http://worldcat.org/entity/work/id/1649238

For a science of social man convergences in anthropology, psychology, and sociology

"The authors of this book, in common with many other specialists and scientific organizations, have faith in the application of science to human affairs, and they do not feel that either the alleged impossibility of a science of human social behavior or the supposedly inevitable delay in its development is to be taken for granted without a close inspection of the situation and a careful consideration of alternatives and possibilities. We believe that a better communication of extant theory and knowledge across disciplinary lines will not only pave the way for a more comprehensive approach to human problems, but will also stimulate the scope and predictive power of behavior science, including all the specialties involved. Yet we have felt that something more constructive is needed than merely a collective blast of exhortation. There is little to be gained by adding our voices to the lamentations and scoldings of those who angrily demand that social science immediately "catch up" with nuclear physics. If the sciences that are supposed to illuminate the behavior of man, his societies, and his cultures are to be collectively rather than separately helpful to mankind in its uneasy state, we must first of all, it would seem, understand what these disciplines have in common. As a modest step in this direction we have thought it most convenient to begin with an examination of certain of the mutual problems of those three "human science disciplines" that have come to be considered the "core" sciences of human behavior in society--namely, anthropology, psychology, and sociology"--Book. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).

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