The structure of social science literature as shown by a large-scale citation analysis

To collect information relevant to the improvement of secondary services, an analysis of 59,000 citations in the social sciences was conducted— 11,000 taken from 300 monographs, and 48,000 from 140 serials, including 47 highly cited titles and 47 taken at random. The analyses, the main results of which are summarized, included concentration and scatter, rank lists of cited serials, date distributions (crudely corrected for literature growth), subject relationships, country and language links, and forms of material cited. Large differences were apparent between analyses of references taken from serials and those from monographs, and smaller differences between analyses of references from highly cited and randomly chosen serials. This suggests that analyses based only on references from highly cited serials give a very incomplete picture. There were also great differences between subjects; most of these differences have implications for the planning of secondary services. The results imply that secondary services in the social sciences are deficient in the range of forms of material they cover, in the number and possibly the selection of serials covered, in the subject spread of material of possible relevance, and probably also of foreign language material and material published in many other countries.     

略论社会科学研究中的研究设计

研究设计是指对整个研究工作进行规划,制定出探索特定社会现象或事物的具体策略,确定研究的最佳途径,选择恰当的研究方法。研究设计一般包括选择研究课题,确定研究性质、分析单位和分析层次,选择研究方式和手段,选择资料收集方式,制定具体规划等内容。     

人学与当代中国社会发展

人学是我国现代化建设和社会发展的必然产物和内在要求,是解决当代中国社会发展中许多重大问题的理论前提.人的塑造与人格转型,对人的理解,人的素质,人的能力评价,人性,人的能力与个性,人的发展与代价,人的存在方式、需要、利益与价值,日常社会生活中的核心文化理念等问题的解决,都需要人学以提供理论基础和前瞻性的指导.所以,人学在我国当代社会发展中有着重大的意义.     

The mind–body problem and social science: Motivating a quantum social theory

This comment addresses some of the critiques of “Quantum Mind and Social Science” by the other contributors, with special reference to the challenge that the mind‐body problem poses to conventional, classical thinking about social science. A quantum social ontology transcends those challenges, and in the process could transform social scientific thinking across the board. As an example the essay concludes with a consideration of the physics of social structure.     

Realism and antirealism in social science

Up until recently social scientists took it for granted that their task was to account for the social world as objectively as possible: they were realists in practice if not always in their methodological sermons. This situation started to change in the 1960s, when a number of antirealist philosophies made inroads into social studies.This paper examines critically the following kinds of antirealism: subjectivism, conventionalism, fictionism, social constructivism, relativism, and hermeneutics. An attempt is made to show that these philosophies are false and are causing serious damage to social studies.Next the subjective interpretation of probability is analyzed as a case of subjectivism. An approach to the subjective perception of justice is sketched as an example of the objective study of subjective experience.Finally, the three main varieties of realism — naive, critical, and scientific — are outlined. It is argued that the scientific attitude involves scientific realism, which is put in practice even by scholars who, like Weber and Simmel, called themselves antirealists.     

The impact of information technology on public access to social science databases

An examination of four trends in American society and their impact on public libraries, librarians and public access to information. The trends examined include: the rapid increase in the availability of microcomputers; the existence of a telecommunications network; the tendency for more information to appear in machine-readable form; and an increase in the number of individuals familiar with and inclined to utilize machine-readable data files.     

The gender and race-ethnicity of faculty in top social science research departments

This paper provides a recent profile of the gender and race-ethnicity of faculty in top research departments of economics, political science, and sociology. Most faculty are male, although there appear to be critical masses of women in political science and sociology. Blacks and Hispanics are underrepresented among faculty relative to their shares of the population. Within each racial-ethnic group examined, there are more male than female faculty members, with a smaller gender gap for Blacks than for other racial-ethnic groups. In general, the higher the rank, the greater the proportion of males than females, especially for Whites and Asians.     

On information science and the social sciences

Presents a view of the links between information science and social science which led to the suggestion that SSIS should be established. Proposes that the links warrant the assumptions that an emerging sub-discipline exists and that SSIS can aid its emergence.     

科学技术社会风险的价值反思

现代科技成果的广泛应用向人们表明：现代科学特别是技术的应用从来都不是价值中立的,对科技成果应用后果和社会风险的反思愈来愈为思想家们所关切。西方思想家们对技术理性的批判实质上是对科技异化、理性异化的批判。面对科学技术潜在的环境、价值等社会风险,需要重铸现代人文精神,为科技发展提供合理的价值取向,在科学研究和技术应用过程中坚持遵循利益原则与人道主义原则的尺度。中国要想避免现代化带来的破坏性影响,就需要把西方文明中的科学与民主精神和中国传统文化中的人文精神整合起来,建立一套适合自己特色的发展模式。     

An alternative logical framework for dialectical reasoning in the social and policy sciences

This article provides a concise logical, and as a consequence conceptual, critique of dialectical reasoning and its place in planning and policy in the work of Richard O. Mason and lan I. Mitroff. Based on this critique, a construct called Strategic Forum is presented as an advance of the use of dialectical reasoning in the social and policy sciences. The place of Strategic Forum within group decision support systems is discussed.     

The 9/11 effect: Toward a social science of the terrorist threat

After 9/11, public attitudes on numerous social issues changed. While many studies have examined post-9/11 attitude trends on specific topics, such as civil liberties or war, few have investigated the scope and variety of these effects. Did the events of 9/11 have a brief effect on a limited number of attitudes, or did they produce numerous, long-term changes in the way Americans think, feel and act? Drawing on a broad range of pre-post-9/11 studies, this review essay begins to answer this question by developing a framework for categorizing these effects and distinguishing short-term changes from long-term ones. The framework is intended to help facilitate an interdisciplinary social scientific research agenda on the effects of 9/11 and other terrorist acts. The essay concludes by explaining the social importance of the public's response to terrorism and the need for further research on this topic.     

The study of scientific map and thematic structure of social work

This study investigated the scientific map and thematic structure of Social media. It is a scientometrics research, using quantitative method and citation analysis. In order to draw a scientific map of the research literature in the field of Social media, the data were extracted from the Web of Science database within a specified time period. The retrieved records were formatted using WC10.exe conversion software and were then mapped using VOSviewer software. The findings revealed a growing trend in the number of articles published in the field of Social media, and this number increases on an annual basis. The most widely used subject areas in the field of Social media were identified. High‐frequency keywords such as Social media, education, sociology, social justice, women studies, and psychiatry are the newly emerging and active concepts in this field. Regarding the widely used subject areas in the field of Social media, it was noted that the two areas of Social media and education are ranked first and second as the most frequently used terms. In this study, by the conceptual map found in the field of Social media, it can be concluded that the concepts are highly interconnected. Furthermore, by the interconnectivity and closeness of centrality measures of social concepts illustrated in the provided map, it can be argued that the highest values are attributed to the subject areas of Social media and education.     

Phenomenological social science: Research in the public interest

This article analyzes the impact of phenomenology on social research. Central to phenomenological social science is the idea of “epistemic participation,” which allows knowledge to be understood in terms of its existential character. Research that is conducted with this aim generates data that reflect the public's interests. Such methodological sensitivity increases the validity of data and the social relevance of policy research. Thus it is argued that policy studies might be improved if they were phenomenologically informed.