Introduction to the Social Sciences (RLE Social Theory)

Maurice Duverger

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781138787445
• eBook ISBN: 9781000155891
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Professor Duverger at last provides the student with an overall view of the methodology of the social sciences. He briefly traces the origin of the notion of a social science, showing how it emerged from social philosophy. Its essential elements and pre-conditions are described; the splintering of social science into specialist disciplines is explained, and the need for a general sociology confirmed.

The techniques of observation used by social scientists are dealt with in some detail and the unity of the social sciences is illustrated by examples of the universal application of these techniques. Documentary evidence in its various forms are described along with the basic analytical techniques, including quantitative methods and content analysis. Other methods of gathering information through polls, interviews, attitude scales and participant observation are all described.

Professor Duverger brings together the different kinds of analysis used to assess the information thus gathered. Arguing that observing and theorizing are not two different stages or levels of research, he examines the practical value and difficulties of general sociological theories, partial theories and models and working hypotheses. He both describes and assesses the limitations of experiment and the scope of comparative methods in the social sciences. He then gives elementary instructions for using and assessing the value of mathematical techniques. The possibilities of presenting social phenomena through graphs and charts are also explored. There are useful book lists and diagrams.

PART ONE

THE TECHNIQUES OF OBSERVATION

Like all sciences the social sciences are experimental; they start with the facts. The basic element of their method is to look for the facts and observe them. No one questions this attitude. Those who accuse American sociologists of ‘hyperfactualism’ are attacking the empirical way in which research and analysis is performed and the absence of systemization and hypotheses but not the principle of observation and research. Moreover, in social science research into the facts has a greater importance than in other sciences because the subject is underdeveloped. Vast unknown territories remain unexplored, and this is why simple documentary studies, simple factual descriptions can be major contributions.

Research and observation of the facts are faced in some social sciences with a particularly difficult obstacle—that of secrecy. Religious, political and sexual phenomena still belong, at least partially, to the sociological category of the ‘sacred’. In France it is not polite to interrogate people about their political allegiance or their religious beliefs and still less about their private life. The desire to hide embarrassing information strengthens this convention. The argument about ‘State secrets’ protects the State less than the private interests which make use of the State. But there are ‘State secrets’. The shadows can only be partially illuminated.

Research and observation can follow two kinds of method: (1) The analysis of documents such as written documents, films, photographs, gramophone records, etc., which throw light on social phenomena; (2) the direct observation of social reality by inquiries, interviews, questionnaires, etc. Direct observation can itself be divided into two parts. Either samples are used to analyse large communities and this does not permit very profound analysis; or small communities (and even individuals) are observed and this gains in depth what is lost in scope. The first will be called extensive observation, the second intensive observation. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between them, especially in borderline cases. Some techniques are common to both although they differ somewhat in their application. For example, interviews by questionnaire used in extensive inquiries are a particular variety of the general technique of the interview, which is widely used in intensive observation. However, the two categories are sufficiently distinct to be studied separately.

CHAPTER ONE


DOCUMENTARY OBSERVATION

Social phenomena leave traces in a great number and variety of documents: archives, censuses, the press, personal documents, instruments and tools, pictures, photographs, films, records, tape recordings, etc. A general outline of these various kinds of documents will be given and then the problems of the techniques of documentary analysis will be examined. Amongst the latter a very detailed study of ‘content analysis’ is required because of its complexity.

Section I. Categories of documents.

The simplest classification is the distinction between written documents (books, journals, archives, etc.), statistical documents (censuses) and others (such as films, photographs, records, tools and instruments, etc.). Another classification, which cuts across the the preceding one, distinguishes between original documents and reproductions. Private archives are documents; photocopies of these archives are reproductions. This distinction is sometimes blurred: the recording of a conversation is a reproduction but it is the only means of conserving in a document something which otherwise would have left no trace. It is perhaps necessary to distinguish between ‘spontaneous’ and ‘artificial’ documents.

1. WRITTEN DOCUMENTS

These are numerous and very varied. An exhaustive list of them cannot be given here. The student in the social sciences must work in an imaginative way; unexpected and unusual documents can sometimes provide useful information. As an attempt at classification four categories of written documents will be distinguished: 1. Public archives and official documents; 2. the press; 3. private archives; 4. indirect documentation.

A. Public archives and official documents

There are several categories of official documents: public archives containing the original documents of public administration (reports, instructions, notes, etc.) which can only be consulted by the public under special conditions; censuses and statistics (see p. 84); and the various official publications which are more or less freely available to the public.

