Pierson Politics in Time

History, Institutions, and Social Analysis
Course Book
ISBN: 978-1-4008-4108-0
Verlag: De Gruyter
Format: EPUB
Kopierschutz: Adobe DRM (»Systemvoraussetzungen)

E-Book, Englisch, 208 Seiten

This groundbreaking book represents the most systematic examination to date of the often-invoked but rarely examined declaration that "history matters." Most contemporary social scientists unconsciously take a "snapshot" view of the social world. Yet the meaning of social events or processes is frequently distorted when they are ripped from their temporal context. Paul Pierson argues that placing politics in time--constructing "moving pictures" rather than snapshots--can vastly enrich our understanding of complex social dynamics, and greatly improve the theories and methods that we use to explain them.

Politics in Time opens a new window on the temporal aspects of the social world. It explores a range of important features and implications of evolving social processes: the variety of processes that unfold over significant periods of time, the circumstances under which such different processes are likely to occur, and above all, the significance of these temporal dimensions of social life for our understanding of important political and social outcomes. Ranging widely across the social sciences, Pierson's analysis reveals the high price social science pays when it becomes ahistorical. And it provides a wealth of ideas for restoring our sense of historical process. By placing politics back in time, Pierson's book is destined to have a resounding and enduring impact on the work of scholars and students in fields from political science, history, and sociology to economics and policy analysis.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Pierson, Paul

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziologie Allgemein
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Theorie, Politische Philosophie
• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Figures and Tables ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction: Placing Politics in Time 1

Chapter One

Positive Feedback and Path Dependence 17

Chapter Two

Timing and Sequence 54

Chapter Three

Long-Term Processes 79

Chapter Four

The Limits of Institutional Design 103

Chapter Five

Institutional Development 133

Conclusion

Temporal Context in Social Science Inquiry 167

Bibliography 179

Index 195

Über Autor(innen)

Paul Pierson is Harold Hitchings Burbank Professor of Political Economy at Harvard University. He is the author of numerous books, including Dismantling the Welfare State? which won the Gladys Kammerer Award in 1995 from the American Political Science Association for the best book on American national politics and policy.