Careers in the Social Sciences

Thought experiments enable students to think about persistent social issues by drawing on both knowledge and imagination. In this article, the author provides examples of thought experiments found in literature for adults and middle school students, a rationale for doing thought experiments in the classroom, a step-by-step procedure to follow, and a rubric for evaluating student work. A sample of one student's work illustrates the process. The author also recommends several nonfiction books that can be used to jump-start thought experiments. By encouraging students to link past experiences with present concerns, thought experiments illustrate the relevance of the social studies.     

The Distinction Between Social Distance and Stereotyping

An analysis of survey data from a large city in the Southwest shows that social distance and stereotyping are distinct components of prejudice in white attitudes toward both blacks and American Indians. Further, whites perceive more social distance between themselves and blacks than between themselves and Indians. There is evidence of a smaller difference in the levels of stereotyping of Indians and blacks by whites.     

Cosmopolitism and Localism in the Brazilian Social Sciences

This article analyzes the main trends of sociology and political science in Brazil. It uses as empirical data the workgroups and the bibliographical reviews sponsored by the Associação Nacional de Pós‐Graduação e Pesquisa em Ciências Sociais (ANPOCS), a scientific association that organizes much of the debate in the Brazilian social sciences in the last 40 years. From these data, it is verified that sociology and political science in Brazil combine a universalist vocation, in relation to its themes and problems, with an almost exclusive focus on Brazilian society. It is also considered that the current coup d'État imposes new interpretative challenges to Brazilian social sciences, which can no longer consider stable or irreversible the process of democratization of society and its political institutions. Cet article analyse les grandes tendances de la sociologie et de la science politique au Brésil. Il se fonde sur des données empiriques venant de groupes de travail et de recensions bibliothécaires sponsorisés par l'Associação Nacional de Pós‐Graduação e Pesquisa em Ciências Sociais (ANPOCS), une association scientifique qui a organisé la plupart des débats dans les sciences sociales brésiliennes au cours des 40 dernières années. Il en découle que la sociologie et la science politique au Brésil combinent une vocation universelle, en relation avec ses thèmes et ses problèmes, et un focus presqu'exclusivement centré sur la société brésilienne. Il est aussi démontré que le coup d'État en court impose de nouveaux défis interprétatifs dans les sciences sociales brésiliennes, qui ne peuvent plus considérer le processus de démocratisation de la société et de ses institutions politiques comme étant stables ou irréversibles.     

社会科学中的因果分析

休谟提出的因果问题影响了两个半世纪的科学哲学讨论,即人类如何从有限经验观察推论必然因果关系?密尔从方法论角度阐释了因果推论的逻辑,指出只有在其他因素相同的条件下,经验相关才能推论因果,为现代随机分组试验设计奠定了基础。实验方法在社会科学中应用有限,更为常用的是观察数据统计分析和个案数据定性分析。复杂统计模型用统计控制模拟实验控制,也能有效检验因果命题。定性分析是理论与经验的反复碰撞,有利于提出新理论或新假设。本文强调,因果解释一定包括机制解释,而机制解释一定是理论解释。因果理论不是对经验相关的简单归纳,而是思想飞跃。检验因果理论的基本逻辑是:从理论演绎因果命题,再演绎相关假设,然后用统计数据检验之。最后讨论整合理论、定性、定量的三点定位原则。     

Public Sociology and the Public Turn in the Social Sciences

Public sociology broadly conceptualized is a form of intellectuality involving dialogue between sociologists and the publics with whom they are concerned. Beyond this broad framing, what type of dialogue, with what purpose, which public(s), and the functions of intellectuals and the knowledge they produce are widely contested. In this essay, I explore the politics of academic disciplines, knowledge, and discourse as it has emerged within the debate over public sociology, while also highlighting what public sociology and the rise of other ‘public’ disciplines tells us about these themes in relationship to the possibility of public culture.     

Cosmopolitanism and violence: difficulties of judgment

This paper addresses the difficult relation of cosmopolitan ideas to the existence of war and violence. It explores the ambivalences within the cosmopolitan outlook as it seeks to reconcile its attentiveness to the actuality of violence in the modern age with its normative vision of perpetual peace. I address these ambivalences through a discussion of a) what it is to learn from the catastrophes of the twentieth century; b) the contribution Kant's theory of cosmopolitan law to the solution to contemporary problems of violence; c) the reconstruction of cosmopolitan thinking in the wake of the Holocaust as an attempt to take atrocities seriously; d) the application of cosmopolitan criteria to the justification and authorization of humanitarian military intervention; and e) the attempt on the part of Habermas and Derrida to address the ambivalence involved in reconciling cosmopolitanism and violence in Kosovo and Iraq. While cosmopolitanism is usually understood as a reference to a worldly legal and institutional order, the cosmopolitan outlook is also a mode of understanding the world, an ethic of responsibility and an ongoing exercise of political judgment in the face of violence.     

Reflexive Risk-Education and Cosmopolitanism in the Risk Society

Abstract

The extreme environment that students face, in terms of the global risk society, is the unintentional and high-risk consequence of the development of modern society. This paper, therefore, aims to discuss the possible strategies beyond traditional school practices for educators to think and act upon based on sociologists’ theoretical views of and empirical studies on the risk society. I will indicate that current education systems are an accomplice in producing modern risks, and will attempt to analyze the gaps between current education and reflexive risk-education. The gaps are: the experiential gap between individuals and the global society, the public-sphere gap between school and society, and the epistemological/cultural gap between eastern/nonwestern and western cultures. Three possible strategies to develop reflexive risk-education are discussed: developing an integrated curriculum through ‘critical glocal pedagogy’, assembling the social network through collaborations, such as with NGOs, and creating new social imaginations.