The present anthology, edited by Marcel Herbst, is partially based on a conference, held in 2009, to reflect on the legacy of Ben-David, and contains a selection of substantially revised papers, plus four contributions specifically written for this volume. The book focuses on three major lines of Ben-David’s research, namely “Center and Periphery” (Part I), “Role and Ethos” (Part II), and “Organization and Growth” (Part III). In addition, comprehensive introductory (“Prologue”) and concluding chapters (“Epilogue”, Part IV) by Marcel Herbst are provided. The volume addresses the following disciplines: higher education, history and sociology of science, philosophy of science, history of medicine, public administration, policy studies, Jewish studies, and economics. The anthology is one of two new publications on Joseph Ben-David after the special Minerva edition Vol. 25, Numbers 1–2, March 1987, and Gad Freudenthal’s collection of Ben-David’s writings [1991]. The text can be used in graduate studies, it addresses higher education professionals or public officials, and serves as a gateway to researchers in the field of higher education, science studies, or policy sciences.

A groundbreaking new synthesis and theory of social institutions Understanding Institutions proposes a new unified theory of social institutions that combines the best insights of philosophers and social scientists who have written on this topic. Francesco Guala presents a theory that combines the features of three influential views of institutions: as equilibria of strategic games, as regulative rules, and as constitutive rules. Guala explains key institutions like money, private property, and marriage, and develops a much-needed unification of equilibrium- and rules-based approaches. Although he uses game theory concepts, the theory is presented in a simple, clear style that is accessible to a wide audience of scholars working in different fields. Outlining and discussing various implications of the unified theory, Guala addresses venerable issues such as reflexivity, realism, Verstehen, and fallibilism in the social sciences. He also critically analyses the theory of "looping effects" and "interactive kinds" defended by Ian Hacking, and asks whether it is possible to draw a demarcation between social and natural science using the criteria of causal and ontological dependence. Focusing on current debates about the definition of marriage, Guala shows how these abstract philosophical issues have important practical and political consequences. Moving beyond specific cases to general models and principles, Understanding Institutions offers new perspectives on what institutions are, how they work, and what they can do for us.

Economics has the capacity to offer us deep insights into some of the most formidable problems of life, and offer solutions to them too. Combining a global approach with examples from everyday life, Partha Dasgupta describes the lives of two children who live very different lives in different parts of the world: in the Mid-West USA and in Ethiopia. He compares the obstacles facing them, and the processes that shape their lives, their families, and their futures. He shows how economics uncovers these processes, finds explanations for them, and how it forms policies and solutions. Along the way, Dasgupta provides an intelligent and accessible introduction to key economic factors and concepts such as individual choices, national policies, efficiency, equity, development, sustainability, dynamic equilibrium, property rights, markets, and public goods. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

What can we learn when we follow people over the years and across the course of their professional lives? Joseph C. Hermanowicz asks this question specifically about scientists and answers it here by tracking fifty-five physicists through different stages of their careers at a variety of universities across the country. He explores these scientists’ shifting perceptions of their jobs to uncover the meanings they invest in their work, when and where they find satisfaction, how they succeed and fail, and how the rhythms of their work change as they age. His candid interviews with his subjects, meanwhile, shed light on the ways career goals are and are not met, on the frustrations of the academic profession, and on how one deals with the boredom and stagnation that can set in once one is established. An in-depth study of American higher education professionals eloquently told through their own words, Hermanowicz’s keen analysis of how institutions shape careers will appeal to anyone interested in life in academia.

This theoretical and empirical study examines the influence of global institutions on the generation of scientific knowledge. Virginia Walsh's approach reverses the traditional focus of international relations literature—which most often deals with how scientific knowledge influences institutions—and offers an original way to look at international environmental governance. After proposing a theory of institutional mechanisms by which global institutions shape the generation of knowledge, the book turns to detailed case studies of two institutions in the under- studied but vital area of marine science, the Scripps Institute of Oceanography and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, to illustrate these mechanisms. In part 1, "Theory," the book identifies three specific mechanisms or "fixes" that provide the means by which institutions shape the generation and use of knowledge. With the positional fix, key individuals use their social roles or positions in an institution to influence the beliefs of members or fix the direction of research. The statutory fix occurs when beliefs gain acceptance as a consequence of being embedded in rules or treaties. The committee fix is illustrated in the regularized practices through which social groups accept statements as group beliefs. Part 2, "Evidence," shows these mechanisms at work in the two case studies. The Scripps Institution, for example, illustrates the positional fix, as successive directors used their position to frame research. The Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, on the other hand, exemplifies both the statutory fix and the committee fix in its regulatory actions.

From weaker to stronger rhetoric : literature - Laboratories - From weak points to strongholds : machines - Insiders out - From short to longer networks : tribunals of reason - Centres of calculation.

On topics from genetic engineering and mad cow disease to vaccination and climate change, this Handbook draws on the insights of 57 leading science of science communication scholars who explore what social scientists know about how citizens come to understand and act on what is known by science.