Suchergebnisse

In this focus article the book Making Social Sciences More Scientific by Rein Taagepera is discussed. The book proposes an innovative approach to quantitative modelling, the "quantitatively predictive logical modeling". In the first contribution, the originality of this approach is discussed, through a comparison with three traditional methodological perspectives: qualitative research; rational- choice modeling; empirically-oriented quantitative research. Then, the potential of Taagepera's approach is evaluated with respect to the problem of the relationship between concepts and signs. In this regard, the non-linear, theoretically-driven construction of mathematical models advocated by Taagepera could provide a far more accurate operationalization of the conceptual models developed in the social sciences, which often feature non-linear relationships. Finally, the possibility of integrating Taagepera's suggestion with the traditional quantitative approach -- based on the generalized linear model -- is discussed, by pointing out potential problems and possible solutions. In the second contribution, Taagepera's critique of the prevalent approach to quantitative analysis of social phenomena is illustrated and commented, along with his proposal to adopt quantitatively predictive logical models as the basic analytical tool of the social sciences. Then, it is argued that, though based on sound arguments, Taagepera's critique of generalized linear regression models is somewhat too severe, since it overlooks some of regression's analytical best strengths. Adapted from the source document.

A review essay on books by (1) Alessandro Brushi, Metodologia della Ricerca Sociale (Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2005); (2) Piergiogrio Corbetta, Metodologia e Tecniche della Ricerca Sociale ([Social Research: Theory, Methods and Techniques (London: Sage, 2003)] Bologna, Il Mulino, 1999); (3) Pierangelo Isernia, Introduzione alla Ricera Politica e Sociale (Bologna, Il Mulino, 2001); (4) Paolo Natale, La Ricerca Sociale (Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2007); (5) Leonardo Morlino, Introduzione alla Ricerca Comparata (Bologna, Il Mulino, 2005); (6) Alberto Marradi, Metodologia delle Scienze Sociali ([a cura di Rita Pavsic e Maria Concetta Pitrone] Bologna, Il Mulino, 2007) & (7) Paul Pennings, Hans Keman and Jan Kleinnijenhuis, Doing Research in Political Science: An Introduction to Comparative Methods and Statistics (London: Sage, 2003).

The history of the conceptualization & application of the notions of culture, political/civic culture, & social capital in politology, & comparative political science in particular, is traced, discussing: (1) treatments of the relationship between civic culture & democracy in classical works of sociology & political science (eg, Montesquieu, Guizot, Herder, or Tocqueville), (2) the pioneering study in Gabriel A. Almond & Sidney Verba's Civic Culture (Princeton: Princeton U Press, 1963), (3) neglect of the notion of civic culture in the 1970s & 1980s, (4) civic culture as a dependent & independent variable, (5) J. Coleman's (1988) definition of social capital, (6) Robert D. Putnam's definition of social capital & its use in La tradizione civica nelle regioni italiane ([The Civic Tradition in Italian Regions] Milan: Mondadori, 1993) & Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2000), (7) the effectiveness of the concept of social capital as a descriptive-explanatory tool in comparative political science, & (8) the continued controversy & debate on this notion in contemporary politology. References. Z. Dubiel

We use EVS-WVS data to test our hypothesis about the contextual dependence of cohesion in Europe. In particular, we apply Bayesian Networks to describe the emergence of Social Cohesion in different welfare models. The creation of different networks for each Welfare model aims at demonstrating that a different way to manage Social Policies creates different paths of Social Cohesion. Political participations, civil engagement and positive social ties are fundamental dimensions, producing Social Capital, while social cohesion requires further dimensions too, as the presence of structural dynamics (equity, granted public services) and the increase in satisfaction. The mechanisms detected are similar enough from different areas, with interesting specificities for Mediterranean, Social-Democratic and Post-communist models.

The paper studies the relation between the social class of an individual & his (her) party vote in Italy in four elections: 1972, 1983, 2001 & 2006. The analyses are based on (electoral) survey data, including for 2006 a rolling cross section survey. Independence indices, Kappa indices, cumulative logit models & binomial logit models are used in the analyses. Results show that, theories about the "death of class" notwithstanding, the association between class & vote continues to exist & it matters, though it is not very strong. A slight decline of the association across elections can be detected, as well as some interesting variations in the aggregate vote of certain classes. Adapted from the source document.