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Infonomics

U. MatzatSociology

School of Innovation SciencesTU/e

email: umatzat@gmail.com

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I. Cohesion and suicide: Emile Durkheim

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917, French) one of the founding fathers of sociology

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Emile Durkheim

1896 professor of sociology at Bordeaux University (later Paris)

books: De la Division du Travail Social (1893) Le Suicide (1897) Les Règles de la Méthode Sociologique (1895)

Background: the French society in the 19th century after the French revolution: detachement (NL-“onthechting”) and the decay of community (which is sort of what you hear in the newspapers about our current era …)

Theoretical and methodological propositions

Today: just the theoretical propositions

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Cohesion: Emile Durkheim

Two versions of the question

how it is possible that people live together peacefully?

Cohesion

Battle Detachment

| |

Violence to others Violence to self

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Cohesion on the Internet?

Does something like a “community” exist online?

Can engineers program “community” online? Can they facilitate the emerge of “community” online?

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Emile Durkheim: the core of structural functionalism

• a every society has a certain level of cohesion

• b as far as it consists of intermediary groups (has some kind of structure)

• c and shares certain norms and values,

• d and when members of a society are more tightly integrated, they are more likely to behave in accordance to these norms and values,

• e which will then result in increased cohesion.

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The first application of this integration theory

•A: A strong cohesion is indicated through a low suicide rate;

•B: families, religious communities, and political parties are examples of intermediary groups;

•C: one of the norms is that one should not commit suicide, a norm that is supported in (almost) all societies;

•D: and when people are more tightly integrated in families, religious communities, and political parties, they are more likely to follow the norm,

•E: and hence their probability to commit suicide is smaller.

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The integration theory as applied to suicide

(2) The more people are integrated into religious communities, the lower the probability of suicide

(3) At the end of the 19th century, catholics in Europe are more tightly integrated than protestants

(1) Catholics (at the end of the 19th century in Europe) are less likely to commit suicide (when compared to protestants)

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NOTE

In fact, this conclusion turned out to be correct. This shows quite dramatically that even suicide is not (only) a personal decision

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The theory of integration and suicide

(14) The more the inhabitants of a society are integrated in any whatsoever of its intermediary groupings, the lower their chances of suicide.(15) A religious association is an intermediary grouping.

(2) The more strongly persons are integrated in a religious association, the lower their chances to commit suicide. And:(14) The more the inhabitants of a society are integrated in any whatsoever of its intermediary groupings, the lower their chances of suicide.(16) A family is an intermediary grouping.

(7) The more strongly persons are integrated in a family, the lower are their chances to commit suicide.

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(7) The more strongly persons are integrated in a family, the lower are their chances to commit suicide.

(9) Married persons with children are more strongly integrated in a family than married persons without children.

(10) Married persons with children display a lower suicide rate than married persons without children.

The theory of integration and suicide

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Integration with the help of ICT: Community Online ?

2 divergent views on online communities:

dystopian view: fake community online relations have different quality than face to

face relations: weak vs. strong tie (see Granovetter 1972)

online relations are unstable online relations do not have multiplexity online communities do not have geographical

boundaries

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Community Online

utopian view: online community as 'real' community

many opportunities to connect with people of similar interests

freeing people from geographical constraints increasing connectedness with distant friends,

family members, etc. strong attachment to online communities found strong norms, reciprocity, trust

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Community Online

'social' online community vs. other online communities

social online community common norms, goals, identity attachment trust

forget about the most common element of all definitions of 'community': geographical proximity

social online communities do exist, but not as the 'regular' outcome of online interaction in groups

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Community Online

question: under what conditions do you get a social community?

answer: common norms, goals, identity, attachment, trust

question: how to achieve common norms, identity, ...?

answer: problem of online discussion contribution, community members have to become active!

see OGO assignment 2

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Emile Durkheim: the theory of “Anomie”

anomie:

The existence of norms and values that make the people’s goals not fit with their available resources and means

or

a mismatch between personal or group standards and wider social standards

Example: “US – anybody can become a millionaire”

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The theory of “Anomie”

again: The core of structural functionalism

a … cohesion…,

b …. groups ..

c …shared values and norms..

d and when members of a society are more tightly integrated, they are more likely to behave in accordance to these norms and values,

e which will then result in increased cohesion.

Another specification d: The more the norms and values of a society increase the fit of the desired goals with the available means, the more people follow the rule not to commit suicide.

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The theory of “Anomie”

anomie: lack of norms and values that ensure a fit between desired goals and available means of humans

Under which condition does the fit change?

Extension of free markets (economic anomie)

economic crisis, but also strong and fast economic growth (economic anomie)

Legal facilitation of divorce (domestic anomie)

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Emile Durkheim: the theorie of anomie

Old insights applied to new technology

Can technologies influence the match between goals and resources to reach those goals?

•Anomie and use of online dating communities?

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Changes in the plain core of the structural functionalism:

integration and cohesion

a ... cohesion...,

b ... groups...,

c ...sharing of norms;

d and when members of a society are more tightly integrated, they are more likely to behave in accordance to these norms and values,

e if the different groups share the same norms this leads to increasing cohesion in society; if the different groups follow diverging norms this leads to decreasing cohesion in society.

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II. Different traditions and the Micro-Macro-Problem

Sociology

Macro-level: societies

Micro-level: humans

Social media research

Macro-level: communities/groups

Micro-level: members

If we want to enhance/explain societies (communities in social media) why do we deal with theories about humans (members)?

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Sociology as an autonomous scientific discipline – own approach of theory formulation

a: individualist theory: a theory that puts forward propositions about causal regularities of human behavior under (specific) social conditions; the behavior has consequences for specific macro-phenomena

b: collectivistisch theorie: een theorie die uitspraken doet over regelmatigheden en causale samenhangen tussen bepaalde macro-verschijnsel zonder dat de theorie betrekking heeft over het gedrag van individuen

in geval b zou de sociologie zeker een “eigen” theorie hebben omdat theorieën over menselijk gedrag (geval a) ook in de economie of psychologie te vinden zijn

social conditions social phenomena

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Sociology as an autonomous scientific discipline – own approach of theory formulation

b: collectivist theory: a theory making statements about regularities and associations between specific macro-phenomena without taking into account human behavior

B: under condition b sociologists definitely would have their own theory ; under condition a the situation is less clear (theories about human behavior can be found in psychology and economics as well)

sociale conditiessocial conditions social phenomena

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Collectivist hypotheses- an example

R. Michels (1911): The Iron Law of Oligarchy

•collectivist hypothesis: The longer an organization exists, the more oligarchic it will be.

•this hypothesis doesn’t make any assumptions about human behavior

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Collectivist hypotheses- an example

Online communities with a reputation system have a more active membership than online communities without a reputation system.

?!

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Questions on individualist and collectivist theories

•The fundamental questions of sociology examine characteristics of societies, and not characteristics of individuals: cohesion, inequality, rationalisation are chracteristics of societies

•The most important phenomena to be explained by sociologists thus are macro-phenomena and not micro-phenomena

•Also for explanatory conditions the sociologist first looks at social conditions (=macro-conditions)

•But: what does this imply for the for the (explanatory) theory that the sociologist uses?

•Are the theories exclusively about macro-phenomena (=collectivist theories) or are explanations that do not take into account individual behavior less satisfying?

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Why Micro-hypotheses?

1.) the predictions of macro-hypotheses often do not find enough empirical evidence – often exceptions do exist

•With the help of micro-hypotheses we can clarify under which conditions the marco-hypothesis is true and under which conditions not

2.) macro-hypotheses often leave open what causal mechanism leads to a specific relationship between macro-phenomena

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•Macro-hypothesis (in the time of World War I, in the U.S. South with its racial conflicts): “The higher the percentage of black people in an area the higher is the number of murders."

Why Micro-hypotheses: an example

percentage blacks number of murders

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•this macro-hypothesis leaves open what the cause of the relationship is – there are two potential mechanisms at the micro-level that lead to the same macro-relationship

•a: “on average black people tend to commit more often murders than white people"

•b: “The more opportunities there are for white people to lynch black people, the higher the chance that they will lynch black people."

•a sociologist who stays at the macro-level, stays at the surface and does not offer valid explanations that clarify what the causal mechanisms are.

Why Micro-hypotheses: an example

percentage blacks number of murders

A: “on average black people tend to commit more often murders than white people”B: “The more opportunities there are for white people to lynch black people, the higher the chance that they will lynch black people”

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Proposal for finding solutions to sociological problems

(rules of theory development)

•Deeper (read: more general) explanations of macro-phenomena through reduction of macro-hypotheses to micro-hypotheses (and additional conditions)

•Sometimes correction of macro-hypotheses: the macro-hypothesis will be made more precise by indicating under which condition the macro-hypothesis is true, and under which condition not

•When formulating questions about characteristics of a society: take into account the behavior of individuals which determines the characteristics of the society

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•Sociologists analyze how social conditions influence behavior and how behavior translates into macro phenomena

•thus: translate appearently inherent characteristics of individuals (e.g., religious belief) to relational characteristics (membership in a more or less integrated group)

•thus: transform appearently global characteristics of societies (e.g., the progress of technology in a country) to a combination of characteristics of its members (e.g., percentage of households with internet connections)

•U.S. sociologist James S. Coleman elaborated the rules in more detail

rules for finding solutions to sociological problems

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Utilitarian individualism

•School of thought within sociology that belongs to the so-called methodological individualism (use of individualist theories)

•Different theories within utilitarian individualism: learning theories in psychology, theories about goald-directed behavior within economics etc.

•Within sociology these theories are utilized to explain macro-level phenomena

•the theories are grounded in the ideas of Hobbes and the Scotish Moral Philosophers

•Behavior as a strive for utility (NL: nut, lat.: utilitas)

•The most popular theory utilizes asssumptions of goald-directed human behavior (rational-choice-theory)

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The plain core of the theory of rational choice

a Each feature of every society is the outcome of certain acts performed by its inhabitants under certain circumstances;

b these individuals have specific goals,

c they have a particular but always limited amount of means,

d and these individuals employ their means in such a way that they approach their goals as closely as possible (they choose the act which maximizes their utility);

e: the circumstances under which people act, affect the extent to which the chosen acts are efficient means for reaching their goals,

f: and under some circumstances the acts do not only have intended consequences, but as unintended consequence affect as well how easy or difficult it is for others to reach their goals.

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utilitarian individualism (version rational choice theory)

•Independent of the own methodological proposals of the classicists and the founding fathers of sociology (e.g. Durkheim), many of their proposals/hypotheses can be understood as specifications of the core of rational choice theory

•These specifications emphasize different aspects of the core

•Different specifications may lead to contradictory hypotheses; empirical tests have to show which specification finds evidence

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Money as the only goal?

•Utilitarian individualism stems from economics

•Economists emphasize the behavior of humans on markets as influenced by material incentives

•sociological applications emphasize in addition other human goals

•Various forms of social appreciation as important goal: affection, status, behavioral confirmation etc

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Utility maximization only on markets?

•Utilitarian individualism stems from economics

•Economists emphasize the behavior of humans on markets as influenced by material incentives

•sociological applications emphasize in addition other structures

•Markets, organisations, groups and communities (on the internet in social media!)

•analyses with the help of the same theory

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Social media and macro-hypotheses

Online communities with a reputation system have a more active membership than online communities without a reputation system.

Is this true?

See OGO assignment 2

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To do’s

Read Ultee et al. (2003), chapter 12 Read Boudon, Coleman and Lave &

March in the reader with the help of the reading guide