Summary
Summary - Economic Sociology (HBA15A)
- Course
- Institution
A summary with all the information from the slides and my extra notes.
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
elinedemunster2001
Content preview
Economic Sociology1
,Chapter 1: Sociology’s Status
1. Science and pseudo-science
• Science has had impressive success in understanding and controlling material and
biological reality
• Central question: what distinguishes successful science from dead ends and everyday
judgments?
• Dead ends: sometimes denotes as ‘pseudo-science’ (astrology, homoeopathy)
• In the long term, at least four (connected & partially overlapping) elements have proven
quintessential
• Learns from its mistakes, leaves room for improvement
a. Internal consistency
• Logical errors, contradictions, conceptual clarity, openness to falsification
o Language and structure of arguments (mathematic language is conducive to
consistency)
b. Evidence
• Good theory is necessary condition, but also needs confrontation with data, ‘facts’
• In natural science: experiments
o The scientific cycle consists of a and b in continual confrontation (theory and
facts)
c. Reduction of error
• Some speak of ‘progress’
• However, this wrongly suggests a premeditated direction
• Essential: it is about the direction of reduction of errors, not about making no mistakes
(to the contrary!)
• On average, it is quite safe to say that in science errors become less frequent and less
fundamental
• Very important implication: there is no validity in ‘the age of an idea’, nor in thw opposite
• An indicator of pseudo-science: ‘it is new/ancient knowledge, therefore it is valid’
d. Social organisation
• Central element underlying a-c
o Individual (ethical, attitudinal) dimension: be receptive to refutation, even seek it
(acquired socially)
o Social: it presupposes a system of competition and free exchange of ideas, with
some parallels to market exchange (and some fundamental differences!)
▪ Case: Lysenko, Russian agriculturalist, claimed that plants could inherit
acquired characteristics. Officially sanctioned as Soviet policy by Stalin,
leading to expulsion and imprisonment of biologists/agricultural
scientists
2
,2. Can sociology be scientific?
• In all four dimensions, sociology can meet ‘scientific’ standards (but, as every science, it
can turn pseudo-scientific)
• However, at least two fundamental aspects make sociology differ fundamentally from the
natural sciences
o Sociology can hardly build on experiments
o Sociology deals with humans and their interactions
a. The experimental design
• An experiment is historically the oldest technique to come to scientific judgments
• It is also the purest, most certain way to arrive at valid and reliable conclusions
• What is an experiment (in its pure form): OXO
• This OXO model boils down to 3 elements
o Randomised distribution in 2 groups (an experimental versus a control group)
o Former gets a treatment, latter not
o Observation (measurement) before and after stimulus
• More than alternative ways of testing theories, OXO allows for reliable and valid
conclusions
• This makes experiments the most ideal way of testing causal relationships (not
necessarily other goals of scientific knowledge)
• Ground of its superiority: isolation of the effect of treatment (no need to know other
relevant factors)
• Later on, variants have been developed, e.g. for controlling for causal bias (Solomon,
placebo)
• Sociology deals with objects that are hard to imitate in laboratory contexts
o The Northern Irish civil war
• Second best options probably are (large-scale) surveys and quasi-experiments
• Alternative 1: Large scale surveys
o Usually based on (standardised) interviews
o Many variables collected
o Downside in relation to experiments: no control
▪ No certainty about causal status of correlates (spuriousness)
o Ex. 1: ice cream and drowning at the seaside
o Ex. 2: listening to ‘unconventional music’ and deviant activities (ter Bogt et al,
2013)
o Dominant strategies: control for possible intervening variables
▪ Multivariate designs
o Watch the same elementary units (persons, households, nations) change over
time
▪ Time series and longitudinal designs
• Alternative 2: Quasi-experiments
o Often: experiments in the real world (field experiment), so with diminished
control
o Also: non-randomised distribution of groups
o Most promising: natural experiments: ‘accidental’ experiment in real world
▪ Cunningham’s ‘men in transit’
3
, o Comparison with survey
▪ No intervention by the researcher
▪ Mimics experimental design
b. Human Action
• The object of sociology is: “conscious sentient beings”
• Action of people is fundamentally different from logic of ‘laws’ in nature
• Illustration: water boiling and people in a sauna
• Basically, explanations in sociology are: accounting for reasons (and therefore beliefs,
values, motives, intentions)
• Sociology does less but also more than natural sciences
o Railway station
• Basic strategy: ask people
c. Behaviour, action and social action
• Sociology is the science of social phenomena, made up of(social) actions
• Criterion 1: intentionally
• Criterion 2: coordination
• Beware! The same behaviour belongs to different partial sets
• Types of (social) action
o Instrumental rational
o Value rational
o Affectual (emotional)
o Traditional (habitual)
• Conclusion
o ‘Aimless’ or ‘meaningless’ action is a contradiction in terms
o Non-rational action can also be meaningful
o There is more than one type of rationality
Learning Aid – Chapter 1:
• Science
• Scientific cycle
• Induction
• Deduction
• Reduction of error
• Experiment*
• Quasi-experiment
• OXO-model
• Experimental/control group
• Solomon experiment
• Placebo
• Spurious correlation*
• Action*
• Traditional action
4
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller elinedemunster2001. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $11.38. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
78252 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now