Karl Popper and the Social Sciences

SUMMARY

by his confusing labels, for Popper, methodological collectivism is the belief that the attributes and behavior of a collective entity are prior to and independent of the attributes and behavior of individuals. One wonders if any serious thinker actually advocates such a bizarre and seemingly indefensible position. Popper’s other methodological opponent—psychologism—is, at first glance, more plausible, but as Popper makes clear, it too is an untenable reductionisistic strategy. It seems, then, that Popper must reject both approaches if sociology is to remain largely autonomous from psychology. SUMMARY The goal of this chapter has been to introduce Popper’s theory of situational analysis. To bring situational analysis into sharper relief, we also considered some approaches to social science that Popper rejected—namely, psychologism and methodological collectivism—as well as one important social science doctrine that he embraced, methodological individualism. In the following chapters , we will further explore (and sometimes criticize) situational analysis by considering Popper’s encounters with positivism, hermeneutics, economics, Marxism, and psychology. POPPERIAN SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS 21 ...