This article proffers an invitation to neoclassical sociology. This is understood as a Habermasia... more This article proffers an invitation to neoclassical sociology. This is understood as a Habermasian reconstruction of the fundamental vision of the discipline as conceptualized by classical theorists, particularly Weber. Taking the cases of Eastern and Central Europe as a laboratory, we argue against the idea of a single, homogenizing globalizing logic. Currently and historically what we see instead is a remarkable diversity of capitalist forms and destinations. Neither sociological theories of networks and embeddedness nor economic models of rational action adequately comprehend this diversity. A neoclassical approach enjoins an empirical research agenda comparing capitalisms, and an ironic, historical approach to analysis to inform an immanent critique of capitalist possibilities.
This essay draws on Mary Douglas' theory of institutional styles of thinking to analyze the d... more This essay draws on Mary Douglas' theory of institutional styles of thinking to analyze the debate about how and when the Coronavirus crisis can be brought to an end. The dominant approach, I show, frames the problem in utilitarian terms, akin to what is known among philosophers as "the trolley problem." I point out the pitfalls of this framing and contrast it with a counter-frame taken from the Judeo-Christian tradition of pastoral leadership. The lacunae of this institutional style of thinking are pointed out as well, in order to develop the critical distance necessary for a reasoned intervention in the crisis.
Background The objective of this study is to gain new insights into the relationship between clin... more Background The objective of this study is to gain new insights into the relationship between clinical signs and age at diagnosis. Method We utilize a new, large, online survey of 1743 parents of children diagnosed with ASD, and use multiple statistical approaches. These include regression analysis, factor analysis, and machine learning (regression tree). Results We find that clinical signs that most strongly predict early diagnosis are not necessarily specific to autism, but rather those that initiate the process that eventually leads to an ASD diagnosis. Given the high correlations between symptoms, only a few signs are found to be important in predicting early diagnosis. For several clinical signs we find that their presence and intensity are positively correlated with delayed diagnosis (e.g., tantrums and aggression). Even though our data are drawn from parents’ retrospective accounts, we provide evidence that parental recall bias and/or hindsight bias did not play a significant ...
The main argument of this short essay is that the concept of intellectual , especially the somewh... more The main argument of this short essay is that the concept of intellectual , especially the somewhat redundant neologism of public intellectual , is too narrow to guide research on how interventions in public affairs are currently authored, crafted, and operated. Instead, I propose the concept of public interventions to inform a more comprehensive approach that broadens the analytical frame by multiplying relevant agencies, modes and targets of intervention. This approach is inspired by Foucault’s (2000) distinction between the “universal” and “specific” intellectual; Bourdieu’s ( Corporatism ) replacement of the latter by a “collective intellectual”; and the approach to the public sphere urged by the contributors to Making Things Public (Latour and Weibel).
I make three points in my response. I begin by pointing out the differences between the sociologi... more I make three points in my response. I begin by pointing out the differences between the sociological and philosophical approaches to moral questions. The sociologist is interested in the trolley problem as a frame, and in the rhetorical power it generates. Second, I reject the claim that I am forcing the debate into a binary choice. Instead, I show the similarity between the model of moral reasoning Canca advocates and risk assessment, noting the well-known limitations of risk assessment. Finally, I reject the claim that I make moral arguments without engaging in principled moral reasoning, and instead explain the sociological method of comparison and relativization upon which I draw.
A diverse body of sociological work has underlined the significance and usefulness of disputes an... more A diverse body of sociological work has underlined the significance and usefulness of disputes and controversies as a strategic research site to observe social processes that are typically protected from scrutiny (Berg and Ross 1982; Emerson 1992; Garfinkel 1967; ...
Abstract In our contribution, we compare recent development RCTs with an earlier wave of developm... more Abstract In our contribution, we compare recent development RCTs with an earlier wave of development experiments dating from the 1960s and 1970s to investigate the links between the academic success of randomistas and historical changes in the development aid industry. We show how the recent privatization and fragmentation of the foreign aid sector enabled randomistas to bypass the political resistance to randomization among development workers and beneficiaries, which had bedeviled their predecessors. Comparing current development RCTs to earlier experiments, we find that they tend to be of shorter duration, smaller scope, and that they often limit themselves to evaluating only what can be easily measured. While this might be useful to cement the alliance between randomistas and global foundations interested in demonstrating the impact of their giving, we argue that the targeted interventions characteristic of the randomista movement obscure the harder task of addressing the complex mechanisms reproducing global poverty.
This paper compares Weber’s argument in “Science as a vocation,” with Physicist Alvin Weinberg’s ... more This paper compares Weber’s argument in “Science as a vocation,” with Physicist Alvin Weinberg’s discussion of the distinction between science and “trans-science,” as two contrasting blueprints for boundary-work. It argues that Weber’s empirical reasons for separating the scientific discussion of means and the extra-scientific discussion of ends – namely, the thesis of “disenchantment” – no longer serves as a useful approach to understanding the growth of “trans-science” or “expertise” over the last century. It advances an understanding of the latter as an intermediary sphere wherein facts and values, means and ends, are necessarily entangled because expertise is crucial to the production of legitimacy in liberal-democratic societies. The paper concludes by asking what is the responsibility of the scientist as trans-scientist or expert and what institutions would best embody and support this vocation.
