The Social Science Encyclopedia [Paperback]

Adam Kuper (Editor), Jessica Kuper (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415207940 | ISBN-13: 978-0415207942 | Publication Date: May 1999 | Edition: 2

This edition of "The Social Science Encyclopedia" first published in 1985, has been updated and recast. Ninety per cent of the entries are either new to this edition, entirely rewritten or substantially revised. The new entries cover developments in traditional fields over the last decade, newly vital areas of study in the late 90s such as environmental economics and cross-disciplinary pursuits such as women's studies and cultural studies. Theoretical movements such as post-modernism which were only beginning to be discussed in 1985 are now given prominent coverage. The edition includes entries on such topics as ethnic relations, information society, language and culture, space and pornography. The "Social Science Encyclopedia" has been written by an international team of contributors and thus presents a global understanding of issues within the social sciences. Features of the "Encyclopedia": lengthy entries which cover each of the major disciplines within the social sciences; and extensive cross-referencing at the end of each entry to direct the reader through the volume and provide easy access to relevant articles. Related fields are also covered in depth and the philosophy of the social sciences is addressed as are theories, methodology and areas of study. Profiles of key figures and schools of thought from Freud to Foucault and from the Chicago School of Economics to the Frankfurt School are provided.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

More of a dictionary than an encyclopedia, this one-volume paperback update to the first edition (LJ 4/15/86) comprises 600 entries, 90 percent of which are new or substantially revised to reflect recent developments and approaches in the social sciences, e.g., feminism, postmodernism, sociobiology, environmental and evolutionary economics, and cultural studies. Contributors, mostly scholars from the United Kingdom and the United States, are aiming at an audience of scholars and social scientists who need a handy desk reference for quick overviews of terms, concepts, movements, and individuals from disciplines outside or adjoining their own fields. The entries are of high quality in terms of content, but inevitably any one-volume work that attempts to cover all the social sciences will have gaps: for example, there's an entry on semantics but no entries for the equally important linguistic subfields of phonology and syntax. Readers needing in-depth treatment of topics will be better served by the multivolume encyclopedias that cover individual disciplines in the social sciences, the true heirs to the venerable Encyclopedia of Social Sciences (1930) and the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (1968). All libraries that missed the hardcover should purchase this inexpensive paperback edition.AMarc Meola, Temple Univ. Lib., Philadelphia
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Similar to the 1985 first edition, the second edition of the Social Science Encyclopedia attempts to provide broad and up-to-date coverage of all of the social sciences in a single volume. It contains more than 600 signed articles, ranging in length from a few paragraphs to a few pages, representing current theory, practice, and policy in such disciplines as anthropology, economics, education, feminism, geography, government and politics, linguistics, philosophy, and sociology. With such broad coverage, the encyclopedia does not go into great detail. Fortunately, every entry includes a bibliography for further reading. Like the first edition, the encyclopedia is written primarily for specialists in the field. It has a relatively high reading level and will be most useful for researchers and graduate students.

A comparison of the first and second editions indicates that the editors have taken into account the many changes that have occurred in the social sciences over the intervening decade. In a random sample of entries selected from both editions, only one-quarter of the text was found to be the same. Approximately 15 percent of the entries from the first edition were dropped, and more than one-half of all entries have been revised and updated. A further 25 percent of the entries in the second edition are completely new. Many of the articles contain recent findings and citations, some as recent as 1994. This work will replace the first edition and will continue to serve as an update to the old standard, the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences. It will be a useful addition to any social sciences research collection. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 952 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 2 edition (May 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415207940
• ISBN-13: 978-0415207942
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.6 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,323,759 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

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4.0 out of 5 stars Social Science Review, April 20, 2011

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This review is from: The Social Science Encyclopedia (Hardcover)

Needed for a course I was taking, served it purpose in that course; and continued to use for research. Overall pleased with product.