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The Social Sciences

Entry 2369, on 2024-10-25 at 12:18:53 (Rating 2, Skepticism)

My friend EK (a frequent commenter on this blog, and one who often debates me, thanks!) has challenged me regarding my disdain for the social sciences, and fair enough too. I often make derogatory remarks about them but rarely offer a lot of justification, so why not write a blog post explaining my thoughts? Challenge accepted!

First, I have got to state what should be obvious but often isn't: that is that not all social scientists are worthy of my criticism. In the same way as not all feminists, or BLM supporters, or even woke people are a major problem, it is mainly the activist fringe from these groups which might make the group look bad as a whole. And this reminds me of a clever quip: it is just 99% of lawyers who give the rest a bad name. I think this could apply to many other groups, including computer consultants!

Of course, that number is completely random and I cannot justify it, but I think we can agree that the extreme members of many professions, political groups, etc can make the rest look bad. I should also say that I am not involved in social science and don't read the literature in the relevant journals, so it could be that all the research being done is above reproach, but I doubt it.

So after all of this material apparently moderating my previous attitude, what actually is the source of my criticism? OK, let's list these...

First, as I have said on many occasions, it is the results of postmodernist doctrine, including critical theory, which has been pushed in universities primarily in the social sciences, which is the cause of many of the problems we have today. I cannot forgive this blatant disregard for balance, rationality, and scientific principles, so I sort of have a grudge against the social sciences as a result.

Second, the academic rigour of the social sciences seems to be often lacking. There is the replication crisis, which started in psychology but also affects many other areas of academia. There is the fact that so few papers have any citations and are just basically ignored. There is the lack of criticism of submitted papers revealed by incidents like the Sokal Hoax (that's something worthy of a blog post in itself).

Then there are the anecdotes. A friend of mine, who often works in universities, has spotted the following posters in a social sciences area: "Fight Racism and Islamophobia" and "Marxism: Ideas to Challenge the System" and "Marxism: System Change not Climate Change" and "Radical Ideas: Feminism for the 99%" and "Aotearoa Climate Strike" and "Seeing Trans Feminist Futures in Self-Representational Art" and "Gay Nazis? Exploring Tensions in Political Identities" and "Te Tiriti Based Futures.".

Now people have the right to advertise whatever ideology they want, but there wasn't a single poster promoting center or right politics, or the advantages of capitalism, or the successes of Western culture. It was all far left BS, and yes, this really is BS in my opinion (I mean, you've got to laugh: Gay Nazis. Really?)

Academics are overwhelmingly left wing. A survey in the US showed 100% of anthropologists, 98% of sociologists, and 95% of historians were Democrat supporters. The lowest proportion was for engineers at "just" 62%, but the really high numbers were all for people in the humanities and social sciences.

Finally there is the real reason I find the social sciences problematic. It is not their work in academic journals, but their public pronouncements which are dangerous. I mean, very few people read academic papers, and if you believe the rate of citation maybe nobody does! But comments in the media from "experts" have more effect on your society, and that is where the real danger is.

Listen to an alleged expert on TV discuss social issues and you will hear the usual drivel about decolonisation, the patriarchy, white privilege, and all the other mindless nonsense these idiots spout. Look at their research (in my case, I admit in a superficial way) and you will see no data supporting this. For example, if a "minority" group has poor health outcomes that will always be attributed to systemic racism and never to cultural issues in the group under consideration. This is ideology, not science.

So for any good social scientist who reads this blog, I apologise for maybe insinuating that everyone in your profession is the same. Of course that isn't true. Maybe you're one of the good ones, just like I am one of the few good IT consultants, but I hope you can see where my general frustration with social science comes from!

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