The role of the Sociology of Health and Medicine in the current debate on interdisciplinarity in Social Sciences

2012 ◽  
pp. 131-154
Author(s):  
Roberto Vignera
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Behavioral Genetics ◽  
General Context ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Social Behavior ◽  
Sociology Of Health

Since the earliest phases of its institutionalization, the sociology of health and medicine has played an increasingly central role within the more general context of sociological thinking. Its prospects are further heightened in the context of the current debate on the interactions between the social sciences and fields of knowledge like cognitive science, behavioral genetics, neurosciences, which are becoming more and more closely engaged with the study of Human Social Behavior. This mediation role, however, finds it difficult to manifest itself due to the various theoretical and epistemological inclinations that sociology has relied on to solidify its own identity and stand apart from the formal criteria used in other scholarly contexts.

Il ruolo della Sociologia della salute e della medicina nell'attuale dibattito sulla inter-disciplinarietÀ nelle scienze sociali

2012 ◽  
pp. 139-163
Author(s):  
Roberto Vignera
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Cognitive Science ◽  
Behavioral Genetics ◽  
General Context ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Social Behavior ◽  
Sociology Of Health

Since the earliest phases of its institutionalization, the sociology of health and medicine has played an increasingly central role within the more general context of sociological thinking. Its prospects are further heightened in the context of the current debate on the interactions between the social sciences and fields of knowledge like cognitive science, behavioral genetics, neurosciences, which are becoming more and more closely engaged with the study of Human Social Behavior. This mediation role, however, finds it difficult to manifest itself due to the various theoretical and epistemological inclinations that sociology has relied on to solidify its own identity and stand apart from the formal criteria used in other scholarly contexts.

scholarly journals How Troubling is our Inheritance - A review of genetics and race in the social sciences

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip N. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Popular Book ◽  
The Social ◽  
Evolutionary View ◽  
Relative Status ◽  
Point Of Departure

This article addresses the argument that there is variation between races in the biological basis for social behavior. The article uses Nicholas Wade’s popular book, A Troublesome Inheritance, as the point of departure for a discussion of attendant issues, including the extent to which human races can be definitively demarcated biologically, the extent to which genetics is related to contemporary definitions of race, and the role of natural selection as a possible mechanism for change in modern societies. My critical review of the theory and evidence for an evolutionary view of racial determinism finds that genetics does not explain the relative status and well-being of today’s racially identified groups or their broader societies.

scholarly journals How Troubling Is Our Inheritance? A Review of Genetics and Race in the Social Sciences

2015 ◽  
Vol 661 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip N. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Popular Book ◽  
The Social ◽  
Evolutionary View ◽  
Relative Status ◽  
Point Of Departure

This article addresses the argument that there is variation between races in the biological basis for social behavior. The article uses Nicholas Wade’s popular book, A Troublesome Inheritance, as the point of departure for a discussion of attendant issues, including the extent to which human races can be definitively demarcated biologically, the extent to which genetics is related to contemporary definitions of race, and the role of natural selection as a possible mechanism for change in modern societies. My critical review of the theory and evidence for an evolutionary view of racial determinism finds that genetics does not explain the relative status and well-being of today’s racially identified groups or their broader societies.

Information, Knowledge, and the Return of Social Physics

2018 ◽  
Vol 50 (9) ◽  
pp. 1238-1258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian T. Adolf ◽  
Nico Stehr
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Big Data ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Early History ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Comprehensive Investigation ◽  
Social Physics ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of

The article discusses two vital aspects of the current debate about the societal importance and future role of data, information, and knowledge in the context of social organization, administration, and government. First, it is argued that the debate concerning Big Data suffers from faulty assumptions regarding the societal significance and power of information which needs to be extended to a more comprehensive investigation about the social role of knowledge. Second, the theoretical positions brought forward are illustrated by revisiting an episode from the early history of the social sciences, arguing that misguided ideas about the possibility of “Social Physics” have failed before and are likely to fail again, due to the complexity of social behavior.

