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SUM 4011A. Sept/oct 2006.
Lecture 2.
Inter-disciplinary research: combining different perspectives
Recap. from lecture 1.
Why it is difficult to combine disciplines: dependent on level of ambition.
Multidisciplinary research: not so difficult. Because members of the team are looking
at different things.
Eg sustainable management of vicuna .
- Veterinarians look at the animal;
- ecologists look at the environment: vegetation, water etc
- anthropologists look at the local people
- political economists look at the laws, incentives etc
But if they are going to work together on an issue, or a problem, they need to discuss
what this is. They need to link up the different components, in relation to some overall
perspective: in this case, ‘sustainable management’.
Interplay between different perspectives, methods, values (what matters for our
understanding; but also what matters for our policies).
Takes time for team members to talk the same language, and build up trust.
Another, even more practical example: my first feasibility study of urban sanitation in
Mali: engineers and economist(s). What is the problem: how best to design a piped
sewerage system? Or how best to improve standards of sanitation?
Example 3. (quote from Le Monde Diplomatique). Malaria “Science is in danger of
being seduced by reductionist, mechanistic approaches like those offered by
molecular biology”.
Defining the problem.
Working in teams: mutual understanding, respect, time, cycles of discussion: ‘what is
the problem? (ref SUM Report No. 11)
ESD Triangle. Perspectives on sustainable development.: priorities/disciplines.
See diagram.
Differing perspectives on environment and development
Ecology: human beings as a species, interacting as biological beings, both with their
own and other species and with the inorganic environment: the emphasis is on the
whole as a system.
Economics beings interacting with each other as (rational, self-interested,
autonomous, maximising) decision-makers, with the emphasis on the individual
entity: nature is typically treated as a material resource/constraint.
Anthropology: interacting with each other not only as decision-makers but also as
meaning-makers, with the emphasis on the collective; nature is regard both as a
resource/constraint and as a locus of meaning.
What constitutes explanation?
How does ‘explanation’ relate to prescription (policy)?
How disciplines interact
Diagram:
Field
Perspective
ECOLOGY
NATURE
ecology
.
of
ECONOMY
ecological economics
environmental
ECONOMICS
economics
.
Study
SOCIETY
socio-biology
sociological
economics
(institutional)
.
economics
ANTHROPOLOGY/
SOCIOLOGY
environmental
economic
anthropology
sociology
anthropology/
sociology
Exploring the interfaces between disciplines
ref Smelser and Swedberg diagram. O/H
Economic sociology
Concept of the actor
Mainstream economics
The actor is influenced by other The actor is uninfluenced by other
actors and is part of groups and actors (“methodological
Economic action
society
individualism”)
Many different types of
All economic actions are assumed
economic action are used,
to be rational; rationality as
including rational ones;
assumption.
rationality as variable.
Constraints on the
Economic actions are
Economic actions are constrained
action
constrained by the scarcity of
by tastes and by the scarcity of
resources, by the social
resources, including technology.
structure, and by meaning
structures
Figure 1
economics/political science,
new vs old institutional economics,
evolutionary game theory etc.
Conclusion:
Levels of ambition again. Multi-disciplinary research involves collaboration in a
team. This is difficult; but inter-disciplinary research is even more challenging, at
least if it is to involve ”formulation of a uniform, discipline-transcending terminology
or common methodology; by the disciplines involved.”