Resistance and the Practice of Rationality (Hardback) | Released: 01 May 2013

Resistance used to mean irrational and reactionary behaviour, assuming that rationality resides on the side of progress and its parties. The end of the Cold War allows us to drop ideological and prejudicial analysis. Indeed, we recognise that resistance is a historical constant, and its relation to rationality or irrationality is not predetermined. This volume asks: to what extent are social scientific conceptions of 'resistances' sui generis, or borrowed from natural sciences by metaphor and analogy? To what extent do the social sciences continue to be a 'social tribology' lubricating a process of strategic changes? Fifteen authors explore these questions from the point of view of different disciplines including physics, biology, social psychology, history of science, history of medicine, legal theory, political science, history, police studies, psychotherapy research and art theory. The book offers a unique panorama of concepts of 'resistance' and examines the potential of a general 'resistology' across diverse practices of rationality.
About the Author: Martin W. Bauer studied psychology and economic history in Bern and London, and is Professor of Social Psychology at the London School of Economics (LSE). He directs the LSE MSc Social and Public Communication, hosts the London Public Understanding of Science Seminars, and is Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Public Understanding of Science. He regularly works in Brazil and his research concerns the cultural authority of science and its discontents. His publications include Resistance to New Technology (Cambridge University Press, 1995); Biotechnology: The Making of a Global Controversy (Cambridge, 2002; with Gaskell); Genomics and Society (Earthscan, 2006; with Gaskell); Journalism, Science and Society (Routledge, 2007; with Bucchi); and The Culture of Science (Routledge, 2012; with Shukla and Allum). In preparation is Atoms, Bytes, and Genes: Public Resistance and Techno-Scientific Responses (Routledge). Rom Harre was for many years Lecturer in Philosophy of Science at Oxford University and is Fellow Emeritus of Linacre College. His career has moved from chemical engineering to mathematics to philosophy to psychology. Currently he is Distinguished Research Professor of Psychology at Georgetown University, Washington DC. His most recent books include Pavlov's Dogs and Schrodinger's Cat and Psychology for the Third Millennium, with F. M. Moghaddam. Carl Jensen, PhD, is Director of the Center for Intelligence and Security Studies at the University of Mississippi and a Senior Behavioral Scientist (adjunct) at the RAND Corporation. Prior to that, he served as a Special Agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation for twenty-two years. In the FBI, he worked as a field agent in the Atlanta and Cleveland Divisions, a Forensic Examiner (Cryptanalysis) in the FBI Laboratory and an Instructor/Researcher in the Behavioral Science Unit (BSU) where he founded the Futures Working Group to develop ethical and effective strategies for the future of policing. Upon his graduation from the US Naval Academy in 1978, he served aboard the nuclear fleet ballistic missile submarine USS George Washington Carver and as an aide to the Commander of Submarine Group Five. He earned his MA in Sociology from Kent State University and a PhD in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland. He is the author and co-author of numerous articles, books and book chapters and has lectured throughout the world.