2019/06/25 Lakatos Zoltán
Rethinking Distance Between Sets: Substantialist Fallacies and Relational Alternatives
"Értékek, cselekvés, társadalmi dinamika" műhely
Sorozatszervező: Csigó Péter
From many a sociologist's fixation on the variables stems a
reductionist thinking about set properties, and hence distance between
sets. Given the prominence of the General Linear Model, approaches to
distance measurement favoring straightforward indicators like averages,
medians, nearest/furthest neighbors, medians, squared deviations, etc. ―
all deemed to express "core" properties ― often end up applying a
substantialist template. Expounding these limitations, the relational
philosophy of geometric data analysis privileges methods with which it
is easier to capture set complexity. As an illustration, I use the
Hausdorff metric to measure the cultural distance between and within
European historical regions. Mostly unnoticed in the social sciences,
the Hausdorff distance is preferable because it takes into account not
only some vague indicator expressing the location but also the size and
the dispersion of the sets. Applying this metric to country-level data
from values surveys, the conclusions about inter- and intraregional
cultural distances and the evolution thereof are at odds with the
results obtained with the "substantialist", centroid-based method. For
example, during the two decades following the collapse of Communist
regimes the Post-Soviet region (excl. the Baltics) and Western Europe
had grown closer in terms of cultural values, and the Baltics had not
become more dissimilar to Russia. The discussion highlights issues
related to set homogeneity by laying out different conclusions reached
with relational as opposed to substantialist methods on the cultural
consistency of the former "Eastern" and "Western" blocs.
Időpont: 2019. június 25. (kedd), 10:00
Helyszín: BME Szociológia és Kommunikáció Tanszék,