Mainstream social science has come under fierce criticism in recent decades for failing to have more impact on public policy. Critics say the social sciences are incapable of generating knowledge that can solve social problems. Others contend that partisan politics and university administrations are the problem. Politicians are more concerned about special interests than scientific research, and administrators care more about scholarly publications than solving social problems. Are the social sciences failing to live up to their promises? Have they outlived their usefulness? Have they become an Ivory Tower of Babel? Like the Babylonians, who built the infamous Tower of Babel, social scientists for the past two centuries have been building a tower of sorts, only this time it's composed of knowledge rather than bricks. The primary goal of these scholars — anthropologists, communication scholars, economists, political scientists, sociologists and social psychologists — has been to solve problems of social integration. The Babylonian tower was designed in part to unite people to one geographical area. Similarly, social scientists see their tower of knowledge as a means for solving social problems — such as poverty, crime, drug abuse, inequality, unemployment, abuse of power — that alienate people and groups from modern society. The Babylonians failed because of divine intervention, according to the Bible. The social scientists aren't finished building their tower. But, according to critics, the results so far look less like a tower of knowledge for solving social problems than an "Ivory Tower of Babel" — one in which social scientists routinely dispute each other's theories and data, and even uncontested or well-supported findings rarely influence public policy. Disputes over the nature of truth and knowledge are so commonplace in the social sciences that many scholars believe a social science which uses methods from the natural sciences is incapable of generating knowledge that can solve social problems. This book examines the history and philosophy of the social sciences and theoretical and empirical research on the impact of social science. Suggestions are offered at the end for enhancing the impact of the social sciences. A number of scientific articles and books have been written about the impact (or lack thereof) of the social sciences on public policy, but none has been written specifically to appeal to both academics and a broader market composed of the general public and students in both undergraduate- and graduate-level courses. The author takes the reader on a journey inside one of the best kept secrets in higher education — that much, if not most, of the research conducted in the social sciences has very little impact on public policy or on solving social problems. Are taxpayers getting their money's worth?

Adams lampoons sacred liberal cows such as affirmative action, ethnocentrism, Gay Pride, cultural insensitivity training, multiculturalism and censorship.

Writing at the time of his retirement from an academia that after four decades has become unfamiliar, Shaw (English, U. of Toronto), says in a society where book learning is an anomaly, scholars must breach the citadel of computer wizards and technicians by combining their knowledge of books with the rebel's power to criticize authority, the prophet's power to renew tradition, and the poet's power to create a world that is no less true for being a vision. He insists that scientists, scholars, and professional practitioners must learn from each other. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The primary goal of these scholars - anthropologists, communication scholars, economists, political scientists, sociologists and social psychologists - has been to solve problems of social integration. The Babylonian tower was designed in part to unite people to one geographical area. Similarly, social scientists see their tower of knowledge as a means for solving social problems - such as poverty, crime, drug abuse, inequality, unemployment, abuse of power - that alienate people and groups from modern society."--Pub. desc.

Now available in paper, The Ivory Tower and Harry Potter is the first book-length analysis of J. K. Rowling's work from a broad range of perspectives within literature, folklore, psychology, sociology, and popular culture. A significant portion of the book explores the Harry Potter series' literary ancestors, including magic and fantasy works by Ursula K. LeGuin, Monica Furlong, Jill Murphy, and others, as well as previous works about the British boarding school experience. Other chapters explore the moral and ethical dimensions of Harry's world, including objections to the series raised within some religious circles. In her new epilogue, Lana A. Whited brings this volume up to date by covering Rowling's latest book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

In this gem of a book, scholar and wit Kenneth Lasson takes on all manner of excesses in the Ivory Tower which, from his insider's viewpoint, constitute little less than a full-scale assault on American values and mores. The ideological warfare is being waged by a slew of vociferous academicians whose predominance is manifested by stifling academic bureaucracies, radical feminist and deconstructionist faculties, and overbearing speech and conduct codesall in invidious pursuit of narrow but pervasive political agendas. Lasson uses his sharply pointed pen to skewer both the powerful and the petty, from perpetually outraged law professors and would-be literati to ethnic hatemongers with tenure. Colleges and universities, Lasson reminds us, are not intellectual playgrounds, but training places for future social, political, and artistic leadersso what's said and not said on those campuses have a far-reaching effect on every one of us. We depend on academic institutions to take our best and brightest and nurture them to think creatively and independently.What's happening, however, is often just the opposite: the purposeful establishment of anti-establishment bias, a closely-guarded breeding ground in which students and professors are too intimidated to challenge extremist ideas. Lasson argues that there is nothing wrong with liberal and multi-cultural approaches to education, so long as they are presented fairly and in a broadly inclusive context. In what is the only truly funny scholarly book to hit the shelves. Trembling in the Ivory Tower ponders the questions many of us should be asking, and supplies the answers we should be demanding: Why have universities apparently abandoned the concept of vigorous debate in an open marketplace of ideas? Why has no university speech or conduct code yet survived a constitutional challenge? Why are senior professors increasingly being charged with creating hostile environments despite emerging victorious whenever they challenge their arbitrary punishments in court? In an age of easy catch phrases, media hype, and watered down scholarship, Trembling in the Ivory Tower is a welcome breath of fresh air that pays homage to original, not merely popular, thought.

The first book in the word-of-mouth phenomenon debut fantasy series about one man's dangerous journey through a labyrinthine world. "One of my favorite books of all time" -- Mark Lawrence The Tower of Babel is the greatest marvel in the world. Immense as a mountain, the ancient Tower holds unnumbered ringdoms, warring and peaceful, stacked one on the other like the layers of a cake. It is a world of geniuses and tyrants, of luxury and menace, of unusual animals and mysterious machines. Soon after arriving for his honeymoon at the Tower, the mild-mannered headmaster of a small village school, Thomas Senlin, gets separated from his wife, Marya, in the overwhelming swarm of tourists, residents, and miscreants. Senlin is determined to find Marya, but to do so he'll have to navigate madhouses, ballrooms, and burlesque theaters. He must survive betrayal, assassins, and the illusions of the Tower. But if he hopes to find his wife, he will have to do more than just endure. This quiet man of letters must become a man of action.

The conflicts between love and hate, good and evil, and life and art are explored in a portrait of Alaric Darconville, a twenty-nine-year-old professor at Quinsy College--a women's college in Virginia--who falls in love with and is jilted by one of his students

In Babel's Tower Translated, Phillip Sherman explores the narrative of Genesis 11 and its reception and interpretation in several Second Temple and Early Rabbinic texts (e.g., Jubilees, Philo, Genesis Rabbah). The account of the Tower of Babel (Genesis 11:1-9) is famously ambiguous. The meaning of the narrative and the actions of both the human characters and the Israelite deity defy any easy explanation. This work explores how changing historical and hermeneutical realities altered and shifted the meaning of the text in Jewish antiquity.

This volume is divided into three sections. The first explores the pedagogical interventions that are focused on the performance of translation. The second part discusses approaches to translator training. The third part examines some of the pedagogical opportunities and challenges.