Evolutionary Behavioral Science

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Crippen
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Kin Selection ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Social ◽  
Human Social Behavior ◽  
Maximization Principle

Genuinely evolutionary explanations of human social behavior are only dimly grasped by most social scientists. However, with increasing frequency, such approaches are yielding remarkable insights. In view of these considerations, this chapter isolates and briefly reviews the core principles of the evolutionary behavioral sciences. Specifically, attention focuses on the theory of kin selection, the maximization principle, the theory of reciprocity, and the theory of relative parental investment. These theoretical tools have been demonstrated to be extraordinarily productive in explaining various aspects of animal, including human, social behavior. Still, many social scientists continue to misconstrue or misrepresent the basics of evolutionary behavioral science. The chapter addresses some of the more common misunderstandings and, in the process, emphasizes the manner in which the social sciences may benefit from developing more explicit logical linkages with the fundamental principles of evolutionary biology.

Reputed Changes in Social Scientists' Sympathies Regarding the Nature-Nurture Controversy: An Exploratory Comparison

1984 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Ellis
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Behavior ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Science History ◽  
Social Science History ◽  
The Social ◽  
Evolutionary Genetic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Social Behavior

Probably the most enduring question throughout the history of the social sciences pertains to how much human social behavior is a product of evolutionary, genetic, nonsocial, “natural” sorts of variables as opposed to learned sociocultural, environmental, “nurturing” variables (Hammond, 1983). Regardless of where individual social scientists themselves happen to have settled on this issue, many have offered an opinion about the prevailing position of social scientists generally on this question at various points in social science history. The present study compares these opinions, especially as they pertain to the twentieth century.

Concluding Summary

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie Figdor
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Cognitive Capacity ◽  
Human Cognition ◽  
Conceptual Foundation ◽  
The Social ◽  
New Research ◽  
Internal And External Factors ◽  
Conceptual Confusion

Chapter 10 provides a summary of the argument of the book. It elaborates some of the benefits of Literalism, such as less conceptual confusion and an expanded range of entities for research that might illuminate human cognition. It motivates distinguishing the questions of whether something has a cognitive capacity from whether it is intuitively like us. It provides a conceptual foundation for the social sciences appropriate for the increasing role of modeling in these sciences. It also promotes convergence in terms of the roles of internal and external factors in explaining both human and nonhuman behavior. Finally, it sketches some of the areas of new research that it supports, including group cognition and artificial intelligence.

A Phenomenology of Rhythm

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lexi Eikelboom
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Social Interactions ◽  
Henri Lefebvre ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
The Social ◽  
Analytical Importance ◽  
Jazz Performance

This chapter proposes a framework for approaching the theological significance of rhythm through phenomenology, prosody, and the social sciences. In accordance with the general categories of phenomenology established by Merleau-Ponty and the “rhythmanalysis” of Henri Lefebvre, the chapter investigates two experiences of rhythm: approaches to analysing the human encounter with rhythm in the reading of poetry and the role of rhythm in social interactions introduced through commonalities between rhythm in conversation and in jazz performance. These explorations establish two features of rhythm that are of analytical importance for the chapters that follow: (1) the synchronic and the diachronic as two necessary but distinct theoretical perspectives on rhythm, each of which emphasizes different features of rhythm and (2) the importance of interruption for understanding rhythm’s significance.

Indonesian Historical Writing after Independence

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ann Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Historical Writing ◽  
Dutch Version ◽  
History Writing ◽  
Academic History ◽  
Artistic Representations ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Military ◽  
Local Perspectives

This chapter discusses Indonesian historical writing after independence. At the time Indonesia became independent, knowledge of academic history-writing was virtually non-existent. Indonesian elites then faced the postcolonial predicament of having to adopt Western nationalistic approaches to history in order to oppose the Dutch version of the archipelago’s history that had legitimized colonial domination. Soon after independence, the military took over and dominated the writing of history in Indonesia for several decades. Challenges to the military’s view of history came from artistic representations of history, and from historians—trained in the social sciences—who emphasized a multidimensional approach balancing central and local perspectives. However, it was only after 2002 that historians could openly criticize the role of the military.

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