Beyond Sociology's Tower of Babel: Reconstructing the Scientific Method (Sociological Imagination and Structural Change,) (Sociological Imagination and Structural Change,)

The Babel tower of the title is the author's image for the current fragmentation of sociology into forty sections that rarely follow the scientific ideal of attempting to communicate with one another. Refusing to accept that situation as given, Dr. Phillips follows the Millsian precedent, offering here a vision of how sociologists might move toward "the sociological imagination" by building bridges connecting those sections. Such a vision draws heavily on the work of classical and con- temporary theorists, on quantitative and qualitative methodologists, on philosophers and historians of science, on postmodernist critiques and responses to postmodernism, and on substantive research in diverse areas. Conflict theorists, functionalists, symbolic interactionists, ethnomethodologists, exchange or rational choice theorists, and critical theorists should feel equally at home in the author's approach. Yet this is no eclectic collection of ideas. It is, rather, a highly systematic approach aimed at procedures that the entire discipline can employ to fulfill its ideals for the scientific method. Going far beyond a programmatic effort to sketch what prevents sociologists from dismantling their tower of Babel and what might be done in the future, Phillips sets forth a second, heuristic image, that of a "web." He presents one illustration after another to document each aspect of a web approach to the scientific method, an approach that opens up to the theories and methods that have been developed within every substantive area of the discipline. His approach is similar to other developments of a synthetic orientation that would link "micro" with "macro" phenomena. To the extent that the utility of the web approach holds up to empirical testing and comes to be established, it holds out to sociologists the promise of achieving the cumulative development and credibility that are hallmarks of any science. The book will be useful for courses in method, in the classical tradition of sociology, and in undergraduate seminars where the theoretical underpinnings of the discipline are taken up. To look outside the discipline of sociology is to find little credibility given to the field as science. Bernard Phillips argues that we are learning to see ever more clearly the contradiction between scientific standards and what in fact has been achieved by sociology. Instead of knowledge based on the full range of our findings, we have separate pieces of knowledge located within the diverse areas of the discipline, and fads and fashions in the ideas and terms we use with relatively little cumulative development. This has led many to question whether any scientific method can be applied to human behavior. If the arguments and alternative interpretations in this book on the problematic nature of sociology's use of scientific method prove to be credible and fruitful, then the implications are profound. For example, the conclusions drawn for every single social science study that has ever been conducted would be open to reinterpretation, because they fail to take into account systematically the enormous complexity involved within any given instance of human behavior. Our present approach assumes implicitly that the pieces of the human jigsaw puzzle can at some point be put together so as to yield a coherent picture. Yet, as Phillips shows, if each piece is itself deficient, then no coherent picture emerges when we attempt to put the pieces together. Refusing to take the current fragmentation of sociology as inevitable, Phillips offers a clear vision, through a series of heuristic web images, of how sociologists might achieve the cumulative development and credibility that are the hallmarks of any science. His research draws heavily on the works of classical and contemporary theorists, philosophers, and historians of science, as well as on postmodernist critiques and responses to postmodernism. This reconstruction will be useful for courses in method in the study of the classical tradition of sociology. Bernard Phillips was introduced to sociology at Columbia University by C. Wright Mills. A former professor of sociology at Boston University, cofounder of the ASA Section on Sociological Practice and founder of the Sociological Imagination Group, his publications emphasize methodology and theory. "The Babel tower of the title is the author's image for the current fragmentation of sociology into forty sections that rarely follow the scientific ideal of attempting to communicate with one another. Refusing to accept that situation as given, Dr. Phillips follows the Millsian precedent, offering here a vision of how sociologists might move toward "the sociological imagination" by building bridges connecting those sections. Such a vision draws heavily on the work of classical and contemporary theorists, on quantitative and qualitative methodologists, on philosophers and historians of science, on postmodernist critiques and responses to postmodernism, and on substantive research in diverse areas. Conflict theorists, functionalists, symbolic interactionists, ethnomethodologists, exchange or rational choice theorists, and critical theorists should feel equally at home in the author's approach. Yet this is no eclectic collection of ideas. It is, rather, a highly systematic approach aimed at procedures that the entire discipline can employ to fulfill its ideals for the scientific method. Going far beyond a programmatic effort to sketch what prevents sociologists from dismantling their tower of Babel and what might be done in the future, Phillips sets forth a second, heuristic image, that of a "web." He presents one illustration after another to document each aspect of a web approach to the scientific method, an approach that opens up to the theories and methods that have been developed within every substantive area of the discipline. His approach is similar to other developments of a synthetic orientation that would link "micro" with "macro" phenomena. To the extent that the utility of the web approach holds up to empirical testing and comes to be established, it holds out to sociologists the promise of achieving the cumulative development and credibility that are hallmarks of any science. The book will be useful for courses in method, in the classical tradition of sociology, and in undergraduate seminars where the theoretical underpinnings of the discipline are taken up."--website CONTENTS Preface. Introduction. Part I. The Scientific Method: Bureaucratic and Interactive Paradigms. 1. Sociology and the Scientific Method. Problems with Bureaucratic Science. A Scientific Method for Sociology. 2. Cultural and Sociological Paradigms. Cultural Paradigms and Worldviews . Sociology's Paradigm. Part II. Illustrating the Web Approach to the Scientific Method. 3. The Invisible Crisis of Modern Society. 4. Addressing The Invisible Crisis. Interaction and the Crisis: General. Interaction and the Crisis: Specific. Part III. Some Implications for Sociology. 5. Reflexivity. Toward a Reflexive Sociology. Basic Research . Applied Research. Teaching. Toward Reflexive Teaching . 6. Social Technology: Language. Strengthening Linguistic Tools . Back to the Future. Some Concluding Remarks. Bibliography. Index The Babel tower of the title is the author's image for the contemporary fragmentation of sociology into 40 sections that rarely follow the scientific ideal of attempting to communicate with each other. He argues for a sociological vision created by building bridges connecting these sections