Science, Sociology, and Common Sense Lazarsfeld, Common Sense 1/12/2013 Science, Sociology, and Common Sense Lazarsfeld not so important himself for this class, but it is convenient to remember the set of ideas we’re talking about by the word/name Lazarsfeld Ideas from Paul Lazarsfeld Public Opinion Quarterly (1949) SOCY1000 Sociology: Global Perspective. Prof. Backman. ppt_lazarsfeld

Lazarsfeld’s Review of The American Soldier The American Soldier (1949) was a summary of an extensive program of surveys of soldiers during World War II Many social scientists were involved Lazarsfeld’s review: Considers criticisms Interprets findings Concludes that surveys have great value Common Sense Is a Lousy Guide To Truth 4/17/2017 SOCY1000 Backman

Lazarsfeld’s Review of Other People’s Criticisms of The American Soldier Big criticism Surveys unnecessary: only find what people with common sense already know Smaller gripes Can’t do history Other stuff Common Sense Is a Lousy Guide To Truth 4/17/2017 SOCY1000 Backman

Lazarsfeld’s Rejoinder to Criticisms Main response Science requires empirical observation Empirical – based on actual observation of the world Science makes systematic observations Surveys are tools for empirical observation Common Sense Is a Lousy Guide To Truth 4/17/2017 SOCY1000 Backman

Common Sense and American Soldier Questions Lazarsfeld, Common Sense 1/12/2013 Common Sense and American Soldier Questions Question topics Tropical climate Rigors of Army life Mental health Desire to come home Negro vs white ambition: non-coms Common Sense Is a Lousy Guide To Truth Students don’t have to remember the topics or the common-sense responses 4/17/2017 SOCY1000 Backman SOCY1000 Sociology: Global Perspective. Prof. Backman. ppt_lazarsfeld

Common Sense and American Soldier “Findings” Lazarsfeld, Common Sense 1/12/2013 Common Sense and American Soldier “Findings” Common sense: Tropical climate - Southerners Rigors of Army life – rural background Mental health – high IQ sicker Desire to come home – before surrender higher Non-com ambition – whites more Common Sense Is a Lousy Guide To Truth Students don’t have to remember the topics or the common-sense responses 4/17/2017 SOCY1000 Backman SOCY1000 Sociology: Global Perspective. Prof. Backman. ppt_lazarsfeld

Lazarsfeld, Common Sense 1/12/2013 OOPS All those “findings” were the opposite of what was found! - Of course, common sense could explain the other results, too Common Sense Is a Lousy Guide To Truth Tropics – no North-South difference Hardship – no city boy-country boy difference Low IQ folks had more problems with mental illness Interest in coming home – greater after the German surrender Negros more interested in becoming seargents than whites 4/17/2017 SOCY1000 Backman SOCY1000 Sociology: Global Perspective. Prof. Backman. ppt_lazarsfeld

CONCLUSIONS Common sense is a poor guide to truth Science requires systematic empirical observation Empirical – based on actual observation of the world Surveys are a form of systematic empirical observation (when properly done) 4/17/2017 SOCY1000 Backman

Backman Addenda to Lazarsfeld Lazarsfeld, Common Sense 1/12/2013 Backman Addenda to Lazarsfeld Much of what people think is true is false Fortunately, we’re right often enough to get by Often can get by being wrong Will try to emphasize non-obvious elements in social life If something in text seems contrary to what you would expect, it has a high chance of being on exams Common Sense Is a Lousy Guide To Truth About being right: we’re usually right that people we think like us actually do About being wrong: We used to think women couldn’t manage. The result was that men managed and the management job was done 4/17/2017 SOCY1000 Backman SOCY1000 Sociology: Global Perspective. Prof. Backman. ppt_lazarsfeld

Debunking Sociology sometimes called the Debunking Science Exposes the bunk (nonsense) in social beliefs 4/17/2017 SOCY1000 Backman

