Search results for ""Author Michael Kuhn""

The social sciences and humanities worldwide are discovering the necessity to self-critically reshape their theorizing: The first critique of social science theorizing calls for globalizing, the second, parallel critique, for de-colonizing social thought. In his highly topical book, Michael Kuhn discusses · why and how the globalization of social science theorizing introduces thinking through nation state perspectives as an up-to-date methodological must; · how the de-colonialization of social science theorizing with the critique of Eurocentrism and its thinking through space paves the way for the worldwide implementation of thinking through nation-state views, transforming the social science world into a multiplicity of provincialized theories; · with which odd argumentations the indigenization of thought produces contributions to the ideological armament of the new states in the so-called 3rd world after their transformation into the very society system of the former colonizers; · how these indigenized theories make discourses among de-colonized theories a matter of which provincialized theory manages to rule the worldwide creation of theories; · how the masterminds of globally de-colonized thinking present imperial thought as guiding theories for mankinds thinking; · what templates for the turn from anti-capitalist towards nationalistic thinking Historical Materialism has provided, and · what consequences all this has for the social sciences as a voice in political debates about the world.

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'Eco-friendly' variants are rapidly gaining market share in many industries such as food, textiles, furniture, detergents and paints, automobiles, electrical appliances and domestic energy. These markets usually exhibit environmental differentiation, where consumers differ in their willingness to pay for the environmental attributes of a product. Building on the existing literature, this novel book provides a comprehensive analysis of firm strategy and environmental policy making in these types of 'green' markets. The author introduces the model of an environmentally differentiated duopoly, in order to explicitly analyse the strategic interaction within such a market. He studies in detail the effects of environmental product standards, eco-labels, 'green' R&D subsidies and environmental taxation on firm behaviour, welfare and emissions. Non-technical sections providing the empirical context expertly complement the formal theoretical analysis of environmental policy making. The author goes on to present important new conclusions for environmental policy and an agenda for future research. The Greening of Markets will be of immense interest to students and academics of environmental economics and applied industrial organisation, as well as policy makers and environmental managers.

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In the past, the European social sciences labelled and discredited knowledge that did not follow the definition for scientific knowledge as applied by the European social sciences as an alternative concept of knowledge, as indigenous knowledge. Perception has changed with time: Not only has indigenous knowledge become an entrance ticket to the European social science world, but the indigenisation of European theories is seen by some as the contribution of peripheral social sciences to join the theories of the centres. This book offers contributions to the discourses about alternative concepts of knowledge, inviting the reader to decide if they are alternative, indigenous, or European types of knowledge. However, in order to make this decision, the reader must know what the nature of the European concepts of science and of scientific knowledge is; this might be a motivation to read a book that presents thoughts claiming to be alternative concepts of knowledge, alternative to the European concept of science.

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At the beginning of the new millennium, the social sciences discover an epochal turn making it necessary to revolutionise their theory-building: As a response to what they call the globalisation of the social, they find the need to globalise their theorising as well. It is odd to discover after two centuries of colonialism and imperialism, after two world wars and several economic world crises that there is a world beyond the national socials; it is even more strange that the social sciences globalise their theorising by comparing theories about nationally confined socials and by creating all sorts of, preferably, local theories, just as if any national social was a secluded social biotope. Discussing how to globalise the social sciences, they argue that globalising social science theorising means finding a way of theorising that must, above all, be liberated from scientism in order to allow a provincialisation of thinking. Not surprisingly, the globalising social sciences also rediscover mythological and moral thinking as a means for a true scientific universalism. Michael Kuhns book presents many thought-provoking arguments on the oddities of the globalising social sciences and on how these oddities are not accidents, but a consequence of the nature of how the social sciences theorise about the social.

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Global, local, glocal reflecting on the area of world social science seems to be above all a matter of space. In these spatial dichotomies the global has no location and locations seem beyond this world. Discourses about world social science thought not only distinguish social thought along spaces where they are created. Space has become an attribute of thinking when social scientists reflect on the world of social thought: Southern, Western and Northern knowledge, the location in which thoughts are created, is not only a hint about the address of a thinker, but about the theoretical perspective through which social science thinkers look at social reality. Social thoughts are imagined as imprisoned in the spatial context in which they are created, and social science thinkers are imagined as representatives of spaces, whether these are defined politically, culturally, or in any other context in which their thoughts must be rooted as if the product of human minds was nothing but a voicing of the nature of spaces. And should we imagine the world social science arena, the encounter of all these spatially bound thoughts, as the encounter of many parochial knowledges that never manage to arrive at shared thoughts unless they already share the same spatial context? Why should we then at all meet each other? This book discusses examples of spatially constructed knowledges and the struggles these knowledges encounter as they seek to meet one another and escape from the mind prison of their spatial contexts. Or does the world social science arena after all only prove that the 'Western' dogma of contextualising social thought is a dead end road for social thought -- everywhere?

