Worlds of Events, Worlds of Structures

Graham ScamblerUCL

March 2014

Outline

1. Themes2. Approaches3. Challenge of interdisciplinarity4. Beginnings and endings for science5. From individuals to the social6. And on to structures7. Six sociologies

Themes

1. ‘Basic human needs’2. Unmet needs3. Negotiating justice4. Enacting justice5. Overcoming obstacles

Perspectives

In relation to the topics of this conference:

• Documenting• Describing and understanding• Explaining• Intervening

Interdisciplinarity

Interdisciplinarity is NOT multidisciplinarity

Have barely scratched the surface in relation to interdisciplinarity

Interdisciplinarity vital for interventions

Science

A multitude of philosophies and methodologies

For emergence, against reductionism

Science about mechanisms

Individuals and Society

Revisit:

For emergence, against reductionism

Significance of Social Structures

Recent comment by Robin Cohen on the Great British Class Survey. It reduces to three classes:

1. Global superrich2. Locked-in national middle class3. Precariat

Sociologically: new class/command dynamic

Types of Sociology

• ProfessionalScholar

• PolicyReformer

• CriticalRadical

• PublicDemocrat

• ActionActivist

• ForesightVisionary

Intervening

So what do we mean when we say we want to change things?