Explanation In Social Sciences Research Articles

Power, causality and normativity: a critical realist critique of Foucault

A critical realist account is developed of two aspects of the study of power which are normally left implicit: the theory of causation presupposed and the way in which the normative connotations of power are dealt with. These matters are discussed partly by reference to Foucault’s views on power, particularly as set out in Volume 1 of The History of Sexuality. Regarding the conception of power as ubiquitous, it is argued that this is not incompatible with concepts of causation or of power as deriving from the capacities of objects; indeed dispersed power presupposes causality and causal powers. Other concepts such as emergent powers, fields, structures and ecological dominance are also assessed from a critical realist standpoint. In the second part, it is argued that the normative implications of power should not be evaded, and indeed that evaluation of the implications of power for flourishing and suffering are necessary for adequate description and explanation in social science. Positivist and Foucauldian refusals of normativity are critiqued by reference to the untenability of the fact-value and is-ought distinctions and the necessity of thick ethical concepts in social science. It is concluded that students of power should embrace causality and normativity.

Ways of Measuring Agency

This paper advocates an actor-centered, relational view of agency and proposes Quantitative Narrative Analysis (QNA) as a promising method for operationalizing and measuring agency. QNA organizes the information contained in narrative texts by exploiting the invariant linguistic structural properties of narrative—namely, sets of SVOs (Subject, Verb, Object) organized in predictable sequences and where in narrative S are actors and V are actions. The relational data made available by QNA are ideally suited for analysis with geographic information systems (GIS) tools, sequence analysis, or network analysis. These tools preserve the centrality of agency (actors and their actions) in social scientific explanation of social reality. An application of QNA to newspaper stories of lynchings in Georgia (1875–1930) will illustrate the power of this approach. The paper complements the illustration of this quantitative way of measuring agency with discourse analysis—another popular social science approach to texts. We will rely on this approach to illustrate how linguistic and rhetorical strategies can be used to hide agency in texts and the challenges (and solutions) this poses for measurement: How can we measure something that is not there?

Theories of Violence: Social Science Perspectives

The articles in this Special Issue provide an overview of some of the major social science perspectives regarding violence in sociology, psychology, anthropology, and political economy. An analysis and a synthesis of these fields of study as they pertain to violence reveal common themes. This paper attempts to examine conceptual commonalities and distinctions across these academic disciplines in an attempt to weave an integrated framework that may elucidate our theoretical understanding of violence. An integrative conceptual framework that highlights shared factors across social science disciplines may further illuminate our understanding of the multidisciplinary correlates of violence and, therefore, assist instructors, practitioners, and researchers in the identification and application of core theoretical concepts that underlie social science explanations of violence; thereby assisting social work students to better understand the interactions between of human behavior and the social environment.

Disordered selves

The idea that persons, minds and selves can be ‘disordered’ is discussed from historical and philosophical standpoints. It is argued that the identification of mind with brain is a false path when explanations of human nature are sought in the natural sciences. This has led to a strong bias towards physical treatments for psychological distress. Use of the term ‘disorder’ allows biological and social scientific explanations to exist side by side, but, as the example of depression illustrates, locating problems inside the person also serves ideological, political, pseudo-scientific and commercial interests.

Institutionalizing Ethical Innovation in Organizations: An Integrated Causal Model of Moral Innovation Decision Processes

This article answers several calls—coming as well from corporate governance practitioners as from corporate governance researchers—concerning the possibility of complying simultaneously with requirements of innovation and ethics. Revealing the long-term orientation as the variable which permits us to link the principal goal of organization, being “survival,” with innovation and ethic, the article devises a framework for incorporating ethics into a company’s processes and strategies for innovation. With the principal goal of organizations being “survival” in the long-term, it is assumed that innovation is necessary in order to realize a going concern. Firms that do not innovate and adapt to rapidly changing business environments are less likely to be sustainable. Thus, it is in a business’ best interests to adopt an innovation process for long-term success. We posit that there are two simultaneous sources of innovation and change that are unavoidable and embedded in the corporate landscape. First, we argue for genetically embedded, Darwinian explanations for adaptations that enable an entity’s survival. This view is combined with more conventional, social science explanations for change. Our new, comprehensive model of the governance of innovation processes hinges on the one hand on an organization’s long-term orientation, which we argue, is not possible without a consideration of an ethical dimension. On the other hand, the model employs, for the first time, the concept of duality, in order to make the positive coexistence of innovation and ethic analytically visible. Guided by this concept the roots of the ethic within innovation are traced from both natural science forces for change, and cultural pressures operating on members of an organization. We present our Integrated Causal Model of Innovation and propose theoretical relationships that will generate numerous avenues for future research in the field, and help managers to reorient their governance strategies.

