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IS ACADEMIC SOCIOLOGY FLOURISHING OR IS IT BEING OVERTAKEN BY THINK TANKS AND BY ECONOMISTS?

IS ACADEMIC SOCIOLOGY FLOURISHING OR IS IT BEING OVERTAKEN BY THINK TANKS AND BY ECONOMISTS? WOUT ULTEE HAIFA OCTOBER 20, 2012. FIRST MEETING OF THE PHD COURSE PARADIGMS AND PROBLEM SHIFTS IN SOCIOLOGY. YOU ALL ARE NOW WORKING ON YOUR PH.D.

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IS ACADEMIC SOCIOLOGY FLOURISHING OR IS IT BEING OVERTAKEN BY THINK TANKS AND BY ECONOMISTS?

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  1. IS ACADEMIC SOCIOLOGY FLOURISHING OR IS IT BEING OVERTAKEN BY THINK TANKS AND BY ECONOMISTS? WOUT ULTEE HAIFA OCTOBER 20, 2012

  2. FIRST MEETING OF THE PHD COURSE PARADIGMS AND PROBLEM SHIFTS IN SOCIOLOGY

  3. YOU ALL ARE NOW WORKING ON YOUR PH.D. I DEFENDED MY THESIS IN 1977, AND STARTED WORKING ON IT IN 1970 IT WAS NOT A THESIS IN SOCIOLOGY, BUT ABOUT SOCIOLOGY ITS TITLE WAS GROWTH OF KNOWLEDGE – AND STAGNATION IN SOCIOLOGY IT WAS DEFENDED IN DUTCH AND IN 1981 A GERMAN TRANSLATION APPEARED

  4. IN 1970 SOCIOLOGY SUPPOSEDLY WAS IN CRISIS AND I THOUGHT SO TOO - IN 1970 IN MY PH.D. I DEVELOPED CRITERIA FOR PROGRESS IN AN ACADEMIC FIELD I TOOK THEM FROM KARL POPPER’S CRITICAL RATIONALISM, THEN CRITICAL RATIONALISM WAS THE MAIN CURRENT IN THE PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE, CRITICAL RATIONALISM WAS NOT LEADING IN THE PHILOSOPHY IN THE SOCIAL SCIENCES THE CRITERIA FOR PROGRESS NOT ONLY APPLIED TO DOING RESEARCH, BUT ALSO TO THEORY BUILDING AND TO PROBLEM CHOICE

  5. WHEN APPYING THESE CRITERIA TO DEVELOPMENTS IN FIVE SOCIOLOGICAL TRADITIONS, I WAS IN FOR A FEW SURPRISES MOST PROGRESS HAD BEEN MADE IN THE TRADITION OF EMPIRICAL SOCIAL RESEARCH FOUNDED BY LAZARSFELD, A TRADITION SEEMINGLY WITHOUT A THEORY LEAST PROGRESS HAD BEEN MADE IN AMERICAN INTERPRETATIVE SOCIOLOGY (MEAD) – ITS THEORIES DID NOT GET OFF THE GROUND ALMOST UNIVERSALLY VILIFIED STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM HAD MADE SIZEABLE PROGRESS WITH DURKHEIM’S THEORY OF SUICIDE, AND MERTON’S THEORIES OF (WHITE COLLAR) CRIME AND PRIORITY DISPUTES AMONG SCIENTISTS

  6. THE RESULTS ON MARXISM WERE VERY MIXED LEAST PROGRESS HAD BEEN MADE IN ORTHODOX HISTORICAL MATERIALISM (LUXEMBURG) – ITS CHANGING THEORIES FACED EVER MORE CONTRADICTORY EVIDENCE WHILE REVISIONIST HISTORICAL MATERIALISM (BERNSTEIN, LENSKI) HAD MADE PROGRESS AS REGARDS PROBLEMS, THEORIES AND RESEARCH (ALTHOUGH ORTHODOX MATERIALISTS DISPARGED IT) IN THOSE DAYS UTILITARIST INDIVIDUALISM (LATER CALLED RATIONAL CHOICE) WAS ABOUT TO BREAK THROUGH IN SOCIOLOGY, COMING FROM PSYCHOLOGY, SOCIAL (ETHICAL) PHILOSOPHY, AND ECONOMICS IN MY 1977 OPINION, GIVEN DEVELOPMENTS IN ECONOMICS, THIS WAS A PROMISING PROGRAMME FOR FUTURE DECADES (I NOW DO NOT THINK SO THAT MUCH ANYMORE)

  7. CURRENT SOCIOLOGY CONTAINS THREE BIG DIVISIONS: NUMBER CRUNCHING VERSUS WORD PROCESSING NEWSPEAK VERSUS TRIVIAL HYPOTHESES EVER MORE EXOTIC TOPICS VERSUS REHASHED STUFF

