RI Social Science tutorial on the 3 approaches 2023

The 3 Approaches in SS PSS, ISS, CSS

Recap • 1) Is there only one way to do research in SS? Is this the same in Math and NS? • 2) What is the difference in aim of the 3 different approaches? • 3) What is the difference in their views on ontology, i.e. in their belief about social reality? • 4) What are some of the research methods that are associated with each approach? • 5) Must researchers use only one approach in their research? • 6) Must topics be studied from only one approach? • 7) How does their ontology affect their epistemology? • 8) What are some common criticisms for each approach? • 9) What are some common features across all 3 approaches?

Examples – which approach? Collective Trauma at Buffalo Creek (Kai Erikson, Sociology / Psychology) • Thesis: • Once integrated into a network of communality, individuals can no longer relate to one another as separate entities; community takes over the individual permanently. Thus, while disasters generally cause trauma, when the individual loses his community to a collective disaster, the psychological/social damage involved is more severe and permanent. • Evidence raised: • Different means of data collection used on different survivors, over different time -points. These included personal interviews, letters to attorneys, psychiatric evaluations and mail questionnaires. Sources analyzed to understand survivors’ pre- and post-disaster emotions, general attitudes towards life, fellow survivors and their community. • Accounts from similar time-points interpreted collectively, compared with accounts from other time - points.

Obedience to Authority (Stanley Milgram, Psychology) • Thesis: • “Ordinary people, without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority.” • Evidence raised: • In 1961, Milgram carried out this experiment and obtained the following result: • "Teachers" (people being studied) were given a list of word pairs which he was to teach the learner. If the “learner” (a paid actor) was not able to learn correctly, he would receive a shock administered by the “teacher”, with the voltage increasing with each wrong answer. The “teachers” were led to believe that for each wrong answer, the learner was receiving actual shocks. In reality, there were no shocks. • 65 percent (26 out of 40) of experimental participants administered the experiment's final 450 -volt shock, though many were quite uncomfortable in doing so; everyone paused at some point and questioned the experiment, some even saying they would return the check for the money they were paid. No participant steadfastly refused to give further shocks before the 300 -volt level. Examples – which approach?

Examples – which approach? Conflict Theory in The Communist Manifesto (Karl Marx, Sociology) • Thesis: Society functions so that each individual participant and its groups struggle to maximize their benefits, which inevitably contributes to social change such as changes in politics and revolutions. In Marx’s case, he used this theory to explain conflict between social classes, proletarian versus bourgeoisie, and to call for a revolution to overthrow the bourgeoisie. • Evidence raised: Marx raised examples to support the following claims: • The class struggle under capitalism is between those who own the means of production, the ruling class (bourgeoisie), and those who labor for a wage, the working class (proletariat). Though the bourgeoisie has played a progressive role in destroying feudalism, it has also brought about the conditions for its own impending downfall by creating a contradiction within capitalism between the forces of production and the relations of production. • It is not true that people will not perform labor in a communist society because they have no incentive to work. • Capitalism has its faults. • These policies should be implemented to bring about a stateless and classless society: abolition of both land ownership and of the right to inheritance, a progressive income tax, universal education, centralisation of the means of communication and transport under state management, and the expansion of the means of production owned by the state.

Examples – which approach? Social Epidemics / The Tipping Point (Malcolm Gladwell, Sociology / History) • Thesis: • Ideas, products, behavior (and any mechanism of change in society) spread just like viruses do. When a trend “takes off” and shows a dramatic increase in popularity (an “epidemic”), the “one dramatic moment in an epidemic when everything can change all at once is the Tipping Point”. • Evidence raised: • Supports his argument by providing many examples to defend these assertions that suggest virus -like patterns of growth: • The law of the few: Just like viruses, the number of people who ‘get the ball rolling’ are few (the 80/20 principles). These include: Connectors, Mavens and Salesmen. • The stickiness factor: like viruses, ideas that are persistently sticky will do well and grow to the point that they will catch on. Sticky ideas are those that are attention -grabbing, memorable, etc. • The power of context: like viruses, ideas are very much dependent on the environmental context in which transmission occurs. Some situations will cause an idea to really thrive, while others will impede the idea.

Examples – which approach? Freakonomics (Stephen Levitt, Economics) • Thesis: It is the increase in abortion after 1973 that led to the decreased crime in the United States in the 1990s. • Evidence raised: • Timing: • 1. Roe v. Wade legalized abortion in 1973 (in five states it had ready been legalized by 1970); • 2. Crime rates began declining nationally in 1991, 18 years after Roe (earlier in the five states that had legalized abortion prior to 1973). • Socio-economic reality of abortion-seekers: • 1. Women most likely to get an abortion are more likely to give birth to boys who go on to become criminals; • 2. There was an average of 1.6 million abortions per year by 1980 – this would have brought about a significant decrease in number of criminals. • Strong economy, increased use of capital punishment innovative policing strategies, tougher gun control laws, and aging of the population did not bring about lower crime rates. • What did bring about lower crime rates: increased reliance on prisons (accounts for 30% drop in crime), increased number of police (accounts for 10% drop), changes in illegal drug markets (accounts for 15% drop) and the legalization of abortion (accounts for remaining drop).

Examples – which approach? • The Color of Class on the Copper Mines (Michael Burawoy, Sociology) • Thesis: The organization of production and the labor hierarchy on the factory floor parallels the broader economy as well as the political power structure. In the Anglo American Mining Corporation in Zambia, whites were consistently promoted over black Zambian managers because of the influence of white expatriate supervisors in Post-colonial South Africa. • Evidence raised: • Burawoy took on a position at the Anglo American Mining Corporation in Zambia where he covertly researched the breaking points of race and class. Using the extended case method, he amassed data through sustained participant-observation to suggest that although on the surface, it appeared that the post-colonial administration in Zambia was bringing about agrarian reforms to help poor black miners, South Africa’s influences prevented the advancement of blacks in Zambia. • South Africa’s hegemonic status in the region frames the regional workplace and impels the uneven processes that workers respond to and challenge. The expectations of workers abo