The Ethnic-Civic Dichotomy and the Explanation of National Self-Understanding

AbstractIn his paper Ethnicity as Cognition (2006), Rogers Brubaker held that cognitive psychology can enrich the understanding of the practices of categorisation that underpins ethnicity, nationhood and race. I shall argue that the philosophical debate concerning the different types of explanation in social sciences – the explanations based on reasons and the explanations based on causal mechanisms – can throw some light on this issue. To analyse beliefs requires use of both approaches. It can be shown with the classical opposition between an ethnic and a civic conception of national belonging which derives from a reason-based approach. The causal mechanism approach underlying cognitive psychology can offer alternative models accounting for national self-understanding, notably the prototype model of categorisation. I confront empirically these two theories – the ethnic civic dichotomy and the prototype model – using theisspdata from 2003 and evidence the advantages and shortcomings of each theory.

Sustainability transitions and final consumption: practices and socio-technical systems

This article examines the significance of final consumption processes for understandings of prospective transitions towards more sustainable societies. It argues that most existing conceptualisations either place too much emphasis on technology or on ‘consumer behaviour’, ignoring the deeply intertwined relationships between the two. After briefly reviewing recent contributions to the technology-oriented multi-level perspective (MLP) and to social scientific explanations of ‘behavioural change’, we outline a practice-based approach to understanding final consumption and sustainability. Practice-based approaches reveal processes of reproduction (stasis) and change in forms of consumption, which we argue present conceptual insights into sustainability transitions. By examining the tensions and crossovers between the MLP and practice-based approaches to consumption, three specific forms of interaction are identified for further conceptual and empirical exploration: the social relations of consumption; co-dependent changes in production and consumption; and, technologies, practices and consumption.

DIFFERENTIAL SUSCEPTIBILITY TO CONTEXT: A PROMISING MODEL OF THE INTERPLAY OF GENES AND THE SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT.

The goal of this chapter is to demonstrate the importance of incorporating gene by environment (GxE) interactions into behavioral science theory and research. In pursuit of this aim, the chapter is organized in the following way. First, we provide a brief critique of the behavioral genetics paradigm, noting why one should be skeptical of its suggestion that genes exert large main effects, and only main effects, on social behavior. Second, we describe how the recent mapping of the human genome has facilitated molecular genetic research and the emergence of the new epigenetic paradigm that has begun to supplement and replace the simpler model of genetic determinism. Third, we turn our focus to the explosion of GxE research that has occurred in the wake of this paradigmatic shift. These studies find that genetic variation often interacts with environmental context to influence the probability of various behaviors. Importantly, in many, and perhaps most, of these studies the genetic variable, unlike the environmental variable, has little if any main effect on the outcome of interest. Rather, the influence of the genetic variable is limited to its moderation of the effect of the environmental construct. Such research does not undermine the importance of environmental factors; rather it shows how social scientific explanations of human behavior might be made more precise by incorporating genetic information. Finally, we consider various models of gene - environment interplay, paying particular attention to the differential susceptibility to context perspective. This model of GxE posits that a substantial proportion of the population is genetically predisposed to be more susceptible than others to environment influence. We argue that this model of GxE is particularly relevant to sociologists and psychologists.

The political crowd: Theorizing popular revolt in North Africa

This paper uses an interdisciplinary approach to show why Western social scientific explanations of political crowds in North Africa and the Arab Middle East have failed to provide an understanding of the causes and effects of popular revolt. I trace these misunderstandings to an inherited body of European writings on crowd theory and on Islamic and Muslim political power. Some scholars who have also criticized mainstream analysis of the so-called “Arab Street” are shown as relevant to a new understanding of political crowds.

Looking for a Silver Lining: The Possible Positives of Declining Energy Return on Investment (EROI)

Declining energy return on investment (EROI) of a society’s available energy sources can lead to both crisis and opportunity for positive social change. The implications of declining EROI for human wellbeing are complex and open to interpretation. There are many reasons why frugal living and an energy diet could be beneficial. A measure of wellbeing or welfare gained per unit of energy expended (WROEI) is proposed. A threshold is hypothesized for the relation between energy consumption and wellbeing. The paper offers a biophysical-based social science explanation for both the negative and positive possible implications of declining EROI. Two sets of future scenarios based on environmental and economic trends are described. Six types of social change activism are considered essential if the positives of declining EROI are to balance or exceed the negatives.

