Social Science Information recent issues

The value of science: changing conceptions of scientific productivity, 1869 to circa 1970

Godin, B. — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:07:52 PST

Productivity is now a buzzword in science studies. Whether you consult the literature on research management, the economic literature on technology and innovation, the literature on bibliometrics or the official literature on science policy and its conceptual frameworks, what you find is analyses on productivity, often accompanied by a plea, and recipes, for increased productivity. This article documents how the concept of productivity got into the analysis of science, through the statistics on which the concept rested, and its transformation over one hundred years. It argues that, through history, the concept as applied to science has carried four meanings: productivity as reproduction, productivity as output, productivity as efficiency and productivity as outcome.

The logic of inquiry in social sciences, the case of economics in particular

Cojanu, V. — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:07:52 PST

The present-day epistemology of social science resembles a picture puzzle whose pieces are scattered to and fro across the vast domain of philosophical inquiry. This study attempts to assemble them in what appears to be a common thread of thinking for a necessary epistemic reconstruction, the historical specificity of social sciences. This understanding reveals itself as a method of validating truth in acknowledgement of three logical principles: (1) causality indeterminately becomes embedded in spatial—temporal distortions; (2) linear time is replaced by multiple, overlapping timescales, ‘multiple’ being a cultural rather than numerical concept; and (3) prediction remains associated with the least historical events, the particulars; that is, event-regularities normally specific for short periods of time.

Introduction au symposium 'Rendre compte ou rendre des comptes': la retranscription d'entretiens aux prises avec la communication

Gueranger, D. — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:07:52 PST

Contradictions and conflicts in sociological writing: the rewriting of an interview by Pierre Bourdieu

Gueranger, D. — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:07:52 PST

This article aims at categorizing the practical problems posed by sociological writing and, more generally, the epistemological issues raised by such problems. It is based on two successive versions of a single interview made and transcribed by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Looking at changes made between the two written versions, we attempt to shed light on specific constraints that influence the act of writing, answering three partially contradictory needs: to describe, to explain and to communicate.

Pretending they speak French: the disappearance of the sociologist as translator

Poblete, L. — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:07:52 PST

Translating interview abstracts is a conventional practice in sociological prose. According to the protocols, translated interview abstracts should be presented as quotations. This discursive strategy conceals the researcher’s intervention as a translator. Therefore, this article is aimed at discussing the significance that translating interviews acquires as an act of communication with two goals that are difficult to reconcile: the need to account for the Other’s discourse and the obligation to be accountable to the academic world.

De la connaissance a la reconnaissance: la retranscription d'entretien comme marqueur social

Marchand-Lagier, C. — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:07:52 PST

Cet article analyse les manières de rendre compte d’un échange oral entre un enquêteur et ses enquêtés. Le vote en faveur du Front national, objet politique singulier et stigmatisé, offre la possibilité de mesurer toutes les difficultés que rencontre celui ou celle qui veut témoigner d’une proximité avec son échantillon (au regard du genre et du milieu social). Les retranscriptions d’entretiens placent le chercheur — pris entre l’impératif de la connaissance de ses enquêtés et celui de la reconnaissance académique — dans la délicate position de rendre des comptes sur ce qu’il est. A trop insister sur la place occupée par chacun dans l’espace social, les retranscriptions dévoilent combien tout ce qui peut servir l’échange oral peut desservir la communication écrite sur cet échange.

Mots-clés: Communication écrite; Espace social; Front National; Genre; Reconnaissance professionnelle; Retranscription d’entretien

Les preferences politiques et electorales des Argentins: memoires des votes (1946--2001)

Ferrari, M. — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:07:52 PST

Cet article tente d’éclairer les motivations des préférences électorales et politiques des Argentins pendant la deuxième moitié du XXe siècle en analysant les perceptions des ‘gens du commun’, c’est-à-dire, des personnes éloignées des lieux gouvernementaux de prise de décision. Les analyses des sciences sociales sur les processus politiques de l’histoire de l’Argentine sont ici confrontées avec les perceptions des individus qui font appel à leur mémoire de vote et à la façon dont ils se souviennent avoir vécu différents événements, ainsi qu’à leur évaluation personnelle quant à l’importance de leur participation électorale. Les témoignages des protagonistes de ‘l’histoire d’en bas’ donnent à voir des opinions — ou parfois des évocations — sur la politique et les hommes politiques de la période 1946—2001. Ils expriment des sentiments ou des émotions qui permettent de compléter, nuancer, confronter ou encore mettre en tension les interprétations historiographiques avec lesquelles ils sont mis en dialogue. Ces différents protagonistes ont tous pris une position plus ou moins tranchée par rapport aux partis politiques ou aux gouvernements dont ils ont été contemporains et surtout, au clivage péronisme/anti-péronisme qui, de 1946 à nos jours, a parcouru l’histoire de l’Argentine.

