Rational Action: The Sciences of Policy in Britain and America, 1940-1960 (Transformations: Studies in the History of Science and Technology)

(2)
Rational Action: The Sciences of Policy in Britain and America, 1940-1960 (Transformations: Studies in the History of Science and Technology) image
ISBN-10:

0262028506

ISBN-13:

9780262028509

Author(s): Thomas, William
Released: Apr 10, 2015
Publisher: The MIT Press
Format: Hardcover, 416 pages

Description:

The evolution of a set of fields―including operations research and systems analysis―intended to improve policymaking and explore the nature of rational decision-making.

During World War II, the Allied military forces faced severe problems integrating equipment, tactics, and logistics into successful combat operations. To help confront these problems, scientists and engineers developed new means of studying which equipment designs would best meet the military's requirements and how the military could best use the equipment it had on hand. By 1941 they had also begun to gather and analyze data from combat operations to improve military leaders' ordinary planning activities. In Rational Action, William Thomas details these developments, and how they gave rise during the 1950s to a constellation of influential new fields―which he terms the “sciences of policy”―that included operations research, management science, systems analysis, and decision theory.

Proponents of these new sciences embraced a variety of agendas. Some aimed to improve policymaking directly, while others theorized about how one decision could be considered more rational than another. Their work spanned systems engineering, applied mathematics, nuclear strategy, and the philosophy of science, and it found new niches in universities, in businesses, and at think tanks such as the RAND Corporation. The sciences of policy also took a prominent place in epic narratives told about the relationships among science, state, and society in an intellectual culture preoccupied with how technology and reason would shape the future. Thomas follows all these threads to illuminate and make new sense of the intricate relationships among scientific analysis, policymaking procedure, and institutional legitimacy at a crucial moment in British and American history.

Best prices to buy, sell, or rent ISBN 9780262028509




Frequently Asked Questions about Rational Action: The Sciences of Policy in Britain and America, 1940-1960 (Transformations: Studies in the History of Science and Technology)

You can buy the Rational Action: The Sciences of Policy in Britain and America, 1940-1960 (Transformations: Studies in the History of Science and Technology) book at one of 20+ online bookstores with BookScouter, the website that helps find the best deal across the web. Currently, the best offer comes from and is $ for the .

The price for the book starts from $13.99 on Amazon and is available from 12 sellers at the moment.

If you’re interested in selling back the Rational Action: The Sciences of Policy in Britain and America, 1940-1960 (Transformations: Studies in the History of Science and Technology) book, you can always look up BookScouter for the best deal. BookScouter checks 30+ buyback vendors with a single search and gives you actual information on buyback pricing instantly.

As for the Rational Action: The Sciences of Policy in Britain and America, 1940-1960 (Transformations: Studies in the History of Science and Technology) book, the best buyback offer comes from and is $ for the book in good condition.

The Rational Action: The Sciences of Policy in Britain and America, 1940-1960 (Transformations: Studies in the History of Science and Technology) book is in very low demand now as the rank for the book is 3,736,066 at the moment. A rank of 1,000,000 means the last copy sold approximately a month ago.

The highest price to sell back the Rational Action: The Sciences of Policy in Britain and America, 1940-1960 (Transformations: Studies in the History of Science and Technology) book within the last three months was on October 12 and it was $0.90.