Springer Texts in Social Sciences – serie

This introductory textbook familiarizes students with ideas of key thinkers and perspectives related to postmodern thought and everyday life. The book is unique in that it offers selections from key passages of works of important thinkers as well as from some of the author's own publications that serve as examples of how to interpret various aspects of culture. The book draws in readers with its engaging and conversational style and use of cases, illustrations and photographs, including fun discussions on everyday life under pandemic restrictions. This is a must read for students taking courses in sociology, cultural anthropology, culture and media studies, linguistics, social philosophy, and for specific courses on postmodernism.

This is an introductory textbook for the study of human evolution, and covers all major topics of human origins taught under paleoanthropology, anthropology, archaeology, and evolutionary biology courses. This book differs from the existing selection of textbooks in the following ways:•It incorporates the most recent fossil discoveries and interpretations.•It balances the discussion between descriptions of fossils and interpretations of behavior of hominins in different time periods. •It includes current findings of genomics into understanding the more recent stages of human evolution. This important subdiscipline is badly underserved by current texts.•It consistently addresses the relationship of evidence to our current hypotheses and interpretations.The book has an engaging and lucid style suitable for those entering the field. Students will find ample case studies, illustrations and examples helpful in understanding difficult concepts. Tables, timelines, and maps in every chapter include data summaries and key points. The book highlights peripheral points and background concepts in side boxes for easy reference and lists key ideas at the end of each chapter. This up-to-date and easy to read text is suitable for both classroom study and self-learning.

With the primary goal of expanding access to spatial data science tools, this book offers dozens of minimal or low-code functions and tutorials designed to ease the implementation of fully reproducible Spatial Socio-Econometric Modeling (SSEM) analyses. Designed as a University of Pennsylvania Ph.D. level course for sociologists, political scientists, urban planners, criminologists, and data scientists, this textbook equips social scientists with all concepts, explanations, and functions required to strengthen their data storytelling. It specifically provides social scientists with a comprehensive set of open-access minimal code tools to:•Identify and access place-based longitudinal and cross-sectional data sources and formats•Conduct advanced data management, including crosswalks, joining, and matching•Fully connect social network analyses with geospatial statistics•Formulate research questions designed to account for place-based factors in model specification and assess their relevance compared to individual- or unit-level indicators•Estimate distance measures across units that follow road network paths •Create sophisticated and interactive HTML data visualizations cross-sectionally or longitudinally, to strengthen research storytelling capabilities•Follow best practices for presenting spatial analyses, findings, and implications•Master theories on neighborhood effects, equality of opportunity, and geography of (dis)advantage that undergird SSEM applications and methods•Assess multicollinearity issues via machine learning that may affect coefficients' estimates and guide the identification of relevant predictors•Strategize how to address feedback loops by using SSEM as an identification framework that can be merged with standard quasi-experimental techniques like propensity score models, instrumental variables, and difference in differences•Expand the SSEM analyses to connections that emerge via social interactions, such as co-authorship and advice networks, or any form of relational dataThe applied nature of the book along with the cost-free, multi-operative R software makes the usability and applicability of this textbook worldwide.

This book covers methodology of the study for all aspects of human geography. As a comprehensive geography textbook, it consists of detailed research methodology for research in human geography including a few selected case studies in Asia. It explores different approaches, methodological possibilities, and challenges in conducting geographical research in human geography. New digital geographic data sources and GIS applications can help researchers to receive clearer concepts and obtain better measurements of the relevant attributes changes. Furthermore, the book provides an opportunity to critically examine the conceptualization and identification of the field in geographical research and how digital media has not only expanded the scope of what constitutes the field but has redefined the field in itself as well as the practices of observing, knowing, and analyzing the real world. The uniqueness of this book is due to the contribution of several professors and subject experts fromSouth East and East Asia with special particular reference to cases studies from this region of the world.

This book provides a basic understanding and concise overview of the nature of population health, the factors that make a new paradigm necessary, and the attributes associated with this unique approach to community health improvement. Written in a very accessible way, the book describes the definition of population health, the attributes of population health, and what population health is and is not. It emphasizes the extent to which the population health model revolutionizes the approach to community health improvement within a contemporary context, beginning with a redefining of such common concepts as “health”, “healthcare”, “health status”, and “health needs assessment”. As such, this book is a valuable read for practitioners and professionals who need to be familiar with the population health approach but are not likely to try to implement it.

