Theory in real life

11/18/2020

For today's post, consider the reading from Bhattacharya about the various schools of thought, theories, that can impact the decisions we make as qualitative researchers. In 250-300 words, identify one or more theories that speak to you--so theories you agree with or have encountered before or that you think is totally ridiculous. Write a little bit about what you understand about that theory both from Bhattacharya and from your own lived experience--perhaps you encountered it in another class or while watching something or exploring social media or thinking about the news.

Then, expand that idea. Write about the ways you see some of these theories affecting how you or how other people actually make decisions in life. This is tricky. People don't walk around saying things like, because Marxist theory affects how I think about the world, I'm not going to buy a new car but instead buy a used one. But, in fact, a belief that we don't want or need a lot of new stuff all the time is shaped by a belief system and that belief system is based on one theory rather than another--or a combination of theories.

Once you've posted, read and respond to more than one your colleagues.

11 Comments

Sasha Rockwell

11/18/2020 10:05:28 am

An idea that I thought was kind of silly was Positivism. First, there are 12 different versions of it, which already sounds ridiculous. I can understand how mathematics can help to answer questions, but I think it gets to a point where there are better methods for figuring out things in the world. I believe that mathematics can solve simple issues, like the book states that you can deduce that cats normally have four legs, or even more complicated answers, but mathematics is not the core for all answers, especially to figure out how social patterns work within a group or culture. But conversely, I do think that with post positivism, the idea of using a hypothesis to guide qualitative research is really useful, and is great for a starting point. Positivism also relies on unambiguous information, and sometimes getting accurate answers isn't possible, and somethings are left unexplained, so I'm not sure how that falls into Positivism theory. Personally, I've used hypothesis in basically every scientific class that I've taken. I think that with Positivism, there were a lot of issues with deducing truth and what to believe, and in the reading it sounded like there were constantly new rules or beliefs being created because they weren't satisfactory enough for gathering accurate data. This is all part of a scientific process, and does have some merit to it, but I don't think that it can work in all social situations.

Amanda Guindon

11/18/2020 12:35:22 pm

I totally agree with you that Positivism seemed kind of a stretch because of how many different angles it could take. I had a hard time following what was said in the book because it felt like there were a lot of different directions that it could take. I like how you focused instead on post positivism and how this is a theory that is consistently used, specifically in the scientific field, and with research of all kinds. It makes more sense to create a hypothesis and conduct research trying to prove or disprove this hypothesis than just conducting research with no direct purpose.

Derek Krysko

11/19/2020 07:27:15 am

I certainly agree that positivism seems like a very niche theory that would only find use in very rare situations. If a theory is meant to aid in the understanding of a certain topic or event, the fact that there are 12 different avenues to follow would just make it more confusing and not exactly help to develop a framework. Using math as a basis for this theory definitely limits it to shallower issues, because as you mention, there are a plethora of more complex situations that math simply cannot fully explain. Positivism does not seem concrete enough to consistently provide reliable information, and the myriad of potential permutations seems like it would only serve to add to the inconsistencies.

11/18/2020 10:22:46 am

I have encountered a few of these theories before in Writing About Literature with Dr. Adams, and I wrote a paper about Hansberry's "A Raisin in the Sun" that involved critical race theory, and a paper about Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper." I find both of those theories to be more grounded and applicable to most of modern society than some of the other more abstract theories that are more difficult to connect to reality. For the purposes of this activity, I will focus on critical race theory. Critical race theory is a rather poignant ideology that is unfortunately quite relevant in today’s tumultuous society. As Bhattacharya alludes to, the foundation of CRT is built upon the belief that racism is woven into the fabric of the United States, and to some degree, the constitution that guides American politics. It is most definitely not a random occurrence, rather a systemic evil that has plagued this country since its inception. Racism is a ubiquitous component of everyday life, though until very recently these racial inequities tend to go largely ignored. CRT asserts that this is because racism has been normalized by American culture, and that it may feel absent at times because it is so common. If the past few months have revealed anything, it’s that racism is very much alive in our country, and it is only now that the rest of the world is beginning to catch on to the mistreatment of minorities that has been going on for centuries. Racism is systematic, and CRT attempts to explain how the discrimination of African Americans and people of color is supported by the government, and that the system is designed to handicap these minority groups. Institutional structures exacerbate existing racial divides, and only serve diminish the voice of minority groups, even though the structures are built upon the false claim of “equality for all.”
Critical race theory influences the behaviors of white people, as they continue to feel entitled or superior to people of color based on the history of the United States. The concept of freedom is intertwined with CRT, and white people interpret their idea of freedom differently than people of color. African American people are conditioned to accept their lot in life, and society forces them to think they must act a certain way. CRT dictates that racial inequalities are built into existing societal structures, and this causes many minorities to feel defeated or suppressed, and like they were never given a chance to succeed in life. This sensation is responsible for the perception that African Americans are either thugs or criminals, because they sometimes feel as if there are no legitimate means of advancement in broken system. Lastly, based on the ideologies of CRT, we can see why racism will never go away in this country. Not only has it been written into the foundation of America, but racism itself is always going to be interpreted differently by different people, so regardless of the dangers it presents, some people will simply not care enough to work to eradicate it.

