Lecture 8 - constructivism

Question 1

take home points

Answer 1

• constructivism is an ontological position: realities are local and specific, they are actively constructed
• constructivism has a contested relationship to epistemology: many are epistemological interpretivists, but some accept causality and the scientific method
• understanding vs explanation (Weber)
• post-Humean causality = a distinction between constructivism and non-constructivism based on contingency
• there are many varieties of constructivism
• major constructivist mechanisms include socialization, persuasion and bricolage (they aren’t mutually exlcusive)

Question 2

constructivist ontology

Answer 2

anti-foundationalism

‘realities are local and specific, they vary between individuals/groups’

reality is not discovered, it is actively constructed

ontological constructivists tend to be epistemological interpretivists (knowledge as discursively, theoretically and conceptually ‘laden’)
- prioritizes understanding social and political action over explaining it

Question 3

complicating constructivism

Answer 3

many constructivists don’t break with science and causality

many do break with causality: to much contingency -> not possible to make causal explanations

subjective interpretation of some sort affects what people do

Question 4

what is distinctive about constructivism

Answer 4

people act within meaningful social constructs

Question 5

origins of constructivism

Answer 5

• Max Weber +
  Emile Durkheim = constructivist perspective (in the study of sociology, weren’t only focused on this)

Durkheim: social facts
Weber: social construction of ‘intersts’ + idea of the iron case

Question 6

social facts

Answer 6

Durkheim

language to talk about the constructivist idea that human behaviour can be influenced and shaped by things that are not directly measurable

social fact = norms, ideals, ideologies that exists outside of peoples mind (aren’t limited to ones’ mind)

e.g. ideas about marriage, non-discrimination

Question 7

social construction of ‘interest’

Answer 7

Weber

comes back in marxist theory (proletariat has been brainwashed: difference between what they think is in their interest and what is in their objective interest)

idea that our view of our interests can be constructed, that there might not be an objective interest (might be a result of socialization, upbringing, education)

if this is true: rational choice theory has a problem

Question 8

the Iron Cage

Answer 8

Important metaphor of Weber

idea that rationality and efficiency that come in conjunction with a rationalized bureaucratic view of government and capitalist economy constrain individual freedom at the level of thought

!this iron cage is internalized, it is not only an external constrained, it’s a constraint we co-construct

• it constructs the way we think -> hard to get rid of
• can also protect us, make us able to do things

Question 9

Max Weber on religion
(example of constructivist thinking, illustrative)

Answer 9

idea that capitalism has developed along theological development: divide between protestantism, calvinism and catholicism

calvinist believing that they were predestined to be saved or damned -> obsession in identifying signs of predestination -> idea formed that one of the signs that god can give you of being saved is financial success -> capitalism

theological idea -> massive structural change towards more capitalistic economy + bureaucratic rationality

• capitalism as rationality ordered world view that is a sort of social facts (internalized in human behaviour)

Question 10

understanding and explaining

Answer 10

• Weber

explanation is concerned with causal arguments: adequacy on a causal level

understanding concerns an arguments ‘adequacy on the level of meaning’

some constructivists accept causal arguments, others reject explanation and think social scientists are limited to the double hermeneutic

Question 11

double hermeneutic

Answer 11

if all we have are peoples understanding of the world (no access to an objective world)

then a social scientists is not directly about the understanding of individuals, it is the understanding the researcher has of the understanding/interpretation of people

this limits the sort of claims we can make in the social world

Question 12

causal versus constitutive arguments

Answer 12

Wendt

• causal = why it happens
• constitutive = what/how it happens

e.g.
causal: sovereignty caused modern states to come about
constitutive: sovereignty and modern states constitute one another (it happens at the same time, they are linked, to understand one, you must understand the other as well)

Question 13

David Hume’s idea of causality

Answer 13

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 14

Post-Hueman view of causality

Answer 14

accepts Hume’s statement that causality can’t be observed

argues that a plausible mechanism linking cause and effect is necessary for a causal argument

thus: combines explanation and understanding (explain: by seeing, understanding in looking into it)

widens the scope of constructivism

Question 15

the real difference constructivists and non-constructivists
taking into account the post-humean view

Answer 15

• origins of ‘social facts’ (are they objective or constructed)
• the role of contingency: is the world of our making? or are we kind of like robots

constructivists find the focus on contingency, peoples own perception important

Question 16

mechanisms of social construction

Answer 16

• socialization
• persuasion
• bricolage

how do social facts come about?

Question 17

socialization

Answer 17

a learning of rules and behaviours chosen by a group

socialization is diffuse, it is shared by a group of people

Question 18

persuasion

Answer 18

social facts that rely on explicit advocates, who clearly believe in their ideas or norms at a time before their ideas are embedded into broader action

it is not shared/diffused, it is one individual that is trying to push a specific idea/norm

Question 19

bricolage

Answer 19

start from a view of a messy world of overlapping different social constructs and facts

people tend to develop ideas and norms to suit discrete problems and goals

people pick and mix their ideas/norms, this is not compeletly rational picking your own ideas/norms, it is picking from different constructs available

bricolage kind of logic = social behaviour is understood through multiple social constructs (not one social construct determines a persons view/behaviour)

DIY approach to social construction (kind of): resourceful, creative, improvisational

Question 20

constructivist ontology vs constructivist theoretical approach

Answer 20

be careful to distinguish them: they aren’t the same

easiest = just refer to antifoundatoinal ontology instead of constructivist ontology

Question 21

constructivist methodology

Answer 21

not really important for exam

main thing = the methodology doesn’t clearly fit in one of the columns of the table we keep looking at