Books about Sociales from Amazon.com

This book provides the first clear, comprehensive, and accessible account of complex adaptive social systems, by two of the field's leading authorities. Such systems--whether political parties, stock markets, or ant colonies--present some of the most intriguing theoretical and practical challenges confronting the social sciences. Engagingly written, and balancing technical detail with intuitive explanations, Complex Adaptive Systems focuses on the key tools and ideas that have emerged in the field since the mid-1990s, as well as the techniques needed to investigate such systems. It provides a detailed introduction to concepts such as emergence, self-organized criticality, automata, networks, diversity, adaptation, and feedback. It also demonstrates how complex adaptive systems can be explored using methods ranging from mathematics to computational models of adaptive agents.

John Miller and Scott Page show how to combine ideas from economics, political science, biology, physics, and computer science to illuminate topics in organization, adaptation, decentralization, and robustness. They also demonstrate how the usual extremes used in modeling can be fruitfully transcended.

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Price: $21.19 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A modern classic with a new foreword by Stanley Milgram's former teacher and friend, author Jerome S. Bruner, Obedience to Authority emerges, even on the thirtieth anniversary of its publication, as a timely book for this age of war and terrorism

Half a century ago, social scientist Stanley Milgram carried out a series of experiments. The "teacher" is told to administer electroshocks in progressively more painful degrees to the "learner." The teacher -- unaware that the learner is an actor receiving no shocks at all -- is the real focus of the study. These controversial and criticized experiments illustrate how people will obey authority regardless of consequences.

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Price: $8.35 [Notify me when price goes down.]

GED Spanish test preparation materials for Social Studies exam..
Price: $13.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Citizen activism has achieved many positive results. But the road to success for social movements is often complex, usually lasting many years, with few guides for evaluating the precise stage of a movement's evolution to determine the best way forward.

Doing Democracy provides both a theory and working model for understanding and analyzing social movements, ensuring that they are successful in the long term. Beginning with an overview of social movement theory and the MAP (Movement Action Plan) model, Doing Democracy outlines the eight stages of social movements, the four roles of activists, and case studies from the civil rights, anti-nuclear energy, Central America, gay/lesbian, women's health, and globalization movements.

Bill Moyer is the originator of the MAP Model; he and his coauthors combine several decades of movement experience.

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Price: $8.40 [Notify me when price goes down.]

A lifeline to students and researchers grappling with SPSS data analysis software

This fully revised and updated edition of the SPSS Survival Manual guides readers through the entire research process, helping them choose the right data analysis technique for any project. From the formulation of research questions, to the design of the study and analysis of data, to reporting the results, the author discusses basic and advanced statistical techniques. Each technique is clearly outlined, with step-by-step procedures for performing the analysis, a detailed guide to interpreting SPSS output, and an example of how to present the results in a report. Statistical techniques covered include:

• Descriptive statistics
• Correlation
• Multiple regression
• Logistic regression
• Factor analysis
• T-tests
• Analysis of variance
• Multivariate analysis of variance
• Analysis of covariance
• Non-parametric tests

Illustrated with screen grabs, examples of output, and tips, the SPSS Survival Manual can be used by researchers at any level across all disciplines. It is supported by a website with sample data and guidelines on report writing and is fully updated for SPSS Version 12.

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Price: $37.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

With the advent of liquid modernity, the society of producers is transformed into a society of consumers In this new consumer society, individuals become simultaneously the promoters of commodities and the commodities they promote. They are, at one and the same time, the merchandise and the marketer, the goods and the travelling salespeople. They all inhabit the same social space that is customarily described by the term the market.

The test they need to pass in order to acquire the social prizes they covet requires them to recast themselves as products capable of drawing attention to themselves. This subtle and pervasive transformation of consumers into commodities is the most important feature of the society of consumers. It is the hidden truth, the deepest and most closely guarded secret, of the consumer society in which we now live.

In this new book Zygmunt Bauman examines the impact of consumerist attitudes and patterns of conduct on various apparently unconnected aspects of social life politics and democracy, social divisions and stratification, communities and partnerships, identity building, the production and use of knowledge, and value preferences.

