Richard A. Shweder - Böcker

What is the nature of the social sciences? What kinds of knowledge can they—and should they—hope to create? Are objective viewpoints possible and can universal laws be discovered? Questions like these have been asked with increasing urgency in recent years, as some philosophers and researchers have perceived a "crisis" in the social sciences. Metatheory in Social Science offers many provocative arguments and analyses of basic conceptual frameworks for the study of human behavior. These are offered primarily by practicing researchers and are related to problems in disciplines as diverse as sociology, psychology, psychiatry, anthropology, and philosophy of science. While various points of view are expressed in these nineteen essays, they have in common several themes, including the comparison of social and natural science, the role of knowledge in meeting the demands of society and its pressing problems, and the nature and role of subjectivity in science. Some authors hold that subjectivity cannot be studied scientifically; others argue that it can and must be if progress in knowledge is to be made. The essays demonstrate the philosophical pluralism they discuss and give a wide range of alternative positions on the future of the social and behavioral sciences in a postpositivist intellectual world.

Studies of human development have taken an ethnographic turn in the 1990s. In this volume, anthropologists, psychologists and sociologists discuss how qualitative methodologies have strengthened the understanding of cognitive, emotional and behavioural development, and of the difficulties of growing up in contemporary society. Part One, informed by a post-positivist philosophy of science, argues for the validity of ethnographic knowledge. Part Two examines a range of qualitative methods, from participant observation to the hermeneutic elaboration of texts. In Part Three, ethnographic methods are applied to issues of human development across the life span and to social problems including poverty, racial and ethnic marginality, and crime. Restoring ethnographic methods to a central place in social inquiry, the 22 essays in this text should interest everyone concerned with the epistemological problems of context, meaning and subjectivity in the behavioural sciences.

Studies of human development have taken an ethnographic turn in the 1990s. In this volume, anthropologists, psychologists and sociologists discuss how qualitative methodologies have strengthened the understanding of cognitive, emotional and behavioural development, and of the difficulties of growing up in contemporary society. Part One, informed by a post-positivist philosophy of science, argues for the validity of ethnographic knowledge. Part Two examines a range of qualitative methods, from participant observation to the hermeneutic elaboration of texts. In Part Three, ethnographic methods are applied to issues of human development across the life span and to social problems including poverty, racial and ethnic marginality, and crime. Restoring ethnographic methods to a central place in social inquiry, the 22 essays in this text should interest everyone concerned with the epistemological problems of context, meaning and subjectivity in the behavioural sciences.

Informed parents know there is an abundance of information about children and child development available on the Internet, but can they trust that the content they find is authoritative? Professionals who work with children know where to find research relevant to their specialty, but where can they go to find reliable information on other related disciplines? "The Child" offers both parents and professionals access to the best scholarship from all areas of child studies - and from all regions of the world - in a remarkable one-volume reference. This encyclopedic companion brings together contemporary research on children and childhood from pediatrics, child psychology, childhood studies, education, sociology, history, law, anthropology, and other related areas - in sum, more than five hundred articles, all written by experts in their fields and overseen by noted anthropologist Richard A. Shweder. Each entry begins with a concise and accessible synopsis of the topic at hand.For example, the entry on 'adoption' begins with a general definition, followed by a detailed look at adoption in different cultures and at different times, a summary of the associated mental and developmental issues that can arise, and an overview of applicable legal and public policy both within the United States and elsewhere. Within the scope of a few pages, readers encounter a wide range of information and perspectives on this complex and fascinating topic. Entries also include multiple cross-references to guide readers toward related topics within the volume and suggestions for further reading. While many of the entries address universal, biological facts about children - most fetuses suck their thumbs, for example, and most babies develop musical rhythm by seven months - they also consider the many worlds of childhood within the United States and around the globe. Alongside the topical articles, "The Child" includes more than forty 'Imagining Each Other' essays, which focus on the experiences of particular children in different cultures.In 'Work before Play for Yucatec Mayan Children', for example, readers learn of the work responsibilities of some modern-day Mexican children, while in 'A Hindu Brahman Boy Is Born Again', they witness a coming-of-age ritual in contemporary India. This is the best scholarship from a wide range of disciplines, including: anthropology; child development; childhood studies; education; History; Law; Literature; Pediatrics; Psychology; public policy; religion; and, Sociology. Compiled by some of the most distinguished child development researchers in the world, "The Child" will broaden the current scope of knowledge on children and childhood. It is an unparalleled resource for parents, social workers, researchers, educators, and others who work with children, and will spark a necessary discussion about children and childhood around the world.Offering a unique global perspective - selections from the 'Imagining Each Other' essays include: Growing Up Hearing in a Deaf Family; Formality and Fun in Kinship Relations among the Gusii; Educated at Home in the United States; Children as Family Caregivers in Mexico; On Infants Sleeping Alone; The Luminous Books of Childhood; Trial by Fire: Emotional Socialization among Canadian Inuit; The Parenting Style of a Turkish Reformer; Memories of Childhood on an Israeli Kibbutz; Summer Camp for Diabetic Children: A Stigma-Free Zone; An African American Grandmother Combats Racial Hatred; Early Childhood Education in Japan; and, A Refugee's Childhood in the West Bank.

