Onderzoeksbevindingen uit de humane wetenschappen worden te pas en te onpas ingeroepen in het publieke debat. Dit boek verduidelijkt de methoden waarmee die wetenschappers tot hun conclusies komen. Dat helpt hun onderzoek beter naar waarde te schatten.

Het boek legt voor verschillende wetenschapsdisciplines uit wat deze bestuderen, hoe ze te werk gaan en wat de verdiensten en beperkingen van hun werkwijze zijn. Het bevat hoofdstukken over zowel literatuurstudies (geschiedenis, theologie, rec...

De mens heeft altijd de neiging zich te vergelijken met de toonaangevende technologie van zijn tijd. Steeds weer gaan we de concurrentiestrijd aan met datgene wat we zelf hebben gecreëerd. Nu zijn dat computers en robots – kunstmatige intelligentie. Ons ideale mensbeeld lijkt op dat van een superrobot: extreem slim, voorspelbaar en in staat tot het leveren van topprestaties. Al vanaf de geboorte wordt daarom alles wat we doen en kunnen gedocumenteerd, in curves gegoten en vergeleken met wa...

Successor to Claude Levi-Strausa at the College de France, Philippe Descola has become one of the most important anthropologists working today, and Beyond Nature and Culture has been a major influence in European intellectual life since its publication in 2005. Here, finally, it is brought to English-language readers. At its heart is a question central to both anthropology and philosophy: what is the relationship between nature and culture? Culture - as a collective human making, of art, lang...

Gender Matters in Global Politics is a comprehensive textbook for advanced undergraduates studying politics, international relations, and development. It provides students with an accessible but in-depth account of feminist methodologies, gender theory, and feminist approaches to key topics and themes in global politics.

Now in its seventh edition, this essential text continues to provide students with a comprehensive yet accessible overview of the study and practice of persuasive communication. Attuned to the swift changes in the world of persuasion in the twenty-first century, this book covers how theories and research illuminate and adapt to our present digital era, with continued attention to ethical implications and today's big topics. This new edition features updated definitions of key terms in the fie...

Research Methods: The Basics is an accessible, user-friendly introduction to the different aspects of research theory, methods and practice. This third edition provides an expanded and fully updated resource suitable for students and practitioners in a wide range of disciplines including the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities. It is structured in two parts - the first covers the nature of knowledge and the reasons for doing research, the second explains the specific methods used...

Wind energy is often portrayed as a panacea for the environmental and political ills brought on by an overreliance on fossil fuels, but this characterization may ignore the impact wind farms have on the regions that host them. Power Struggles investigates the uneven allocation of risks and benefits in the relationship between the regions that produce this energy and those that consume it. Jaume Franquesa considers Spain, a country where wind now constitutes the main source of energy production.

In particular, he looks at the Southern Catalonia region, which has traditionally been a source of energy production through nuclear reactors, dams, oil refineries, and gas and electrical lines. Despite providing energy that runs the country, the region is still forced to the political and economic periphery as the power they produce is controlled by centralized, international Spanish corporations. Local resistance to wind farm installation in Southern Catalonia relies on the notion of dignity: the ability to live within one's means and according to one's own decision...

In recent years, global attention has focused on how women in communities of Muslims are revitalizing Islam by linking interpretation of religious ideas to the protection of rights and freedoms. Humanizing the Sacred demonstrates how Sunni women activists in Malaysia are fracturing institutionalized Islamic authority by generating new understandings of rights and redefining the moral obligations of their community. Based on ethnographic research of Sisters in Islam (SIS), a nongovernmental or...

Presents the research in media psychology, bridging selective exposure into a larger framework of choice in media usage. Considering the myriad media options available to use, this work seeks to answer such questions as: what mechanisms guide an individual's exposure to/choice of media and how can researchers model them.

Science of Mythology provides an account of the meaning and the purpose of mythic themes that is linked to modern life: the heroic battles between good and evil of yore are still played out, reflected in contemporary fears.