Social science and its critics: an ideological analysis

TY - JOUR

T1 - Social science and its critics: an ideological analysis

AU - Blau, Adrian

PY - 2023/10/6

Y1 - 2023/10/6

N2 - Why do many post-positivists caricature contemporary social science? Why make incorrect claims, e.g. social scientists avoiding values? Why discuss features which often no longer matter, like seeking laws or predictions? Why reject extreme forms of social science without discussing more sensible forms? Why say little or nothing about scientific methodology, which is a great strength of recent social science? To explain such oversights and caricatures, philosophical analysis will not suffice: these are not isolated intellectual errors but systematic ones, made by numerous scholars, and fostered by social practices and institutional conventions. We thus need ideological analysis, which specializes in explaining institutionalized systems of belief. Speculative explanations are offered for postpositivist caricatures, including not only psychological factors but also external ones (e.g. the arrogance of many social scientists), limitations of language (e.g. the ambiguity of the term “methodology”), rhetorical strategies (e.g. genealogical approaches), and conventions (e.g. bad citation practices).

AB - Why do many post-positivists caricature contemporary social science? Why make incorrect claims, e.g. social scientists avoiding values? Why discuss features which often no longer matter, like seeking laws or predictions? Why reject extreme forms of social science without discussing more sensible forms? Why say little or nothing about scientific methodology, which is a great strength of recent social science? To explain such oversights and caricatures, philosophical analysis will not suffice: these are not isolated intellectual errors but systematic ones, made by numerous scholars, and fostered by social practices and institutional conventions. We thus need ideological analysis, which specializes in explaining institutionalized systems of belief. Speculative explanations are offered for postpositivist caricatures, including not only psychological factors but also external ones (e.g. the arrogance of many social scientists), limitations of language (e.g. the ambiguity of the term “methodology”), rhetorical strategies (e.g. genealogical approaches), and conventions (e.g. bad citation practices).

KW - social science

KW - positivism

KW - post-positivism

KW - interpretivism

KW - naturalism

KW - ideological analysis

KW - methodology

M3 - Article

SN - 0265-0525

JO - Social Philosophy and Policy

JF - Social Philosophy and Policy

ER -