Wednesday, December 27, 2017

General Social Complexity, Mapped

whether you believe this construct depends on whether you believe that Secular = Rational. If not, then the map is useless. It is believed by its intellectual creators, who, in their own defense look down on "historically naive public intellectuals who can’t evaluate competing hypotheses". So this group of intellectuals is a cut above regular intellectuals. Just so you know.


Unlike Anthropology which admitted to not being actual science, Sociology still claims to be a science. However, the assignment of Values to the Variables is done, not by measuring them as a real science would do, but by accessing the expertise of the "cut above intellectuals", who just place numerics where they feel right about it.

This makes the chart above an exercise in Post Modern feelings (based in "expertise" not present in regular-Class intellectuals, of course). Expertise or not, it is still data-mongering where data is created, not discovered objectively, experimentally, and replicably. So it is not an empirical science by any stretch, and is therefore a Post Modern Construct wearing the stolen lab coat with the label "science" on it.

1 comment:

Steven Satak said...

I'm sorry, but as soon as I saw the label at the bottom - "Self-Expression Values" - I knew this was a subjective piece of twaddle that was attempting to rationalize its judgments by calling itself 'science'.

Everyone knows you can't replicate something that is subjective. That's why doctors are always using those pain charts.

Everyone knows Sociology is a 'soft science', but this is fringe work.

At least it is not Evolutionary Psychology, which is naked storytelling with no attempt beyond the trivial to produce a scientific fig leaf.

But anyone who starts their presentation by assuring you that they are 'secular, but under new management', probably aren't.