scholarly journals The End-Purpose of Teaching Social Sciences and the Curricular Inclusion of Social Problems

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Delfín Ortega-Sánchez

The most recent scientific literature on the treatment of social problems or controversial social questions in the social sciences classroom and their inclusion into curricula emphasizes the need to introduce students into large-scale social debates where different points of view exist, different interests are at stake, and where it is desirable that they construct their own opinions in that respect from a critical and reasoned perspective [...]

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 237802312110201
Author(s):  
Thomas A. DiPrete ◽  
Brittany N. Fox-Williams

Social inequality is a central topic of research in the social sciences. Decades of research have deepened our understanding of the characteristics and causes of social inequality. At the same time, social inequality has markedly increased during the past 40 years, and progress on reducing poverty and improving the life chances of Americans in the bottom half of the distribution has been frustratingly slow. How useful has sociological research been to the task of reducing inequality? The authors analyze the stance taken by sociological research on the subject of reducing inequality. They identify an imbalance in the literature between the discipline’s continual efforts to motivate the plausibility of large-scale change and its lesser efforts to identify feasible strategies of change either through social policy or by enhancing individual and local agency with the potential to cumulate into meaningful progress on inequality reduction.


1983 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 20-20
Author(s):  
Robert S. Ross

Simulations have been an important adjunct to instructional programs for some time. These have ranged from games, or role playing exercises, such as SIMSOC or Internation Simulation, to student-machine interaction, such as the inter-school simulation run out of University of California, Santa Barbara in the early 70's, to the all machine activities found in some of the early SETUPS. Having social science students use the mainframe computer, however, always posed problems: it definitely was not user-friendly and most instructors had little if any training or interest in the use of large scale systems.The wide-spread use of the micro computer is not only revolutionizing areas traditionally relying upon the computer, but is going to have an impact on the social sciences as well.


2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 369-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Madalina Vlasceanu ◽  
Karalyn Enz ◽  
Alin Coman

The formation of collective memories, emotions, and beliefs is a fundamental characteristic of human communities. These emergent outcomes are thought to be the result of a dynamical system of communicative interactions among individuals. But despite recent psychological research on collective phenomena, no programmatic framework to explore the processes involved in their formation exists. Here, we propose a social-interactionist approach that bridges cognitive and social psychology to illuminate how microlevel cognitive phenomena give rise to large-scale social outcomes. It involves first establishing the boundary conditions of cognitive phenomena, then investigating how cognition is influenced by the social context in which it is manifested, and finally studying how dyadic-level influences propagate in social networks. This approach has the potential to (a) illuminate the large-scale consequences of well-established cognitive phenomena, (b) lead to interdisciplinary dialogues between psychology and the other social sciences, and (c) be more relevant for public policy than existing approaches.


2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 81-95
Author(s):  
A.A. KOVALEV ◽  

The purpose of this study is to study the research potential of the phenomenological approach in the social sciences, which emerged in the first half of the XX century as a critique of the dominant method of logical positivism at that time. The following scientific approaches and methods were used in the article: the method of analysis, description and comparison, as well as the phenomenological approach. The author has made an attempt to prove the significance of phenomenology in the social sciences by means of comparison as a way not only to describe facts, but also to explain motives and unobservable meanings. According to the results of the conducted research, the author comes to the conclusion that the solution of urgent problems of society through the practical application of the acquired knowledge about society is possible only if the phenomenological method is actively applied in such a scientific and practical discipline as public administration. This will help to overcome the bureaucratization of the civil service, the isolation of the state administrative apparatus from real social problems, as well as to involve the population itself in the process of public administration, establishing feedback.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Delfín Ortega-Sánchez ◽  
Joan Pagès Blanch

The principal objective of the present study is to analyze the representations of Primary Education trainee teachers (n = 232) involving the end-purposes of teaching History and, in particular, their views on the didactic treatment and curricular inclusion of social problems at this educational stage. A mixed investigation method is applied, which combines both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The results pointed to a predictive influence of the degree of importance attached to the didactic treatment of social problems and the frequency with which they were covered on the Degree Course, for the assessment of their explicit inclusion in the Social Sciences curriculum. Likewise, the educational potential of the social problems appeared to be unconnected to the most highly assessed end-purposes, which are related to the development of social, critical, and creative thought for participation and social intervention.


