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This book analyzes two processes: scientific specialization brings about the fragmentation of disciplines into narrow subfields; and as specialization reaches its natural limits, innovative scholars will seek to recombine these fragments into hybrid fields.
List of contents
Introduction Part One: Scientific Innovation and Obsolescence 1. Defining Innovation in the Social Sciences 2. Patrimonies: Incremental Advance and the Distorting Effects of the "Star System" 3. The Paradox of Density 4. Does Citation Measure Innovation? 5. Cemeteries for Books Part Two: From Specialization and Fragmentation to Hybridization 6. Specialization in the Social Sciences 7. Hybridization: The Recombination of Fragments of the Social Sciences 8. Fragmentation by Geographical Area Versus Analytical Fragmentation Part Three: The Crumbling Walls of the Formal Disciplines 9. The Fate of the Formal Disciplines: From Coherence to Dispersion 10. Why Interdisciplinarity is a False Notion Part Four: The Interpenetration of Disciplines: The Processes of Hybridization 11. The Diffusion of Concepts Across Disciplines 12. Borrowing Methods 13. The Impact of Technology 14. The Cross-disciplinary Repercussions of Findings 15. The Influence of Theories 16. Perspectives, Paradigms, and Praxis 17. Hybridization of Academic Journals 18. The Balance of Trade Between Disciplines Part Five: Gallery of Hybrids: Creative Marginals 19. Three Ideal Types of Social Scientists 20. Intellectual Migration Across Disciplines Part Six: Crossroads: Four Illustrations 21. Historical Sociology and Sociological History 22. Junctions Between the Social Sciences and Life Sciences 23. International Political Economy: A Fusion of Several Subfields 24. The Hesitant Exchange Between Economics and Psychology
Summary
This book analyzes two processes: scientific specialization brings about the fragmentation of disciplines into narrow subfields; and as specialization reaches its natural limits, innovative scholars will seek to recombine these fragments into hybrid fields.
