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.     

Localism and the Environment

Localism, understood here as a movement to regain sovereignty over the local economy in an era of globalization, offers an alternative economic development strategy to that of the high-tech, export-oriented manufacturing cluster. Instead, localism advocates call attention to the benefits of import-replacing strategies that strengthen locally owned businesses, farms, and nonprofit organizations, as well as local government agencies. Primary examples of localism include the 'buy local movement' supported by independent retailers and banks, community-controlled energy, and local food and agricultural networks. Localism may generate environmental benefits due to decreased transportation and increased awareness of the environmental effects of production when located near consumers, but the connection between localism and environmental dividends is variable and tenuous.     

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.     

Social Capital and Mental Health among Brazilian Immigrants in Japan

This study investigates the effect of social capital on the psychological well-being of Brazilian immigrants in Japan. Social capital in immigrants has drawn considerable attention from sociologists and other social scientists because many advanced countries have accepted a large number of immigrants from other countries. Previous studies of immigration in the US have emphasized the important role of bonding social capital with family and co-ethnic friends in helping immigrants obtain social and emotional support from others. Conversely, other studies of immigration in European countries have suggested that bonding social capital with co-ethnic members does not necessarily lead to better outcomes. These contrasting findings demonstrate that social capital is largely embedded in the institutional settings within which immigrants deploy it. In this study, we explored how the psychological well-being of Brazilian immigrants in Japan depended on different forms of social capital. The results indicate that despite the lack of economic resources in their ethnic communities, Brazilian immigrants benefited significantly from bonding social capital with their extended families in terms of improved mental health. This study suggests that the effectiveness of bonding social capital substantially differs in terms of the objective and subjective realities of immigrants.     

A Two-Question Method for Assessing Gender Categories in the Social and Medical Sciences

Three studies (N = 990) assessed the statistical reliability of two methods of determining gender identity that can capture transgender spectrum identities (i.e., current gender identities different from birth-assigned gender categories). Study 1 evaluated a single question with four response options (female, male, transgender, other) on university students. The missing data rate was higher than the valid response rates for transgender and other options using this method. Study 2 evaluated a method of asking two separate questions (i.e., one for current identity and another for birth-assigned category), with response options specific to each. Results showed no missing data and two times the transgender spectrum response rate compared to Study 1. Study 3 showed that the two-question method also worked in community samples, producing near-zero missing data. The two-question method also identified cisgender identities (same birth-assigned and current gender identity), making it a dynamic and desirable measurement tool for the social and medical sciences.     

Cosmopolitical Realism: On the Distinction between Cosmopolitanism in Philosophy and the Social Sciences

Abstract In the article I outline a wide range of challenges, both normative and analytical, that the rise of globalism represents for the social sciences. In the first part, a distinction is drawn between ‘normative’ or ‘philosophical’ cosmopolitanism on the one hand and an analytical‐empirical social science cosmopolitanism, which is no longer contained by thinking in national categories, on the other. From such a perspective we can observe the growing interdependence and interconnection of social actors across national boundaries, more often than not as a side effect of actions that are not meant to be ‘cosmopolitan’ in the normative sense. In the second part I focus on the opposition between methodological nationalism and the actual cosmopolitanization of reality and outline the various errors of the former. In the third and final part of the article I outline a research programme of a ‘cosmopolitan social science’ around four topics: first, the rise of a global public arena resulting from the reactions to the unintended side effects (risks) of modernization; second, a cosmopolitan perspective allows us to go beyond International Relations and to analyse a multitude of interconnections not only between states but also between actors on other levels; third, a denationalized social science can research into the global inequalities that are hidden by the traditional focus on national inequality and its legitimation; finally, everyday or banal cosmopolitanism on the level of cultural consumption and media representation leads to a growing awareness of the relativity of one's own social position and culture in the global arena.     

American Conservatism and Government Funding of the Social Sciences and the Arts*

The efforts of the Reagan Administration to cut government funding for the arts and the social sciences reflects not only a general desire to curtail government spending but also a specific conservative effort to “defund the Left” by eliminating especially those programs regarded by conservatives as the basic source of liberal and radical social change in the United States. This paper examines the conservative animus against government support for the arts and the social sciences. The discussion has four parts: The first traces the history of contemporary American conservatism and identifies its central ideological themes. The second argues that the belief that government and intellectuals are the two main sources of liberal social change has led conservatives to target government programs allegedly guilty of social activism and to develop their own relatively autonomous counterintellectual network. The third examines how this political agenda and institutional structure have influenced conservative opposition to government funding of the social sciences and the arts. The final part suggests some implications our analysis has for defending the social sciences and the arts.