• View
• Edit
• History
• Print

Welcome, Social Toolkit, Research.Discovery, Research.BiologyDiscovery

Sociology: Ways of Figuring Things Out

For my sketch of the epistemology of sociology, I relied primarily on the methodologies listed in the Wikipedia article on sociology. I see now there is a related article on Social Research which includes a helpful list of methods.

I placed a dozen sociological methods in a schema much as they appear in the one for biology. Then I simply imagined the methods that were missing. The result is very speculative and tentative. But it gives an idea of the overview I am seeking. We can work together to collect and systematize social research methods and get a more rigorous result.

I extrapolate and thereby imagine that the central research method in sociology is to determine self-identity of individuals. How do they think of themselves? What subgroups do they belong to or identify with? What ethnic groups, genders, classes, professions? This is surely a delicate question. The straightforward approach is to ask them directly and take their answers at face value. And yet the answers they give may depend on who asks them. For example, different governments may rule a territory and get different answers from the people they govern. We can also use indirect evidence such as observing their activities, the languages they speak, the services they attend. There may be a general method with general principles, for example, having people be asked by a variety of people, including those who are similar and different, insiders and outsiders.

This central research question (determining self-identity) suggests that sociology is a peculiarly problematic discipline. Overall, so far, I have sketched out the ways of figuring things out for about ten disciplines and personalities. In each case, it seems that each discipline is characterized by the observer it assumes, which is particular and concrete in the case of a personality but quite general and abstract in the case of a scientific disipline. In biology, one must observe changes in an ecosystem which may result from the introduction of an organism. In mathematics, one must observe changes in a configuration that results from permutations. In physics, one must observe a subsystem that is physically isolated from the rest of a system. In the case of sociology, the relevant observer is one that is free to determine its own self-identity. This may support my perception that sociology is a science which yields no general results. If the observer is completely self-defined and basically undefined, then there may not be much to conclude, in general. What sociology can do, as a science, is to clarify the principles helpful for determining self-identity.

Self-identity is the crucial bridge between individual and society. Sociology is a science of the social life which transcends the individual. We can document the social structure and from that infer a social spirit which lives that structure and acts through it. But ultimately we make sense of such an inferred spirit by way of individuals who identify with it. That identification ("I am a Pashtun") is complicated by the challenge of expressing it by words or labels or symbols that are themselves problematic, meaning different things for different people, and nevertheless carrying meaning.

Historically, sociology seemed focused on making sense of "modern society", which is to say, the society with which the sociologists themselves identified. The results do not seem to have been a set of confirmed laws but rather various sets of concepts which, in principle, could not be practically confirmed, but rather could be used in essays to persuade audiences, popular or scientific, in power or seeking power. My own approach is not to study the concepts themselves but rather to focus on the methods by which sociologists arrive at them. In other words, I am outlining the mind of the sociologist, and this can be done to the extent that sociologists do share a way of investigating, which characterizes their discipline.

What is the very first step in sociology? I was struck by a remark in Wikipedia that it is important for a sociologist to keep a personal journal so that they could grow mindful of their own personal biases. Thus I believe that the first step is to document one's own life in society, for example, with a diary. Alternatively, one could write regular reports as a journalist, or write poems, as Aslam does. If one does not delve deep into one's own identity, then how can one contribute insights into the self-identity of others, or the spirit of the groups they identify with? A sociologist must themselves be an instrument of social research.

There are four ethnographical methods that describe a society, for example, a market in the countryside. A first way is to document it externally, recording images, audeo, video, taking notes. A second way is to experience it as a particpant observer, befriending locals, working and living alongside them, thereby making sense of their activiites. A third way is to codify these experiences, drawing distinctions (for example, characterizing the vendors at a market), and thus grounding a conceptual language (as with "grounded theory"). A fourth way is to evaluate these codes, arguing as to which phenomena are more important, prominent, distinctive, meritorius.

I think there is ample evidence for those four ways. But I surmise, as for biology, that there are four more ways that I do not have evidence for. I expect we can study how individuals respond to changes in their environment, as in biology but also economics. First of all, how do individuals behave when they are free, for example, when they are given more freedom? We can observe what they do with their money when they receive a tax rebate, or an inheritence, or when they win a lottery. What do they do with their time when a new holiday is declared? This reflects their values. Secondly, we can consider how they respond to new constraints, such as new taxes, rules, decrees or regulations. Third, we can consider how they are affected by assistance in overcoming hurdles. Finally, we can observe how they organize themselves, how the manage and govern themselves.

Thus the ethnographic methods establish how a society is evaluated overall by an external analyst, whereas the economic methods establish the internal values expressed by individuals.

These methods are channeled together by a learning three-cycle of policy. Sociologists learn by defining a policy, by intervening with a policy, and by reporting on the outcomes. Governance by policy is the motor that drives social research.

This channeling of external evaluations and internal values comes together in asking the individual about their self-identity.

But what is that individual? Various research methods, such as surveys and archival research, link pairs of ways of looking at an individual. Again, in this preliminary sketch, I rely too much on my imagination, and I may surely go astray. But I suspect that the "individual" manifests in four very different ways.

• There is the individual who is free to decide and act at any given moment.
• There are the many documents that such an individual generates over time.
• There are the official categories by which authorities classify the individual.
• There is an intersection of subgroups of the population which the individual belongs to.

