Post on 12-May-2015
Block 1
Social Problemsin Social Sciences
Aim of Block 1
Aim of Block 1
To discuss what are the main difficulties in addressing social problems (Lecture 1)
Aim of Block 1
To discuss what are the main difficulties in addressing social problems (Lecture 1)
To cover the approach used in this course: micro-macro-micro link (Lecture 2)
Lecture 2
understanding & explaining them?
Social Problems
The tricks of common sense
Aim Lecture 2
Aim Lecture 2
To discuss why social problems appear unscientific
Aim Lecture 2
To discuss why social problems appear unscientific
To describe how common sense misleads us in our interpretation of the world
Simplicity of social problems
Simplicity of social problemsIn 1998, John Gribbin’s critique to this book stated that “all of social sciences is an oxymoron, and any physicist threatened by cuts in funding ought to consider a career in the social sciences, where it ought to be possible to solve the problems that social scientists are worked up about in a trice”
Simplicity of social problems
Social problems are trivial and should not be hard to solve?
In 1998, John Gribbin’s critique to this book stated that “all of social sciences is an oxymoron, and any physicist threatened by cuts in funding ought to consider a career in the social sciences, where it ought to be possible to solve the problems that social scientists are worked up about in a trice”
Budget CutsSenator Kay Bailey Hutchison
Budget CutsSenator Kay Bailey Hutchison
Proposed doubling the funds for medical sciences (2005)
Budget CutsSenator Kay Bailey Hutchison
Proposed doubling the funds for medical sciences (2005)
Proposed to cut the entire social and behavioral science budget of the National Science Foundation
Budget CutsSenator Kay Bailey Hutchison
Proposed doubling the funds for medical sciences (2005)
Proposed to cut the entire social and behavioral science budget of the National Science Foundation
What was she thinking?
Scientific ProblemsPresumably she doesn’t think that
social problems are unimportant
Scientific ProblemsPresumably she doesn’t think that
social problems are unimportant
immigration
Scientific ProblemsPresumably she doesn’t think that
social problems are unimportant
immigration economic development
Scientific ProblemsPresumably she doesn’t think that
social problems are unimportant
inequalityimmigration economic development
Scientific ProblemsPresumably she doesn’t think that
social problems are unimportant
She doesn’t consider social problems to be scientific problems, worthy of the prolonged attention of serious scientists.
It appears...
inequalityimmigration economic development
Scientific ProblemsPresumably she doesn’t think that
social problems are unimportant
She doesn’t consider social problems to be scientific problems, worthy of the prolonged attention of serious scientists.
It appears...
inequalityimmigration economic development
skepticism about what social science has to offer...
Question
What does sociology has to say about the world that an
intelligent person couldn’t have figured out on her own?
Question
What does sociology has to say about the world that an
intelligent person couldn’t have figured out on her own?
Valid but... there is a misconception?
Question
Paul Lazarsfeld
Example
Paul Lazarsfeld
Example
Paul Lazarsfeld
Example 600,000 service men study
Paul Lazarsfeld
Example 600,000 service men study
After WWII
Paul Lazarsfeld
Example
Findings...
“Men from rural backgrounds were usually in better spirits during the Army life than soldiers from city backgrounds”
600,000 service men study
After WWII
Aha! That makes perfect sense. Rural men in the 1940s were accustomed to harsher living standards and more physical labor than city men, so naturally they had an easier time adjusting.
Question
Why did we need such a vast and expensive study to tell me what I
could have figured out on my own?
Question
Example
Example
All findings were in fact the exact opposite of what the study actually found.
Example
All findings were in fact the exact opposite of what the study actually found.
“City men, not rural men, were happier during their Army life”
Of course, city men are more used to working in crowded conditions and in corporations, with chains of command, strict standards of clothing and social etiquette. That’s obvious!
Exactly!!!
Exactly!!!
