Calculating People

Calculating People is a reading group on history and philosophy of social sciences. This term we continue the theme of what counts as evidence in different disciplines. The group reads leading social science research in alternation with methodological and philosophical articles. All participants commit to doing the reading each time and to attending all sessions. The session starts with each participant briefly describing their impressions/questions on the reading assigned, after which the chair conducts a discussion on the recurring themes.

The meetings take place on Tuesdays, 11am–12noon in the Board Room (but check for location on the monitor in the lobby). Organisers are Christopher Clarke and Anna Alexandrova.

All are welcome!

Lent Term 2020

21 January

• Bright, L. K., Malinsky, D., & Thompson, M. (2015). Causally Interpreting Intersectionality Theory. Philosophy of Science, 83(1), 60–81.

28 January

• Pages 1468–1486 from Wacquant, L. (2002). Scrutinizing the Street: Poverty, Morality, and the Pitfalls of Urban Ethnography. American Journal of Sociology, 107(6), 1468–1532.
• Duneier, M. (2002). What Kind of Combat Sport Is Sociology? American Journal of Sociology, 107(6), 1551–1576.
• Optional/Supplemental Reading: pages 1520–1527 from Wacquant, L. (2002). Scrutinizing the Street: Poverty, Morality, and the Pitfalls of Urban Ethnography. American Journal of Sociology, 107(6), 1468–1532.

4 February

• Pages 1486–1501 from Wacquant, L. (2002). Scrutinizing the Street: Poverty, Morality, and the Pitfalls of Urban Ethnography. American Journal of Sociology, 107(6), 1468–1532.
• Anderson, E. (2002). The Ideologically Driven Critique. American Journal of Sociology, 107(6), 1533–1550.

11 February

• Pages 1502–1520 from Wacquant, L. (2002). Scrutinizing the Street: Poverty, Morality, and the Pitfalls of Urban Ethnography. American Journal of Sociology, 107(6), 1468–1532.
• Newman, K. (2002). No Shame: The View from the Left Bank. American Journal of Sociology, 107(6), 1577–1599.

18 February

• Primary reading: Kling, Jeffrey R., Jeffrey B. Liebman, and Lawrence F. Katz. 'Bullets don't got no name: Consequences of fear in the ghetto.' Discovering successful pathways in children's development: Mixed methods in the study of childhood and family life (2005): 243–281.
• Optional/supplemental reading: Greene, Jennifer C. 'Is mixed methods social inquiry a distinctive methodology?.' Journal of mixed methods research 2, no. 1 (2008): 7–22.

25 February

• Kurzman, C. (2004) Can Understanding Undermine Explanation? The Confused Experience of Revolution. Philosophy of the Social Sciences, 34(3).

3 March

• Draft excerpts from Petri Ylikoski's Learning from Case Studies (Cambridge University Press, 2020) and Micro, Macro, and Mechanisms (Helskinki University Press, 2020).

10 March

• Same as 3 March