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 2001
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyze the discursive social references that the Mapuche use to preserve the boundaries between them and Chilean society, and propose a discursive analysis that departs from the idea that in each discourse there exist very clear social references which are generated at the same time from respective symbolic resources.
Abstract: The new world order, that Castells denominates network society, generates a conflict between the globalisation and identity. In this sense the questions of identity and ethnic boundaries,in Barth’s meaning, emerge as a central subject to understanding societal changes. Globalisation is causing a weakening of the civil society, the relationship between the nation state and the people is also debilitated. New identities arise from this conflict. The resistance identity and the project identity arise, according to Castells, out of the new social movements. The present modernization, the technological, economical and cultural globalisation, has generated a new type of relationship between the Chilean society and the indigenous peoples. Analysing how these new ethnical relationships operates is the central subject in this study. The aim of this study is to understand the processes that occur within the ethnic boundaries which generate the identity of the respective cultures. From this aim, I analyse the discursive social references that the Mapuche use to preserve the boundaries between them and Chilean society. My analysis is concentrated in the political sphere where different Mapuches’ discourses are pronounced. New discourses have been actualised in Mapuches social movement, because of the new social references that have arisen in the identity of Mapuche. Why do Mapuche endeavour to revitalizing the boundaries with the Chilean society? Is globalisation generating a resistance against the tendencies to leave people without boundaries or to erase the boundaries between different types of people? Many such questions can be formulated in this context. Nevertheless, I propose that a close analysis of the historical development of the Mapuche boundaries, especially in the religious, political and social domains, can help us to better understand the rolls and functions of the boundaries in the social life. It is possible to analyse this in different discursive social references. The discursive analysis that I propose departs from the idea that in each discourse exist very clear social references which are generated at the same time from respective symbolic resources which exist in the group. The reactivation of old resources, the generation and appropriation of new symbolic resources, influences, in one way or another, the social references of the group which at the same time can influence the discourses of the same group. All these processes, around the relationship of social references / symbolic resources / discourse, are considered in this study as basic dynamics in the preservation of the boundaries of the ethnic groups, and are fundamental to the existence of the group also. Maintaining boundaries implies a permanent reflective process in which one chooses meanings for its’ own identity within different references. This reflective process occurs in a stress range that characterizes the boundaries of the group. I call this “boundary deliberation” The so-call process of globalisation in the present society generates new situations of boundary deliberation between different cultures. This reflective process in, and on, the ethnic boundaries occurs today between the Mapuches and Chilean society. Autonomy is one of the most important discursive social references in this reflective process. The results of this study were obtained through analyses of the boundary situations generated in the conflict between the Mapuches and the Chilean / western culture.
8 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2000
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse the changing and increasingly difficult conditions and try to explain how the tradition of starting to work early in life, and thus becoming adult when still very young, has been replaced with a need to postpone adulthood further and further.
Abstract: The place is Ronneby, a smallish town in southern Sweden. My subjects are working class and lower middle class men in Ronneby, men who — since the beginning of the century — have encountered changing conditions for reaching adulthood. In this dissertation, I will analyse these changing and increasingly difficult conditions and try to explain how the tradition of starting to work early in life, and thus becoming adult when still very young, has been replaced with a need to postpone adulthood further and further. Old industrial companies like Kockums and L.M. Ericsson used to provide jobs which could be passed on from father to son. Nowadays, they have been superseded by advanced undertakings in Information Technology and by a local university, specialized in teaching software development. The whole situation in Ronneby bears the imprint of the same problems which towards the end of the century have spread through most of the Western world. People who do not understand the new logic of change and cannot adapt to it personally, will be left behind. Ronneby can be seen as a symbol of the disappearance of a Swedish industrial tradition and the coming of a new industrial order, which has little use for a labour force with only lower education. The tools of interpretation are mainly from Margaret Mead and David Riesman. In their respective ways both have described the transformation of society in terms of the relation between character and social structure. Mead concentrates on changing patterns of culture, and she maintains that there was a period in history when parents could safely assume that their children´s lives would become copies of their own lives, whereas we now live in a period when neither parents nor various expert systems in society knows what to expect from the coming generation. Riesman concentrates on the consequences of cultural transformation, and he maintains that there is a correlation between types of society and types of character. The Tradition-directed character – with inherited power relations – later became Inner-directed – with life goals transplanted by parents in their offspring at an early age – and finally Other-directed – a character type which seeks guidance from peers and mass media. To a large extent this dissertation deals with the decline of the family and primary relations, but at the same time with people´s capability of always creating new forms of social bonds and things in common.