(a) PUBLIC ARCHIVES

If all official documents were kept in the archives and if the archives were open to the public, the social sciences, and political science in particular, would be greatly advanced. Public documents do not reveal everything but they reveal a great deal. Unfortunately many documents are not kept and those in the archives are often inaccessible.

1. Central archives. There is a special administration in France with responsibilities for conserving the archives—the Archives nationales. In principle all official documents must be deposited in the Archives nationales after a certain time.

Two sorts of difficulties are met with in using the National Archives. In the first place there are important gaps. In spite of the law the ministries do not deposit all their papers: the Ministry of the Interior, in particular, the documents of which have a special importance for political scientists, has retained or destroyed many categories of documents. In 1940, during the German advance on Paris, many documents were destroyed. In the second place, recent holdings cannot be consulted by the public. France has a fifty-year rule; documents of a date later than 1910 cannot be consulted. Most countries have similar rules. As the social scientist often works on contemporary subjects this rule is a great hindrance.

2. Local archives. The départemental archives have a centralized organization. The archivists are appointed by the Minister of National Education. In principle the same rules apply for the communication of documents in the départemental archives as in the National Archives.

Municipal archives are the responsibility of the mayor and their conservation is an obligatory charge on the commune. Access to them is easy, particularly in the small communes, but their content is often disappointing. According to the law, consultation of the records of sessions of the municipal council is unrestricted.

(b) PARLIAMENTARY AND ADMINISTRATIVE PUBLICATIONS

The main one is the Journal official but there are also bulletins of ministries and public services, collections of local administrative orders and so on.

1. Journaux officiels and their appendices are documents of great importance in the study of parliament and political parties. They are too often neglected. The reports of the parliamentary debates can be subject to content analysis (see p. 105) to throw light on the political positions of the parties; detailed studies can be made of the divisions. The appendices, called parliamentary documents, contain all the bills proposed and these can be used to analyse the preoccupations of the most powerful sections of public opinion.

2. Administrative publications are very varied. Studies of top administrators can be made in the administrative annuals. The collections of administrative orders and the bulletins of the ministries can be used for the study of the public services. The collections of departmental administrative orders and the records of the debates of the General Councils provide documentation on local political life. The Bibliographie selective des publications officielles françaises published by Documentation française provides a survey of all official publications.

B. The Press

Three different documentary uses of the press can be distinguished: general documentation, documentation on particular social groups or categories and as a source of documentation on the press itself.

(a) GENERAL DOCUMENTATION

Newspapers are the main documentary basis for historical periods for which the archives are not open and even for those periods for which there is access, newspapers are the best source for establishing the general course of events.

1. Factual documentation. There are two problems here. Does the press record the facts accurately? Does it report all the facts? It cannot be denied that newspapers distort events but usually by the context and the presentation rather than in the material content of the reporting. The truth can usually be established by comparing newspapers of different views. The study of the different ways in which newspapers present the same news is in itself interesting. It should be remembered that in the last resort it is not the facts—what really happened—which influences public opinion and consequently the government, but the facts as the public sees them.

Can important events escape the notice of the press? For example, secret agreements between states. Modern means of communication make this unlikely. Events can certainly be obscured for a certain length of time but in one way and another they always become known. A French specialist in international relations (Francois Le Roy) has formulated the theory that at the present time all events leave ‘perceptible traces’. This seems to be the case.

2. Documentation on public opinion. The press provides basic documentation on public opinion. The press tends to form public opinion as much as reflect it (although people are not always in agreement with what they read in their newspaper). This is even true of commercial newspapers whose first aim is to please; it is true to a very much greater extent of political newspapers.

However, it can be admitted as a general rule that people regularly buy the political newspaper which fits in best with their way of thinking. The geographical and social distribution of political newspapers provides evidence on the various ‘spiritual families’. The distribution of the so-called informative press corresponds approximately to the preoccupations of its readers. A more detailed examination of each newspaper, its management, its financial backers and so on, is revealing about the way in which a paper is intended to influence public opinion.

(b) DOCUMENTATION ON SOCIAL GROUPS AND CATEGORIES

The specialist press, particularly the professional press, is very important in this respect.

1. Pressure groups. As a result of the lack of documentation, the study of pressure groups (fundamental phenomena in Western democracies) remains very neglected. The specialist press can provide a useful starting point. Most professional journals provide a ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original title
• Original copyright
• Table of Contents
• Introduction: the Social Sciences
• Part One: The Techniques of Observation
• Part two: Systematic Analysis
• Index