Kenneth Baugh

The Methodology of Herbert Blumer is a comprehensive critical account of the contributions of this important American sociologist to the methodology of social research. In a close reading of Blumer's texts, the author charts the development of Blumer's thinking, revealing a tension between a reductive empiricism and an emphasis on the importance of theory in social research. The author describes Blumer's conception of methodology as extending beyond narrow questions of technique to encompass broad critical reflection on the principles underlying scientific inquiry. Blumer's concentration on the integral unity of theory and method relates suggestively to current thinking about methodology, while his examinations of this theme in such areas as public opinion research and variable analysis provide provocative criticisms of some current research practices.

This historical analysis of the problems faced by the British navy during the War of 1739-1748 also sheds light on the character, limitations, and potentialities of eighteenth-century British administ

Though Russia and Germany were far apart in their principal goals, their negative attitude toward the Europe of Versailles brought these two "outcasts" together. Poland, a "child"

The description for this book, Poland Between East and West: Soviet and German Diplomacy toward Poland, 1919-1933, will be forthcoming.

The description for this book, British Naval Administration in the Age of Walpole, will be forthcoming.