This book proposes a fresh approach to sociological analysis and, in particular, to the analysis of scientific culture. It moves away from previous studies, which have tended to focus on scientists' actions and beliefs to show that analysis of scientific discourse can be productive and revealing. The book demonstrates that scientists produce varying accounts of their actions and beliefs in different social situations. Rather than attempting to extract one coherent interpretation from these diverse accounts, the study identifies two basic scientific repertoires and shows how scientists use them to create their discourse. This provides a point of departure for more complex analytical topics. Discourse analysis is applied to show how different degrees of 'consensus' can be ascribed to the same group of scientists at a given moment in time through the application of standard interpretive techniques. Finally, discourse analysis is used to explore scientists' humour, a neglected topic that i
An invaluable guide to thecomplex and increasinglyvital study of socialsimulationThis is a revised, completely updated editionof the practical textbook that examines thetechniques of building computer
This title was first published in 2001. This text attempts to explain what the underlying processes of the evolution of research policies of the European union and its member states. It does this from
This book provides an overview of soical science simulation as a tool for modelling and theory building. It is shown how simulation may be applied to the analysis of social and economic problems using