Berkeley Journal of Sociology a Critical Review, 2010
... Keynote addres, 2010 BJS Annual Conference: How parents of autistic children became &quot... more ... Keynote addres, 2010 BJS Annual Conference: How parents of autistic children became "Experts on their own children": Notes toward a sociology of expertise. Autores: Gil Eyal; Localización: Berkeley journal of sociology: a critical review , ISSN 0067-5830, Nº. ...
El Misterio Del Ministerio Pierre Bourdieu Y La Politica Democratica 2005 Isbn 84 9784 035 6 Pags 179 208, 2005
... La construcción y la destrucción del campo político checoslovaco. Autores: Gil Eyal; Localiza... more ... La construcción y la destrucción del campo político checoslovaco. Autores: Gil Eyal; Localización: El misterio del ministerio : Pierre Bourdieu y la política democrática / coord. por Loïc Wacquant, 2005, ISBN 84-9784-035-6 , págs. 179-208. Fundación Dialnet. ...
This article builds on Hacking’s framework of “dynamic nominalism” to show how knowledge about bi... more This article builds on Hacking’s framework of “dynamic nominalism” to show how knowledge about biological etiology can interact with the “kinds of people” delineated by diagnostic categories in ways that “loop” or modify both over time. The authors use historical materials to show how “geneticization” played a crucial role in binding together autism as a biosocial community and how evidence from genetics research later made an important contribution to the diagnostic expansion of autism. In the second part of the article, the authors draw on quantitative and qualitative analyses of autism rates over time in several rare conditions that are delineated strictly according to genomic mutations in order to demonstrate that these changes in diagnostic practice helped to both increase autism’s prevalence and create its enormous genetic heterogeneity. Thus, a looping process that began with geneticization and involved the social effects of genetics research itself transformed the autism pop...
... Page 5. For Johanna Page 6. Page 7. ... I would like to thank Gideon Aran, Karen Barkey, Mich... more ... Page 5. For Johanna Page 6. Page 7. ... I would like to thank Gideon Aran, Karen Barkey, Michael Burawoy, Haya Bambaji-Sasportas, UriBen-Eliezer, Irit Dosh, Dani Eshet, Adriana Kemp, Aziza Khazoomm, Shai Lavie, Emmanuel Marx, Hagai Ram, Julia Resnick, and Yuval Yonay. ...
This article proffers an invitation to neoclassical sociology. This is understood as a Habermasia... more This article proffers an invitation to neoclassical sociology. This is understood as a Habermasian reconstruction of the fundamental vision of the discipline as conceptualized by classical theorists, particularly Weber. Taking the cases of Eastern and Central Europe as a laboratory, we argue against the idea of a single, homogenizing globalizing logic. Currently and historically what we see instead is a remarkable diversity of capitalist forms and destinations. Neither sociological theories of networks and embeddedness nor economic models of rational action adequately comprehend this diversity. A neoclassical approach enjoins an empirical research agenda comparing capitalisms, and an ironic, historical approach to analysis to inform an immanent critique of capitalist possibilities.
This essay draws on Mary Douglas' theory of institutional styles of thinking to analyze the d... more This essay draws on Mary Douglas' theory of institutional styles of thinking to analyze the debate about how and when the Coronavirus crisis can be brought to an end. The dominant approach, I show, frames the problem in utilitarian terms, akin to what is known among philosophers as "the trolley problem." I point out the pitfalls of this framing and contrast it with a counter-frame taken from the Judeo-Christian tradition of pastoral leadership. The lacunae of this institutional style of thinking are pointed out as well, in order to develop the critical distance necessary for a reasoned intervention in the crisis.
Background The objective of this study is to gain new insights into the relationship between clin... more Background The objective of this study is to gain new insights into the relationship between clinical signs and age at diagnosis. Method We utilize a new, large, online survey of 1743 parents of children diagnosed with ASD, and use multiple statistical approaches. These include regression analysis, factor analysis, and machine learning (regression tree). Results We find that clinical signs that most strongly predict early diagnosis are not necessarily specific to autism, but rather those that initiate the process that eventually leads to an ASD diagnosis. Given the high correlations between symptoms, only a few signs are found to be important in predicting early diagnosis. For several clinical signs we find that their presence and intensity are positively correlated with delayed diagnosis (e.g., tantrums and aggression). Even though our data are drawn from parents’ retrospective accounts, we provide evidence that parental recall bias and/or hindsight bias did not play a significant ...
The main argument of this short essay is that the concept of intellectual , especially the somewh... more The main argument of this short essay is that the concept of intellectual , especially the somewhat redundant neologism of public intellectual , is too narrow to guide research on how interventions in public affairs are currently authored, crafted, and operated. Instead, I propose the concept of public interventions to inform a more comprehensive approach that broadens the analytical frame by multiplying relevant agencies, modes and targets of intervention. This approach is inspired by Foucault’s (2000) distinction between the “universal” and “specific” intellectual; Bourdieu’s ( Corporatism ) replacement of the latter by a “collective intellectual”; and the approach to the public sphere urged by the contributors to Making Things Public (Latour and Weibel).
