: The handbook of science and technology studies is universally compatible with any devices to read and is available in the authors' digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can get it instantly.
Abstract: Thank you for reading handbook of science and technology studies. As you may know, people have look numerous times for their chosen books like this handbook of science and technology studies, but end up in infectious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some infectious virus inside their desktop computer. handbook of science and technology studies is available in our digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can get it instantly. Our book servers hosts in multiple countries, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Kindly say, the handbook of science and technology studies is universally compatible with any devices to read.
166 citations
References
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Dissertation•
01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: In this article, the authors studied the role of urban structures in the development of travel behavior with negative environmental consequences in the city of Malmo, Sweden and found that cars have a negative impact on the environment and prognoses indicate an increase in the amount of travelling.
Abstract: Urban areas are geographically dispersed. There are built-in distances between housing, jobs and services. These distances call for mobility and fast means of conveyance. Society is dominated by and dependent on motoring. Cars have a negative impact on the environment and prognoses indicate an increase in the amount of travelling. The aim of this dissertation is to explain why travel behaviour with negative environmental consequences develops in the city. Special attention is paid to the role of urban structures. This is studied from two perspectives; that of the population, where the households’ everyday life and choices of means of conveyance are focused, and that of the planners, where local politicians’ and professional planners’ conceptions of the needs and travel behaviour of the population are focused. Theories of how groups of the population get different conditions in their everyday life through differentiation and housing conditions are used. With these theories the basis is laid for an analysis of the possibilities and restrictions that the households meet in their everyday life and the modes of travelling to which they contribute. With the theories of planning the basis is laid for an analysis of how politicians and professional planners view their role in relation to the population and what are the conditions for planning. For the empirical part Malmo is chosen as an area of study. The study of the population is based on in-depth interviews with 25 households in two different parts of Malmo; the study of the planners is based on in-depth interviews with 22 local politicians and professional planners. The analysis deals with the interface between the planning and the actual utilization of the city. Issues analysed are the competition between local and external service centres, motoring and the possibilities to counteract it and inequality in mobility as a consequence of the spread of urban areas. From this study it may be concluded that at present there are not enough forces counteracting the spread of urban areas and increased motoring.
12 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: Spel om pengar har blivit ett utbrett fenomen i Sverige under 1990-talet, med spelbutiker, spelhornor i varuhusen and spelmaskiner och spel med kort och pa roulette pa pubar, pizzerior och restaurange as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Spel om pengar har blivit ett utbrett fenomen i Sverige under 1990-talet, med spelbutiker, spelhornor i varuhusen, spelmaskiner och spel med kort och pa roulette pa pubar, pizzerior och restaurange ...
11 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: In this article, moral argumentation and meaning creation in the process of programmatic policy formulation in the Christian People's Party and Socialist people's Party in Denmark, and the Christian Democratic Party and Left Party in Sweden, focusing specifically on their policy deliberations about the European Community and the European Union from 1990-1996.
Abstract: This thesis analyzes moral argumentation and meaning creation in the process of programmatic policy formulation in the Christian People's Party and Socialist People's Party in Denmark, and the Christian Democratic Party and Left Party in Sweden, focusing specifically on their policy deliberations about the European Community and the European Union from 1990-1996. The primary emphasis is not on policy outcomes per se, but rather on how moral argumentation as a form of policy deliberation is created and sustained in political parties. Contrary to contentions from two traditions skeptical towards the centrality of moral argumentation in the formulation of party policy, the "economistic"/rational choice, respective basic value relativism traditions, it is found that policy deliberation is carried out primarily in terms of substantive moral arguments rather than utility maximization, aggregating or mere procedural agreement. Similar mechanisms in each of the four parties studied create settings in which moral argumentation is carried out and sustained. In party settings moral argumentation is facilitated by the "objectification" of the normative - via the group process of evaluating and ranking current normative contentions in terms of previously evaluated and ranked normative contentions. In this way moral contentions are given varying degrees of support from a common legitimating authority - the party - and a series of collectively affirmed positions and "traditions" exist to refer to. Surreptitiously, through moral argumentation the meaning of the objects of political deliberation is created by the way they are related to central values and goals of the party. It is subsequently through reference to these socially established meanings that policy debates are carried out. Ultimately it is concluded that the norm of moral argumentation is founded upon the belief among party members, and actual operation, of these parties as moral communities. (Less)
11 citations
09 Feb 2009
TL;DR: Rangnar Nilsson as discussed by the authors examines the variety in perceptions of science and research in the academic communities of political science, literature studies and physics in Sweden 1950-1995 as expressed in expert evaluations of professorship candidates.