11/18/2020 12:44:06 pm

I feel like your discussion of CRT is incredibly relevant and you did a really good job of describing how this theory is relevant to life today, and even more so how it has come to life in the past few months. I have always know that systematic racism is prevalent in our society as it is obvious that minorities are discriminated against on a large scale, yet until reading this theory I had no idea there was a name to the theory.

Sam Isom

11/23/2020 08:50:55 am

I took that same class with Dr. Adams my first semester and talked about all this, too, it's cool to see it be brought up again and applied now. It's important to point out, like you did, that Critical Race Theory goes both ways, it influences the entitlement of white people while at the same time conditioning people of color to remain inferior. And your last point too, "some people will simply not care enough to work to eradicate it", is unfortunately true. An examination of CRT could definitely expand more on this idea.

11/18/2020 12:32:07 pm

The theory that stuck out to me the most was the symbolic interactionism theory because of how interesting it sounded in relation to experiences and how a person reacts to certain things based on the things they have experienced in life. Battacharya describes the theory by saying that individuals make meaning for objects based on understanding of the objects, and any acts towards objects, events, things, and interactions are informed by the meaning an individual makes. A further explanation of it states that social interactions inform the choices that humans make and informs their meanings of the world, events, objects, and more. This would mean that anything we’ve experienced in our world influences the meanings we make of anything we encounter, which explains a lot of how I’ve experienced the world. While I don’t think I’ve encountered discussions of these theories in other classes or in casual discussion, I really believe that this is a valid theory on how we as humans perceive experiences and future experiences.
I feel like a lot of the decisions I make in life are based off of previous experiences that I’ve had, and for that reason, I feel like this is a common theory to live by even without putting a name to it. The idea is that everyone has different ideas of what is symbolic to them and what has significant meaning to them, and so all our experiences in life may be different depending on what we count as significant. For example, many people find religion to be a significant factor in their decision making, but as I don’t hold any religious beliefs, I obviously wouldn’t use that symbol as a determining factor in my life while others may. If someone holds their family as a significant factor in their life, their decisions may reflect a more family oriented life-style as this holds meaning to them more so than someone who doesn’t have a close bond with their family.

11/19/2020 07:34:53 am

I am glad you broke this theory down more because at first glance while reading Bhattacharya it seemed rather complicated. I think what is important to takeaway from this theory is the fact that every individual has a different set of "meanings" and these meanings are all derived from different places. This phenomenon is truly the root cause of so many major societal issues we face today, because no one issue can be solved uniformly due to the sheer amount of varied experiences. Religion is definitely a great example of this like you mention, as for some it is the cause of wars, while for others it is a complete non-factor in their lives, and they have no meaning attached to it. I think racism is also related to this theory because you could argue that people are racist as a result of the meaning they have attached to that type of behavior. To them, they see racism as their right and like it is a shield to protect their freedom, but for sane people who are kind and compassionate, racism has a very different meaning attached to it. Symbolic interactionism is a solid theory to use when attempting to understand why there is constant strife among human societies.

11/23/2020 08:45:52 am

That's really smart, especially the second part where you gave examples of different values. I find this theory to be interesting and very applicable, whether we know what it is or not, just like you said. Human beings are usually inclined to rely on their beliefs to get them through things, ie a man who considers family valuable likely wouldn't do something to hurt his son. The same applies to people who love animals not hurting them, or people who value their language as a form of communication not wanting to give up the ability to speak. Symbolic interactionism has many facets to be explored, which makes it a theory easy to go in depth with.

11/23/2020 09:21:50 am

Hi Amanda

I think this theory is interesting, and has some merit to it. I think we can learn a lot from our life experiences, it's how we grow as human beings and learn social boundaries and rules. It basically governs our every day life and how we interact with other people. Some peoples experiences in life may also be more symbolic or important to them, and so someone's experiences are all relative and are different for everyone. Like when you mention religious beliefs, those experiences and beliefs may affect someone differently than someone who is not religious. I'm not personally religious either, so the beliefs that go along with that don't affect my experiences in life as much as they would for someone else.

11/23/2020 08:37:14 am

The theories Bhattacharya presents can overlap, but generally all serve their own specific purposes that allow them to be identified from each other. The first theory that interested me was symbolic interactionism. It aims to go in depth and understand things like linguistics and communication. The combination of symbols and interaction in the very name of the theory each come through to be able to analyze not only how people interpret their own symbols, but how they interact with others and how multiple people can view the same symbol as the same thing in order to communicate. It's similar to what we've covered in the linguistics class I'm in this semester, for example the use of varying dialects as something we all recognize rather than something that separates us among the same language. Phenomenology is similar in the sense that it relies on humans and their interactions with the world around them in order to collect its data. As Bhattacharya puts it, it focuses on lived experience, as well as the shared experience of a phenomenon. It intends to dissect life as if it consists only of the objects and events (phenomena) as they are perceived through human eyes. I've seen this sort of theory in small snippets here and there, as I've never sincerely encountered anyone saying they see like through a phenomenological lens, but rather people who theorize about reality being a simulation, that we can't prove things exist if we aren't directly looking at them, etc. Phenomenology, while complex and mildly strange, offers an interesting perspective on our daily lives.

Theory in real life

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