The Political Uses of Some Economic Ideas: The Trade‐Off Between Efficiency and Equality

AbstractThe notion of a trade‐off between efficiency and equality is pervasive in many disciplines across the social sciences. Moreover, an imprecise notion of this well‐known dilemma is an integral part of the discourse of politicians and policy‐makers. The scientific status of the idea of a trade‐off between efficiency and equality is, however, a matter of contention. Philosophical dissections of the idea have already deflated the analytical cogency of most of its versions, while the economic literature trying to assess the empirical relation between growth and equality has shown contradicting results. This article, by focusing on the role this idea plays both in the discourse and strategy of social‐democratic parties, and in the social science explanations of their trajectories, argues that the pervasiveness of the notion of the trade‐off between efficiency and equality is best explained in terms of the political functions it can fulfill.

Humanizing Savanna Biogeography: Linking Human Practices with Ecological Patterns in a Frequently Burned Savanna of Southern Mali

The savanna biome is defined by the codominance of grasses and trees, the precise ratio of which is a function of numerous variables, both natural and anthropogenic. Fire is a critical determinant of the tree-to-grass ratio because it can suppress tree establishment and growth. Despite the fact that nearly all fires have human causes, most savanna fire ecology models are based solely on ecological variables and fail to integrate human land and fire use patterns. To understand how human burning practices, land cover patterns, and fire regimes are linked I combined the results of an image-based burn scar analysis and land cover maps generated from a Landsat database covering thirty years with interview and survey results. I documented the spatially explicit fire regime for an area of Sudan savanna in southern Mali and linked it to human practices and land cover patterns. The study concludes that burning creates a seasonal mosaic in which some patches regularly burn early and others late, whereas some areas rarely if ever burn. Ecologists attribute mosaic fire regimes to natural factors such as plant succession, but this research demonstrates that the regime is a function of the combined effects of edaphic conditions, vegetation patterns, land use, and widespread burning practices. The anthropogenic burning regime documented here differs from the one based on ecological theory in that its spatiotemporal pattern is relatively consistent from year to year. The findings demonstrate the need to “humanize” savanna models by breaking nature–society dichotomies and synthesizing natural and social science explanations.

Telling the CAQDAS code: Membership categorization and the accomplishment of ‘coding rules’ in research team talk

During the course of this article we examine data gathered from two research meetings in which coding issues and data organization are being discussed in relation to the use of the software package Atlas.ti. The meetings were concerned with the organization and coding of semi-structured interviews carried out by three different groups as part of a wider collaborative research project. A number of papers have considered aspects of coding practice in teams or small groups; however, little work exists on the analysis of first order collaborative CAQDAS coding interaction. In doing so, this article re-specifies formal coding and collaboration models through the examination of practical methods of situated interaction and data sense-making in the course of producing social scientific facts and explanation. In this sense, the analysis reveals the way in which the professional argot of social science codes can be understood to rely on everyday methods of sense-making within team based contexts. These methods can be understood to be realized through the fine-detailed ‘granular’ categorical and sequential specifics of talk-in-meetings where matters relating to social scientific reasoning, accountability, stakeholders’ interests, defeasible and defensible reasoning protocols, disciplinary rights and the ‘search for underlying patterns’ are salient features and recognizable and accountable concerns for team members as a routine aspect of doing qualitative social science.

Overqualified: generative replicators as Darwinian reproducers

Darwin’s Conjecture is a bold attempt to bring evolutionary explanation to the social sciences, particularly economics. The book outlines the history of Darwinian explanation in social science then puts forward a generalized replicator account of social evolution by natural selection. The authors identify habits and routines as examples of the generative replicators necessary in order that social evolution is Darwinian. This reviewer notes that the replicator approach limits the generality of this account and suggests that habits and routines might better be seen as members of a Darwinian population in the tradition of Godfrey-Smith’s (2009) generalized account of natural selection instead. Furthermore, the existence of levels of social evolution will constrain what evolution can occur low in the hierarchy.

Toward a Theoretical Integration of Crime and Delinquency

The articles in this Special Issue provide an overview of the major social science theoretical perspectives regarding crime and delinquency in sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, economics, and political science. An analysis of these academic and scholarly paradigms reveals common themes. It may prove helpful to probe these shared conceptual commonalities and distinctions across disciplines in an attempt to weave an integrated framework that may elucidate our understanding of crime and delinquency. Recognizing that there are key shared factors across theoretical social science explanations is a first step toward conceptualizing an integrative framework that may better explain the root causes of crime and delinquency and thus assist instructors, practitioners, and researchers in identifying key explanatory variables related to human behavior and the social environment.