When every answer and its opposite appear equally obvious, then, something is wrong with the entire argument of obviousness
Once we know the answer
Once we know the answer
the explanation seems natural to us
Social PhenomenaProblems in social sciences are activities that involve understanding, predicting, changing, or responding to the behavior of people
Social PhenomenaProblems in social sciences are activities that involve understanding, predicting, changing, or responding to the behavior of people
Politicians trying to decide how to deal with urban poverty
Social PhenomenaProblems in social sciences are activities that involve understanding, predicting, changing, or responding to the behavior of people
Politicians trying to decide how to deal with urban poverty
people in these positions feel that the problems they are contemplating are mostly within their ability to solve
Social PhenomenaProblems in social sciences are activities that involve understanding, predicting, changing, or responding to the behavior of people
Politicians trying to decide how to deal with urban poverty
people in these positions feel that the problems they are contemplating are mostly within their ability to solve
It’s not Rocket Science...
We are much better at planning the flight path of an interplanetary rocket
than...
We are much better at planning the flight path of an interplanetary rocket
managing the economythan...
We are much better at planning the flight path of an interplanetary rocket
managing the economythan...
merging two corporations
We are much better at planning the flight path of an interplanetary rocket
managing the economythan...
merging two corporationspredicting how many copies of a
book will sell
We are much better at planning the flight path of an interplanetary rocket
managing the economythan...
merging two corporationspredicting how many copies of a
book will sell
why?
We are much better at planning the flight path of an interplanetary rocket
Rocket Science seems hard & problems having to do with people seem like they ought to be just a matter of common sense?
managing the economythan...
merging two corporationspredicting how many copies of a
book will sell
why?
Common Sense
Common SenseThe paradox of common sense is that even as it helps us make sense of the world, it can actively undermine our ability to understand it
“Rules” of Behavior
“Rules” of BehaviorNew York Subway - Rush hour - milgram experiment: ask for a seat
“Rules” of BehaviorNew York Subway - Rush hour - milgram experiment: ask for a seat
R1. Crowded train & squeezing: spreading
“Rules” of BehaviorNew York Subway - Rush hour - milgram experiment: ask for a seat
R1. Crowded train & squeezing: spreading
R2. Elevator & facing direction: unfacing
Rules
Rules
No matter where we live, our lives are guided and shaped by unwritten rules
Rules
No matter where we live, our lives are guided and shaped by unwritten rules
We expect reasonable people to know them all
Life at the ArmyAfter high school I did my military service
Life at the ArmyAfter high school I did my military service
Life at the ArmyAfter high school I did my military service
intense place
Life at the ArmyAfter high school I did my military service
intense place barking instructors
Life at the ArmyAfter high school I did my military service
intense place barking instructorscleaning and running before sunrise
Life at the ArmyAfter high school I did my military service
intense place barking instructorscleaning and running before sunrise
lots and lots of rules
Life at the ArmyAfter high school I did my military service
intense place barking instructorscleaning and running before sunrise
lots and lots of rules
it seemed a complicated & confusing new life
Life at the ArmyAfter high school I did my military service
intense place barking instructorscleaning and running before sunrise
lots and lots of rules
it seemed a complicated & confusing new life
Punishments
Life at the ArmyAfter high school I did my military service
intense place barking instructorscleaning and running before sunrise
lots and lots of rules
it seemed a complicated & confusing new life
howeverLife in the army was more like a game than real life sometimes you won, sometimes you lost
Punishments
Life at the ArmyAfter high school I did my military service
intense place barking instructorscleaning and running before sunrise
lots and lots of rules
it seemed a complicated & confusing new life
howeverLife in the army was more like a game than real life sometimes you won, sometimes you lostNever take it personally
Punishments
Life at the ArmyAfter high school I did my military service
intense place barking instructorscleaning and running before sunrise
lots and lots of rules
it seemed a complicated & confusing new life
howeverLife in the army was more like a game than real life sometimes you won, sometimes you lostNever take it personally
After 6 months, what would have terrified us on our arrival seemed entirely natural - now the rest of the world seemed strange
Punishments
When rules become familiar
We all have experienced something like this:
When rules become familiar
New environments that at first seem strange and intimidating and filled with rules that we don’t understand
We all have experienced something like this:
When rules become familiar
New environments that at first seem strange and intimidating and filled with rules that we don’t understand
We all have experienced something like this:
Learning to fit in at a new school
When rules become familiar
New environments that at first seem strange and intimidating and filled with rules that we don’t understand
We all have experienced something like this:
Learning to fit in at a new school Learning to live in a foreign country
When rules become familiar
New environments that at first seem strange and intimidating and filled with rules that we don’t understand
We all have experienced something like this:
Learning to fit in at a new schoolLearning the procedures of a new job
Learning to live in a foreign country
When rules become familiar
New environments that at first seem strange and intimidating and filled with rules that we don’t understand
We all have experienced something like this:
but...
