International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences

James D. Wright received his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Purdue University in 1969, a master’s degree in sociology from the University of Wisconsin in 1970, and his PhD in sociology from Wisconsin in 1973. His first academic appointment was at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he was promoted to Associate Professor in 1976 and to Full Professor in 1979. Most of his fifteen years at Massachusetts were spent as Director, Associate Director or Director of Research in the Social and Demographic Institute.Wright left Massachusetts for Tulane University in New Orleans in 1988 where he served as the Charles and Leo Favrot Professor of Human Relations in Tulane’s Department of Sociology. He also enjoyed a courtesy appointment in the Tulane School of Public Health, Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology. He left Tulane in 2001 to become the Provost’s Distinguished Research Professor of Sociology at the University of Central Florida. In 2003, he was named as the Director of the University’s Institute for Social and Behavioral Science and in 2013 was designated as a UCF Pegasus Professor, the University’s highest faculty honor.Wright was the Editor in Chief of the scholarly journal Social Science Research from 1978 until 2014. His previous editing experience also includes a twenty-year stint as editor of the Aldine de Gruyter book series Social Institutions and Social Change, two editions of the Handbook of Survey Research (Academic Press, 1983; Emerald Publishing, 2010), and service on the editorial boards of numerous journals. He is the author of 21 books and scholarly monographs on topics ranging from homelessness to research methods to NASCAR, and he has published more than 300 journal articles, book chapters, reviews, essays and polemics. Wright lives with his wife Christine Stewart and their multiple dogs and cats in Winter Springs, Florida, where in his spare time he likes to cook fancy meals for large crowds.

• Overarching Topics. Institutions and infrastructure of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (H. Anheier). History of the Social and Behavioral Sciences (C. Fleck). Ethics of Research (D. Feinholf, I. Callies, T. Bikson (deceased)). Biographies (J.-C. Marcel, A. Hess, D. Barrett). Methodology. Statistics (Q. Fu, X Guo). Mathematics and Computer Sciences Applications(P. Bonacich). Logic of Inquiry, Databases and Research Design (S.L. Morgan). Disciplines. Anthropology (U. Hannerz, D. Boyer). Archaeology (S. Barber, T. Dupras). Demography (I.T. Elo, A.D. Foster).  Economics (T. Nechyba, H. Yeung). Education (C. McBride-Chang, D. Muijs). Geography (S. Hanson, J.D. Sidaway). History (R. Whatmore, R. Hammersley). Law (R. Greenspan, K. Levine). Linguistics A (W.S.Y. Wang). Linguistics B (G. Jarema) Philosophy (C. Mantzavinos). Political Science (H.D. Clarke, M.C. Stewart). Clinical Psychology (W. Miltner). Cognitive Psychology (H. Cohen). Developmental Psychology (H. Keller, D. Crafa). Social Psychology (X. Chryssochoou). Personality Psychology (R.D. Roberts). Motivational Psychology (J. Eccles, K. Salmela-Aro).  Sociology (D. S. Massey, Y. Sato). Criminology (K. Parker). Memory: Cognitive and Neuroscientific Aspects (S.D. Sala). Neuroscience of Language (H. Whitaker). Culture and the Arts (K. van Rees) Intersecting Fields. Evolutionary Sciences (A. Mesoudi). Genetics, Behaviour, History and Society (G. Cabana). Behavioral Neuroscience (B. Kolb). Cognitive Neuroscience (S. Cappa). Psychiatry (D. Bhugra). Health (J. Siegrist, C. Vogele). Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans-sexual Studies (D.C. Barrett). Religious Studies (D. Sherkat). Environmental and Ecological Sciences (M. Fischer-Kowalski, H. Rau, K. Zimmerer). Science and Technology Studies (M. Lynch). Area, Development and International Studies (J. Hass). Studies of the Life Course (M. Mills). Sexuality (L.Waite). Labor Studies (K. Zimmermann). War, Peace, Violence and Conflict (S. Malesevic).Applications. Management, Organizations, Business, Marketing and Finance (P.T. Bryant, J.A. Mathews). Media Studies and Mass Communication (G. Mesch). Urban Studies and Planning (F. Wu). Public Policy (A. Hassel). Contemporary Cultural Concerns (B. Miller). Applied, Industrial and Organizational Psychology (N.M. Ashkanasy). Social Work (L. Dominelli). Applied Social and Behavioral Sciences (D.J. Rog)

"...provides a 14-year update to a reference work whose first edition was called by its reviewers, 'the largest corpus of knowledge abou the social and behavioral sciences in existence' and 'the atomic bomb of reference works.'...like its predecessor, a mammoth undertaking..." --PennLibNews"While there are a few 'legacy articles' in the second edition, most of the articles are updated or totally rewritten." --CommPilings"...a fully searchable second edition of the encyclopedia comprised of 26 volumes created by 39 editors and over 4000 authors." --Northwestern University Library"...a 14-year update to a reference work whose first edition was called by its reviewers, 'the largest corpus of knowledge about the social and behavioral sciences in existence'...like its predecessor, a mammoth undertaking..." --Penn Libraries News Center"...represents a grand…gesture of accomplishment, fulfilling the encyclopedic 20th-century ideal of an all-encompassing corpus of work. Summing Up: Recommended." --Choice"Like the pyramids, the work is monumental in scope, will prove to be enduring in its contribution, and is surely one of the great wonders of the scientific world." --Contemporary Psychology, APA Review of Books, 2004"IESBS, a major social science reference work with a user-friendly interface...Well worth the expense, even to libraries holding the print version..." --Choice