Historical Theories of Crime and Delinquency

After an exploration of two underlying themes (the tendency among historians to explore crime in terms of punishment and the tension between determinism and indeterminism) that permeate the historical literature, this paper identifies and expounds on four constellations of historical theories that explain crime and delinquency: history of social science explanations, positivism, constructionism, and post-structuralism. Case illustrations detail the significance of social control and critical theories, both of the constructionist constellation, in a historical context. The conclusion touches on the difficult, yet necessary, task of integrating social environments and human behaviors in historical explanations of crime and delinquency.

Kinds of Explanation in Social Science: Laws, Contexts, and Conceptual Breakthroughs

There are many kinds of interesting, insightful explanations in social science literature that lay claim to the honorific designation “scientific.” Weber explains, Durkheim explains, Marx explains, Keynes explains, Freud explains. Role theory explains, small-group theory explains, elite theory explains. The present paper integrates the various kinds of explanation found in social science through a problem-oriented account of social scientific methodology inspired by the philosophy of Sir Karl Popper. It also integrates explanation in the social sciences with explanation in the natural sciences. It is formulation and solution of problems that unifies science. All explanations are “efforts to deprive puzzles, mysteries, and blockages of their force, and hence, existence.” Scientific explanation, like explanation in general, removes the puzzling character of a phenomenon. A mechanism is found, the phenomenon is shown to be a specific case of a law-like generalization, or a flaws in initial conditions are discovered and corrected. A third kind of explanation, typically overlooked, is explanation by conceptual breakthrough. Breakthroughs remove the problematic character of a phenomenon by overcoming a blockage in thought. Problems or puzzles are often rooted in taken-for-granted or unconsciously-held assumptions. Scientific discovery may consist of such a wrenching away from taken-for-granted ways of thinking. Known facts or data are seen in a new way. It is thus the conceptual breakthrough, not new facts, mechanisms, or law-like generalizations that do the explaining. This article integrates a wide variety of kinds of explanation found in the social sciences by focusing on the various kinds of intellectual problems that arise in the social sciences, and the various types of explanation that solve these intellectual problems.

Critical realism and post-structuralist feminism: The difficult path to mutual understanding

Tony Lawson, Sandra Harding, Drucilla K. Barker, Fabienne Peter and Julie A. Nelson have recently debated the merits and demerits of critical realism as the basis of feminist social research. Yet the dialogue is left unfinished, with no clear agreement attained. Some key features of that failure are analysed in this article. It is suggested that, despite shared support for explicitly post-positivistic stances, critical realists and post- structuralist feminists cannot gain much from a dialogue that proceeds like this one. Other modes of discussion should be looked for. One more promising basis for such discussion - a question-driven approach to social scientific explanation - is introduced at the end of the article.

Clusters and Upgrading: a Purposeful Approach

We develop a theoretical model to investigate how backward societies can improve their upgrading capabilities by transforming existing industrial agglomerations into dynamic clusters. Our main assumptions are two: first, emerging market economies are not uniform but characterized by variety of subnational regional and sectoral organizational and institutional configurations; second, the basic building block and unit of explanation in social sciences is personal action guided by some intention, which is heterogeneous across different actors. Based on these assumptions and the literature on human motives and social networks, we develop a purposeful approach to clusters and upgrading. We argue that governments can develop institutions with private actors that facilitate new types of relationships and improve the access local firms have to a variety of knowledge resources, a key ingre­dient to upgrading. We illustrate this argument revisiting the literature on clusters and upgrading in Latin America and using two case studies in Argentina, a country better known for its volatility and lack of optimal social capital and institutions. We conclude with avenues for further research.

On Becker’s Studies of Marijuana Use as an Example of Analytic Induction

Analytic induction (AI) is an interpretation of scientific method that emerged in early twentieth-century sociology and still has some influence today. Among the studies often cited as examples are Becker’s articles on marijuana use. While these have been given less attention than the work of Lindesmith on opiate addiction and Cressey on financial trust violation, Becker’s work has distinctive features. Furthermore, it raises some important and interesting issues that relate not only to AI but to social scientific explanation more generally. These concern, for example, the presence and nature of causal systems in the social world, the relationship between historical and generalizing approaches, the character and role of social scientific theories, and how they are generated. In this article Becker’s research is examined in detail, and these issues explored through comparisons with the work of Lindesmith and Cressey.