I make three points in my response. I begin by pointing out the differences between the sociologi... more I make three points in my response. I begin by pointing out the differences between the sociological and philosophical approaches to moral questions. The sociologist is interested in the trolley problem as a frame, and in the rhetorical power it generates. Second, I reject the claim that I am forcing the debate into a binary choice. Instead, I show the similarity between the model of moral reasoning Canca advocates and risk assessment, noting the well-known limitations of risk assessment. Finally, I reject the claim that I make moral arguments without engaging in principled moral reasoning, and instead explain the sociological method of comparison and relativization upon which I draw.
A diverse body of sociological work has underlined the significance and usefulness of disputes an... more A diverse body of sociological work has underlined the significance and usefulness of disputes and controversies as a strategic research site to observe social processes that are typically protected from scrutiny (Berg and Ross 1982; Emerson 1992; Garfinkel 1967; ...
Abstract In our contribution, we compare recent development RCTs with an earlier wave of developm... more Abstract In our contribution, we compare recent development RCTs with an earlier wave of development experiments dating from the 1960s and 1970s to investigate the links between the academic success of randomistas and historical changes in the development aid industry. We show how the recent privatization and fragmentation of the foreign aid sector enabled randomistas to bypass the political resistance to randomization among development workers and beneficiaries, which had bedeviled their predecessors. Comparing current development RCTs to earlier experiments, we find that they tend to be of shorter duration, smaller scope, and that they often limit themselves to evaluating only what can be easily measured. While this might be useful to cement the alliance between randomistas and global foundations interested in demonstrating the impact of their giving, we argue that the targeted interventions characteristic of the randomista movement obscure the harder task of addressing the complex mechanisms reproducing global poverty.
This paper compares Weber’s argument in “Science as a vocation,” with Physicist Alvin Weinberg’s ... more This paper compares Weber’s argument in “Science as a vocation,” with Physicist Alvin Weinberg’s discussion of the distinction between science and “trans-science,” as two contrasting blueprints for boundary-work. It argues that Weber’s empirical reasons for separating the scientific discussion of means and the extra-scientific discussion of ends – namely, the thesis of “disenchantment” – no longer serves as a useful approach to understanding the growth of “trans-science” or “expertise” over the last century. It advances an understanding of the latter as an intermediary sphere wherein facts and values, means and ends, are necessarily entangled because expertise is crucial to the production of legitimacy in liberal-democratic societies. The paper concludes by asking what is the responsibility of the scientist as trans-scientist or expert and what institutions would best embody and support this vocation.
Berkeley Journal of Sociology a Critical Review, 2010
... Keynote addres, 2010 BJS Annual Conference: How parents of autistic children became &quot... more ... Keynote addres, 2010 BJS Annual Conference: How parents of autistic children became "Experts on their own children": Notes toward a sociology of expertise. Autores: Gil Eyal; Localización: Berkeley journal of sociology: a critical review , ISSN 0067-5830, Nº. ...
El Misterio Del Ministerio Pierre Bourdieu Y La Politica Democratica 2005 Isbn 84 9784 035 6 Pags 179 208, 2005
... La construcción y la destrucción del campo político checoslovaco. Autores: Gil Eyal; Localiza... more ... La construcción y la destrucción del campo político checoslovaco. Autores: Gil Eyal; Localización: El misterio del ministerio : Pierre Bourdieu y la política democrática / coord. por Loïc Wacquant, 2005, ISBN 84-9784-035-6 , págs. 179-208. Fundación Dialnet. ...
This article builds on Hacking’s framework of “dynamic nominalism” to show how knowledge about bi... more This article builds on Hacking’s framework of “dynamic nominalism” to show how knowledge about biological etiology can interact with the “kinds of people” delineated by diagnostic categories in ways that “loop” or modify both over time. The authors use historical materials to show how “geneticization” played a crucial role in binding together autism as a biosocial community and how evidence from genetics research later made an important contribution to the diagnostic expansion of autism. In the second part of the article, the authors draw on quantitative and qualitative analyses of autism rates over time in several rare conditions that are delineated strictly according to genomic mutations in order to demonstrate that these changes in diagnostic practice helped to both increase autism’s prevalence and create its enormous genetic heterogeneity. Thus, a looping process that began with geneticization and involved the social effects of genetics research itself transformed the autism pop...
... Page 5. For Johanna Page 6. Page 7. ... I would like to thank Gideon Aran, Karen Barkey, Mich... more ... Page 5. For Johanna Page 6. Page 7. ... I would like to thank Gideon Aran, Karen Barkey, Michael Burawoy, Haya Bambaji-Sasportas, UriBen-Eliezer, Irit Dosh, Dani Eshet, Adriana Kemp, Aziza Khazoomm, Shai Lavie, Emmanuel Marx, Hagai Ram, Julia Resnick, and Yuval Yonay. ...
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