Social Science Practice Research Articles

Geography on the agenda1

The article begins by considering the recently revived debate about the ‘North–South divide’ in the UK, and argues that theoretical work in geography on questions of regional uneven developments have had little impact on its political formulation. It takes off from this to reflect on the role of ‘the academic’, on the nature of social science practice and the status of its ‘knowledge production’, and on geography's potential social roles (and current popular image). It argues that geography needs to be more confident of its own specificity, for in that lies its potential contribution. Two elements of specificity are pointed to (among many potential ones): the coexistence of physical and human geography and the significance of, and need for the reformulation of, many popular and political concepts of space.

Home and Away: Bridging Fieldwork and Everyday Life

********** In the course of developing a dissertation proposal, I received advice from numerous faculty members who, having already been through the experience, wanted to impart upon me their wisdom. From several I received the admonishment to choose a topic that could hold my interest because, they foretold, not only would I concentrate the years of my dissertation fieldwork and write-up on that topic but I would likely also spend the first half-decade or more of postgraduate life mining that research for articles and maybe even a book. More interesting was the advice of an anthropologist, the late Daniel Nugent. Over a pitcher of beer, with the hot Tucson sun setting behind him, Daniel told me to choose my field site well. After all, he warned, fieldwork isn't just about research and writing. I was about to spend a great deal of time with the people I studied. And, he continued, noting my stated interest in studying police in Boston, did I really want to hang out with cops? Daniel nearly scared me off. Yet, seven years later, I have to admit that I do like hanging out with cops--or, more specifically, with the folks in District c-11, Dorchester, Boston (Figure 1). In fact, I had so much fun doing follow-up research in the summer of 1999 that in 2000--a summer I didn't spend in the field--I found myself pining for the excitement and good times I'd had the previous year, cruising through Boston in squad cars, shooting the breeze with police officers, and meeting with community activists eager to tell me their stories of how they're making the Boston Police Department more responsive to locally defined-though not necessarily parochial--concerns. For me, going into the field is like going away to summer camp. Not only does it mean leaving the everyday--both its place and its routines--to become immersed in a life somewhere else, among other people, doing things very different from those I do at home, but it's great fun, too. Unfortunately, with pressure to publish being what it is, many of us feel compelled to extract every possible article, chapter, or book from our fieldwork. Never mind that I think fieldwork is so much fun that I want to go back into the field--maybe even to someplace completely different--before I've finished mining my last excursion for all it's worth. In 2001 my career demanded that I stay home. In important ways, doing fieldwork defines me--and not just me--as a geographer and a social scientist. At a general level, my work as a social scientist depends on and in part consists of going into the field to make observations. Those observations, together with any formal and informal interviews, focus groups, and documentary research I may conduct, constitute the bulk of the original data that I will make a career of analyzing. At an individual level, I am defined by the specifics of my fieldwork--by where I go (some of us are Mexicanists, some are Africanists, and others are simply urban geographers) and by what I look at when I'm there (in my case, cops and community activists). Yet fieldwork, though central to much of human geography, can be very troubling and quite problematic. In my experience, going into the field imposes at least three important and discomfiting disjunctures. How each of us resolves these disjunctures fundamentally affects the quality and character of our fieldwork, the content and conduct of our teaching, and our reputations among colleagues and among those whom we study. The three disjunctures are: between the field and everyday life; between who I am in the field and who I am at home, which is to say, in the classroom and among my colleagues; and between (social) scientific practice and the very personal nature of fieldwork in social settings. I discuss each of these in turn, reflecting on made to resolve them. I write attempts because these disjunctures are so fundamental that resolution is an ongoing effort. …

Global designs, postcolonial critiques: rethinking Canada in dialogue with diaspora