This book provides an in-depth roadmap for qualitative research methods and data analysis across disciplines using ATLAS.ti. It encompasses and rationalizes key qualitative research concepts and methods with innovative frameworks to enrich the reader’s understanding of qualitative research methods and data analysis. The book contains multiple real-world projects that assist readers in developing conceptual and theoretical knowledge, as well as gaining insights from fieldwork, visualizing data collection, analysis, and methodological interpretations.This easy to use book provides a pragmatic approach to qualitative methods, proficiency in capturing field observations, user-friendly steps to data analysis starting from transcription, preparation of data, reading and identification of quotations, coding, memoing, commenting, code groups, creating smart codes and groups using set, semantic, and proximity operators resulting in generating numerous insightful thematic reports in avariety of formats.More notable features:- Demonstrates systematic roots to research from begin to end- Provides practical advice on how to overcome field challenges during data collection, ethical considerations, and step-by-step procedures for gaining access to participants and capturing holistic data- Includes numerous numerical arguments, interpretations, and explanations for concepts, themes, variables, networks, and emerging concepts- Includes several research frameworks and data analysis guideposts on real-world research projects with thorough procedures covering 267 images and 38 tables- Compelling for quantitative research and mixed methods approachesThe book's straightforward and user-friendly format makes it simple and easy to use, comprehend, and interpret for anyone working with ATLAS.ti.

This textbook presents an overview of the field of demography from a contemporary perspective. Designed as an introductory text for undergraduates and graduates, it lays out the basic concepts, methods, and applications of the field of demography. It describes the unique characteristics of the field, reviews the basic demographic processes, and provides an overview of the analytical techniques utilized by population scientists. It emphasizes the applied nature of demography and includes a chapter on application of demography to real-world problems as well as a discussion of population policy. The text is supplemented by ample tables, graphics, and illustrations that illustrate the concepts being considered. Through including exercises as well as detailed information on the sources of demographic data, this textbook is a must have for undergraduate and graduate students in demography and population studies.

The textbook provides students with insight into and overview of the basics of social research on music. It addresses the Who, What, When, Where, Why, How of music research through four perspectives from the sociological study of music: a historical survey of the social study of music (when), theoretical points of view (what), and methodological (how), and pragmatic aspects (who, why & how). The other Ws (where and why) are included within the four main perspectives. The four perspectives – history, theory, methodology, and practice – are complementary. Some of the names included in the theory and practice of music are also listed as a part of the history of music sociology, and vice versa. In this way, the book encompasses what Howard S. Becker has conceptualized as an art world, Kurt Blaukopf as musical practice, and Christopher Small as musicking. Covering all the relevant details yet concise in structure, this book is ideal for students of the sociology of music, musical education, musicology and of arts and aethestics.

This open access textbook provides an introduction to the software program NVivo, the most widely used qualitative analysis program. It is a versatile program with an extensive range of accessible analysis tools, flexibly deployable in the diversity of qualitative analysis approaches.Qualitative analysis is almost standard practice today with the help of a software program. Yet there are many misunderstandings about qualitative software. They support the qualitative researcher but never take over their manual and theoretical work. An in-depth understanding of the possibilities of a qualitative software program helps to free up time for the analysis itself.The possibilities of NVivo in this book are approached from a researcher's perspective. That is precisely why gaining efficiency in using the software tools gets a prominent place in the chapters. The author examines basic skills, such as managing data, working with memos and coding qualitative data. This includes textual data (such as transcripts from interviews and focus groups) and audiovisual material (sound, video and images). The book also discusses more advanced analysis tools, such as case coding, queries, AI tools, matrices and models (maps).This textbook is intended for all users of NVivo, both early career researchers and more advanced analysts, who want to further discover the secrets of this software package along the way.

This text introduces undergraduate and graduate students in health or environment-related classes to the mounting crisis of syndemics through the lens of planetary health. The concept of syndemics, developed by the author and now in wide use across multiple health-related disciplines, focuses attention on the adverse synergistic interaction of two or more diseases or other health conditions promoted or facilitated by social and/or environmental conditions. The planetary health framework is an emerging holistic medical rethinking of our understanding of health. It seeks to identify the safe environmental limits within which humanity and other species can flourish on our increasingly imperiled planet. This book offers useful conceptual tools and frameworks for developing a comprehensive understanding of approaches needed to address the health risks of our changing world. The unique coverage of this book is its careful examination of ecosyndemics around the world in light of the growing recognition that on a heavily disrupted planet, a narrow focus on human health is inadequate. Under these circumstances, a comprehensive planetary health framework is needed. This approach seriously considers the interconnected nature of human health, animal and plant health, and the health of the world’s ecosystems. Highly descriptive, with numerous cases of the planetary health crisis, the textbook is written in a student-friendly and accessible way and is an important resource for coursework across environment and health-related subjects.

This book is designed as a foundational textbook for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students from non-technical fields who want to acquire a basic understanding of data science and learn practical skills in data analysis. It distinguishes itself by combining theoretical knowledge with practical applications, bridged through extensive Python programming exercises. To accommodate social scientists' needs, the book emphasizes the analysis of textual data, especially those acquired from surveys and social media. For those without prior programming experience, the book provides instruction on using an AI-assisted Python programming tool, following the learn-by-doing methodology of acquiring new skills through experience. The overall learning goal of the book is to develop a conceptual understanding of data mining as well as the technical skills necessary for real-world data analysis.