Making Social Science Matter

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Making Social Science Matter: Why social inquiry fails and how it can succeed again [1] is a book written in 2001 (Cambridge University Press) by a Danish planning and development researcher Bent Flyvbjerg. It begins by positing, as many other scholars have in the past, that the social sciences cannot pursue the same path to the legitimacy that the natural sciences have. The way in which social scientists are able to gather data and test theory belongs in a completely different inquiry paradigm. Instead of pursuing the natural science, Flyvbjerg proposes the Aristotelian idea of phronesis, or "practical understanding" as a means to lead the social sciences back to their true identity and potential to improve peoples' lives.

He argues that a "phronetic understanding" is very different from both the traditional analytic model of science (episteme) and the rationalized technical understanding of how to accomplish a particular goal (techne). The Dreyfus model of human learning is utilized to show how the idea of phronesis can be better understood as a process beyond scientific and/or rational thought. Instead, it relies on differentiated knowledge and skill levels that determine how individuals go about making decisions in particular situations. Expert practitioners' behavior moves beyond analytic rationality to a decision making mode which relies mostly on an intuitive holistic understanding of the particular context in which their problem or task is set.

Flyvbjerg attempts to make the point that phronesis lies beyond the core theoretical and methodological paradigm that the natural sciences relies upon. He places this train of thought squarely in the tradition of many contemporary thinkers who have increasingly questioned the ability of the enlightenment model to speak to the more nuanced processes involved in humans' interactional understanding of the world.

Then, he settles back into the issue of describing phronetic inquiry and details four main questions that represent common issues guiding the method:

Where are we going?
Who gains and who loses? How?
Is it desirable?
What should be done?

The second question on power actually represents an addendum to the list that the author felt obliged to fill since other scholars who had previously elaborated on the concept of phronesis had left a gaping hole in this area. To fill the void, Flyvbjerg juxtaposes the work of Michel Foucault and Jurgen Habermas. While giving the work of both due process, Habermas' reliance on legal (constitutional) means to secure an even playing field for public discourse seems further from a phronetic understanding than Foucault's particular understanding of how to alter power dynamics.

Beyond theory, Flyvbjerg recommends a narrative case study method as the most appropriate method within the social sciences for furthering phronetic inquiry, although it would seem that participatory action research (with political neutrality) would be very useful as well. Flyvbjerg's uses his own experience with researching a redevelopment plan in Aalborg, Denmark to illustrate some of the key research sensitivities including the exploration of power relationships, analysis of intersubjectivity in dialogue with stakeholders, and communicating the relevance of the research with the public. The entire book argues for a shift from instrumental rationality to value rationality in social scientific inquiry, arguing that the emphasis should be placed on deliberation over what constitutes ethical praxis and how the search for truth must be considered in the context of societal power relations.

To see Table of Contents and browse Making Social Science Matter, click here: [2]

To read the first chapter, click here: [3]

[edit] Literature about Making Social Science Matter

Rajashree Ranu Basu, "A Flyvbjergian perspective of Public Elementary School Closures in Toronto: A Question of ‘Rationality’ or ‘Power’?" Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Volume 22, 2004, pp. 423-251.

Rajashree Ranu Basu, The Geography of Neighbourhood Based Collective Action: A Flyvbjergian Perspective on School Closings in Toronto. Ph.D. dissertation. Toronto: University of Toronto, Graduate Department of Geography, 2002.

Svetlana Cicmil, Knowledge, Interaction, and Project Work: From Instrumental Rationality to Practical Wisdom. Ph.D. dissertation. Bristol: Bristol Business School , University of the West of England, 2003.

Bent Flyvbjerg, Rationality and Power: Democracy in Practice. University of Chicago Press, 1998. [5]

Bent Flyvbjerg, "Bringing Power to Planning Research: One Researcher's Praxis Story." Journal of Planning Education and Research, vol. 21, no. 4, Summer 2002, pp. 353-366.

Bent Flyvbjerg, "Phronetic Planning Research: Theoretical and Methodological Reflections." Planning Theory and Practice, vol. 5, no. 3, September 2004, pp. 283-306.

Bent Flyvbjerg, "A Perestroikan Straw Man Answers Back: David Laitin and Phronetic Political Science." Politics and Society, vol. 32, no. 3, September 2004, pp. 389-416.

Bent Flyvbjerg, "Making Organization Research Matter: Power, Values, and Phronesis." In Stewart R. Clegg, Cynthia Hardy, Thomas B. Lawrence, and Walter R. Nord, eds., The Sage Handbook of Organization Studies. Second Edition. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, July 2006.

Arthur W. Frank, "Asking the Right Question about Pain: Narrative and Phronesis." Literature and Medicine, vol. 23, No. 2, Fall 2004, pp. 209-225.

Clifford Geertz, "Empowering Aristotle." Science, vol. 293, July 6, 2001, p. 53. [6]

Richard Halverson, "Accessing, Documenting and Communicating Practical Wisdom: The Phronesis of School Leadership Practice." American Journal of Education, vol. 111, no. 1, November 2004, pp. 90-121.

Teresa M. Harrison and James P. Zappen, "Methodological and Theoretical Frameworks for the Design of Community Information Systems." Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, vol. 8, no. 3, April 2003.

Jay Leighter, "Heuristic Discovery, Descriptive Theory, and Phronesis: Can the Ethnography of Communication be Phronetic Social Science?" Paper presented at Western States Communication Association Annual Convention, Salt Lake City, February 15-17, 2003.

Ted Schatzki, "Social Science in Society." Inquiry, vol. 45, no. 1, 2002, pp. 119-138.

Francis Schrag, "What Future for Social Science?" Educational Theory, vol. 54, no. 1, 2004, pp. 89-101.

Sanford F. Schram, "Return to Politics: Perestroika and Postparadigmatic Political Science." Political Theory, vol. 31, no. 6, December 2003, pp. 835-851. [7]

Sanford F. Schram, "Beyond Paradigm: Resisting the Assimilation of Phronetic Social Science." Politics and Society, vol. 32, no. 3, September 2004, pp. 417-433. [8]

Schram, Sanford F. and Brian Caterino, 2006 eds. Making Political Science Matter: Debating Knowledge, Research, and Method. New York: New York University Press. [9]

Russell K. Schutt, "Review Essay on Making Social Science Matter." Field Methods, vol. 14, no. 2, May 2002, pp. 228-240.