Lecture 8

Question 1

Recap antifoundationalism/constructivism

Answer 1

Theoretical assumptions about individuals not
pre-set
What institution is this?
1. What is my position (role) within this
institution?
2. What would constitute appropriate behavioural
options given my position (role) in this
institution?
3. Which behavioural option which best meets my
position (role) within this institution.

Question 2

Interpretivist epistemology

Answer 2

▪ Interpretivists see knowledge as discursively,
theoretically and conceptually ‘laden’
▪ The interpretative tradition prioritizes
understanding social and political action over
explaining it.

Question 3

Complicating constructivism

Answer 3

▪
‘Many Constructivists do not break with
science and causality… Perhaps the most
compelling truth is that people act within
meaningful social constructs’ (LMS p. 75)
▪
‘Subjective interpretation of some sort
affects what people do’ (LMS p. 75)

Question 4

Origins constructivism

Answer 4

Two sociologists influential in
developing the
constructivist perspective
were Emile Durkheim and
Max weber.
* Durkheim coined the idea
of ‘social facts’
* Weber theorized the
(social) construction of ……..

Question 5

Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic
and the Spirit of Capitalism

Answer 5

▪ Protestants considered that people could
have a worldly ‘calling’
▪ Calvinists believed that people were
predestined to be ‘saved’ or ‘damned’
▪ This led to an obsession in identifying
signs of predestination, including profit
and material success

Question 6

Understanding and explaining

Answer 6

▪ Explanation is concerned with an
argument’s ‘adequacy on a causal level’’
▪ Understanding concerns an argument’s
‘adequacy on the level of meaning’ (LMS
78)
▪ Some constructivists accept causal
arguments, others reject explanation and
think social scientists are limited to the
double hermeneutic

Question 7

Causal vs constitutive arguments

Answer 7

▪ Wendt made an alternative distinction, between
causal and constitutive arguments
▪ Constitutive arguments define entities’
identities and meanings.
▪ Causal focuses on ‘why’, constitutive on
‘what/how’
▪ e.g. the idea of sovereignty did not cause
modern states to come about, they
(co)constitute one another

Question 8

Hume’s idea of causality

Answer 8

▪ Hume challenged the idea that causal
connections can be objectively determined.
▪ Cause and effect are never directly observed.
▪ Supposed causal connections are instead
inferred from observing correlated
phenomena.
▪ Hume suggested belief in causality stems
from psychological habit, not logic.

Question 9

Post humean view of causality

Answer 9

▪ Causal arguments require plausible mechanisms
linking cause and effect
▪ This ‘Post-Humean’ view weakens the distinction
between understanding and explaining
▪ The real difference between constructivists and
non-constructivists is then about:
– The origins of ‘social facts’ (objective or constructed)
– The role of contingency: is the world of our making?

Question 10

Mechanisms of social construction

Answer 10

How can social facts emerge contingently
through processes of social construction?
Three constructivist mechanisms are:
▪ Socialization
▪ Persuasion
▪ Bricolage

Question 11

Persuasion

Answer 11

▪ Persuasion arguments rely on explicit
advocates, who clearly believe in their ideas
or norms at a time before their ideas are
embedded into broader action (LMS 86)

Question 12

Bricolage

Answer 12

▪ Bricolage arguments start from a view of
a messy world of overlapping constructs
▪ People tend to develop ideas and norms
to suit discrete problems and goals
It is a kind of ‘DIY’ approach
to social construction:
resourceful, creative and
improvisational