The extent to which modern social science continues to reflect the subjective traits of authors and the contexts in which they operate, rather than the objective facts or insights they claim to develop, remains one of the most striking features of social science research and writing. Kinloch and Mohan provide a multidisciplinary and worldwide examination of the ties between the subjective traits of social scientists, the contexts in which they affect research, and the kinds of knowledge they produce.

The essays fall into five general topic areas: major theoretical issues, research as ideology, the political context of ideology, major factors in the academic setting, and the relationship between personal biography and professional ideology. This book will be of greatest concern to scholars, students, and researchers involved with the sociology of knowledge, social theory and methods, comparative social science, and social problems.