In previous studies, I have investigated how pairs of sequences, hierarchies and networks yields six kind of visualizations: As in my systematization of the ways of figuring things out in biology, I suppose and imagine that there are similar ways of figuring things out in sociology.

• Longitudinal studies analyze the documentation of an individual to infer the choices they have made in their lives, yielding the evolution of possibilities.
• Comparative studies analyze how authorities classify individuals in different regions and domains, yielding an atlas of circumstances.
• Archival studies match up official classifications with documented personal experiences, yielding a workflow or handbook of human experiences.
• Censuses reflect how subgroups are categorized by authorities over time, yielding a chronicle of demographics.
• Surveys manifest subgroups in terms of the answers and data provided by individuals, yielding a catalogue of populations.
• Social network studies determine how subgroups relate to a particular individual, yielding an odyssey regarding social mobility.

This is a very weak part in my sketch where I need to collect and consider concrete examples of how sociologists apply their methods. But, in general, I expect these to be ways that assume that a society, and an identity within a society, are well established, as regards documentation.

Finally, given these six ways of revealing the social structure, sociologists can model society from above, as with simulations, notably computer simulations, considering the aggregate actions of individual agents.

In summary, a society is a spirit that we infer within social structure based on evidently shared self-identity of individuals. Sociology studies this spirit and its actions by investigating self-identity, how it is grounded and manifested.

Notes and Links

Self-document

Personal journal

• Keep a personal journal so as to have a record of one's own personal biases, concerns, circumstances as an observer.
• Write poetry.
• Write news reports.
• In general, document one's own society with oneself and others.

Study the social activity

Documentation

• Fieldnotes Inscriptions (notes on personal observations), transcriptions (local text), descriptions (synthesis). Can include pictures.
• Photo documentation
• Audio documentation
• Video documentation

Participant observation Going into the field (community or work place) for a prolonged period of time to participate in the activities and acquire personal insights about what participants experience in their social contexts. Cultivating personal relationships with local informants to learn about a culture. Both observing and participating in the social life of a group.

• Immersion journalism
• Interpretation

Codification

• Identifying patterns
• Grounded theory

Evaluation. Positive and negative in various degrees.

• Memoing Writing up theoretical ideas about the codes.
• Grounded theory: Serendipity, sorting, writing.
• Ranking?
• Communication?

Study the participant

Value analysis?

• Observe them behave in freedom?

Observe how they adhere to constraints?

Observe how they overcome barriers?

Longitudinal study Examine an individual or group over a long period of time.

Experimental research Isolating a single social process and reproducing it in a laboratory. Manipulate and determine whether or not certain social variables can cause, or depend upon, other variables.

Conduct a program of betterment

Policy Developing a system of guidelines for an institution to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes.

Human Systems Intervention Design and implement interventions in social settings, confronting adults with the need to change their perspectives, attitudes, and actions.

• Intervention theory
• Organization development interventions

Program evaluation Systematically collect, analyze and apply data to determine the effectiveness of a project, policy or program.

Study systems of individuals

Content analysis Systematically analyzing the content of interviews and other texts.

Archival research (Historical method). Making use of secondary data (collected by others).

Survey research Gathering answers from subjects sampled from a population of interest using interviews, questionnaires and other feedback.

Kinship chart

Analyze social networks

Personal histories

Study artificial societies

Computational sociology. Agents.

Unsorted examples

• Structural therapy – identifies and re-orders the organisation of the family system
• Strategic therapy – looks at patterns of interactions between family members
• Systemic/Milan therapy – focuses on belief systems
• Narrative therapy – restorying of dominant problem-saturated narrative, emphasis on context, separation of the problem from the person
• Transgenerational therapy – transgenerational transmission of unhelpful patterns of belief and behaviour
• IPscope model and Interventive Interviewing
• communication theory
• psychoeducation
• psychotherapy
• relationship counseling
• relationship education
• systemic coaching
• systems theory
• reality therapy

Genogram

More examples

Durkheim used

• Social statistics - Suicide
• Legal codes - The division of labor in society
• Religious dogmas and myths - The elementary forms of the religious life

Durkheim, The Rules of Sociological Research

• Definition of the subject matter in terms of some observed characteristics: observation of social facts
• Description of normal types after a study of many cases: distinction between the normal and the pathological
• Classification into species, genera, etc.
• Comparative and causal investigation of the reasons for variation: explanation of social facts.
• To attempt to discover any general laws that might emerge in the course of these various stages: establishment of sociological proof.

Durkheim studied people under stable conditions, uninfluenced by external forces, thus in isolation - in tribes. (Compare with economic studies.) There he sought the elementary, primitive, simple forms of religion.

Durkheim self-identity: the early concept of community was defined by a group of people living in a physical boundary who shared a "we" feeling.

Given a possible explanation (such as rational choice theory), consider the phenomenon for which it is best suited (such as economics) and show that it is insufficient to provide a complete explanation, thus implying that there must be additional explanations. Consider the "Social Theory: A Basic Tool Kit" analysis of ghetto life based on the research of Carol Stacks in "All Our Kin" 1997.

Ideas

Relate the six categories of sociological explanation with the six transformations as follows:

• 01 Action
• 02 Vision
• 12 Individual
• 23 Nature
• 13 Culture
• 03 Social Structure

Readings: Sources of Examples

• Wikipedia: Sociology
• Computational sociology
• Ethnography
• Wikipedia: Family therapy