Social sciences as sorcery
by Stanislav Andreski · first published 1972
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3HN commenters
2015–2022first – last mentioned
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Have you read the books Everything Is Obvious (Once You Know the Answer) by Duncan Watts, or Social Sciences as Sorcery by Stanislav Andreski? Your piece reminded me very much of both.
on “Confabulation in the humanities” ↗…article that makes me: 1) Set up my own pile of anecdotes (and the importance of luck, grit, natural ability, etc. in people I know) 2) Attempt to build a model. 3) Think about Stanislav Andreski's book 'Social Sciences as Sorcery'. 4) Go back to my coffee and think about something useful.
on “Where’s the evidence that grit predicts success?” ↗…bigger-than-life super villains. An absolutely ridiculous belief system, but that never stopped groups of people from buying into things. Of course sociology is largely self-serving BS (see: Stanislav Andreski: Social Sciences as Sorcery) but then so are a lot of other soft disciplines. You can't blame these people for riding a wave. To tie it back into the article, much of sociology is an attempt to program people with your own belief…
on “The Enemy as Sociologist” ↗'Social sciences as Sorcery' indeed.
on “No evidence for nudging after adjusting for publication bias” ↗