The symptoms of middle age are often defined in terms of lower back pain, mortgages, and an aversion to loud late-night activities. This construction of "midlife", most often rendered in chronological, biological and medical terms, has become an accepted reality to European Americans, and has spread to non-Western capitals such as Tokyo and New Delhi. This study explores the significance of this pervasive cultural representation compared to other cultures where "middle age" does not exist. It examines topics ranging from the Western ideology of "midlife decline", to cultural representations of mature adulthood which ignore middle age. It also looks at the myths surrounding the life span from 30 to 70.

The symptoms of middle age are often defined in terms of lower back pain, mortgages, and an aversion to loud late-night activities. This construction of "midlife", most often rendered in chronological, biological and medical terms, has become an accepted reality to European Americans, and has spread to non-Western capitals such as Tokyo and New Delhi. This study explores the significance of this pervasive cultural representation compared to other cultures where "middle age" does not exist. It examines topics ranging from the Western ideology of "midlife decline", to cultural representations of mature adulthood which ignore middle age. It also looks at the myths surrounding the life span from 30 to 70.

Clifford Geertz is the most influential American anthropologist of the past four decades. His writings have defined and given character to the intellectual agenda of a meaning-centered, non-reductive interpretive social science and have provoked much excitement and debate about the nature of human understanding. As part of the American Anthropological Association's centennial celebration, the executive board sponsored a presidential session honoring Geertz. Clifford Geertz by His Colleagues compiles the speeches given then by a distinguished panel of social scientists along with a concluding piece by Geertz in which he responds to each speaker and reflects on his own career. These edited speeches cover a broad range of topics, including Geertz's views on morality, cultural critique, interpretivism, time and change, Islam, and violence. A fitting tribute to one of the great thinkers of our age, this collection will be enjoyed by anthropologists as well as students of psychology, history, and philosophy.

Clifford Geertz is the most influential American anthropologist of the past four decades. His writings have defined and given character to the intellectual agenda of a meaning-centered, non-reductive interpretive social science and have provoked much excitement and debate about the nature of human understanding. As part of the American Anthropological Association's centennial celebration, the executive board sponsored a presidential session honoring Geertz. Clifford Geertz by His Colleagues compiles the speeches given then by a distinguished panel of social scientists along with a concluding piece by Geertz in which he responds to each speaker and reflects on his own career. These edited speeches cover a broad range of topics, including Geertz's views on morality, cultural critique, interpretivism, time and change, Islam, and violence. A fitting tribute to one of the great thinkers of our age, this collection will be enjoyed by anthropologists as well as students of psychology, history, and philosophy.

The relationship between everyday experience and culture - seen as a set of ideas, values, or symbolic codes - has challenged social scientists and especially anthropologists, for more than a century. As a comprehensive and critical account of knowledge and research in the field of culture theory, leading social scientists explore the implications for understanding different aspects of subjective experience, social practice, and individual behavior. The focus of the volume is on the role of symbols and meaning in the development of mind, self, and emotion. They examine the content of culture and how it interacts with cognitive, social, and emotional growth; how ideas relate to attitudes, feelings, and behavior; how concepts and meanings are historically transmitted. They also explore methodological and conceptual problems involved in the definition and study of meaning, and revisit the perennial problem of 'relativism' in light of topical advances in semantic analysis and in culture theory. This book will appeal to an interdisciplinary audience of anthropologists, psychologists, philosophers, historians, and linguists, as well as those interested in hermeneutics and a science of subjectivity.

Why do American children sleep alone instead of with their parents? Why do middle-aged Western women yearn for their youth, while young wives in India look forward to being middle-aged? In these provocative essays, one of the most brilliant advocates of cultural psychology reminds us that cultural differences in mental life lie at the heart of any understanding of the human condition. Drawing on ethnographic studies of the distinctive modes of psychological functioning in communities around the world, Richard Shweder explores ethnic and cultural differences in ideals of gender, in the life of the emotions, in conceptions of mature adulthood and the stages of life, and in moral judgments about right and wrong. Shweder, a cultural pluralist, dares readers to broaden their own conceptions of what is good, true, beautiful, and efficient and to take a closer look at specific cultural practices--parent/child cosleeping, arranged marriage, male and female genital modifications--that we may initially find alien or disturbing. He invites us to reject both radical relativism (the view that whatever is, is okay) and imperial visions of universal progressive cultural development (for example, the idea that "the West is Best") and to engage in more deeply informed cultural critique.The knowable world, Shweder observes, is incomplete if seen from any one point of view, incoherent if seen from all points of view at once, and empty if seen from nowhere in particular. This work strives for the "view from manywheres" in a culturally diverse yet interdependent world.