3. Aim of Block 1
To discuss what are the main
difficulties in addressing social
problems (Lecture 1)
4. 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)
10. Simplicity of social
problems
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”
11. 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”
14. Budget Cuts
Senator
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
15. Budget Cuts
Senator
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?
20. Scientific Problems
Presumably 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
21. Scientific Problems
Presumably 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...
23. What does sociology has to say
about the world that an
intelligent person couldn’t have
figured out on her own?
Question
24. 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
31. 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.
36. 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”
37.
38. 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!
43. Once we know the
answer
the explanation seems natural to us
44. Social Phenomena
Problems in social sciences are
activities that involve understanding,
predicting, changing, or responding to
the behavior of people
45. Social Phenomena
Problems 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
46. Social Phenomena
Problems 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
47. Social Phenomena
Problems 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...
48.
49. We are much better at planning the
flight path of an interplanetary rocket
than...
50. We are much better at planning the
flight path of an interplanetary rocket
managing the economy
than...
51. We are much better at planning the
flight path of an interplanetary rocket
managing the economy
than...
merging two corporations
52. We are much better at planning the
flight path of an interplanetary rocket
managing the economy
than...
merging two corporations
predicting how many copies of a
book will sell
53. We are much better at planning the
flight path of an interplanetary rocket
managing the economy
than...
merging two corporations
predicting how many copies of a
book will sell
why?
54. 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 economy
than...
merging two corporations
predicting how many copies of a
book will sell
why?
56. Common Sense
The 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
59. “Rules” of Behavior
New York Subway - Rush hour -
milgram experiment: ask for a seat
R1. Crowded train & squeezing: spreading
60. “Rules” of Behavior
New York Subway - Rush hour -
milgram experiment: ask for a seat
R1. Crowded train & squeezing: spreading
R2. Elevator & facing direction: unfacing
63. Rules
No matter where we live, our lives
are guided and shaped by unwritten
rules
We expect reasonable people to know them all
64. Life at the Army
After high school I did my military service
65. Life at the Army
After high school I did my military service
66. Life at the Army
After high school I did my military service
intense place
67. Life at the Army
After high school I did my military service
intense place barking instructors
68. Life at the Army
After high school I did my military service
intense place barking instructors
cleaning and running before sunrise
69. Life at the Army
After high school I did my military service
intense place barking instructors
cleaning and running before sunrise
lots and lots of rules
70. Life at the Army
After high school I did my military service
intense place barking instructors
cleaning and running before sunrise
lots and lots of rules
it seemed a complicated &
confusing new life
71. Life at the Army
After high school I did my military service
intense place barking instructors
cleaning and running before sunrise
lots and lots of rules
it seemed a complicated &
confusing new life
Punishments
72. Life at the Army
After high school I did my military service
intense place barking instructors
cleaning and running before sunrise
lots and lots of rules
it seemed a complicated &
confusing new life
however
Life in the army was more like a game than
real life sometimes you won, sometimes you lost
Punishments
73. Life at the Army
After high school I did my military service
intense place barking instructors
cleaning and running before sunrise
lots and lots of rules
it seemed a complicated &
confusing new life
however
Life in the army was more like a game than
real life sometimes you won, sometimes you lost
Never take it personally
Punishments
74. Life at the Army
After high school I did my military service
intense place barking instructors
cleaning and running before sunrise
lots and lots of rules
it seemed a complicated &
confusing new life
however
Life in the army was more like a game than
real life sometimes you won, sometimes you lost
Never 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
76. 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:
77. 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
78. 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
79. 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 the procedures of a new job
Learning to live in a foreign country
80. 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 school
Learning the procedures of a new job
Learning to live in a foreign country
82. Games of life
when you think about how complex
these games can be, it seems kind of
amazing that we’re capable of
playing them at all
83. Games of life
when 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
84. Games of life
when 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
86. Common Sense
miraculous piece of human intelligence
it enables us to solve these problems
What to wear when we go to work in the morning
87. Common Sense
miraculous 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
88. Common Sense
miraculous 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
When to obey the rules
89. Common Sense
miraculous 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
When to obey the rules
When to quietly ignore them
90. Common Sense
miraculous 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
When to obey the rules
When to quietly ignore them
When to stand up and challenge them
92. 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 Taylor
President American Sociological Association
Annual meeting 1946
94. 1. Practical
Unlike formal systems of knowledge:
science or mathematics
From common sense perspective
It is good enough to know that something is true, or that it is the
way of things
95. 1. Practical
Unlike formal systems of knowledge:
science or mathematics
From common sense perspective
It 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
96. 1. Practical
Unlike formal systems of knowledge:
science or mathematics
From common sense perspective
It 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 knowledge
It does not reflect on the world, but instead attempts to deal with
it simple as it is
98. 2. Focalized
Formal knowledge:
Able to organize specific findings into logical categories decribed
by general principles
but,
Common sense
Able to deal with every concrete situation on its own terms
99. 2. Focalized
Formal knowledge:
Able to organize specific findings into logical categories decribed
by general principles
but,
Common sense
Able 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
100. 2. Focalized
Formal knowledge:
Able to organize specific findings into logical categories decribed
by general principles
but,
Common sense
Able 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
it just knows what the appropriate thing to do is in any particular
situation
102. Not Common At All
it 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 puzzling
One 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
104. 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
106. 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
107. Common Sense
Once 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
108. Not Common At All
it 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 mutilation
despised by most contemporary cultures
considered entirely legitimate in different times and places
109. 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
110. 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
111. 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 Activist
The life and death of great American cities (1961)
112. Ironic
Around the same time J.J. reached
this conclusion, work began on the
Robert Taylor Homes in Chicago, the
largest public housing project ever
built.
113. No need for science?
In the daily world our intuition works
well
We 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
114. 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
115. 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
