Engineering society: the role of the human and social sciences in modern societies, 1880-1980

Since the late nineteenth century the human and the social sciences have had a profound impact on how Western societies have defined and attempted to solvesocial problems. Explaining crime by reference to abnormalities of the brain,using market-research techniques to modify political strategies, or employingtherapeutic institutions to promote democratic citizenship - these are just three examples of how the human and social sciences have been applied since 1880. Experts from many disciplines have occupied key positions in state and society, guided political decisions, and helped to establish new social institutions and practices. Their expertise has had to compete with other forms of knowledge and has been used by politicians and social actors for their own ends. Providing a transdisciplinary and comparative perspective, the essays in this volume address the tension between the claims to objectivity and the politicization of expert knowledge, examine the relationship between knowledge and power,and discuss long-term historical developments, thus transcending the political caesuras of twentieth-century history. INDICE: List of Illustrations.List of Tables.Acknowledgements.Notes on Contributors.Introduction. The Scientization of the Social in Comparative Perspective; B.Ziemann, R.F.Wetzell, D.Schumann. &. K.Brückweh.Embedding the Human Sciences in Western Societies, 1880-1980. Reflections on Trends and Methods of Current Research; L.Raphael. PART I: SOCIAL AND PENAL POLICY.Contesting Risk. Specialist Knowledge and Workplace Accidents in Britain, Germany and Italy, 1870-1920; J.Moses.Politics through the Back Door. Expert Knowledge in International Welfare Organizations; M.Lengwiler.Rationalizing the Individual - Engineering Society. The Case of Sweden; T.Etzemüller.The Neurosciences and Criminology: How Experts have moved into Public Policy and Debate; P.Becker.PART II: DIAGNOSIS AND THERAPY.The Psychological Sciences and the 'Scientization' and 'Engineering' of Society in Twentieth-century Britain; M.Thomson. Mental Health as Civic Virtue: Psychological Definitions of Citizenship in the Netherlands, 1900-1985; H.Oosterhuis. Human Sciences, Child Reform and Politics in Spain, 1890-1936; T.Kössler.Narcissism: Social Critique in Me-Decade America; E.Lunbeck. PART III: POLLING, MARKETING, AND ORGANIZATIONS.Hearing the Masses: The Modern Science of Opinion in the United States; S.Igo.Observing the Sovereign. Opinion Polls and the Restructuring of the Body Politic in West Germany, 1945-1990; A.Kruke.&. B.Ziemann.Consumers, Markets and Research: The Role of Political Rhetoric and the Social Sciences in the Engineering of British and AmericanConsumer Society, 1920-1960; S.Schwarzkopf.Business Organizations, Foundations, and the State as Promoters of Applied Social Sciences in the United States and Switzerland, 1890-1960; E.Walter-Busch.Catholic Church Reform and Organizations Research in the Netherlands and Germany, 1945-1980; B.Ziemann.&. C.Dols.Index.

• ISBN: 978-0-230-27907-0
• Editorial: Palgrave Macmillan
• Encuadernacion: Cartoné
• Páginas: 320
• Fecha Publicación: 07/09/2012
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Desconocido