Transcript Data, Empirical methods, and Statistics

Review: The Main Perspectives
Functional Theory derived from Durkheim
Conflict Theories derived from Marx
Interactional Theories derived from Weber
Review: Functional theory
Concepts: function; norm; solidarity; social
integration; normative integration;
structural differentiation; organic solidarity.
E.g. Durkheim’s theories of suicide, crime
and punishment, and division of labor
The institutions of society are functionally
interconnected.
An anthropological example: the kula.
Review: Conflict theory
Central question: Who gets what and why?
Structures of inequality, class and stratification
are very important.
The rules of the game are usually devised by
those with resources, and so they often function
as a game of Monopoly, to preserve privilege.
An anthropological example: Ilongot
headhunting
Review: Feedbacks
Positive Feedbacks:
– self-reinforcing processes
– Amplifying
– Central to conflict theory.
Negative feedbacks:
– Control processes
– Homeostatic
– Central to functional theory.
Data, Empirical methods, and
Statistics
A basic element of any science is its
empirical access to the world.
“You can prove anything you want with
statistics.” *63
“You can prove anything you want without
statistics, too! At least with data what is
proved is more than just your opinion – or
mine.” *63
The empirical data of the early
sociologists
To the extent that the world is complex, one’s
methods of collecting and analyzing data must
be sophisticated.
Durkheim and the Chicago sociologists
concentrated on the data already collected by
government agencies: things like suicide rates
or rates of juvenile delinquency.
Some sociologists use such data, but it is limited
because it was not collected to help understand
social causality.
The main sources of data in
sociology today
1. Experimentation.
2. Participant Observation.
3. Survey Research.
Each has some strengths and some
weaknesses.
Experiments
For establishing causality, a controlled
experiment has great advantages.
However, generalization of experimental
findings to the “real world” is problematic.
For example, replication and applicability
of the Zimbardo experiment have been
debated.
Participant observation
The method analogous to anthropology is
direct observation – e.g. urban
ethnographies.
There have been many ethnographies
analogous to the movie, 187,
– And we shall examine some of them.
– But in direct observation of a concrete
situation there are problems both of
interpretation and of generalizability.
Survey research
Therefore, the most commonly used
method in sociology is survey research.
– Asking questions of a large sample.
– Virtually every chapter of Sociology, Micro,
Macro and Mega will illustrate points with
survey findings.
– Usually these are taken from the General
Social Survey,
– And analyzed in a cross-tabulation.
Thinking in systems terms
One of the main limitations of such data
are that they ignore context, the operation
of indefinitely many other variables, and
reciprocal effects.
Therefore, we shall also want to consider
those other, systemic effects.
Charles Murray
Conservative theorist at the American Enterprise
Institute
Argues against welfare, affirmative action, and
social policies aimed at reducing inequalities of
opportunity.
What It Means to be a Libertarian argues against
most of the social policies of the Progressive Era
and the New Deal such as minimum wage, child
labor, Food and Drug administration, and Social
Security
The trendline Test
Since all of these programs are backed by
popular “good intentions,”
Murray must show that social and government
programs are almost invariably ineffective.
The example of traffic fatalities is designed to
make the “hard case,” to deal with laws and
policies that are generally viewed as functionally
necessary.
Do speed limits save lives?
Do Speed limits same lives?
Murray argues, “NO!”
If you plot the over-all trend of traffic fatalities per
million miles traveled, it has a generally
downward slope,
And the lower speed limits following the oil crisis
did not hasten this downward movement,
Which Murray ascribes to better cars, better
highways, and the market rather than
government.
Some specific Problems with
Murray’s analysis
1: What range of speed is involved: the lowered
speed limit was not designed to reduce fatalities,
and no one thought it would do so
2: What highways: the lower speed limits were
only on the interstates. Most fatalities are local.
Murray’s data is not confined to interstates.
3. Better cars, better highways, and inspections
(which Murray thinks lowered fatalities) are the
result of the kinds of policies he opposes.
A more general issue
Murray confines his analysis to 2 variables
with no feedbacks
– assuming that limits affect fatalities, but
fatalities cannot affect limits.
– This is analogous to a classic fallacy
– That fire engines do not decrease fire
damage.
– Looking at functional feedbacks avoids the
fallacy.
The fire engine fallacy
Suppose one were to decide on whether to have
a public fire company by seeing whether there
was greater or lesser damage when there were
more fire engines.
But when there are more fire engines, there is
more damage.
Fire engines do not cause damage, but they
respond to functional need: larger fires.
If policies are effective, but not totally effective,
they will be positively associated with problems.
The return to little house on the
prairie
Many of the proposals of Libertarians, like
Murray, are an attempt to go back to the
kind of social structure of the 19th c.
There was little government and lots of
mutual aid (e.g. bucket brigades for fires.)
But the San Francisco Earthquake and fire
storm shows the dysfunctionality of
relying on private fire companies and
bucket brigades in a modern city.