Tuesday, 15 January 2013
I like Luker's point that we, as social science researchers, are not testing a theory as much as we are trying to identify patterns. I was thinking about this in light of the school shootings in Newtown, CT and the ongoing discussion on gun violence in the US. Mental health advocates are alarmed that this is being seen as a mental health issue ( see the Zahn's piece on the CAMH site.) At the same time, gun owners are alarmed that this is seen as a gun issue and balk at any suggestion of tighter restrictions on access to weapons and ammunition. As an American who knows no one who owns a gun, this argument interests me and I could see applying Luker's "steps" in trying to find some kind of pattern rather than pointing fingers....
Mary
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I agree Mary! When these sort of horrific things happen the media wants to identify patterns rather than saying the shooter is a murderous criminal. Our social science brains want to say yes! - he is mentally ill. And he might very well be. However, identifying these patterns can easily resonate in forms of stereotypes, prejudices and/or flat out racism.
ReplyDeleteI remember seeing an image on facebook soon after the shooting that pictured three men with a caption that read something like:
If this man were...
1. Black he'd be a thug.
2. Arab he'd be a terrorist.
3. White he has mental illness.
I find these cultural and racial assumptions are designed to somehow justify and normalize media expectations of the attacker as being "to be expected".
It is these sort of patterns I find troublesome.
Hi Mary,
ReplyDeleteI also like the idea of identifying patterns over testing theories, I found this really interesting coming from a political science background. Often I felt in my undergrad that just proving a theory right or wrong ensured an 'A' on an essay. Although I personally liked the observations one could make when looking at different policies or governments. Comparing the United States gun laws to Canada's, or looking at the violent death toll while still accounting for population, may help identify patterns on the influence that laws may or may not have. This sort of research seems more compelling then merely justifying current theories.