  8. I LIKE TO CRUNCH NUMBERS, BUT I ALSO PROCESSED WORDS I GO FOR THEORIES FROM WHICH A LOT OF CONCRETE HYPOTHESES CAN BE DERIVED AND I TAKE SOCIOLOGY AS DEALING WITH THREE BIG QUESTIONS, THREE QUESTIONS COMPRISING A LONG LIST OF SMALL SIMILAR QUESTIONS

  9. THE BIG MISTAKE OF CURRENT SOCIOLOGY IS THAT IT IS UNCLEAR THERE IS AN UNEASY RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MICROSOCIOLOGY AND MACROSOCIOLOGY SOCIOLOGY IS NOT ABOUT HUMAN BEINGS SOCIOLOGY’S QUESTIONS ARE ABOUT HUMAN SOCIETIES IF SOCIOLOGY IS ABOUT HUMAN BEINGS, ITS BORDERS WITH PSYCHOLOGY DISAPPEAR AND IF DISCIPLINARY BORDERS SHOULD DISAPPEAR, IT IS BETWEEN SOCIOLOGY AND (EVOLUTIONARY) BIOLOGY

  10. THE WORD MACROSOCIOLOGY CONTAINS A SUPERFLUIDITY: SOCIOLOGY ALWAYS IS MACROSOCIOLOGY

  11. BUT MICROSOCIOLOGY MAY BE TURNED INTO MACROSOCIOLOGY THE FINDINGS OF EXPLANATORY STUDIES ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EDUCATION HUSBAND AND EDUCATION WIFE IN THE NETHERLANDS, IN ISRAEL AND IN OTHER INDIVIDUAL COUNTRIES, MAY BE COMPARED, RAISING THE QUESTION OF WHY THIS RELATIONSHIP IS STRONGER IN SOME COUNTRY THAN IN OTHER COUNTRIES THE LESSON: THERE ARE QUESTIONS AND HYPOTHESES THAT PERTAIN TO BOTH SOCIETIES AS WELL AS PERSONS

  12. THESE ARE A FEW OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

  13. THE BIRTH-LEVEL OF DUTCH ROMAN-CATHOLICS A DEMOGRAPHIC-SOCIOLOGICAL STUDY OF AN EMANCIPATED MINORITY GROUP MY FAVORITE UNDERGRADUATE BOOK IT IS FROM 1954 AND I STUDIED IT IN 1965 I WAS NOT EXAMINED ABOUT IT

  14. MY FAVORITE GRADUATE BOOK I READ IT IN 1968 THE PROFESSOR WHO EXAMINED ME, DID NOT LIKE IT BECAUSE DURKHEIM WAS SOCIOLOGISTIC, DURKHEIM SUPPOSEDLY WAS NOT PREPARED TO ADMIT THE EFFECTS OF PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTORS I COMPLETELY DISAGREED AND THE PROFESSOR DID NOT UNDERSTAND THAT DURKHEIM HAD A THEORY CONSISTING OF LEVELS OF GENERALITY THE FIRST SUCH THEORY I ENCOUNTERED 1895

  15. MY FAVORITE SOCIOLOGY BOOK EARLY ON IN THE PERIOD I WORKED ON MY PH.D., I PROBABLY READ IT IN 1971 THE BOOK IS FROM 1966 I NEVER HEARD ABOUT IT FROM PROFESSORS IT PRESENTS ANOTHER THEORY CONSISTING OF VARIOUS LEVELS OF GENERALITY

  16. MY FAVORITE TEXTBOOK LENSKI, HUMAN SOCIETIES, FIRST EDITION 1970 ELEVENTH EDITION 2009 I USED IT WHEN TEACHING AROUND 1975 NOTE THE SUPERFLUIDITY IN THE TITLE BUT IT IS A VERY GOOD SYNTHESIS

  17. THE CONTENTS MAKE CLEAR THAT LENSKI DISTINGUISHES TYPES OF SOCIETIES

  18. IN POWER AND PRIVILEGE, BETTER CALLED RESOURCES AND ADVANTAGES LENSKI LINKED THE LEVEL OF TECHNOLOGY OF A SOCIETY TO THE EXTENT TO WHICH THE MEMBERS OF A SOCIETY DIFFER IN RESOURCES AND ADVANTAGES THE INDIVIDUAL PROPOSITION THAT THE MEMBERS WITH MORE RESOURCES HAVE MORE ADVANTAGES MAY BE TAKEN AS AN INDIVIDUAL PROPOSITION, BUT IT IS A RATHER TRIVIAL ONE MORE IMPORTANTLY, IN HUMAN SOCIETIES, LENSKI LINKED A SOCIETY’S LEVEL OF TECHNOLOGY TO OTHER SOCIETAL PHENOMENA LIKE ITS COHESION AND ITS RELIGION SO, HUMAN SOCIETIES EXPANDS UPON POWER AND PRIVILEGE