This paper approaches the comparative examination of Brazil and Canada in the context of engagements with postcolonial theory obliquely, rather than directly, through reframing the comparison within the contexts posed by Paul Gilroy in The Black Atlantic, and by contemporary globalization theories and indigenous global activism, when considered through a postcolonial lens. Accepting John Tomlinson’s idea (in Globalization and Culture) that the “complex connectivities” of globalizing practices and discourses “confound” conventional social science practices, this paper suggests that literary texts that engage these issues may enjoy an advantage in negotiating such complexities. But it also argues that new configurations of diaspora and globalization offer writers and readers the chance to shift literature away from its conventional constructions as both autonomous and transcendent, on the one hand, and nation-affirming, on the other. Through a close comparative reading of Okanagan writer Jeannette Armstrong’s novel, Whispering in Shadows, and Caribbean-Canadian Nalo Hopkinson’s utopian science fiction, Brown Girl in the Ring, I seek to model a postcolonial reading practice attentive to cultural difference and global challenges. Each story addresses colonial legacies and global designs through the reconstruction of a relational autonomy that redefines humanity and community through re-energizing beliefs and practices abandoned under colonial modernity. Each text challenges mainstream models for mapping Canadian identity and its place within the Americas. They work to break the illusion of Western progress that fuels contemporary globalization and to redefine global connectivities from within the perspectives of formerly subjugated knowledge systems and a local ground.

Performance and Experimental Knowledge: Outdoor Management Training and the End of Epistemology

In this paper I am concerned with experimental learning and knowing. By experimental I refer to a broad set of performances that have the potential to bring about something new. In this view, experiments are not, even in their more restricted sense in scientific laboratories, limited to the corroboration or representation of an idea or thought. Experiments are on going. They are considered in this paper to be thought-in-action. This concern with experimentation and experimental knowledge is developed through an engagement with training activities on outdoor management courses in Britain. Meanwhile, and in addition to this empirical focus, the paper serves as an appraisal of some current themes in social science thinking and practice. So, in part 1 of the paper, I detail some of the recent shifts in academic approaches to knowledge, focusing in particular on the much-vaunted decline of epistemology. This partial review of academic practice then allows me, in part 2 of the paper, to discuss the changes in knowledge practices and styles that have been set in motion in the management professions. Particular emphasis is given in this paper to the changing roles of corporate training with respect to the production of ‘new’ kinds of knowing and organising. Picking outdoor management training as a useful case with which to explore these shifts, I trace some of the ways in which large organisations set about the task of creating knowledgeable employees. Three themes of outdoor training are developed (embodiment, play, and experimental learning). In part 3 I develop an analysis of the ways in which a training course is conducted. The paper ends by drawing together some of the characteristic features of a performative geography of performance.

Frameworks, Techniques, and Theory

Three questions are addressed in this article: What is social science research consulting? How is this form of consulting performed? and What contributions have been made to social science theory and practice? The first question is discussed in terms of the match between a client's needs and the consultant's skills, the various roles consultants play, and the professional culture they share. The second question is considered in terms of such basics as preparing a winning proposal, dealing with both an internal (the firm) and external (the market-place) environment, and overcoming barriers to implementation. The third question is treated by giving examples of applied research projects implemented for clients. These include projects that analyze negotiating processes, develop models of political structures and processes, analyze intentions, evaluate techniques for enhancing performance, and design policy and training simulations. The article concludes with lessons learned from these experiences, contributing to knowledge, practice, and the craft of consulting.

Introducing interactive social science

The papers in this special issue examine the content and practice of interactive social science and its developing institutional context. Although the contemporary environment of academic research and funding is relevant, the papers engage with themes which have preoccupied social scientists for many years: what is distinctive about social scientific knowledge, how is it produced and used, how might it be evaluated, and how does it relate to other forms of knowledge including the knowledge of those who are the subjects of study?

Ethnography and Sister Sciences: Why Refuse Assistance? A Reply to Weeks

Social scientists (most recently John Weeks) tend to reply to arguments about epistemological difficulties for belief ascription with two responses. An epistemological response goes: Behavioral evidence for underlying beliefs `is all we have and all we need'. A metaphysical response argues that beliefs, being merely instrumental entities are not really subject to worries about underdetermination. In this article, I argue that these responses are inadequate, and that social science practice can be greatly improved by incorporating cognitive-science constraints into the practice of ascribing beliefs.

