Mathematics is an activity—something we do—not just something inert that we study. This rich collection begins from that premise to explore the various social influences, institutional forces and lived realities that shape and mould the study and practice of mathematics, and are moulded by it in turn.These twenty-one essays explore questions of mathematics as a topic of philosophy, but also the nature and purpose of mathematics education and the role of mathematics in moulding citi...

The word "critical" in the title of this collection has three meanings, all of which are relevant. One meaning, as applied to a situation or problem, is "at a point of crisis". A second meaning is "expressing adverse or disapproving comments or judgments". A third is related to the verb "to critique", meaning "to analyze the merits and faults of". The authors contributing to this book pose challenging questions, from multiple perspectives, about the roles of mathematics in society and the ...

Chemists, working with only mortars and pestles, could not get very far unless they had mathematical models to explain what was happening "inside" of their elements of experience -- an example of what could be termed mathematical learning.This volume contains the proceedings of Work Group 4: Theories of Mathematics, a subgroup of the Seventh International Congress on Mathematical Education held at Université Laval in Québec. Bringing together multiple perspectives on mathematical t...

At a time of rapid demographic change and amidst the many educational challenges facing the US, this critical new collection presents mathematics education from a culturally responsive perspective. It tackles the most crucial issues of teaching mathematics to an ethnically diverse school population, including the political dimension of mathematics education within the context of governmental efforts to improve achievement in school mathematics. Culturally Responsive Mathematics Educati...

Praise for the Second Edition:"In opposition to most literature on how to conduct good social science research which is either empirically oriented or gives priority to theoretical and philosophical considerations, which tends to make empirical research look odd or irrelevant, this volume on ′Reflexive Methodology′ explicitly turns towards a consideration of the perceptual, cognitive, theoretical, linguistic, political and cultural circumstances as bac...

Sociolinguistics is a dynamic field of research that explains the role and function of language in social life. This book offers the most substantial account available of the core contemporary ideas and arguments in sociolinguistics, with an emphasis on innovation and change. Bringing together original writing by more than twenty of the field's most influential international thinkers and researchers, this is an indispensable guide to the newest and most searching ideas about language in so...

Systems Thinking, Critical Realism and Philosophy: A Confluence of Ideas seeks to re-address the whole question of philosophy and systems thinking for the twenty first century and provide a new work that would be of value to both systems and philosophy. This is a highly opportune time when different fields – critical realism, philosophy of science and systems thinking – are all developing around the same set of concepts and yet not realizing it.This book will be of interes...

Critical Realist Activity Theory provides an exciting new contribution to the New Studies in Critical Realism and Education series by showing how the nature of learning is tantamount to the critical realist notion of the dialectic. The science of learning is too important to leave solely to the sciences; it needs philosophy as well. The task of this book is to take a further step and clear the conceptual field for an ontologically grounded view of the science of learning ...

A groundbreaking logic-based approach to bridging the scientific-constructivist divide in social scienceThe Logic of Social Science offers new principles for designing and conducting social science research. James Mahoney uses set-theoretic analysis to develop a fresh scientific constructivist approach that avoids essentialist biases in the production of knowledge. This approach recognizes that social categories depend on collective understandings for thei...

This encyclopedia, magnificently edited by Byron Kaldis, will become a valuable source both of reference and inspiration for all those who are interested in the interrelation between philosophy and the many facets of the social sciences. A must read for every student of the humanities.--Wulf Gaertner, University of Osnabrueck, Germany"Byron Kaldis′ Encyclopedia of Philosophy and the Social Sciences is a triumph. The entries are consistently good, the coverage is am...

"This is a splendid book, providing a readable and reliable guide to a very large range of topics and literature... the author brings together, as few of us can, the details of research methodology and practice with broader philosophical perspectives and approaches."- William Outhwaite, Emeritus Professor, Newcastle University"We need researchers who are philosophically informed rather than philosophically obsessed or philosophically oppressed. With...

AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLINGUISTICSThe new eighth edition of An Introduction to Sociolinguistics brings this valuable, bestselling textbook up to date with the latest in sociolinguistic research and pedagogy, providing a broad overview of the study of language in social context with accessible coverage of major concepts, theories, methods, issues, and debates within the field. This leading text helps students develop a critical perspective on language in s...