How Social Science Can Help Us Make Better Choices

How Social Science Can Help Us Make Better Choices

by Chris Brown
Epub (Kobo), Epub (Adobe)
Publication Date: 20/04/2018

Share This eBook:

  $67.99

In a world beset with problems, how can we encourage people to act differently? It seems almost daily that new studies emerge telling us how human action is causing planetary degradation, how changes to our diets could lead to us living longer healthier lives, or that financially we are in danger of returning to the debt related crises of the previous decade. At the same time how many of us adjust our behaviour in response to such information?;


In this new book Professor Chris Brown explores people’s reactions to Optimal Rational Positions: propositions that set out requirements for change. For example the need to reduce carbon emissions to minimize the impacts of climate change is an Optimal Rational Position; as is the need to engage in 30 minutes of exercise a day, to eat more healthily or to drink less alcohol. It seems obvious that we should want to pursue Optimal Rational Positions because they espouse the types of behaviours that will enable us to live healthier, happier or more productive lives; that can improve the lives and outcomes of others; or that can help us ensure social and environmental sustainability. Yet at the same time we often fail to change our behaviours to those which might be most optimal. Outlining an exciting and innovative route forward, and with real-life case studies from education,;How Social Science Can Help Us Make Better Choices provides a new way to think about why people make the choices they make and, vitally, the role social science can play in response.

ISBN:
9781787543553
9781787543553
Category:
Social issues & processes
Format:
Epub (Kobo), Epub (Adobe)
Publication Date:
20-04-2018
Language:
English
Publisher:
Emerald Publishing Limited
Chris Brown

Chris Brown is Professor in Education at Durham University's School of Education. His own interest in networks began with a chance encounter and a leftfield conversation at the age of five, which resulted in a life-changing difference: the idea that after school, there was a thing called 'university'.

In addition to his lived experience in this area, Chris' research activity is also focused on driving forward understanding as to how networks can be used to improve people's life chances, as well as close the outcomes gaps that exist between the richest and poorest communities.

This work has been recognized from its innovative nature. For example, in 2018 Chris received a Siftung Mercator Foundation Senior Fellowship, one of only six awarded annually. Other recent prizes received by Chris include the 2015 American Educational Research Association 'Emerging Scholar' award and the 2016 UCEA Jeffrey V. Bennett Outstanding International Research award.

Chris was also recently awarded a significant research grant by the German Foundation Bosch 'Stiftung' to examine the effectiveness of area-based reforms: in themselves a specific form network-based approach to improving the outcomes of the most impoverished communities.

This item is delivered digitally

Reviews

Be the first to review How Social Science Can Help Us Make Better Choices.