New Writing Practices in Qualitative Research

New writing practices in qualitative research include evocative writing—a research practice through which we can investigate how we construct the world, ourselves, and others, and how standard objectifying practices of social science unnecessarily limit us and social science. Evocative representations do not take writing for granted but offer multiple ways of thinking about a topic, reaching diverse audiences, and nurturing the writer. They also offer an opportunity for rethinking criteria used to judge research and reconsidering institutional practices and their effects on community. Language is a constitutive force, creating a particular view of reality and the Self. No textual staging is ever innocent (including this one). Styles of writing are neither fixed nor neutral but reflect the historically shifting domination of particular schools or paradigms. Social scientific writing, like all other forms of writing, is a sociohistorical construction, and, therefore, mutable.

Discourse, genealogy, social theory and a society in transition: The challenge facing the human sciences

Abstract This article is predicated on the belief that descriptivist or positivistic approaches in the human sciences are inadequate in dealing with a social reality which cannot be divorced from structures of domination and asymmetrical power relations of various kinds. What is needed is a ‘theoretical praxis’ that is capable of changing social reality in a potentially emancipatory manner even as it illuminates them. For this reason the paper concentrates on certain aspects of Foucault's work because, as in the case of social theory, it opposes domination and simultaneously enables emancipatory empowerment. Hence, the potential of specific insights on the part of Foucault to provide a ‘theoretical’ compass and, simultaneously, a model for human or social scientific practice is explored. The argument further entails the claim that the social/ human world that Foucault enables one to engage with, in an effort to formulate and activate the intelligible conditions of possible changes, is necessarily highly s...

Moral Teachings from Unexpected Quarters: Lessons for Bioethics from the Social Sciences and Managed Care

On the usual account of moral reasoning, social science is often seen as able to provide “just the facts,” while philosophy attends to moral values and conceptual clarity and builds formally valid arguments. Yet disciplines are informed by epistemic values—and bioethics might do well to see social scientific practices and their attendant normative understandings about what is humanly important as a significant part of ethics generally.

Toward Theory Development and Measure Evolution for Studying Women's Relationships and HIV Infection

This commentary reviews and integrates selected empirical findings from this special issue of Sex Roles on Gender, Power, and Women's Relationships: Implications for HIV. Then the effects of current definitions of certain social science practices on theory development in these areas are considered. These practices especially hamper cross-cultural theory and measure development. New directions are proposed, centering on the relations between theory development, measurement, and application in the context of cultural variations. I conclude with a proposed strategy for local culture theory development. This strategy localizes measurement of theoretical constructs to adapt the theory to local cultural conditions, then localizes theory by indicating needed adjustments to the structure of theoretical linkages.

Afterword: Toward an Emery Model of Management: Implications and Prospects of Emery Open Systems Theory

The afterword considers some possible implications of the ideas raised in the four papers in this special issue. Implications for three questions of current debate in systemic thinking are discussed—system ontology, the system-environment relation and the meaning of adaptation, and the role of action research within social science practice. The concept of an Emery model of management as suggested by Fred Emery in the 1960s is revisited and its contemporary relevance discussed in the light of these new contributions and the current state of management, and the possible basis of Emery Open Systems Theory in C.S. Pierce's philosophy of pragmaticism is canvassed. Finally, some questions are posed concerning the future of OST.

Seesawing between Social Science and Managerial Practice - on the Art of Duality in Learning Partnerships

Production and transfer of knowledge between social scientists and commercial companies in learning partnerships are filled with misunderstandings and unfulfilled expectations. This paper analyzes the duality of learning partnerships in single case studies. It discusses the two distinct sets of expectations and interests in production and transfer of knowledge, and it suggests how the business partner as well as the social scientist may benefit from a partnership. To improve the processes and results (for both parties) in learning partnerships we argue that the social scientist must possess skills that distinguish her from the management consultant. We argue that the social scientist’s primary contribution to her business partner is conceptual framing of organizational phenomena. Finally, we make recommendations for handling duality in learning partnerships within organizational analysis.

