An Approach to the Islamization of Social and Behavioral Sciences

1989 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-58
Author(s):  
Ausaf Ali
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Grand Theory ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Moral Explanation ◽  
Social And Behavioral Science ◽  
The One ◽  
Scientific Atheism

AbstractIn this paper I have tried to argue that the two widely used paradigmsof Individualism in Western social science, and Collectivism in Soviet socialscience, are not appropriate for Islamic social science on account of thesecularism (disregard of revelation) of the former and the "scientific atheism"of the latter. I have funher tried to argue that the hypothetico-deductive andempirical methodology (often called logical positivism) of natural and physicalscience is not appropriate for social and behavioral science in general, andIslamic social behavioral science in particular. It would be more fitting toregard the various disciplines of social and behavioral science as moral sciencesin order to incorporate the values, morals, and purposes of society in theorybuildingand hypothesis-formation. Accordingly, I am arguing in favor ofa moral explanation of human behavior and social processes. A moralexplanation is one which seeks to discover the causes (immediate antecedents)as well as reasons (including motives and intentions) behind human behaviorwith the greater responsibility for the explanation resting with the latter.A paradigm, conceptual framework, or what is called grand theory isessential for the formulation of theories in various fields of social and behavioralsciences, on the one hand, and for guiding empirical research. on the other.Western social science and Soviet social science have their respectiveparadigms. The immediate need of Islamic social science is to construct adistinguishable paradigm of its own. I have tried to formulate a list of theunderlying concepts of such a possible paradigm, conceptual framework,or grand theory, but not such a theory per se.Finally, I have made the suggestion that, inasmuch as the understandingof human behavior is our goal, the social and behavioral scientist could enhancethe understanding of human and social phenomena by trying to understandhis/her own motives, behavior, and actions ...

Abundance

Abundance ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Pablo J. Boczkowski
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Research Design ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Amount Of Information ◽  
Social And Behavioral Science

Chapter 1 situates the contemporary focus of this book in historical perspective by summarizing the main findings from studies of previous eras that had a massive surge in the amount of information available. Moreover, it critically examines the key contributions from social and behavioral science scholarship on information overload. In addition, it further articulates the conceptual framework that is initially introduced in the preface and that constitutes the analytical apparatus of the book. It also describes the research design adopted to gather the data necessary to answer the questions posed in the preface. Finally, it provides an outline of the book.

scholarly journals Better Government, Better Science: The Promise of and Challenges Facing the Evidence-Informed Policy Movement

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 521-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jake Bowers ◽  
Paul F. Testa
Keyword(s):  
Public Policy ◽  
Human Behavior ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Contextual Knowledge ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Policy Practice ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social And Behavioral Science ◽  
Research Designs ◽  
New Policies

Collaborations between the academy and governments promise to improve the lives of people, the operations of government, and our understanding of human behavior and public policy. This review shows that the evidence-informed policy movement consists of two main threads: ( a) an effort to invent new policies using insights from the social and behavioral science consensus about human behavior and institutions and ( b) an effort to evaluate the success of governmental policies using transparent and high-integrity research designs such as randomized controlled trials. We argue that the problems of each approach may be solved or at least well addressed by teams that combine the two. We also suggest that governmental actors ought to want to learn about why a new policy works as much as they want to know that the policy works. We envision a future evidence-informed public policy practice that ( a) involves cross-sector collaborations using the latest theory plus deep contextual knowledge to design new policies, ( b) applies the latest insights in research design and statistical inference for causal questions, and ( c) is focused on assessing explanations as much as on discovering what works. The evidence-informed public policy movement is a way that new data, new questions, and new collaborators can help political scientists improve our theoretical understanding of politics and also help our policy partners to improve the practice of government itself.

scholarly journals The Logic of Qualitative Comparative Analysis

1998 ◽  
Vol 43 (S6) ◽  
pp. 105-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles C. Ragin
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Social Research ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Research Strategies ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Science Theory ◽  
Common Strategy ◽  
The One ◽  
Interpretive Understanding

Social scientists often face a fundamental dilemma when they conduct social research. On the one hand, they may emphasize the complexity of social phenomena – a common strategy in ethnographic, historical and macro social research – and offer in–depth case studies sensitive to the specificity of the things they study. On the other hand, they may make broad, homo genizing assumptions about cases, and document generalities – patterns hold across many instances. Research strategies that focus on complexity are often labeled “qualitative”, “case–oriented”, “small–N”, or “intensive”. Those that focus on generality are often labeled “quantitative”, “variable–oriented”, “large–N”, or “extensive”. While the contrasts between these two types social research are substantial, it is easy to exaggerate their differences and t o caricature the two approaches, for example, portraying quantitative work on general patterns as scientific but sterile and oppressive, and qualitative research on small Ns as rich and emancipatory but journalistic. It is important to avoid these caricatures because the contrasts between these two general approaches provide important leads both for finding a middle path between them and for resolving basic methodological issues in social science Social scientists who study cases in an in–depth manner often see empiri cal generalizations simply as a means to another end – the interpretive understanding of cases. In this view, a fundamental goal of social science is t o interpret significant features of the social world and thereby advance our collective understanding of how existing social arrangements came about and why we live the way we do. The rough general patterns that social scientists may be able to identify simply aid the understanding of specific cases; they are not viewed as predictive. Besides, the task of interpreting and then representing socially significant phenomena (or the task of making selected social phenomena significant by representing them) is a much more immediate and tangible goal. In this view, empirical generalizations and social science theory are important – to the extent that they aid the goal interpretive understanding.

