Abstract
In chapter I we found that in order to have a clear formulation of our research problem we must have an unambiguous definition of the objects and phenomena which are of interest to us and are characterized by the clearly defined variables of our problem and a similarly clear definition of the relations between them, which we would like to establish in the course of our investigations. Let us see in turn what objects are of interest, and in what respect, to researchers concerned with social phenomena.
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References
In this situation we shall say that an appropriate understanding of behaviour is a condition for its being properly included in the class of referents denoted by a concept, the content of which comprises certain psychological terms.
F. Znaniecki, “Social Actions” (reprinted from: C. C.ser, M. Rosenberg, Sociological Theory: a Book of Reading, New York 1957 ), p. 223.
Max Weber, Wirtschaft and Gesellschaft, Tübingen 1922, p. L
Cf., for example, G. Lundberg, Foundations of Sociology, New York 1930. These postulates may be found in somewhat extreme form in: O. Neurath, Foundations of Social Science, International Encyclopaedia of Unified Sciences, Vol. II, No. L
The most comprehensive exposition of these problems can be found in the study: R. Carnap, “Methodological Character of Theoretical Concepts”, in : H. Feigl,. M. Scriven (ed.), I. Minnesota Studies in Philosophy of Science, Vol. I.
Th. Abel defines the “operation called understanding” in the following manner: “...the characteristic feature of the operation of Verstehenis the postulation of an intervening process `located’ inside the human organism by which we recognize an observed—or assumed—connection as relevant or `meaningful’. Verstehen, then,. consists of the act of bringing to the foreground the inner-organic sequence intervening between a stimulus and a response.” Th. Abel, “Operation called Verstehen”, in: H. Feigl and M. Brodbeck (ed), Readings in the Philosophy of Science, New York 1953. Cf. also S. Nowak, “Obserwacja i rozumienie ludzkich zachowan a problemy budowy teorii” (Observation and Understanding of Human Behaviour and Problems of Theory Building) in: Studia z metodologii nauk spolecznych( Studies on the Methodology of the Social Sciences ), Warszawa 1965.
. Lazarsfeld, H. Menzel, “On the Relation Between Individual and Collective Properties”, in: A. Etzioni (ed.), Complex Organizations, NewYork 1961.
At this point it might be worth noting that some features regarded as absolute properties are often measured by means of such indices as to give them the character of relative features. Thus, for instance, intelligence is sometimes measured with the help of tests so standardized that a quotient of 100 denotes the average in a given group, while anything above 100 is regarded as higher than average, etc.; thus the method of measurement gives it the sense of a relative feature. When the results of these measurements are then compiled for several persons and it is found that some individual from this group has the highest quotient in the group a relative feature of a higher order is constructed by assuming a relation between the relative features.
Cf. S. Ossowski, “Wieloglowy Lewiatan i grupy spoleczne” (The Many-headed Leviathan and the Social Group) in: Dziela(Works), Vol. V. O nauce( On Science ), Warszawa 1967.
Cf. W. Landecker, “Types of integration and their measurement”, in: P. Lazarsfeld and H. Rosenberg (eds.), Language of Social Research, New York 1965, p. 19.
P. Lazarsfeld, H. Menzel, On the Relations between Individual and Collective Characteristics, New York 1961.
“In conformity with this concept, certain patterns of muscular, emotional and mental reactions would constitute the cultural heritage of social groups, according to which certain dispositions on the part of the group members are moulded, but no external objects would enter into the composition of that heritage”. S. Ossowski, “Wi@z spoleczna i dziedzictwo krwi”, (Social Bonds and Blood Heritage), Dziela (Works), Vol. II, Warszawa 1966, p. 64.
S Czarnowski wrote that culture is the “totality of objectivized elements of social achievements common to a number of groups and, by virtue of its objectivity, are permanent and capable of being propagated spatially”. At the same time he stressed that he had in mind “material” as well as “spiritual” elements. S. Czarnowski, Dziela (Works), Vol. V, Warszawa 1959, p. 20.
Cf. the discussion by A. Kloskowska on the concept of culture in: Kultura masowa. Krytyka i obrona(Mass Culture. A. Critique and a Defence), ch. I, Warszawa 1964.
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© 1977 PWN—Polish Scientific Publishers—Warszawa
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Nowak, S. (1977). Social Phenomena and Processes. In: Methodology of Sociological Research. Synthese Library, vol 82. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-1117-4_2
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