  19. CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGISTS LIKE GOLDTHORPE SAY THAT SOCIOLOGY CANNOT DO WITHOUT A THEORY OF (INDIVIDUAL) ACTION THAT MAY BE TRUE, BUT WHERE IS SOCIOLOGY’S THEORY OF SOCIETIES? LENSKI HAS ONE: THE HIGHER A SOCIETY’S LEVEL OF SUBSISTENCE TECHNOLOGY, THE MORE STRATIFIED IT IS WITH EGALITARIAN IDEOLOGIES OFFSETTING THE CONSEQUENCES OF SUBSISTENCE TECHNOLOGY IN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY MAKES FOR MORE EGALITARIAN IDEOLOGIES, BUT DOES NOT COMPLETELY DETERMINE IDEOLOGY

  20. WHAT DO I PARTICULARLY LIKE IN THE BOOKS THAT I LIKE? AS A NUMBER CRUNCHER I LIKE TABLES AND GRAPHS

  21. ALSO FROM LENSKI, HUMAN SOCIETIES THE PROBLEM FOR THE SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION IS NOT WHY THERE IS SOME RELIGION IN EVERY SOCIETY (AS STRUCTURAL FUNCTIONALISM MAINTAINS), BUT WHY THERE IS SO MUCH RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY

  22. A GRAPH FROM INGLEHART, CULTURE SHIFT IN ADVANCED INDUSTRIAL SOCIETIES FROM 1990 SOCIETIES DO NOT SO MUCH CHANGE BECAUSE EVERY INHABITANT SHIFTS FROM ONE OPINION TO ANOTHER ALTHOUGH INDIVIDUALS SELDOMLY CHANGE THEIR OPINIONS, SOCIETIES CHANGE BECAUSE OF COHORT REPLACEMENT THAT COHORT REPLACEMENT CONSTITUTES A SILENT REVOLUTION

  23. NOW A GRAPH I FOUND VERY INTERESTING FROM A BOOK THAT APPEARED IN 1979, PERHAPS EVEN MORE SHOCKING IN ISRAEL THAN IN THE NETHERLANDS

  24. THE NETHERLANDS AS A SOCIETY WITH A HIGHER PERCENT OF JEWISH VICTIMS THAN EXPECTED FROM ITS LOW ANTI-SEMITISM AND ITS INTERMEDIATE SS-GRIP WHY??

  25. HOW I READ NEWSPAPERS

  26. WHO IS ABLE TO EXPLAIN THIS DRAWING? ANY UNDERGRADUATE SOCIOLOGIST (NOT ONLY A PH.D. MACROSOCIOLOGIST)SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO SO

  27. WHAT DOES THE ABBREVIATION OECD STAND FOR? FIND ON THE WEB THIS OECD REPORT! IS ISRAEL IN ITS TABLES AND GRAPHS?

  28. AGAIN OECD

  29. AFTER READING NEWSPAPERS I SOMETIMES GO TO WEBSITES OF NATIONAL STATISTICAL OFFICES

  30. UNITED KINGDOM

  31. THE NETHERLANDS

  32. NILI BIBI-KARZAI2003 THE TREND IN PRE-TAX AND AFTER-TAX GINI’S?

  33. IF SOCIOLOGY’S QUESTIONS ARE ABOUT SOCIETIES WHAT CHARACTERISTICS OF SOCIETIES ARE STUDIED BY SOCIOLOGY? I GROUP THESE CHARACTERISTICS INTO THREE CATEGORIES

  34. FROM ADAM FERGUSON TO KARL MARX AND WERNER SOMBART A PROBLEM SHIFT AS REGARD INEQUALITY AS ONE OF SOCIOLOGY’S THREE MAIN PROBLEMS: NOT ONLY DISPARITIES BETWEEN THE INHABITANTS OF A SOCIETY AT ONE MOMENT IN TIME, BUT ALSO THEIR DOWNWARD AND UPWARD MOBILITY

  35. FROM THOMAS HOBBES TO EMILE DURKHEIM A PROBLEM SHIFT AS REGARDS (DIS)COHESION AS ONE OF SOCIOLOGY’S THREE MAIN PROBLEMS: NOT ONLY VIOLENCE BETWEEN THE MEMBERS OF A SOCIETY, BUT ALSO ISOLATION AND PREFERRING SUICIDE TO LIVING WITHIN SOCIETY

  36. FROM ADAM SMITH TO MAX WEBER A PROBLEM SHIFT AS REGARDS RATIONALIZATION AS ONE OF SOCIOLOGY’S MAIN PROBLEMS: NOT ONLY ECONOMIC GROWTH (AS RATIONALIZATION OF A SOCIETY’S ECONOMY BY FREE MARKETS), BUT ALSO BUREAUCRATIZATION (AS RATIONALIZATION OF A SOCIETY’S POLITY BY WRITTEN LAWS) AND DISENCHANTMENT (AS RATIONALIZATION OF A SOCIETY’S RELIGIONS BY A MORE AND MORE SYSTEMATIC THEOLOGY)

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