Abstract: Rangnar Nilsson: Good science: How researchers’ conceptions of science expressed in peer review documents change in three different disciplines (God vetenskap: Hur forskares vetenskapsuppfattningar uttryckta i sakkunnigutlatanden forandras i tre skilda discipliner). Ph.D. Dissertation in Swedish, with a summary in English. Department of Literature, History of Ideas and Religion, University of Gothenburg, 2009. ISBN: 978-91-7346-638-7. This dissertation examines the variety in perceptions of science and research in the academic communities of political science, literature studies and physics in Sweden 1950-1995 as expressed in expert evaluations of professorship candidates. The study relates commonalities as well as differences in these perceptions to internal conditions of the research field, and to the extramural settings and conditions of Swedish academia. Research is thus considered as a historically situated, socially entangled and contingent societal activity that produces knowledge in close concurrence with the surrounding society. The analysis of quality assessments for each discipline examines which of the following aspects of the works reviewed by expert panels are focused in their evaluation reports: problem, method, theory, object, results, writing, the totality of the work or the researcher him- or herself. Based on the panelists’ treatment of these aspects the thesis highlights the concomitant internal perceptions of science and research in each case. It is found that early on in expert evaluations, political science tends to be depicted as a research field largely focused on the research methods. The methods frequently define areas of research, and credibility is typically attained through proper use of reliable methods. Towards the end of the 1900s, political scientists took a new interest in theory, while the knowledge produced was described in less definitive or absolute words. Expert panels reviewing literature studies were traditionally more inclined to focus on the object of research or its material, whereas the methods used were rarely diagnosed. With time, however, one finds a theoretical turn, in as much as theory gained a new appreciation in this discipline as well, and it is, moreover, clearly considered as an active ingredient in knowledge production in the 1990s. As in political science, the descriptions of results - as depicted in evaluations - change from rather final pronouncements to ones that are more tentative. Such a trend may also be seen in the physicists’ evaluations. In that case evaluation reports largely home in on the results in general, but they also - when actual results are described - make explicit references to linkages with external actors or industry. The respective differences identified are analyzed as products of the history of each discipline, inherent requirements and differential relationships to the society outside of the academia.
11 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2015
TL;DR: Men, violence and moral work: as discussed by the authors found that the men who seek help at a treatment center do not constitute a heterogeneous group, and the men also negotiate the concepts of violence and women abuser, making efforts to make distinctions between themselves and real women abusers.
Abstract: Men, violence and moral work- Reports from help-seeking men at treatment centers working with violence in close relationships
Men’s violence against women is an extensive social problem. In the 1970s, a new kind of centers were
established in the US and UK, focusing on treating men who had been violent against their wives or girlfriends, the
aim which is to end the men’s violent behavior. In the 1980s the first center where violent men could seek help was
established in Sweden. Even though these treatment programs have been around for almost 30 years, they have
received limited attention from researchers and evaluators. Research in the field on domestic violence is less
frequently studied from the perspective of men rather than from the female perspective. This thesis explores how
men, who voluntarily sought help at men´s centers report their experiences of violence and treatment.
The study is based on two types of data; responses given on a questionnaire collected primarily for an evaluation
study, and analyses of qualitative interviews conducted for this thesis only. The results from the questionnaire shows
that, the men who seek help at a treatment center do not constitute a heterogeneous group. Some men report
frequent unilateral psychological, physical and sexual violence use against their partners. Other men report no
physical or sexual violence use at all. Many men report being exposed to their partner’s violence. The motives for
seeking help are not always to end the violent behavior. The possibility to assert whether the treatment was effective
is also discussed. There was no control group, meaning that there is no way to compare the results with those men
who did not participate in the treatment. However, the men report less violence use one year after the first contact
was made with the treatment center.
The main part of the analysis explores how the interviewed men present themselves. In other words, the thesis
highlights the men’s explanations and portrayals of their own retold experiences. The analysis shows that all the men
construct a morally decent description of their selves. Inspired by Scott & Lyman’s (1968) sociological concept
‘accounts’ and Goffman’s (1971) ‘presentation of self’, the moral work, made by presenting the retold violent acts and
their relationships, are identified.
Furthermore, the men switch between denying and claiming responsibility. At times they deny responsibility for
the violence used and place it with the women (“it’s her fault”), their background, or specific situations. At other
times they claim responsibility, and do this on three different levels; 1) in the situation, 2) by explaining that they
have been trying to end the relationship and 3) by arguing that they has been trying to seek help. The men also
negotiate the concepts of ‘violence’ and ‘women abuser’, making efforts to make distinctions between themselves
and “real” women abusers.
11 citations