Social Science and Historical Perspectives: Society, Science, and Ways of Knowing

by Jack David Eller

This accessible book introduces the story of social science, with coverage of history, politics, economics, sociology, psychology, anthropology, and geography.



Key questions include:



How and why did the social sciences originate and differentiate?



How are they related to older traditions that have defined Western civilization?



What is the unique perspective or way of knowing of each social science?



What are the challenges and alternatives to the social sciences as they stand in the twenty-first century?



Eller explains the origin, evolution, methods, and the main figures, literature, concepts, and theories in each discipline. The chapters also feature a range of contemporary examples, with consideration given to how the disciplines address present-day issues.

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296 pages, Paperback

First published July 4, 2014

About the author

Prof. David Eller is a cultural anthropologist who has conducted field research among Aboriginal societies in Australia and now teaches anthropology in Denver, Colorado. His recent college textbook Introducing Anthropology of Religion is being hailed as the most significant introduction to the scientific study of religion in a decade. His previous AAP book Natural Atheism showed him to be as good a philosopher as scientist. Now we see he is equally skilled as a linguist and semanticist and can show that for knowledgeable atheists "atheism" means more than the absence of god-beliefs: it is the absence (indeed the rejection) of belief altogether.

Reviews

[Lisa Nguyen · Rating 4 out of 5]

can’t believe i reviewed a social science textbook and the problem is that i really liked it. like this made me reconsider how interesting social science is LMFAO. and i loved the textbook’s critique of western knowledge (like they brought my man edward said in come on)