Transcript A Review of Lichbach’s Social Theory and Comparative Politics

A Review of Lichbach’s Social
Theory and Comparative Politics
Pete Catalano
PSCI 8250
30 January 2006
Beginning Quotes
• For the believer there are no questions; for the nonbeliever there are no answers. Rabbi Menachem Mendel
• We live…amid the debris of reason. Adam Seligman
• It is not the “actual” interconnections of “things” but the
conceptual interconnections of problems which define
the scope of the various sciences. Max Weber
Four Major sections
• Section 1: Three Exemplars
– Bates: Rationalist – the principle or habit of accepting reason
as the supreme authority in matters of opinion, belief, or
conduct
• Kenya’s agrarian economy
– Scott: Culturalist- culture –Sociol. The sum total of ways of
living built up by a group of human beings and transmitted
from one generation to another
• Malaysian peasant village
– Skocpol: Structuralist – structure- Sociol. The pattern or
organization of elements in a society or culture.
• Historical analysis of revolution in China, Russia, and France
Section 2: Research Communities and Their Properties
Community
Property
Rationalist
Culturalist
Structuralist
Ontology- the branch of
metaphysics that studies the
nature of existence
Rational actors, Intentional
explanations, Actions,
Beliefs, Desires,
Methodological
individualism
Rules among actors,
Intersubjectivity, Common
Knowledge, Common
values
Relations among actors,
Holism
Methodology- A system of
methods or principals &
rules as those of Art or
Science
Comparative statics,
Irrational social
consequences of
individually rational action,
Unintended, unwanted,
unavoidable
Meaning and significance,
Culture as cause/constitutes
reality, identity, action,
order
Social types, causal powers,
Sturctures with law of
dynamics
Comparison
Positivism, Generalization,
Explanation
Interpretiveism, Case study,
Understanding
Realism, Comparative
history, Causality
Instrumental rationality,
Mechanical behavioral
view of subjectivity
Tautology, teleology in
existence and causal impact
on outcomes
Iron cage,
determinism,Voluntarism
absent
Human nature, rationalist,
Social situation,
Sujectivists,
Intersubjectivists
State/society, PluralismMarxism-statism
Robert H. Bates
James C. Scott
Theda Skocpol
Lacunae- a gap or missing
part
Subtraditions
Exemplars
Section 3: The Socially Embedded Unit Act
Approach
Culturalist
Structuralist
Collective
Norms
Conditions
Desires
Beliefs
Individual
Choice
Social Action
Rationalist
Section 4: Weber, Modernity & Comparative Politics
• Weber – social scientists should begin inquiry by analyzing the
value relevance of the prob. Sit. They find themselves in.
• Weber
– Rationalist- warns of paradoxical consequences of modernity
– Culturalist- fascinating paradox in the origins of modern rationality
– Structuralist- inst dynamics cage individuals in the dialectic of reason and
irrationality
• Weber’s exploration of the Modern world (pp270-271)
• Conclusion: dialogue of the hearing
Beginning Quotes
• For the believer there are no questions; for the nonbeliever there are no answers. Rabbi Menachem Mendel
• We live…amid the debris of reason. Adam Seligman
• It is not the “actual” interconnections of “things” but the
conceptual interconnections of problems which define
the scope of the various sciences. Max Weber