Sociological Analysis; How to use theory in the analysis of empirical data
How do we generate knowledge about the human world? How can we make valid claims about social phenomena? The simple answer is by conducting good analyses, based on relevant data. But what does it mean to conduct (good) analyses in social sciences? Analysis in social science always involve the use of theory in some way or another. But how do theory and evidence interact? How should we perceive theory in relation to empirical data? And, how do we go about to utilize theory productively in our analyses?
These are questions we aim to answer in this course, which uses as its main source the book of Isaac Ariail Reed (2011): Interpretation and Social Knowledge: On the Use of Theory in the Social Sciences. While Reed is a sociologist, and the course has a particular focus on sociological analyses, the book is aimed at social science in general. Professor John R. Hall at University of California, Davies, says about the book:
"This pithy, deeply intellectual account — strongly based in classic sources and contemporary debates — demands the attention of the widest range of scholars in the social and historical disciplines because it offers all of us an understanding of how diverse practices contribute to our larger enterprise".
The course offers a theoretical and practical approach to the use of theory in social analysis. The course aims to give the participants both a deeper understanding of how valid knowledge about the human world can be created, and practical knowledge about how to proceed in order to develop such knowledge.
The course is organized as a workshop with lectures and discussions.
Applicants must be admitted to a PhD-program.
Other students with a completed Masters degree can apply for admission. Admission can be done after an individual assessment.
Kurset skal gi følgende læringsutbytte:
Kunnskap
Etter gjennomført kurs skal studentene ha fått avansert kunnskap om:
- Hva som konstituerer kunnskap om det sosiale
- Ulike måter å vite på
- Hvordan teori og empiri interagerer
- Forholdet mellom fortolkning, forståelse og forklaring
Ferdigheter
Etter fullført kurs skal studentene ha ervervet avanserte ferdigheter for:
- Å velge teori som er relevant for analyse av en bestemt empiri
- Aktivt og kritisk å anvende teori i analyse av data
- Å formulere teoretisk begrunnende påstander om den menneskelige verden
- Å validere og begrunne teoretiske påstander
Generell kompetanse
Etter fullført kurs skal studentene ha ervervet avanserte ferdigheter i:
- Å analysere empiriske data
- Å utvikle sosial teori
- Å generere kunnskap om sosiale fenomen gjennom kritisk analyse
A three-day gathering on campus.
Guest lecturer Professor Isaac A. Reed, University of Virginia
Required Reading
Isaac Ariail Reed. 2011. Interpretation and Social Knowledge: On the use of theory in the human sciences. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Isaac Ariail Reed. 2015. “Deep culture in action: resignification, synecdoche, and metanarrative in the moral panic of the Salem Witch Trials.” Theory and Society 44(1): 65-94.
Robert Darnton, “Workers Revolt: The Great Cat Massacre of the Rue Saint-Séverin,” pp. 75-106 in The Great Cat Massacre And Other Episodes in French Cultural History New York: Basic Books, 1984.
Recommended Reading
Immanuel Wallerstein. 1996. Open the Social Sciences: Report of the Gulbenkian Commission on the Restructuring of the Social Sciences. Stanford University Press.
Theda Skocpol. 1976. “France, Russia, China: A Structural Analysis of Social Revolutions,” Comparative Studies in Society and History 18(2): 175-210.
Jürgen Habermas. 1991. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Wednesday February 26
09:00-10:30: Introduction: On the history of the idea of social science
10:30-10:45: Coffee, tea and refreshments
10:45-12:00: From minimal to maximal interpretation in the human sciences
12:00-13:15: Lunch
13:15-14:30: Theory
14:30-14:45: Break
14:45-16:30: Realism and the realist impulse
Thursday February 27
09:00-10:30: Normativity in sociological investigation
10:30-10:45: Coffee, tea and refreshments
10:45-12:00: Interpretive perspectives on social science
12:00-13:15: Lunch
13:15-14:30: Questions about explanation
14:30-14:45: Break
14:45-16:30: Q & A (with Reed, Vannebo and Lo)
Friday February 28
09:00- 12:00: Student presentations of research
12:00- 13:15 Lunch
13:15- 15:00 Wrap up and discussion on topics for final papers (Reed, Vannebo and Lo)