Mots-clés: Histoire de l’Argentine; Histoire récente; Mémoire; Participation électorale; Participation politique

Language and culture in emotion research: a multidisciplinary perspective

Ogarkova, A., Borgeaud, P., Scherer, K. — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:45:01 PDT

Taking affective explanations to heart

Deonna, J. A., Teroni, F. — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:45:02 PDT

In this article, the authors examine and debate the categories of emotions, moods, temperaments, character traits and sentiments. They define them and offer an account of the relations that exist among the phenomena they cover. They argue that, whereas ascribing character traits and sentiments (dispositions) is to ascribe a specific coherence and stability to the emotions (episodes) the subject is likely to feel, ascribing temperaments (dispositions) is to ascribe a certain stability to the subject’s moods (episodes). The rationale for this distinction, the authors claim, lies in the fact that, whereas appeal to character traits or sentiments in explanation is tantamount to making sense of a given behaviour in terms of an individual’s specific evaluative perspective — as embodied in this individual’s emotional profile — appeal to temperaments makes sense of it independently of any such evaluative perspective.

Eight dimensions for the emotions

Cochrane, T. — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:45:02 PDT

The author proposes a dimensional model of our emotion concepts that is intended to be largely independent of one’s theory of emotions and applicable to the different ways in which emotions are measured. He outlines some conditions for selecting the dimensions based on these motivations and general conceptual grounds. Given these conditions he then advances an 8-dimensional model that is shown to effectively differentiate emotion labels both within and across cultures, as well as more obscure expressive language. The 8 dimensions are: (1) attracted—repulsed, (2) powerful—weak, (3) free—constrained, (4) certain—uncertain, (5) generalized—focused, (6) future directed—past directed, (7) enduring—sudden, (8) socially connected—disconnected.

Emotion and colour across languages: implicit associations in Spanish colour terms

Soriano, C., Valenzuela, J. — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:45:02 PDT

This study explores the reasons why colour words and emotion words are frequently associated in the different languages of the world. One of them is connotative overlap between the colour term and the emotion term. A new experimental methodology, the Implicit Association Test (IAT), is used to investigate the implicit connotative structure of the Peninsular Spanish colour terms rojo (red), azul (blue), verde (green) and amarillo (yellow) in terms of Osgood’s universal semantic dimensions: Evaluation (good—bad), Activity (excited—relaxed) and Potency (strong—weak). The results show a connotative profile compatible with the previous literature, except for the valence (good—bad) of some of the colour terms, which is reversed. We suggest reasons for both these similarities and differences with previous studies and propose further research to test these implicit connotations and their effect on the association of colour with emotion words.

Pragmatics, propositional and non-propositional effects: can a theory of utterance interpretation account for emotions in verbal communication?

Moeschler, J. — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:45:02 PDT

This article is about pragmatics and emotion. The main purpose of pragmatics is to account for utterance-interpretation processes in verbal communication. In recent years much of pragmatics research has been devoted to the understanding of propositional effects; that is, to cognitive effects on mental representations with propositional forms such as implicatures and explicatures. Little energy has been devoted to non-propositional effects; that is, to pragmatic effects that have no propositional formats and are mainly associated with emotional reactions such as fear, pleasure, joy, anguish, etc. Utterances are, however, often the causes of such non-propositional effects. This paper presents a general framework, Relevance Theory, which could account for non-propositional effects. The limits of these theoretical approaches are also exposed.

Peut-on traduire une emotion erotique? L'exemple des traductions francaises de l'ode 31 de Sappho

Bouvier, D. — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:45:02 PDT

Une étude des nombreuses traductions françaises de l’ode 31 de Sappho permet de mettre en question certains postulats sur l’universalité de la perception des émotions. L’importance des variations subies, en traduction, par le texte de départ invite à s’interroger sur les facteurs qui peuvent influencer les modes et les tendances de la sensibilité occidentale. Evocation poétique d’une émotion amoureuse, l’ode 31 confond deux ordres d’émotivité, poétique et érotique. Exprimant l’amour, la jalousie ou la crainte, masculins ou féminins, affectant l’âme ou le corps, les symptômes décrits par l’ode 31 évoluent d’une traduction à l’autre et renvoient effectivement à des tendances propres à chaque époque. Une explication plus profonde de ces variations est alors la mémoire dont se chargent mots et métaphores au cours de leurs emplois. Sappho qui emprunte à la poésie homérique des métaphores qui exprimaient la peur guerrière joue sur un registre que les traducteurs ne peuvent retrouver: leurs vocabulaires et leurs métaphores étant chargés d’une autre mémoire.

Translating the emotions: some uses of animus in Vergil's Aeneid

Nelis, D. P. — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:45:02 PDT

In recent years, considerable scholarly attention has been devoted to investigating the influence of Lucretius’ De rerum natura on Vergil. At the same time, the Aeneid has become a central text for the study of the presentation of the emotions in Latin poetry. The author attempts to bring together these two trends in Vergilian scholarship by trying to see if the depiction of emotions in Vergilian epic owes anything to Lucretian precedent. He focuses on the term animus and its use in the opening scenes of the Aeneid. It is an important word in both epics, but it is also notoriously hard to translate accurately.

Quelques reflexions sur la representation des emotions en Chine et en chinois

Zufferey, N. — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:45:02 PDT

L’article traite de la façon chinoise de dire et de se représenter les émotions dans la tradition chinoise. Dans une première partie sont abordés certains des fondements conceptuels des émotions dans la philosophie chinoise. Puis nous nous intéressons à la dimension sociale des émotions dans la Chine d’aujourd’hui, en examinant quelques mots et énoncés qui sont révélateurs de traits essentiels des représentations chinoises quant aux émotions; l’un de ces traits est la dimension sociale des émotions. Une troisième partie évoque le problème de la sincérité des émotions, problème qui en Chine ancienne a une grande importance philosophique. En conclusion sont proposées quelques réflexions sur l’intérêt du vocabulaire lié aux émotions, mais aussi les pièges de celui-ci, pour les chercheurs en sciences sociales engagés dans le comparatisme culturel.

(Un)common denominators in research on emotion language: a postscript

Ogarkova, A., Borgeaud, P. — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:45:02 PDT

Trust and social capital in teams and organizations -- antecedents, dynamics, benefits and limitations: an introduction

Costa, A. C., Peiro, J. M. — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:35:46 PDT

The trust episode in organizations: implications for private and public social capital

Martinez-Tur, V., Peiro, J. M. — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:35:46 PDT

Taking into account that research on organizational trust is fragmented, the present article proposes an integrated view of the episode of trust in organizations. To this end, the authors define trust and analyze its proximal and distal sources. They also examine the potential role of context, again considering proximal and distal facets. In addition, they explore the consequences of organizational trust leading to private and public social capital. Finally, the authors consider different levels of construct in the analysis of the trust episode in organizations. This effort helps integrate dispersed research efforts and reveals neglected research areas in the investigation on organizational trust and its connections to social capital.

Social identity patterns and trust in demographically diverse work teams

van der Zee, K., Vos, M., Luijters, K. — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:35:46 PDT

The article presents a model that links trust in a demographically diverse work context to three different social-identity patterns. Trust is considered to be beneficial for interpersonal relationships and work outcomes in diverse teams as well as for a healthy work relationship between minority members and their company. First, imposing a common ingroup identity based on similarities has been put forward as a useful method of creating depersonalized forms of trust among members of different demographic subgroups. However, its usefulness seems to be limited to situations of low identity threat. Alternatively, recent findings support the usefulness of creating a relational identity orientation or a common ingroup identity that explicitly embraces the value of diversity. The latter methods seem to enforce more personalized and more robust forms of identity-based trust in teams. They may also be useful in promoting trust of minority members in the organizational setting as a whole and in its authorities, probably because these identity patterns contribute to feelings of respect among minority members. Practical implications of these findings are discussed.

The role of social capital on trust development and dynamics: implications for cooperation, monitoring and team performance

Costa, A. C., Bijlsma-Frankema, K., de Jong, B. — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:35:46 PDT

This study examined the development and dynamics of trust in project teams and explored the relation with cooperation, monitoring and team performance. Two types of teams were distinguished at the start of the projects: low prior social-capital teams (teams composed of members that have no previous history in working together and are not acquainted or friends with one another); high prior social-capital teams (teams composed of members that have worked together previously, are acquainted or friends with each other). A longitudinal approach provided an opportunity to study trust dynamics in the course of the projects. Data from 79 project-research teams (315 master's students) was collected longitudinally, with measurement moments at the beginning, middle and end of the project. Independent team performance ratings were obtained for each team. Significant differences were found in relation to trust-building between high and low prior social-capital teams. High prior social-capital teams reported systematically higher levels of trust than low prior social-capital teams throughout the project. These differences had implications for the level of monitoring, cooperation and team performance.

The joint relationships of communication behaviors and task interdependence on trust building and change in virtual project teams

Rico, R., Alcover, C.-M., Sanchez-Manzanares, M., Gil, F. — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:35:46 PDT

The study presented in this article examined how specific communication behaviors among team members interacted with task interdependence in relation to the building and changing of trust within 53 virtual project teams. At the mid-point of the teams' projects, our results showed that task-oriented communications among team members related significantly to trust, and that communications conveying enthusiasm related to trust only under conditions of low task interdependence. At the end of a team's project, trust among team members related positively to predictability of communications and substantive responses under higher levels of task interdependence. These findings develop extant trust theory in virtual teams, suggesting some useful guidelines to better understand and manage trust processes.

Relational capital in virtual teams: the role played by trust

Zornoza, A., Orengo, V., Penarroja, V. — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:35:46 PDT

The study of social capital has emerged as a key construct in work and organizational contexts. Trust is its relational dimension and it is relevant for teams working in virtual environments. The purpose of our study is to determine whether the relationship between virtuality level (based on the characteristics of the technology used by each group) and three team-effectiveness criteria (group performance, group process satisfaction and group cohesion) is moderated by group trust climate or relational capital (i.e. trust perceptions shared by team members). A laboratory experiment was carried out with groups randomly assigned to two virtuality levels (videoconference and computer-mediated communication) and a control condition (face-to-face communication). Sixty-six 4-member teams made up the sample. Results indicated that group trust climate moderates the relationship between the virtuality level and group process satisfaction and group cohesion when the virtuality level is high. These results provide further evidence that relational capital plays an important role in virtual teams' effectiveness.

The relationship between fulfilment of the psychological contract and resistance to change during organizational transformations

van den Heuvel, S., Schalk, R. — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:35:46 PDT

Because of ongoing globalization, changing markets and political developments, the degree of organizational change has increased significantly in the last decades. Organizations value employees who are willing and able to respond positively to change. Trust and social capital, based on fulfilling mutual expectations are important determinants of successful organizational change. The present study investigates the relationship between fulfilment of the psychological contract and resistance to organization-related change. In a sample of 208 employees in ten Dutch organizations, data were gathered using questionnaires. The results showed a significant negative relationship between fulfilment of the organization side of the psychological contract and affective resistance to change. The more the organization had fulfilled its promises in the employee's perception, the less the employee resisted the organizational change. In addition the type of organizational change significantly moderated the relationship between fulfilment of the psychological contract and resistance to change. By maintaining good psychological contracts with employees, organizations can build trust, which could prevent resistance to change.

Trust in high-reliability organizations

Schobel, M. — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:35:46 PDT

The present article aims to highlight the effects of trust on safety performance in high-reliability organizations (HROs) like nuclear power plants, chemical plants or hospital emergency departments. The author claims that not only beneficial but also detrimental effects have to be considered in the analysis of trust within these socio-technical systems. Potential safety outcomes of trusting behavior are discussed in the light of two types of interaction underlying task management in HROs: trust in human interactions vs. trust in human—system interaction. Trust is further specified according to the constraints and requirements that may interfere with the beneficial role of trusting behavior. In particular, three distinct types of trust beliefs moderating the effect of trust on safety performance are addressed: beliefs based on shared values and norms, institution-based beliefs, and beliefs based on system reliability. Finally, the author highlights organizational factors that emerge as crucial for the development and maintenance of safe work settings in which the beneficial aspects of trust are brought to bear.

The non-linear dynamics of meaning processing in social systems

Leydesdorff, L. — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:19:26 PST

Social order cannot be considered as a stable phenomenon because it contains an order of reproduced expectations. When the expectations operate upon one another, they generate a non-linear dynamics that processes meaning. Specific meaning can be stabilized, for example, in social institutions, but all meaning arises from a horizon of possible meanings. Using Luhmann's social systems theory and Rosen's theory of anticipatory systems, I submit equations for modeling the processing of meaning in inter-human communication. First, a self-referential system can use a model of itself for the anticipation. Under the condition of functional differentiation, the social system can be expected to entertain a set of models; each model can also contain a model of the other models. Two anticipatory mechanisms are then possible: one transversal between the models and a longitudinal one providing the modeled systems with meaning from the perspective of hindsight. A system containing two anticipatory mechanisms can become hyper-incursive. Without decision-making, however, a hyper-incursive system would be overloaded with uncertainty. Under this pressure, informed decisions tend to replace the `natural preferences' of agents, and an order of cultural expectations can increasingly be shaped.

Anti-realisme, rationalite limitee et theorie experimentale de la decision

Cozic, M. — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:19:26 PST

L'objet de cet article est de présenter et discuter les objections d'inspiration anti-réaliste (ou instrumentaliste) qui sont adressées au programme de modélisation de la rationalité limitée dans les sciences de la décision, et en particulier dans les sciences économiques. Après avoir reconstruit ces objections dans leurs diverses variantes, nous proposons un argument qui entend contrer de manière constructive la variante que nous appelons comportementale, selon laquelle les modèles de décision ne doivent être évalués qu'en fonction de leur capacité à décrire les comportements individuels. Cet argument repose sur les avancées récentes de la théorie de la décision expérimentale et fait appel à la prise en compte de données cognitives.

What would a Bourdieuan sociology of scientific truth look like?

Kim, K.-M. — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:19:26 PST

In his last lecture delivered at the Collège de France, Pierre Bourdieu criticizes relativist sociology of science for failing to capture the truly social logic of scientific practice and asserts that his argument of 30 years ago can still work as a corrective to the relativist sociology of science. However, Bourdieu's critics concur that his field theory of science is not only theoretically defunct but also empirically deficient. In this article, I do two things. First, after showing why, in Bourdieu's field theory of science, the distinction between the two explanatory categories deployed by the relativists dissolves, I argue that, contrary to the critics' claims, Bourdieu's field theory of science has the distinctively Bourdieuan elements that sharply distinguish it not only from the Mertonian/Habermasian idealistic view of science but also from that of relativist sociology of science. The second part of this article discusses a sociological study of scientific practice and indicates the way in which Bourdieu's theoretical arguments can be empirically substantiated.

Collaborative experiments: Jane Addams, Hull House and experimental social work

Gross, M. — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:19:26 PST

The social reformer, sociologist and feminist Jane Addams (1860—1935), who established Chicago's Hull House as one of the first settlement houses in America, described her work as experimental, but at the same time she and many of her co-workers rejected the idea of Hull House as a laboratory for social scientific investigation. The present article discusses Addams's unique understanding of social experiment beyond the laboratory. Through `experimental' improvement of social conditions for underserved people and communities in the city of Chicago, Addams and her co-workers perceived the laboratory experiment as an inferior variation of the experiment in society, and not vice versa. Based on the description of experiments at Hull House, this essay attempts to show how different dimensions of experimentation beyond the laboratory can be framed and how alternate phases that combine knowledge production and knowledge application can be conceptually comprised.

Cognitive/organizational blocks: Promethean, territorial and porous regimes

Shinn, T., Marcovich, A. — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:19:26 PST

The present article seeks to deploy a classical taxonomy for description of the features and dynamics of the organizational frameworks that accompany the research endeavors which have arisen in some very spectacular, expensive or intellectually promising science research fields in recent decades, such as high-energy physics, nanoscience and nanotechnology (NST), and cryogenic-driven exploration of dark matter and associated events. Such a taxonomy will associate or combine classical concepts and vocabularies in a way that effectively and fairly precisely captures the novel forms of learning and organizational structures contained in these cognitively and organizationally innovative domains.

Publications received in 2008 Publications recues en 2008

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 08:19:26 PST