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  • © 2011

New Thinking in Complexity for the Social Sciences and Humanities

A Generative, Transdisciplinary Approach

Authors:

  • Offers a way to learn to think in a new way about the subject of study in the social sciences and humanities
  • One can learn to think in complexity about the real complexity of a nonlinear complex reality
  • Opening the social sciences by offering a new agenda for these sciences by taken complexity not for granted but as a serious topic of study with great potential for humanity and society at large
  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (15 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
  2. Mission of the Book

    • Ton Jörg
    Pages 1-9
  3. Introduction

    • Ton Jörg
    Pages 11-15
  4. The Crisis in the Social Sciences

    • Ton Jörg
    Pages 17-41
  5. A New Agenda for the Social Sciences

    • Ton Jörg
    Pages 53-68
  6. The Reality of Reality

    • Ton Jörg
    Pages 85-114
  7. An Introduction to the Chaps. 10–12

    • Ton Jörg
    Pages 137-146
  8. Rethinking Interaction

    • Ton Jörg
    Pages 147-154
  9. Rethinking Causality

    • Ton Jörg
    Pages 155-177
  10. Rethinking the Unit of Study

    • Ton Jörg
    Pages 179-196
  11. The Complexity of Complexity

    • Ton Jörg
    Pages 197-206
  12. The Complexity of Human Interaction

    • Ton Jörg
    Pages 207-235
  13. Summary and Conclusions

    • Ton Jörg
    Pages 237-265
  14. Back Matter

    Pages 267-321

About this book

The underlying idea and motive for the book is that the notion of complexity may humanize the social sciences, may conceive the complex human being as more human, and turn reality as assumed in our doing social science into a more complex, that is a richer reality for all.
The main focus of this book is on new thinking in complexity, with complexity to be taken as derived from the Latin word complexus: ‘that which is interwoven.’
The trans-disciplinary approach advocated here will be trans-disciplinary in two ways: firstly, by going beyond the separate disciplines within the fields of both natural sciences and social sciences, and, secondly, by going beyond the separate cultures of the natural sciences and of the social sciences and humanities.

 

Reviews

“This book effectively captures some of the excitement and the sense of possibility that comes with the exploration of new paradigms with potentially major implications across the board, and it stimulates readers to develop their own thoughts about how the paradigm shift could materialize. The many wonderful illustrations of non-linear and fractal shapes and concepts … are helpful in this context. They provide a welcome antidote to the generally high level of abstraction that comes, perhaps inevitably, with transdisciplinary scholarship.” (Matthijs Koopmans, Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology, and Life Sciences, Vol. 16 (4), 2012)

“For the theorist of transdisciplinarity New Thinking in Complexity for the Social Sciences and Humanities is a useful source. There is substantial evidence of creative pathways towards comprehending and applying transdisciplinary strategies in research. … This approach could serve as a useful roadmap towards the implementation of transdisciplinarity.” (Johann Tempelhoff, TD The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa, Vol. 7 (1), July, 2011)


Authors and Affiliations

  • IVLOS Institute of Education, University of Utrecht, Utrecht, Netherlands

    Ton Jörg

About the author

Ton Jörg has been an educational scientist since 1982 at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. He studied Physics and Mathematics at the University of Amsterdam (BSc 1970). In 1969, he started to study Psychology at the same university (M.A. 1977). He worked as an evaluation researcher in different national (on adult education, and physics education) and international projects (3rd SISS-International Science Project). In 1994, he finished his dissertation about the choice of physics as an examination subject. He has been involved in complex systems and complexity thinking since 1971. He wrote articles on invitation to open up a conversation on complexity and education, for journals like Educational Research Review, in 2007, and for Complicity, in 2009, with extended comments of experts in the field.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: New Thinking in Complexity for the Social Sciences and Humanities

  • Book Subtitle: A Generative, Transdisciplinary Approach

  • Authors: Ton Jörg

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1303-1

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and Law, Social Sciences (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-94-007-1302-4Published: 09 August 2011

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-017-8513-6Published: 18 October 2014

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-007-1303-1Published: 09 August 2011

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XII, 321

  • Number of Illustrations: 79 b/w illustrations, 19 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Methodology of the Social Sciences, Complexity

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access