Natural World by Lisa Watts

Natural World by Lisa Watts

The 1920s and 30s were key decades for the history of American social science. The success of such quantitative disciplines as economics and psychology during World War I forced social scientists to reexamine their methods and practices and to consider recasting their field as a more objective science separated from its historical foundation in social reform. The debate that ensued, fiercely conducted in books, articles, correspondence, and even presidential addresses, made its way into every aspect of social science thought of the period and is the subject of this book.
Mark C. Smith first provides a historical overview of the controversy over the nature and future of the social sciences in early twentieth-century America and, then through a series of intellectual biographies, offers an intensive study of the work and lives of major figures who participated in this debate. Using an extensive range of materials, from published sources to manuscript collections, Smith examines objectivists--economist Wesley Mitchell and political scientist Charles Merriam--and the more purposive thinkers--historian Charles Beard, sociologist Robert Lynd, and political scientist and neo-Freudian Harold Lasswell. He shows how the debate over objectivity and social purpose was central to their professional and personal lives as well as to an understanding of American social science between the two world wars. These biographies bring to vivid life a contentious moment in American intellectual history and reveal its significance in the shaping of social science in this country.

Ohio native Lisa Watts is an editor and writer who raised her family in a small Ohio town for ten years.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780746016893
ISBN 10	0746016891
Title	Natural World
Author	Lisa Watts
Series	Usborne Illustrated Encyclopaedias S
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Usborne Publishing Ltd
Year published	1995-12-31
Number of pages	96
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable