Why social scientists still need phenomenology

Pierre Bourdieu famously dismissed phenomenology as offering anything useful to a critical science of society – even as he drew heavily upon its themes in his own work. This paper makes a case for why Bourdieu’s judgement should not be the last word on phenomenology. To do so it first reanimates phenomenology’s evocative language and concepts to illustrate their continuing centrality to social scientists’ ambitions to apprehend human engagement with the world. Part II shows how two crucial insights of phenomenology, its discovery of both the natural attitude and of the phenomenological epoche, allow an account of perception properly responsive to its intertwined personal and collective aspects. Contra Bourdieu, the paper’s third section asserts that phenomenology’s substantive socio-cultural analysis simultaneously entails methodological consequences for the social scientist, reversing their suspension of disbelief vis-à-vis the life-worlds of interlocutors and inaugurating the suspension of belief vis-à-vis their own natural attitudes.

“Negroes Plan to Kill All Whites”

This chapter, which covers the first three decades of the twentieth century, begins with an account of the life and career of W. E. B. Du Bois, the most influential Black intellectual and social scientist of that period. A classic insider/outsider in American society, Du Bois earned a Harvard PhD in sociology and wrote a pioneering study of systemic racism in The Philadelphia Negro. He was also an outspoken activist in the Socialist Party and NAACP. Du Bois’s work placed him at the forefront of struggles against racism, especially in northern cities into which 1.5 million southern Blacks moved in the Great Migration, lured by the prospect of steady, well-paid factory jobs. These Black migrants, however, were outnumbered two to one by southern White migrants to those cities, who forced Blacks into ghettos with rundown, overcrowded housing and inferior schools. Tensions between the races intensified after World War I, sparking the “Red Summer” of 1919, with major race riots—instigated by Whites—in Washington, D.C., and Chicago, leaving dozens dead and thousand with burned-out homes. The bloodshed culminated that fall with the massacre of some two hundred Black tenant farmers and their families in the town of Elaine, Arkansas, followed two years later by another massacre, in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The decade of the 1920s offered northern Blacks little respite from the racism that kept them from escaping poverty.

To Vaccinate or Not? Decision-Making in the Time of COVID-19 Vaccines

Decision-making has become an important component of the COVID-19 pandemic. A particular decision that we are currently presented with is whether to take up COVID-19 vaccines or not. Through the lens of autoethnography, I present my personal “vaccine decision-making” process as a social scientist who, despite having mixed emotions toward COVID-19 vaccines, made the decision to get vaccinated. Recognizing the subjective nature of my narrative, autoethnography is valuable to produce knowledge that is meaningful, evocative, and relatable to different audiences. This article thus offers valuable insights into decision-making related to COVID-19 vaccine uptake, shedding light on the importance of vaccine literacy, trust, and social responsibility in this process.

Boundary spanners and thinking partners: adapting and expanding the research-practice partnership literature for public engagement with science (PES)

This paper is the culmination of several meaning-making activities between an external researcher, PES practitioners, and social scientist researchers who considered the unique contributions that can be made through RPPs on PES (that is, research-practice partnerships on public engagement with science). Based on the experiences from three RPP projects, the group noted that the PES context may be particularly suited to RPPs, and identified the importance of working as thinking-partners who support reciprocal decision-making. Recommendations are made in support of using these approaches to advance practical knowledge-building and reduce shared frustrations about the disconnect between research and practice in PES.

The Use of Drones in the Spatial Social Sciences

Drones are increasingly becoming a ubiquitous feature of society. They are being used for a multiplicity of applications for military, leisure, economic, and academic purposes. Their application in academia, especially as social science research tools, has seen a sharp uptake in the last decade. This has been possible due, largely, to significant developments in computerization and miniaturization, which have culminated in safer, cheaper, lighter, and thus more accessible drones for social scientists. Despite their increasingly widespread use, there has not been an adequate reflection on their use in the spatial social sciences. There is need for a deeper reflection on their application in these fields of study. Should the drone even be considered a tool in the toolbox of the social scientist? In which fields is it most relevant? Should it be taught as a course in the social sciences much in the same way that spatially-oriented software packages have become mainstream in institutions of higher learning? What are the ethical implications of its application in spatial social science? This paper is a brief reflection on these questions. We contend that drones are a neutral tool which can be good and evil. They have actual and potentially wide applicability in academia but can be a tool through which breaches in ethics can be occasioned given their unique abilities to capture data from vantage perspectives. Researchers therefore need to be circumspect in how they deploy this powerful tool which is increasingly becoming mainstream in the social sciences.

