Modernism and the Social Sciences Anglo-American Exchanges, c.1918–1980

This wide-ranging and original study reveals how prevalent modernism has become in the social sciences. With contributions from a number of leading international scholars, Modernism and the Social Sciences explores the rise and nature of modernist tropes and approaches within social sciences such as economics, econometrics, behaviourism, sociology, administrative science, linguistics, history and anthropology. The essays demonstrate how the social sciences turned away from the developmental historicisms of the nineteenth century. Instead, social scientists have become increasingly committed to synchronic and formal explanations that rely on models, correlations and ideal types, and they have increasingly appealed to systems and functions and to institutions and norms. This book will reveal wider trends and parallels to specialists in particular disciplines and it will also appeal to those interested in intellectual history and social science theory. This volume is a companion to Historicism and the Human Sciences in Britain, a product of the Mellon project on Britain's Modernity, published by Cambridge in 2017.

1. Modernism and the social sciences Mark Bevir; 2. Economics Roger E. Backhouse; 3. Econometrics Thomas A. Stapleford; 4. Behaviourism Cathy Gere; 5. Sociology Perrin Selcer; 6. International relations Mark Bevir and Ian Hall; 7. Administrative science Hunter Heyck; 8. Linguistics John E. Joseph; 9. History Michael Saler; 10. Anthropology David Mills.

Mark Bevir is Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for British Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of various books, including A Theory of Governance (2013), Governance: A Very Short Introduction (2012), The Making of British Socialism (2011), Democratic Governance (2010) and The Logic of the History of Ideas (1999).