scholarly journals COVID-19 exposed why translational social science is long overdue

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia F Nisa ◽  
Jocelyn Belanger
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Unique Challenge ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
Prolonged Time ◽  
Life Saving ◽  
Social And Behavioral Science

The COVID-19 pandemic presented a unique challenge to social and behavioral science. Until very recently, and for almost a year, behavioral (non-pharmaceutical) measures were the only tools available to fight the pandemic: wearing masks, frequent handwashing, and social distancing from crowds and private gatherings. Despite the life-saving potential of these measures, a large number of people worldwide contested and undermined these recommendations, exacerbating the pandemic. With no biomedical solutions on the horizon for a prolonged time, the ball was in our court. The challenge was singularly within our realm of expertise. This was the time for social and behavioral science to shine. Did we rise to the occasion? Amid growing reflections about the (un)met challenges posed by the pandemic, and lessons (not) learned, it is time for reckoning.

Towards Computational and Behavioral Social Science

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-140 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosaria Conte ◽  
Francesca Giardini
Keyword(s):  
Big Data ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Data Science ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Big Data Analytics ◽  
Computational Social Science ◽  
Evolution Of Cooperation ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
Integrative View ◽  
Social Data Mining

Abstract. In the last few years, the study of social phenomena has hosted a renewal of interest in Computational Social Science (CSS). While this field is not new – Axelrod’s first computational work on the evolution of cooperation goes back to 1981 – CSS has recently resurged under the pressure of quantitative social science and the application of Big Data analytics to social datasets. However, Big Data is no panacea and the data deluge that it provides raises more questions than it answers. The aim of this paper is to present an overview in which CSS will be introduced and the costs of CSS will be balanced against its benefits, in an attempt to propose an integrative view of the new and the old practice of CSS. In particular, two routes to integration will be drawn. First, it will be advocated that social data mining and computational modeling need to be integrated. Second, we will introduce the generative approach, aimed to understand how social phenomena can be generated starting from the micro-components, including psychological mechanisms, and we will discuss the necessity of combining it with the anticipatory, data-driven objective. By these means, Computational Social Science will develop into a more comprehensive field of Computational Social and Behavioral Science in which data science, ICT, as well as the behavioral and social sciences will be fruitfully integrated.

“We Speak the Truth!”

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-80
Author(s):  
Sari Hanafi
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Content Analysis ◽  
Social Science ◽  
The Political ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Social Phenomena ◽  
The Social ◽  
Academic Qualifications

This study investigates the preachers and their Friday sermons in Lebanon, raising the following questions: What are the profiles of preachers in Lebanon and their academic qualifications? What are the topics evoked in their sermons? In instances where they diagnosis and analyze the political and the social, what kind of arguments are used to persuade their audiences? What kind of contact do they have with the social sciences? It draws on forty-two semi-structured interviews with preachers and content analysis of 210 preachers’ Friday sermons, all conducted between 2012 and 2015 among Sunni and Shia mosques. Drawing from Max Weber’s typology, the analysis of Friday sermons shows that most of the preachers represent both the saint and the traditional, but rarely the scholar. While they are dealing extensively with political and social phenomena, rarely do they have knowledge of social science

Human Behavior from an Islamic Perspective

2011 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 86-105
Author(s):  
Fatimah Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Human Behavior ◽  
Current Trend ◽  
Belief System ◽  
Biological Factors ◽  
Nature Versus Nurture ◽  
Western Psychology ◽  
Conditioned Responses ◽  
The One ◽  
Corrupt Behavior ◽  
Islamic Belief

Western psychology tends to be divisive in dealing with human personality and has been responsible for the nature-versus nurture controversy. On the one hand, it contends that certain corrupt behavior is predetermined by psychological or biological factors from conception—while on the other, it explains behavior as a simplistic series of reinforcements from contingencies and conditioned responses to environmental stimuli. This secular humanistic outlook has produced an ethical relativism that is the current trend in today’s world. This stance is not condemned only by Islam, but also by most religions of the world. This shows that the human nature (fitrah) is still vibrant and dynamic. This article attempts to highlight the importance of the Islamic belief system—which is an integrated and comprehensive way in dealing with human behavior—especially by means of the interaction of nature, nurture, and the spiritual factor in the formation of human behavior.

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