8 citations
01 Jan 2004
TL;DR: The issue of filial obligations between children and aged parents is examined, as part of a study of the politics and practice of intergenerational relations among Chinese Singaporeans.
Abstract: Filial Children and Ageing Parents is an anthropological study of the politics and practice of intergenerational relations among Chinese Singaporeans. Contrary to idealized notions of solid Chinese/Asian family values, this paper attempts to unfold the strains and challenges of intergenerational family relations in everyday life. In particular, it examines the issue of filial obligations between children and aged parents.
8 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this paper, a fallstudie ligger fokus pa produktion och distribution, men med nagra utblickar mot konsumtionsfasen.
Abstract: Manga olika aktorer ar pa skilda satt involverade under en produkts livscykel. Samhallets miljopolitik syftar till hushallning med ravaror som resurser och att undvika eller minska negativ. Den forsta fallstudien behandlar kott och har sitt huvudsakliga fokus pa miljopolitikens styrmedel kring produktion och distribution, med utblick mot konsumtions- och avfallsfaserna. Livsmedelsprodukter har en lang historia i styrmedelstillampning. De tidiga atgarderna gar mer an hundra ar tillbaka i tiden och inriktar sig framfor allt pa sakra och halsosamma produkter. Atgarder kring miljo, bade nar det galler produkter och djurhallning, kommer in i produktcykeln betydligt senare. Den andra fallstudien behandlar klader. Aven i denna fallstudie ligger fokus pa produktion och distribution, men med nagra utblickar mot konsumtionsfasen. Kladprodukter kannetecknas av att tillverkningen alltmera flyttat utomlands. Nationell miljopolitik far betydande svarigheter att paverka val av ravaror och kemikalier under produktionsprocessen. Samtidigt ar klader en produkt med tamligen kort anvandningstid. Moden och trender gor att klader fort blir omoderna och kasseras. Produktionen har globaliserats medan konsumtion och avfallshantering ar nationella. (Less)
8 citations
Dissertation•
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the world of NGOs in contemporary Nicaragua, and suggest connections between the current development "boom" and the emergence of a materially privileged local development elite, which by means of its cultural and economic capital are in a position to exiercise considerable power in relation to other less powerful strata of the population.
Abstract: This thesis critically examines the world of NGOs in contemporary Nicaragua, and suggests connections between the current development 'boom' and the emergence of a materially privileged local development elite, which by means of its cultural and economic capital are in a position to exiercise considerable power in relation to other less powerful strata of the population. It is based on fieldwork conducted in Ocotal, Nicaragua, from June 2000 to April 2003. Analysed from a centre - periphery perspective power relations of the development system become discernable in how behaviour and expression of NGO actors change, and how identity is formed and reproduced, as actors move between different spaces of the system that constitute their arena. The thesis underlines the economic reality and the existential conditions in the arena in which many Nicaraguan NGOs operate, and shows that economic aspects - including personal profit - become a substantial motivational force that drives organisations that are nonprofit. Those economic forces are in Nicaraguan NGOs continuously merged with more idealistic and voluntary elements that are strongly configured by the revolutionary antecedents to the current development boom that is said to be occuring. The dissertation thus explores an ambivalent combination of professionalism and commitment that is expressed among individuals who work with NGOs in contemporary Nicaragua. The idealisation of NGOs, and their different projects, contribute to the creation of an assumption that they are 'doing good', which is rarely contested in Nicaragua. This accounts for the hegemonic power of the discourse of development as well as the dominant position of people who work in development projects; NGOs and the discourse of development that is expressed by the latter is becoming the naturalised 'best order' of the world, and the position of its carriers is rarely contested. (Less)
8 citations