1. We are already entering into an apparently new political season….
Question Answered step-by-step 1. We are already entering into an apparently new political season…. 1. We are already entering into an apparently new political season.Do we actually share an agreement reality, anymore? Could it be constructed with social research? Consider some of the unintended outcomes of social research: although inadvertent, cannot crime statistics lead to negative stereotypes? Further, even though we are cautioned against overgeneralizing, is not the point of social science to generalize? Lastly, may not knowledge of some social regularities provide an opportunistic activist simply with a more persuasive vocabulary of grievances? If we discover that attractiveness may make a seven percentage point bump in an election, does this reward style over substance as people change their appearance? The esteemed senator from Oregon, Ron Wyden started out as a very young man organizing older people as a leader in the Grey Panthers (an advocacy group for seniors). Although many people thought it was a joke, young Wyden rode the Grey Panthers all the way to the U.S. Senate. Cannot some politicians use conservative data the same way? We need to study carefully the complex interplay of multiple realties (such as QAnon or BLM) as they may use social research to shore up, undermine, or positively transform societies with different visions of the future. Can we, as a society, work out a working agreement on reality with folks who perhaps cannot accept that one or another person won an election, despite a lack of empirical evidence? Is that more typical of faith rather than science? But, some say that when there is overwhelming agreement, it constitutes even more convincing evidence of a leftist conspiracy. Conceivably these realities can be supported or undermined in different ways with social research, no? Perhaps. Some worldviews whether on the left or on the right seem impervious to evidence. We may refer to these as competing paradigms. But, more specifically, can the study of low income semi-deviant minority men unintentionally lead to a focus on their substance abuse and mental vagaries thus deflect attention away from a critique of the larger, harsher society? Or, can we combine both? So, let’s be careful when we consider both macrostatistics such as those that attend to criminal behavior as well as when we try to understand, in a qualitative study, the lives of interesting people on Sidewalk. So, what is the role of social research in a modern, or some might say, a post-modern society? Does it really matter? Social Science Sociology SOCI 3313 Share QuestionEmailCopy link Comments (0)
