Working Knowledge

Isaac, Joel

doi:10.4159/harvard.9780674065222

Cited by 156 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Social science during the Cold War era was highly interdisciplinary (Cohen-Cole, 2014; Isaac, 2012b). Researchers believed that real-world social problems could only be addressed by adopting different perspectives from a variety of disciplines.…”

Section: Interdisciplinaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Parsons’ own Department of Social Relations at Harvard represents a prototypical example of trying to use theory to unify the diversity offered by sociology, psychology, and anthropology (Buck, 1985; Isaac, 2012a, 2012b). This department attempted to employ a particular theoretical position, the general theory of action (Parsons, 1948; Parsons & Shils, 1951), to unify the interdisciplinary study of personalities, social systems, and cultural systems.…”

Section: Emphasis On Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This too was highly interdisciplinary, and was one of the birthplaces of modern cognitive science. It was likely fostered by Harvard’s rich environment for informal interactions between faculty members from different departments (Isaac, 2012b). Isaac calls these informal interactions “the interstitial academy” and documents their importance for establishing other interdisciplinary units at Harvard like the Department of Social Relations.…”

Section: Conclusion: Broader Contexts For Cold War Social Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…We explore these issues as follows: We begin by examining how the key properties of interdisciplinarity, an emphasis on theory, and the adoption of quantitative methods properties characterized the center’s members, its research and teaching missions, and its many distinguished visitors. We then consider the center in the context of prototypical Cold War social science (Cohen-Cole, 2009, 2014; Engerman, 2009, 2010; Erickson et al, 2013; Isaac, 2012b; Rohde, 2013; Solovey, 2013; Solovey & Cravens, 2012). In addition to being interdisciplinary, theoretical, and quantitative, this research also had applications for defending American democracy against communism (Cohen-Cole, 2014; Engerman, 2009; Rohde, 2013).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Theoretical psychology at the University of Alberta as social science during the Cold War.

Dawson¹,

Baerveldt²,

Shillabeer³

et al. 2019

History of Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We examine the University of Alberta’s Center for Advanced Study in Theoretical Psychology (1965–1990) in the context of social science conducted during the Cold War. We begin by considering the center with respect to three important properties of social science at this time: an emphasis on interdisciplinarity, a focus on theory, and a preference for quantitative methods. Our analysis suggests that center activities also exhibited these characteristics. They were highly interdisciplinary, they were concerned with the development of psychological theory, and center members were experts in a variety of formal, mathematical, or statistical techniques. We then discuss the center in relation to a subdomain of research known as Cold War social science, which also was interdisciplinary, theoretical and quantitative, but in addition focused on research that contributed to national security against the rise of communism. Center members also believed that their research had social implications, but these were related to a humanistic psychology that served as a positive social force, and diverged from typical Cold War applications. We end by considering the center as an example of a different kind of Cold War science that emerged from a unique set of contextual influences.

show abstract

Section: Interdisciplinaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Emphasis On Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Conclusion: Broader Contexts For Cold War Social Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Theoretical psychology at the University of Alberta as social science during the Cold War.

Dawson¹,

Baerveldt²,

Shillabeer³

et al. 2019

History of Psychology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Outside the Latin Americanist field, historians of the social sciences and of area studies have criticized overly mechanical views of the relationship of intellectuals to states. They note that even though intellectual projects may at times serve the ends of economic or political elites, especially when states sympathetic to those elites fund academic pursuits, academia has its own internal logics and time frames that may not jibe fully with state plans (Engerman 2010;Isaac 2012). Coronil (1996) has gone further to ask how our own epistemological predilections shape how we interpret past efforts.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Mexican Anthropology and Inter-American Knowledge

Rosemblatt

2022

Lat. American Res. Rev.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This essay contributes to a fuller understanding of the history and future of area studies by tracing Latin American studies back to the early twentieth century, when it took form within academic disciplines that sought to contribute to state policy-making. The essay focuses on a set of intellectual exchanges between the United States and Mexico around Native American affairs. In an era in which new inter-American scientific venues and the Good Neighbor policy attenuated the inevitable and ever present intellectual hierarchies that divided the United States from Mexico and the rest of Latin America, some scholars found resemblances and parallels between North and South America. These scholars envisioned a cosmopolitan Americanist intellectual sphere based on horizontal forms of sharing, and they looked for novel ways of reconciling the avowed need for generalization with the particulars that they confronted at home and abroad. They found themselves unable to fully escape epistemological binds that positioned the North as a model of modern nationhood and a locus of universal knowledge, and that relegated non-Western nations like Mexico to the category of the particular. They could not overcome the difficulties spawned by hierarchies among nations and, concomitantly, among their own scholarly communities.

show abstract

Bibliography

2015

A Companion to the History of American Science

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Working Knowledge

Cited by 156 publications

References 0 publications

Theoretical psychology at the University of Alberta as social science during the Cold War.

Theoretical psychology at the University of Alberta as social science during the Cold War.

Mexican Anthropology and Inter-American Knowledge

Bibliography

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About