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Against a descriptive turn

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Gane, Nicholas (2020) Against a descriptive turn. The British Journal of Sociology, 71 (1). pp. 4-18. doi:10.1111/1468-4446.12715

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12715

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Abstract

While description is a valuable aspect of meaningful sociological work, this paper takes issue with Mike Savage’s argument that the social sciences, and sociology in particular, should seek to prioritize description over practices of explanation and analysis, and attention to questions of causality. The aim of this paper is not to take issue with descriptive forms of sociology in themselves, but to argue that the answer to the problems identified by Savage and Burrows in their landmark paper “The Coming Crisis of Empirical Sociology” is not to follow commercial forms of research by prioritizing practices of description and classification at the cost of asking fundamental questions about the “why?” and the “how?” of social life and politics. Rather, this paper argues that it is imperative that sociology does not simply describe inequalities of different types, but questions, explains, and analyses the structures and mechanisms through which they are created, reproduced, and sustained. The argument will be developed in three stages. First, this paper will restate the main points of Savage’s call for descriptive sociology; second, it will address his critique of “epochalist thinking” and subsequent opposition to the idea of neoliberalism; and third, it will respond to his use of Thomas Piketty’s work as a model for developing sociological descriptions of class and inequality.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
H Social Sciences > HM Sociology
H Social Sciences > HN Social history and conditions. Social problems. Social reform
H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Divisions: Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Sociology -- Methodology, Social sciences -- Methodology, Social classes , Crises , Equality, Neoliberalism
Journal or Publication Title: The British Journal of Sociology
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
ISSN: 1468-4446
Official Date: 4 January 2020
Dates:
DateEvent
4 January 2020Published
28 November 2019Available
18 October 2019Accepted
Volume: 71
Number: 1
Page Range: pp. 4-18
DOI: 10.1111/1468-4446.12715
Publication Status: Published
Publisher Statement: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Gane, N. Against a descriptive turn. Br J Sociol. 2020; 71: 4– 18. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12715, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-4446.12715. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions.
Access rights to Published version: Restricted or Subscription Access

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