Afinal, isso é antropologia? Uma autoetnografia de experiências (entre o mercado e o público) em antropologia audiovisual aplicada

O artigo é fruto da dissertação de mestrado Ambientalização, Audiovisual e Desenvolvimento: percursos etnobiográficos (2015), uma autoetnografia sobre os percursos de uma cientista social em uma nova inserção profissional que surge de processos de ambientalização: a consultoria para licenciamento ambiental de grandes empreendimentos energéticos. Essas vivências carregam uma especificidade: o uso do audiovisual como instrumento de pesquisa e de participação pública.Palavras-chave: Autoetnografia. Meio ambiente. Antropologia audiovisual. Participação. After all, is that anthropology? An autoethnography of experiences (between the market and the public) in applied audiovisual anthropologyAbstract: This article is the result of the master's thesis Environmentalization, Audiovisual and Development: ethnobiographical paths (2015), an autoetnography about the routes of a social scientist in a new professional environment that originates from environmentalization processes: the consultancy for the environmental licensing of major energy enterprises. . These experiences bear specificity: the use of the audiovisual as an instrument of research and social participation.Keywords: Autoetnography. Environment. Audiovisual Anthropology. Participation.

Evolving ‘places’: The paradigmatic shift in the role of the fashion designer

This study examines the concept of ‘place’ in the design process and the evolving role of the fashion designer. The contemporary fashion marketplace has reached unprecedented levels of abundance. This is altering society’s relationship with design. Consumers’ basic needs are being over-met and have moved well beyond the material realm; consumers are increasingly driven by their search for meaning and emotional fulfilment through design. The result of this process is the altering of their perception of design ‘value’ from the tangible to the intangible. While the traditional values of aesthetics and function remain essential components to design, a product’s ability to deliver ‘emotional value’ to the user must increasingly become the focus for designers. To succeed, a designer must shift his/her sense of ‘place’ ‐ namely, the figurative ‘place’ from which he/she designs. Rather than creating fashion from myopic, personal biases, future designers must enter the ‘place’ of the design process by rigorously researching their consumers’ psychographics and emotional needs to ‘design emotion’. The new role of the fashion designer ‐ the ‘Designer-As-Social-Scientist’ ‐ takes a much broader view of the consumers’ needs. The evolution of the ‘place’ of the design process will result in products having greater meaning and emotional value; designers standing out in the oversaturated market; and businesses increasing consumer loyalty and resultant sales by offering only those products that are truly desired by their target audience.

Life style changes in above 50 years old patients presenting in Urology Department during COVID 19 pandemic - a multicenter survey.

Objective: In the current pandemic of COVID-19 the health care workers are working with social scientist to assist the government policy makers to slow the spread of this disease. These studies are focusing on different social aspects of the disease. A few studies are conducted on the behavior changes in community in response to this pandemic. Study Design: Cross Sectional Survey. Setting: Urology Outpatients Department of Four Hospitals. Period: May 2020. Material & Methods: YouGov behavior change Performa was used for the survey with a 4 points scale from "Not at all" to "Drastic Change". Results: Total 285 patients were included in this study. Among these 191 patients were male while 94 were female. The age range was 50-68 years. Among 285 patients 159 an education level above primary. Among these 285 patients 234 patients (82.1%) belong to urban area while 51 patients (17.9%) belongs to rural area. Regarding change in behavior, 168 patients responded that there is no change, 56 showed a little change, 32 showed significant change and 28 showed drastic change in the habit of hand washing. In change in travel habit 128 mentioned not at all, 84 said a little change, 53 showed significant change and 20 said drastic change. In work from home 120 mentioned not at all, 88 said a little change, 57 showed significant change and 20 said drastic change. In piling of food and medicine 164 mentioned not at all, 96 said a little change and 25 showed significant change while there was no drastic change. In elderly and child care160 mentioned not at all, 68 said a little change and 57 showed significant change while there was no drastic change. In social distancing 160 mentioned not at all, 72 said a little change, 24 showed significant change and 29 said drastic change. In use of face mask 124 mentioned not at all, 132 said a little change, 24 showed significant change and 05 said drastic change. Conclusion: As there is no vaccine for this disease and treatment plans are also under trial so the role of preventive measures increases. The most important preventive measures are wearing of face masks, social distancing and avoidance of unnecessary traveling. As, at present, we can only decrease the spread of disease by adopting preventive measures.