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Insights that can help you improve your technology edge Featuring contributions from technology visionaries at leading alternative investors, hedge funds, trading firms, exchanges, and vendors, this book covers current trends in trading technology. The book features interviews with the leaders responsible for the technology that is shaping today's electronic financial markets. You'll hear the views of CIOs, CTOs, and other technology leaders on emerging technologies, innovation in the financial sector, and how technology is enhancing markets in ways other than just speed. Their perspectives on harnessing technology to enhance computing power, reduce time to market, bolster risk management, and much more offer valuable lessons for readers. Includes a wealth of practical insights on how to improve your technology edge Features interviews with leading technology professionals in the financial industry across an array of asset classes and markets Serves as a topical guide to the latest developments, enhancements and applications of technology to tackle trading and risk management challenges Includes insights from top technology professionals on evaluating and adopting technology solutions Looks at the effects of technology on finance professionals and their businesses as well as the global finance industry generally

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Internationalization of the social sciences rests on the setup of international scientific infrastructures, networks, and research agendas. Yet it has also stimulated discussions on academic dependency and the need for the indigenization of theories and methods. This book traces phenomena that accompany the internationalization of social sciences in different parts of the world. Contributions from East Asia, India, Russia, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, South Africa, and Latin America offer manifold perspectives on the pathways and desiderata of internationalization and make this volume an important basis for future debates.

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That we live in a world ruled and confused by cultural diversities has become common sense. It was the social sciences that gave birth to a new theoretical paradigm, the creation of cultural theories. Since then, social science theorising applies to any social phenomenon across the world exploring cultural diversities in any social practice -- except in regard to the social sciences and how they practice the creation of knowledge. How academics in the social sciences across the world create knowledge is no topic for cultural theories. Social science theorising seemingly assumes that creating knowledge does not know such diversities. Kazumi Okamoto presents the development of an analytical instrument that helps study academic culture, analyse academic practices of how social sciences create and distribute knowledge, and the influence the academic environment has on their knowledge productions. Applying this theoretical tool to the academe in Japan, she further presents a case study about how social scientists in Japan interpret academic practices and how they are affected by their academic environment. Studying the academic culture in the case of Japan, she reveals that not only the academic practices and the academic environment of the academe in Japan show much less diversities than cultural theories tend to presuppose, but that the assumption that creating social science knowledge does not know cultural diversities is an error as well.

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The European social sciences tend to absorb criticism that has been passed on the European approach and re-label it as a part of what the critique opposes; criticism of European social sciences by subaltern social sciences, their talking back, has become a frequent line of reflection in European social sciences. The re-labelling of the critique of the European approach to social sciences towards a critique from Southern social sciences of Western social sciences has somehow turned Southern as well as Western social sciences into competing contributors to the same globalising social sciences. Both are no longer arguing about the European approach to social sciences but about which social thought from which part of the globe prevails. If the critique becomes a part of what it opposes, one might conclude that the European social sciences are very adaptable and capable of learning. One might, however, also raise the question whether there is anything wrong with the criticism of the European social sciences; or, for that matter, whether there is anything wrong with the European social sciences themselves. The contributions in this book discuss these questions from different angles: They revisit the mainstream critique of the European social sciences, and they suggest new arguments criticising social science theories that may be found as often in the Western as in the Southern discourse.

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This innovative book provides new perspectives on the globalization of knowledge and the notion of hegemonic sciences. Tying together contributions of authors from all across the world, it challenges existing theories of hegemonic sciences and sheds new light on how they have been and are being constructed. Examining more closely the notions of 'human rights' and 'individualization', this much-needed volume offers new and alternative ideas on how to transform the universalization of the Western model of science and can serve as an eye-opener for all those interested in non-hegemonic scientific discourse. This book is published within the Series 'Beyond the Social Sciences'.

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