Lazarsfeld, Common Sense 1/12/2013 Science Changes Science is not common sense, but it is not always right Marx on revolution Gas giants (planets) and rings European sociologists and cults Society changes What used to be true may not still be Some of what I say ain’t so Just don’t know which Science is self-correcting Jovian rings discovered 1979 (wiki). Image at solar eclipse: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120617.html Murder has changed – change in the phenomenon. Cohabitation is changing (I suspect). Opportunities for “Negro” men have changed since Lazarsfeld in 1949 Age of the earth has changed – change in the body of knowledge 4/17/2017 SOCY1000 Backman SOCY1000 Sociology: Global Perspective. Prof. Backman. ppt_lazarsfeld

Jupiter 4/17/2017 SOCY1000 Backman

Lazarsfeld, Common Sense 1/12/2013 Uranus and Neptune Uranus http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/jpegMod/PIA02963_modest.jpg Neptune http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://whatafy.com/storage//2012/08/2012/08/13/discovering-the-universe-neptunes-rings/Neptune.jpg&imgrefurl=http://whatafy.com/discovering-the-universe-neptunes-rings.html&h=255&w=356&sz=15&tbnid=HYQXXhACzorVUM:&tbnh=91&tbnw=127&zoom=1&usg=__9HAHt6PCUBqYCVXcYZsd-YISGnk=&docid=x-_RZcaLY36yfM&sa=X&ei=C0nyUOeIH4u89QTh8ICQAw&ved=0CDUQ9QEwAQ&dur=4744 4/17/2017 SOCY1000 Backman SOCY1000 Sociology: Global Perspective. Prof. Backman. ppt_lazarsfeld

Ethics Sociologists do research on people Groups of people cannot be treated like beakers of chemicals Attempts to manipulate people often no-nos E.g., how to change people’s religion Observational research can make people look foolish or criminal 4/17/2017 SOCY1000 Backman

Ethics and Protections for Human Subjects Lazarsfeld, Common Sense 1/12/2013 Ethics and Protections for Human Subjects University research plans must go through Human Subjects review Could be fox guarding henhouse, but mostly not in my experience Of course, the Tuskegee study went on for years in front of everyone Informed consent Tricky because information may change behavior Participants in research must be able to opt out Must stop if people being hurt Professional association codes of ethics Lax Human Subjects review can threaten a university’s entire suite of federally funded research projects Opt out: Zimbardo prison study Being hurt (beyond that approved in Human Subjects review) There is protection for animals, too, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees, which review studies on animals like Human Subjects committees review research on humans. The name for the human subjects committees is Institutional Review Boards (IRBs). Both committees must include at least one member who is a representative of the “community,” not the institution 4/17/2017 SOCY1000 Backman SOCY1000 Sociology: Global Perspective. Prof. Backman. ppt_lazarsfeld

Lazarsfeld, Common Sense Ethics and Tuskegee 1/12/2013 Medical research, run by feds Total, total, total ethical failure Everybody should have known better Only stopped when outsiders got involved Insider who tried to stop it got less than nowhere for five years until he went to the press When New York Times got the story, things changed quickly National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care at Tuskegee U was one result IRBs more important result See Brandt’s article, http://www.sociology101.net/readings/Racism-And-Research.pdf or http://www.columbia.edu/itc/history/rothman/COL479E4904.pdf For a local response, by a lawyer eventually involved on the side of the men being studied (and who brought the suit that integrated the University of Alabama and, oh yeah, the suit that integrated Auburn), see Fred Gray, The Tuskegee Syphilis Study Insider, Peter Buxtun, gave the story to an Associated Press reporter, Jean Heller, whose story ran one day in a Washington, DC paper, the Star (probably to yawns), and the next day in the Times. It is hard to imagine the importance of the Times to the elite, especially in days before the internet. Some years ago a story in the Times about Auburn made things happen quickly that perhaps would not have happened otherwise. For easy to reach details about the Tuskegee Study (not as detailed as the Brandt article), see the Wikipedia for Buxtun and Heller and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_syphilis_experiment. 4/17/2017 SOCY1000 Backman SOCY1000 Sociology: Global Perspective. Prof. Backman. ppt_lazarsfeld