Full Description
22 out of the 26 Chapters are available Open Access on Elgaronline under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. The complete Handbook containing all 26 chapters is available on Google Play (guide price £10) see link in 'More Information' below.
The Handbook of Sociological Science offers a refreshing, integrated perspective on research programs and ongoing developments in sociological science. It highlights key shared theoretical and methodological features, thereby contributing to progress and cumulative growth of sociological knowledge.
Reflecting 'unity in diversity', chapters explore a wide variety of research fields, ranging from cultural capital, migration, social networks, gender inequality, historical sociology and ethnography to the intersection of sociology and the life sciences. Examining basic methodological standards for theory construction and empirical research, the Handbook exemplifies commonalities between research programmes within these fields.
The contributors also explore rigorous sociology related to theory construction, empirical research, and methods, including statistical modelling and the integration of theoretical and empirical research. Forward-thinking and original, the Handbook concludes by illustrating the common core of rigorous sociology, how it can contribute to understanding societal problems and to policy making, and how research into sociological science can continue to thrive in the future.
Accessible and engaging, this Handbook will be invaluable for scholars and researchers of sociology and sociological theory, research methods in sociology and social policy, and comparative social policy. Exploring new developments and applications, it will also act as a useful reference guide for policy makers. The Handbook will likewise be an important resource for teaching advanced courses and training graduate students.
Contents
Contents:
INTRODUCTION
1. Rigorous sociology 2
Werner Raub, Nan Dirk de Graaf, and Klarita Gërxhani
PART I RESEARCH PROGRAMS
2. Order from chaos: sociology as a population science 21
Michelle Jackson
3. Analytical sociology 38
Gianluca Manzo
4. Computational approaches in rigorous sociology: agent-based computational
modeling and computational social science 57
Andreas Flache, Michael Mäs, and Marijn A. Keijzer
5. Stochastic network modeling as generative social science 73
Christian E.G. Steglich and Tom A.B. Snijders
6. Rational choice sociology: heuristic potential, applications, and limitations 100
Andreas Diekmann
PART II NEW AND ONGOING DEVELOPMENTS IN SELECTED FIELDS
7. Cultural capital and educational inequality: an assessment of the state of
the art 121
Mads Meier Jæger
8. Integration in migration societies 135
Frank Kalter
9. Social networks: effects and formation 154
Vincent Buskens, Rense Corten, and Werner Raub
10. Gender inequality, households, and work 176
Eva Jaspers, Tanja van der Lippe, and Marie Evertsson
11. Validation strategies in historical sociology (and beyond) 196
Ivan Ermakoff
12. Rigorous ethnography 215
Federico Varese
13. Evolution, biology, and society 232
Rosemary L. Hopcroft, Joseph Dippong, Hexuan Liu, and Rachel Kail
14. Sociogenomics: theoretical and empirical challenges of integrating molecular
genetics into sociological thinking 250
Melinda C. Mills
PART III METHODS
15. Causal inference with observational data 272
Richard Breen
16. Longitudinal designs and models for causal inference 287
Markus Gangl
17. Experimental sociology 309
Klarita Gërxhani and Luis Miller
PART IV RIGOROUS SOCIOLOGY IN ACTION: SHOWCASES
18. Explaining educational differentials: towards a formal rational action
theory 325
Richard Breen and John H. Goldthorpe
19. 'Explaining educational differentials' revisited: an evaluation of rigorous
theoretical foundations and empirical findings 356
Rolf Becker
20. Structural holes and good ideas 372
Ronald S. Burt
21. Network mechanisms in innovation: borrowing and sparking ideas around
structural holes 423
Balazs Vedres
22. Experimental study of inequality and unpredictability in an artificial
cultural market 443
Matthew J. Salganik, Peter Sheridan Dodds, and Duncan J. Watts
23. Self-correcting dynamics in social influence processes 446
Arnout van de Rijt
PART V FURTHER PERSPECTIVES
24. The climate crisis: what sociology can contribute 475
Dingeman Wiertz and Nan Dirk de Graaf
25. Roots of sociology as a science: some history of ideas 493
Thomas Voss
26. How to increase reproducibility and credibility of sociological research 512
Katrin Auspurg and Josef Brüderl
Index 528
