Author: Oka Obono
Volume: 52 Issue No:2 Year:2010
Abstract: Most of the time, social scientists talk to people they know will largely agree with
them. Rarely do they try talking to others who start from very different
assumptions, or who use fundamentally different methods. This reassures social
scientists they are on the right track, and it avoids too many daily squabbles.
This is particularly the case when it comes to economists and sociologists. The former are good at simplifying and modelling complex issues, even if the end result appears somewhat distant from the world we live in. The latter are good at making complex issues even more complex, by describing the context and the conditions that give rise to them – again the relevance may not be obvious to outsiders to the discipline. (Miller, 2008: 16)
them. Rarely do they try talking to others who start from very different
assumptions, or who use fundamentally different methods. This reassures social
scientists they are on the right track, and it avoids too many daily squabbles.
This is particularly the case when it comes to economists and sociologists. The former are good at simplifying and modelling complex issues, even if the end result appears somewhat distant from the world we live in. The latter are good at making complex issues even more complex, by describing the context and the conditions that give rise to them – again the relevance may not be obvious to outsiders to the discipline. (Miller, 2008: 16)