Theory, Knowledge and Science Commons^™

A Simple Introduction To The Practice Of Ethnography And Guide To Ethnographic Fieldnotes, Brian A. Hoey

Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D.

In this article, I will provide a simple introduction to the practice of ethnographic fieldwork. Ethnographic approaches, while born of the work conducted by anthropologists over one hundred years ago, are increasingly employed by researchers and others from a variety of backgrounds and for a multitude of purposes from the academic to the applied and even the commercial. In this article, I will provide an introduction intended for those new to this approach but who have already had some basic experience or training. I also provide a discussion of the centrality of fieldnotes to the conduct of this very personally …

An Ecological Approach For Social Work Practice, John T. Pardeck

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The ecological approach offers a comprehensive theoretical base that social practitioners can draw upon for effective social treatment. The critical concepts of the ecological approach are presented. It is suggested that the ecological perspective can be a useful treatment strategy for improving the social functioning of the client system.

Theories Of Public Opinion, Patricia Moy, Brandon Bosch

Sociology Department, Faculty Publications

While the issue of citizen competency has vexed scholars throughout history, the modern concepts of a mass public and mass media are relatively new. Beginning with the seminal works of Lippmann and Dewey, we chart the evolving theories of public opinion, from the "hypodermic needle" model of the early twentieth century to the more psychologically oriented approach to media effects of today. We argue that in addition to understanding how audiences process media content, theories of public opinion must account for how media content is constructed and disseminated, which is complicated by the ever-changing nature of our media landscape.

Infectious Liberty: Biopolitics Between Romanticism And Liberalism, Robert Mitchell

Literature

Infectious Liberty traces the origins of our contemporary concerns about public health, world population, climate change, global trade, and government regulation to a series of Romantic-era debates and their literary consequences. Through a series of careful readings, Robert Mitchell shows how a range of elements of modern literature, from character-systems to free indirect discourse, are closely intertwined with Romantic-era liberalism and biopolitics.

Eighteenth- and early-nineteenth century theorists of liberalism such as Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus drew upon the new sciences of population to develop a liberal biopolitics that aimed to coordinate differences among individuals by means of the culling …

On The Origin And Future Of Poetry: Notes Towards An Investigation, Carlos Aguasaco

Publications and Research

An exploration on the historical and material conditions that allowed the emergence of metaphors and poetry alongside language. This article analyzes the historical relation between poetry and technology across history. It discusses the so-called ontological crisis of poetry and opens the conversation on its future.

Transdisciplinarity: A Review Of Its Origins, Development, And Current Issues, Jay H. Bernstein

Publications and Research

Transdisciplinarity originated in a critique of the standard configuration of knowledge in disciplines in the curriculum, including moral and ethical concerns. Pronouncements about it were first voiced between the climax of government-supported science and higher education and the long retrenchment that began in the 1970s. Early work focused on questions of epistemology and the planning of future universities and educational programs. After a lull, transdisciplinarity re-emerged in the 1990s as an urgent issue relating to the solution of new, highly complex, global concerns, beginning with climate change and sustainability and extending into many areas concerning science, technology, social problems and …

Recent Trends, Current Research In Cyberpsychology: A Literature Review, Amarjit Kumar Singh, Pawan Kumar Singh

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Cyberpsychology refers to the study of the mind and behavior in the context of interactions with technology. It is an emerging branch, which has focused on the psychological aspects connected to the increasing presence and usages of technology in modern lives. This paper traces recent advancement and trends of Cyberpsychology is an emerging domain of knowledge and goes on the give a literature review of the same. An analysis of the recent research and literature covering 300 most relevant research papers from the period of 2012 to 15, August 2019 was conducted to determine and shape the research pattern based …

Possessed: New Horror Films In The Era Of Neoliberalism, Bethany C. Nelson

Doctoral Dissertations

Since its inception, the horror genre has been reflective of cultural fears. In neoliberal society, horror cinema has experienced a cultural revival that has challenged the conventional boundaries of the genre and expanded our current understandings through a convergence of neoliberalism and gothic horror with unprecedented popularity in the cultural imaginary. The conjuring universe, one of the highest grossing and most popular horror universes to date, presents a key space for cultural criminologists, like horror and film fans, to engage with the terror of the neoliberal world through mediated new gothic images, resulting in a gothic criminology. Through an ethnographic …

Internet Memes And Desensitization, Barbara Sanchez

Pathways: A Journal of Humanistic and Social Inquiry

Internet memes (IMs) have been used as a visual form of online rhetoric since the early 2000s. With hundreds of thousands now in circulation, IMs have become a prominent method of communication across the Internet. In this essay, I analyze the characteristics that have made IMs a mainstay in online communication. Understanding the definitions and structures of IMs aid in explaining their online success, especially on social platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. I use these understandings as a basis from which to theorize how both the creative process in making IMs and the prominence of IMs that utilize images …

On Peter Winch And Qualitative Social Research, Miad Ranjbar

Sociology Major Research Papers

The aim of this paper is to discuss the tenets of the philosophy of Peter Winch, a Wittgensteinian philosopher, and the relevance of his work to conducting qualitative social research. In this paper, Peter Winch’s philosophy which is elaborately presented in his book The Idea of Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy is first extrapolated and examined. I then discuss how his philosophical reasoning can substitute for the philosophical underpinnings of constructivism, critical realism, and pragmatism as qualitative social research paradigms. In this paper, it is argued that the history of empirical social studies has been prone to important …