Making Social Science Matter

Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Title......Page 5
Copyright......Page 6
Dedication......Page 7
Contents......Page 9
Acknowledgments......Page 11
Physics envy and pre-Kantian shamans......Page 13
Good or bad?......Page 14
Virtue lost......Page 15
A brief overview......Page 16
Part one Why social science has failed as science......Page 19
2 Rationality, body, and intuition in human learning......Page 21
Competence and virtuosity in human learning......Page 22
2. Advanced beginner......Page 23
3. Competent performer......Page 24
4. Proficient performer: beyond analytical rationality......Page 28
5. Expert......Page 29
Rationality, irrationality, arationality......Page 32
Context, experience, and intuition......Page 35
3 Is theory possible in social science?......Page 37
The theoretical ambition......Page 38
Hermeneutical stumbling blocks......Page 40
Pre-paradigmatic sciences......Page 42
Dead objects, self-reflecting humans......Page 44
Meaning-giving and meaninglessness......Page 47
The deadly paradox of social theory......Page 50
A question of style......Page 52
The rules are no game......Page 54
Economics as science of the second order......Page 55
Beyond theory......Page 58
Part two How social science can matter again......Page 63
Value-rationality and instrumental rationality......Page 65
Aristotle on episteme, techne, and phronesis......Page 67
The priority of the particular......Page 69
Where natural science is weak and social science strong......Page 72
An example of phronetic social science......Page 74
6 The power of example......Page 78
Socrates, Plato, and cases......Page 79
Cases in human learning......Page 83
Cases as ‘‘black swans’’......Page 85
Cases and ‘‘casing’’......Page 89
Bias toward verification or falsification?......Page 93
The irreducible quality of good case narratives......Page 96
7 The significance of conflict and power to social science......Page 100
To be absolutely modern......Page 101
The Nietzschean democrat......Page 110
Power as constitutive of social science......Page 119
Aristotle, Nietzsche, and Foucault......Page 122
Real history, effective truth......Page 124
The ‘‘how’’ of power......Page 128
Power, rationality, and truth......Page 135
9 Methodological guidelines for a reformed social science......Page 141
Focusing on values......Page 142
Placing power at the core of analysis......Page 143
Getting close to reality......Page 144
Emphasizing little things......Page 145
Looking at practice before discourse......Page 146
Studying cases and contexts......Page 147
Asking ‘‘How?’’ Doing narrative......Page 148
Joining agency and structure......Page 149
Dialoguing with a polyphony of voices......Page 151
Phronetic social science......Page 152
Something happened......Page 153
Modernity’s blind spot......Page 155
Aalborg and Florence......Page 156
Where are we going?......Page 157
Who gains, and who loses, by which mechanisms of power?......Page 160
Is it desirable?......Page 166
What should be done?......Page 168
Other examples of social science that take values and power seriously......Page 174
11 Social science that matters......Page 178
1 THE SCIENCE WARS: A WAY OUT......Page 181
2 RATIONALITY, BODY, AND INTUITION IN HUMAN LEARNING......Page 182
3 IS THEORY POSSIBLE IN SOCIAL SCIENCE?......Page 184
4 CONTEXT COUNTS......Page 187
5 VALUES IN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL INQUIRY......Page 188
6 THE POWER OF EXAMPLE......Page 190
7 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF CONFLICT AND POWER TO SOCIAL SCIENCE......Page 194
8 EMPOWERING ARISTOTLE......Page 200
9 METHODOLOGICAL GUIDELINES FOR A REFORMED SOCIAL SCIENCE......Page 204
10 EXAMPLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS: NARRATIVES OF VALUE AND POWER......Page 208
11 SOCIAL SCIENCE THAT MATTERS......Page 212
Index......Page 213