State-Society-Culture Dynamics

Post by Project/Thesis Statistician .

There's this toothpaste ad which claims that you can't distinguish it from the leading brand. Translated into a quantitative statement, the greater the percent of those who cannot distinguish the new brand from the leading brand, the better for the new brand. At presumably cheaper price, its similar taste and effect make it preferable to buy instead (of the leading brand). Statistically, the null hypothesis is that there is no difference between the taste and effect of the new brand from the leading brand. Using a “taste” test, the probability of distinguishing the new brand from the leading brand should be nil; that is, the new brand should be perceived as tasting the same with the leading brand despite its cheaper price.  A “great” probability of perceiving the difference means that there is indeed a difference between the brands, or in other words, that the new brand is truly different and not at all comparable with the leading brand. The test proceeds by using the time hono...

She meant of course “sympathetic resonance”, the feeling that the other person was making sense because it was meaningful and understandable. Juergen Habermas would say that communicative rationality was achieved, and even earlier, Weber would be nodding his head and saying that there was intersubjective and meaningful interpretation. Understanding from the emic point of view is what the anthropologists excel at. They have the sense, the gut feel, the sympathy and intuition, sometimes bordering on telepathy at what “aliens” are trying to say; they cross cultural boundaries in their minds and go to the guts, to the heart of the "target" group, and make sense of what they essentially are: persons who have feelings, intentions and thoughts, although they may speak totally outlandish sounds and make weird gestures at first impressions. Tell me that quantitative and positivist sociologists do that.  Like you can tell your great grandma. So as a sociologist who often works at...

Why a Social Impact Assessor, Social Planner is an Anthropologist in the Field Although possessing impressive quantitative analytical skills, a social planner cannot escape being an anthropologist while doing field work. The Founding father Max Weber described sociology as Verstehendesoziologie, which is literally translated as “sociology of understanding”, but which is translated better as interpretive (or interpretative) sociology. The title of this essay should read better as why a social impact assessor or social planner SHOULD BE an anthropologist in the field, because it is never the intention of this writer to employ only an trained anthropologist, but rather train in methods of anthropological field work, every social impact assessor, or social planner. As the subjects of research are humans, complex living units with a group consciousness, exercising a formidable “facticity” over them [more about this later], and cultural artifacts which possess value to a stagger...