eventually become familiar
Learning to fit in at a new schoolLearning the procedures of a new job
Learning to live in a foreign country
Games of life
Games of lifewhen you think about how complex these games can be, it seems kind of amazing that we’re capable of playing them at all
Games of lifewhen you think about how complex these games can be, it seems kind of amazing that we’re capable of playing them at all
yet...
In the same way that young children learn a new language seemingly by osmosis
Games of lifewhen you think about how complex these games can be, it seems kind of amazing that we’re capable of playing them at all
yet...
In the same way that young children learn a new language seemingly by osmosis
We learn to navigate even the most novel social environments, more or less without even knowing that we’re doing it
Common Sensemiraculous piece of human intelligence
it enables us to solve these problems
Common Sensemiraculous piece of human intelligence
it enables us to solve these problems
What to wear when we go to work in the morning
Common Sensemiraculous piece of human intelligence
it enables us to solve these problems
What to wear when we go to work in the morning
How to behave in the street or the subway
it tells us
Common Sensemiraculous piece of human intelligence
it enables us to solve these problems
What to wear when we go to work in the morning
How to behave in the street or the subway
it tells usWhen to obey the rules
Common Sensemiraculous piece of human intelligence
it enables us to solve these problems
What to wear when we go to work in the morning
How to behave in the street or the subway
it tells usWhen to obey the rules
When to quietly ignore them
Common Sensemiraculous piece of human intelligence
it enables us to solve these problems
What to wear when we go to work in the morning
How to behave in the street or the subway
it tells usWhen to obey the rules
When to quietly ignore them
When to stand up and challenge them
Two features
Carl TaylorPresident American Sociological Association
Annual meeting 1946
Two features
By common sense I mean the knowledge possessed by those who live in midst and are a part of the social situations and processes which sociologists seek to understand. The term thus used may be synonymous with folk knowledge, or it may be the knowledge possessed by engineers, by the practical politicians, by those who gather and publish news, or by others who handle or work with and must interpret and predict the behavior of persons and groups
Carl TaylorPresident American Sociological Association
Annual meeting 1946
1. PracticalUnlike formal systems of knowledge: science or mathematics
1. PracticalUnlike formal systems of knowledge: science or mathematics
From common sense perspectiveIt is good enough to know that something is true, or that it is the way of things
1. PracticalUnlike formal systems of knowledge: science or mathematics
From common sense perspectiveIt is good enough to know that something is true, or that it is the way of things
No need to know why in order to benefit from the knowledge
1. PracticalUnlike formal systems of knowledge: science or mathematics
From common sense perspectiveIt is good enough to know that something is true, or that it is the way of things
No need to know why in order to benefit from the knowledge
In contrast with theoretical knowledgeIt does not reflect on the world, but instead attempts to deal with it simple as it is
2. FocalizedFormal knowledge:Able to organize specific findings into logical categories decribed by general principles
2. FocalizedFormal knowledge:Able to organize specific findings into logical categories decribed by general principles
but,Common senseAble to deal with every concrete situation on its own terms
2. FocalizedFormal knowledge:Able to organize specific findings into logical categories decribed by general principles
but,Common senseAble to deal with every concrete situation on its own terms
Example:Behavior in front of our boss (what we say or wear) differs from how we behave in front of our friends or parents
2. FocalizedFormal knowledge:Able to organize specific findings into logical categories decribed by general principles
but,Common senseAble to deal with every concrete situation on its own terms
Example:Behavior in front of our boss (what we say or wear) differs from how we behave in front of our friends or parentsit just knows what the appropriate thing to do is in any particular situation
Practical 1
Experiment
Not Common At Allit varies over time and across cultures
In industrialized western countries, senders offer a fifty-fifty split, and receivers typically reject offers below 30%
For economists, it is puzzlingOne is better than nothing “rule”
Why this behavior?