Behemoth: main currents in the history and theory of political sociology

title, Behemoth, derives from the Hebrew word Behemah - a beast, an enormous creature, monstrously huge and vast. It is an apt description of the State on the eve of the 21st century. Loved by few, villified by many from all perspectives, it nonetheless continues to grow; by turns rivalling and co-opting that more pleasant-sounding word: Society. Political sociology aims to define and understand the interrelationship between these two huge terms: State and Society. Continuing in a path begun by Horowitz in the 1950s in The Idea of War and Peace in Contemporary Social and Philosophical Thought, expanded upon in the 1970s with Foundations of Political Sociology, this summing up in the late 1990s is an effort to extract and evolve the canon of political sociology. Starting with Montesquieu, Horowitz proceeds through the European experience of Rousseau, Tocqueville, Hegel, Marx, Durkheim, Sorel and Weber. He then takes the field on its tangled migration to America with the Frankfurt School in exile, followed by searching chapters on Schumpeter, Mills, Arendt and Huntington, among others. result is a stunning revaluation of the intellectual sources of the present day divisions between statists and socialists, welfarists and individualists, advocates of dictatorship and of democracy, mandated rules and voluntary association, hard realists and soft utopians, a world without states and a world without a single state. Horowitz does not offer the usual evolutionary notion of doctrines, but a canon embedded in and embattled with the societies they aim to serve or overthrow in the present as in the past. result is a major recasting of the theory and practice of social science and normative frameworks. final chapter offers Horowitz's own prognosis of what we can expect in the recasting of the Welfare State to include the Welfare Society, and its growing nemesis the global economy which threatens to engulf State and Society alike in a return to civilizational concerns. This is an essential text for policy-makers and social scientists interested in macroscopic changes in the political order.

Indian psychoanalysis, patriarchy and hinduisma

Indian intellectuals have been concerned about the complex links between religion, caste and gender, especially in the formation of social science ideas and practices. The mental and behavioural sciences, however, have only been at the fringes of this interest. As a case‐study, and as an initial and tentative attempt in this area, this paper foregrounds the caste and gender basis of ‘Indian’ psychoanalysis. Appeals have been systematically made for an ‘Indian’ psychoanalysis through the pre‐independent days in the works of Girindrasekhar Bose and others and, more recently, in the works of Sudhir Kakar. This literature has influenced cultural perspectives in ‘Indian’ psychiatry. This paper argues that the Indian assimilation of psychoanalysis is underlined by patriarchal and Hinduistic interests. In the fairly recent history of its formation, psychoanalysis facilitated the representation of upper caste Hindu ideas like no other theory or practice. These ideas are still widely prevalent within the modern writings on Indian psychoanalysis. I argue that the ideological (patriarchal and Hinduistic) basis of psychoanalysis compromises what is offered (to Hindu women and women of other castes and religions) in intervention contexts as ‘cure’. The paper emphasizes the contested nature of ‘culture’ in India because of the multiple religious interest groups and the complex intergroup negotiations.

Heterogram analysis: Where the assumption of normal distribution is illogical

During the second half of the 20th century, it has been a common practice in social sciences and psychology to compare cultural or social groups in terms of statistical means and standard deviations. In this way of thinking, individual types were assumed to be subcultural, and consequenty the differences among individuals were considered as less important than the differences between groups. The possibility that there are individual types which cut across cultural and social boundaries (see Fig. l [19]) was not even thought about. The uncritical use of the assumption of normal distribution – the bell-shaped curve – dominated psychology and social sciences. But in this assumption, something important was overlooked. Researchers tended to forget or never learned how the bell-shaped curve had been mathematically derived and defined. The normal distribution occurs when both of the following conditions are satisfied: (1) The fluctuations are random; (2) They are independent of one another. But psychological and social events are neither random not independent. Therefore it is illogical to assume a normal distribution. This is what most researchers forgot or never learned. Since the assumption of normal distribution has become almost sacred, it is necessary to point out why it is fallacious. Let us first examine its forgotten rationale. An example which fulfils the two conditions for normal distribution is tossing of a coin many times. If the coin is perfect, that is to say not bent and of uniform thickness, the probability of getting a “head” is 50%. If you toss the coin twice, you may get either zero head, one head or two heads, with the following probability:

Oakeshott, Wittgenstein, and the Practice of Social Science

This paper investigates the concept of “sociology” and the logical limits which, it is argued, are imposed upon its practice by the nature of the subject matter it investigates. This thesis is developed, first, by examining Michael Oakeshott’s distinction between “technical” and “practical” knowledge, and his concept of “abridgment”. The view of human action which follows from this is then applied to sociological practice in order to show how the latter involves a unique sort of abridgment. Then, drawing on Ludwig Wittgenstein's conception of philosophy, it is argued that sociological inquiry has its own form of investigation which is most accurately termed “description”. Finally, Harvey Sacks' notion of “primitive, natural science” is critically examined as an account of social science which approximates most closely to the one being articulated here. The weakness of Sacks’ account, it is suggested, can be explained by his failure to appreciate the Oakeshottian insights about human action with which the argument began. The paper concludes by drawing out some implications of the proposed thesis.