The invasion and colonization of the web of human relations by the worldviews and behavioural patterns inspired and shaped by commodity markets, and the sources of resentment, dissent and occasional resistance to the occupying forces, are the central themes of this brilliant new book by one of the worlds most original and insightful social thinkers..
Price: $15.33 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Since it was first published more than twenty-five years ago, Asking Questions has become a classic guide for designing questionnaires¾the most widely used method for collecting information about peoples attitudes and behavior An essential tool for market researchers advertisers, pollsters, and social scientists, this thoroughly updated and definitive work combines time-proven techniques with the most current research, findings, and methods. The book presents a cognitive approach to questionnaire design and includes timely information on the Internet and electronic resources. Comprehensive and concise, Asking Questions can be used to design questionnaires for any subject area, whether administered by telephone, online, mail, in groups, or face-to-face. The book describes the design process from start to finish and is filled with illustrative examples from actual surveys..
Price: $29.06 [Notify me when price goes down.]

Walking the Talk represents a first: major business leaders arguing that sustainability is not only compatible with but crucial to business success. Drawing on nearly 70 case histories of companies around the world, the authors show how the three pillars of sustainable development -- economic growth, ecological balance, and social progress -- work to improve the bottom line even as they create a better world..
Price: $18.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The Tang Dynasty (618-907), traditionally regarded as the golden age of China, was a time of patricians and intellectuals, Buddhist monks and Taoist priests, poetry and music, song and dance. In China's Golden Age: Everyday Life in the Tang Dynasty, Charles Benn paints a vivid picture of the lifestyle behind the grandeur of the Tang culture.
All aspects of day-to-day life are presented, including crime,entertainment, fashion, marriage, food, hygiene, dwellings, and transportation. Attend an ancient feast to celebrate an imperial birthday, where ale was served in elaborate pitchers before a meal of fourteen hors d'oeuvres and twenty-three courses. Learn which colors concubines used for their eye makeup and beauty marks, and what jealous wives did to discourage such enhancement. See the similarities between today's pubs and the Tang alehouses, where women were hired to dance and sing to encourage patrons to stay longer and spend more money. Decide for yourself why Yangzhou, a city on the Grand Canal close to the Yangtze River, was considered one of the greatest cities in the Tang Dynasty.
Benn translates and paraphrases his classical Chinese sources from the Tang era with fresh and polished prose. He also includes his own illustrations of everything from tools and hairstyles to musical instruments and courtyard dwellings. A history of the rise and fall of the dynasty is presented, as is a look at the societal structure of the aristocracy, bureaucracy, eunuchs, clergy, peasants, artisans, merchants, and slaves. This thorough explanation provides fascinating insight into a culture and time that is often misunderstood by Westerners and brings alive both the everyday routine and the timeless splendor of this intellectually and artistically powerful epoch. Enjoy your journey in China's Golden Age, and come back to the present with a greater understanding of this amazing time..
Price: $11.25 [Notify me when price goes down.]

This short but thorough guide approaches statistics with a sense of fun and intellectual excitement. Writing in a relaxed and conversational manner, Garner encourages even the most math-aversive readers to think about statistical material in words and to understand formulas in terms of concepts. This discursive approach to math and an insistence on linking concepts, formulas, and empirical examples in a holistic manner allows readers to choose their own routes to learning math-related ideas.

As a stand-alone text, a self-study manual, or a supplement to a lab manual or comprehensive text, The Joy of Stats offers a unique and versatile teaching tool. A "Math-Refresher" section and self-assessment test offer a concise review of all the needed math background. A "How-To?" section provides short handy summaries of data analysis techniques and explains when to apply them. Each chapter offers key terms, numerous examples—including real-world data—practice exercises and answers, and verbal algorithms as well as formulas. The result is an unrivalled guide for students of social science as well as for practitioners and policy-makers.

Comments:

"This is a great book for social science students.... It introduces them to a whole new way of looking at numbers and how they are applied in the real world. Clearly written, with many examples, Garner certainly makes learning and teaching introductory statistics a joy, indeed!" - Nikolaos Liodakis, Wilfrid Laurier University

Roberta Garner is Professor of Sociology at DePaul University. She is the author of Social Theory: Continuity and Confrontation (Broadview Press, 2000), Contemporary Movements and Ideologies (McGraw Hill, 1996), and Social Movements in America (Rand McNally, 1977). She enjoys sharing her passion for statistics and exploring the connections between the safe, happy world of theoretical concepts and the messy real world of social issues.  

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Price: $28.45 [Notify me when price goes down.]