1969 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 334-344
Author(s):  
Beltran Roca ◽  
Iban Diaz-Parra ◽  
Vanessa Gómez-Bernal

In 2011 we were involved as activists in labour, 15M, and the housing and feminist movements. Part of our scientific production became intertwined with our militancy. In addition, drawing on our research and militant experiences in the cycle of struggle that started in 2011, we noticed that the process of questioning and delegitimisation was also affecting the ambit of the social sciences. Thus, we undertook a review of the scientific literature on the 15M in order to ascertain whether the epistemological perspectives and the methodological choices of these studies were related in some way to the crisis of representation that was affecting other social institutions. This is the objective of this article. First, it explains the strategy we followed in searching the literature on the 15M. Second, it introduces the findings of the literature review on this social movement, both in Spanish and in international academic journals. Third, it proposes a typology of engaged ethnographic research. Fourth, it provides a series of limitations and precautions that researchers should bear in mind when putting this research technique into practice. Fifth, it includes a final section synthesising the main conclusions of this article regarding the anthropological production of the 15M, the types of engaged ethnography, and the limitations of this technique.


2015 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. 34-48
Author(s):  
Catherine Morgan

Over the past year the School has delivered a rich and varied research programme combining a range of projects in antiquity, spanning the Palaeolithic to Byzantine periods, science-based archaeology to epigraphy (including the work of the Fitch Laboratory and the Knossos Research Centre), with research in sectors from the fine arts to history and the social sciences (see Map 2).At Knossos, new investigation in the suburb of Gypsadhes, directed by Ioanna Serpetsedaki (23rd EPCA), Eleni Hatzaki (Cincinnati), Amy Bogaard (Oxford) and Gianna Ayala (Sheffield), forms part of Oxford University's ERC-funded project Agricultural Origins of Urban Civilisation. The Gypsadhes excavation features large-scale bioarchaeological research, aimed at providing the fine-grained information necessary to reconstruct the Knossian economy through time.


Author(s):  
N. S. Babich

The author analyzes implicit epistemological assumptions of the modern systematic reviews of scientific literatures that usually are left unconsidered or problematized. The foundations for building the image of scientific communication as representative, clearly cut and easily analyzed reflection of efficient search for and spread of truth which approaching is characterized by increased explorers’ consent. Generalization of this communication brings the evidential effect to advance argument in scientific discussions. However, a series of conditions for adequate conversion and «migration» of published conclusions into the conclusions of systematic review has to be provided to preserve evidential effect in summarizing analysis. The essential components of systematic reviewing methodology comprise: setting the task of obtaining quantified results; selection criteria for unambiguous correspondence between the model of process under scientific investigation and totality of publications; representative observation of relevant publications and making conclusions based on comparative evidential effect of research and consent level achieved. The systematic reviews compliant with the above requirements make them a powerful instrument of evidence in the social sciences, biology and medicine.


Author(s):  
Susan Visvanathan

This paper is concerned with the way energy requirements in the last three decades have seen a response from local communities who wish to express their love and longing for traditional occupations. Agriculture is a multi-faceted representation, and riverine civilisations have epitomised the relation between land, labour and production not just as a relation with technology and culture, but also in terms of the symbols of the sacred. With large scale over utilisation of resources and a lack of vision, the rivers are polluted. People’s movements draw on the work of scientists and those working in the Arts, including the Humanities and the Social Sciences to draw attention to the way in which petitions and protests communicate that politics is not merely about imposing ‘the good vision from above’ but is an interplay between the political, the legal, the socio-religious, the secular and the economic. In a democracy, politics is essentially about dialogue, and the rate of industrialisation may well be mediated by the power of the greens and environment movements, which have learnt their lessons from genocide of peasantry and tribals, and the mass exploitation of the resources of nature. The Sociologist attempts to document some of the shifts and evolving positions in this ongoing debate in India.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 653-658
Author(s):  
Hermína Mareková

Human aggression is perhaps the most interesting area in the exploration of the evolutionary behavior of mankind. Its existence is evident in our everyday lives, as we often use various kinds of violence, ranging from finer (innocent) coercions to murders and terrorist acts. In the professional world, as well as among laypersons, there are conflicting views on the assessment of aggression. Our work is an attempt to summarize the basics of the theory of violence. It is necessary to realize how divergent and inconsistent the various theories are. Attempts to define violence are subject to social norms. Even in scientific literature, some theories are highly dependent on the personal beliefs, points of view, and interests of the respective authors. An example is the opinion that humanity is currently experiencing its most peaceful time.The questions of the necessity and impact of violence on our life constantly resonate in society and cannot be analyzed from only one angle. The aim of this paper is not to give a comprehensive picture of the problem of today's violence (including that found in the media), nor is our goal to find a single correct opinion on the topic, due to the extent of the problem. We rather attempt to contribute to the broadening of knowledge in this area and to propose more topics worth researching. We are inclined to utilize Husserl's methods of contemporary philosophy, with an emphasis on scientific precision and with the aim of creating a basis for further research.Violence as a social pathology, with its social consequences, is largely addressed through social work. It is the cases where violence is often present, when the client as well as the social worker or the staff of other branches (police, health care) have to make decisions while having limited choices and, at the same time, trying to comply with the law.


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