The "Three Waves" of Industrial Group Work: Historical Reflections on Current Research on Group Work

This paper deals with the three waves of the discourse on group work in social science and industrial practice that have helped pave the way for the current boom in the introduction of group work in companies. These waves are represented by the human relations approach, the sociotechnical systems approach, and the lean management debate. They are reviewed in two perspectives. The first relates to their concepts of work design and group work, following four questions: (a) What emphasis is put on work factors or on subjective orientations, on the design of working conditions or symbolic strategies? (b) How do the various approaches address the relationship between efficiency and control? (c) Which concepts of participation or democracy are involved? (d) How is the role of the social scientist in the process of industrial modernization conceptualized, explicitly or implicitly? The second perspective from a sociology of science relates to the context of production and utilization of social scientific knowledge. In general, two theses are put forward. The first states that a gap exists between the aspirations and reality of group work because the basic conflict of efficiency and control has been overlooked for ideological reasons. The second postulates that there is no linear progress in the theory and practice of group work. It seems that the socioeconomical context determines reasonably which group concept and ideology dominates certain historical phases of industrial modernization.

Husserl's Fifth Meditation and the Phenomenological Sociology of Alfred Schutz

In his Fifth Meditation, Husserl appears to confront the problem of solipsism. As a number of commentators have suggested, however, since it arises from within phenomenology itself and the existence of the other is never in doubt, it is not a solipsism in the traditional Cartesian sense. Alfred Schutz, however, appears to understand Husserl's inquiry in precisely these terms. As such, his critical discussions of the Fifth Meditation, as well as his subsequent rejection of transcendental philosophy, might not be well-founded. Yet in spite of this misconstrual, Schutz's criticisms do highlight the problematic relationship between subjectivity and intersubjectivity in Husserl's late phenomenology, and albeit misplaced, ironically, his rejection of the Fifth Meditation forms a coherent response to Husserl's call for a “science of the life-world.” Intersubjectivity, Schutz concludes, must be assumed as a basis for phenomenological investigation rather than derived as a result of philosophical inquiry. “Negatively,” this is clearly a departure from Husserl's project since Schutz inevitably negates the “radical” motif under which phenomenological inquiry ostensibly proceeds. “Positively,” however, the project to which this criticism leads—a “phenomenology of the natural attitude”—represents a legitimate direction for phenomenological study as well as a radical turn within the theory and practice of social science.

A review of the knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of university students concerning HIV/AIDS

This paper reviews the current literature related to HIV/AIDS and university students, and discusses how this information can be used in health promotion programming and evaluation. Research related to HIV/AIDS among university students has focused primarily on the assessment of knowledge, attitudes and behaviours and, to a lesser extent, on the effectiveness of educational interventions. Ensuring the greatest success involves a multifaceted and coordinated effort which brings together faculty, administration, students, health education professionals and the external community of students. Any program targeting HIV/AIDS can be included in a more comprehensive initiative for improving and maintaining student health. The skills learned to reduce the risk of HIV infection are transferable to other health issues and involve empowering students to take control and responsibility for their actions. This empowerment, combined with good knowledge and healthy attitudes, will allow the skills learned to be used when students are outside of the university setting. Social research can contribute to the achievement of safer sexual behaviour in three ways. First, by describing the range of the problem. Second, by detecting the most dominant factors that affect the acceptance or rejection of recommended health behaviours. Such factors have to be studied on the personal level, as well as on the social organizational levels-the specific community and its culture. Third, by evaluating the effectiveness of educational interventions by monitoring changes in health beliefs and behaviours, and particularly in association to specific methods of intervention. Repeated surveys and evaluation studies are necessary since beliefs and behaviour change over time. Based on the findings of such studies, health promotion should be planned, implemented and continuously evaluated, updated and changed. This indicates that health promotion is one of the areas where social science theory, research and practice have to be intertwined on an ongoing basis in order to be effective.