|
Power In Focus: Perspectives From Multiple Disciplines is to begin to show how pervasive and useful the concept of power is in a wide variety of social science contexts. It is a collection of essays written expressly for this purpose by ten scholars, from ten different fields of study and six countries on three continents, who were each persuaded that there is indeed something fundamentally important to be gained from embarking on this journey. Their essays on the theme of power are independent from each other, and are from within the perspective of their respective disciplines. These essays were written specifically in response to a challenge and deliberately ignore the vast existing literature on power, since most of this literature utilizes a specialized perspective. The essays span the range from communication to economics, international relations, education, psychology, linguistics, anthropology, and neuroscience. The result is an array of intriguing, often startling insights into the role of power in a wide range of social contexts: Big Science projects, production and distribution of goods and services, international conflict and diplomacy, classroom discipline, child development and the history of nations, interpersonal and family relationships, the development and communication of ideologies, and the clash of traditional and modern cultures. There is as well a range of styles, from the journalistic to rigorously scientific. And in a number of cases, during the process of thinking about the role of power in the subject matter of the discipline, the authors are drawn into writing about the role of power in the discipline itself – who gets the resources and the rewards, who makes the rules that determine the thrust and worth of the work of members of the discipline. In short, there is a wealth of insights in these essays, with much to be learned from looking at them collectively. There is still of course a long way to travel on this journey, but this book represents an important milestone.ISBN-10: 1556053665 Sent media mail |
Antique-Central