Fairness - It doesn’t seem fair to exploit a situation just because you can
Common Sense: People care about fairness as well as money
15 small-scale societies5 continents
What is fair?
Offered about a quarter of the total
Machiguenga Tribe - Peru
Virtually no offers were refused
Sender
Receiver
Better than fifty-fifty
Rejection of hyper-fair as much as unfair offers
Sender
Receiver
Au & Gnau Tribes - Papua
So...
What explains the differences?
Gift exchange tradition
Receiving a gift obligates the receiver to reciprocate at some point in the future
What might have seemed like free money to a Western participant looked to the Au or Gnau very much like an unwanted obligation
Bonds only with immediate family
They saw little obligation to make fair offers to strangers, and experienced very little of the resentment of Westerns with unequal splits - even low offers seemed a good deal
Common SenseOnce you understand the features of the Au, Gnau or Machiguenga, their puzzling behavior starts to
seem entirely reasonable
Once accepting their understanding of the world, their common sense logic works exactly as ours does
It is simply what any reasonable person would do if they had grown up in that culture
Not Common At Allit is common only to the extent that two people share sufficiently similar social and cultural experiences
It is encoded in the social norms, customs and practices of the world
What seems reasonable to one human, might seem curious, bizarre, or even repugnant to another
Slavery, sacrifice, cannibalism, female genital mutilationdespised by most contemporary cultures
considered entirely legitimate in different times and places
Reservations
That what is self-evident to one person can be seen as silly by
another should give us pause about the reliability of common sense as a basis for understanding the world
The misuse of Common Sense
it’s useful in our daily lives
everyday life is effectively broken up into small problems
we can solve them almost independently
it’s problematic in social problems
take the problem of urban poverty in the US
planners have set out to solve it and repeatedly fail
Urban Poverty
“There is a wistful myth that if only we had enough money to spend- the figure is usually put at a hundred billion dollars- we could wipe out all our slums in ten years... But look what we have built with the first several billions: Low-income projects that have become worse centers of delinquency, vandalism and general social hopelessness than the slums they were supposed to replace.”
Jane Jacobs - Urban ActivistThe life and death of great American cities (1961)
IronicAround the same time J.J. reached this conclusion, work began on the Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago, the largest public housing project ever built.
No need for science?In the daily world our intuition works
wellWe rarely feel the need to use the scientific method
Why are most social groups so homogeneous in terms of race, education level, and even gender?
Why do somethings become popular and not others?
Is more choice better or worse?For many of us we feel we could come up with perfectly satisfactory
explanations ourselves
Understanding the social world
It is wonderful at making sense of the world, but not necessarily at understanding it
It gives us an illusion of understanding
Undercuts our motivation of treating social problems as we do in medicine, engineering, & science.
Consequence, it actually inhibits our understanding of the world
Check List Social problems appear to be non-
scientific problems
Common sense make answers to social problems come natural to us
it varies over time and across culture
It helps us make sense of the world but not really understand it
Comments?