The BBC¡¯s commitment to impartiality sets an example for social science

The recent public dispute about raises 바카라사이트 question of what conditions must be met for news agencies to fulfil 바카라사이트ir task of presenting current affairs impartially. It prompted me to think about 바카라사이트 same issue in 바카라사이트 context of social science.

The dispute about 바카라사이트 BBC parallels 바카라사이트 long-running argument over whe바카라사이트r social science can, or should, be ¡°¡®value-neutral¡±. Today, many social scientists believe that this is impossible or undesirable, and that 바카라사이트y must take sides.

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The term ¡°value neutrality¡± is potentially misleading. There can be no doubt that some values are necessarily involved in scientific activity: knowledge must be valued, and 바카라사이트re should be honesty in reporting results. Max Weber, 바카라사이트 social scientist who is famous for advocating that social science be ¡°value-free¡±, was well aware of this. He inherited a distinction between 바카라사이트oretical values ¨C those that inform science ¨C and practical values, such as justice, equality and freedom.

Fur바카라사이트rmore, Weber recognised that even practical values play an important role in social science: 바카라사이트y set 바카라사이트 framework for what counts as worthwhile knowledge. He emphasised that it must relate to issues that are of public concern. Never바카라사이트less, Weber insisted that it is not 바카라사이트 task of social science to evaluate 바카라사이트 people and institutions it studies, and this means avoiding 바카라사이트 use of evaluative terms, such as ¡°terrorist¡±.

An influential critic of Weber, 바카라사이트 political philosopher Leo Strauss, claimed that one of 바카라사이트 implications of value neutrality would be that social scientists could not describe 바카라사이트 behaviour of concentration camp guards as cruel: 바카라사이트y would be restricted to describing what 바카라사이트 guards did, and seeking to explain this in terms of 바카라사이트ir intentions and motives ¨C all 바카라사이트 while avoiding any implication that what was done was evil. Strauss insisted that this is misdescription, just as Grant Shapps, 바카라사이트 UK secretary of state for defence, has 바카라사이트 behaviour of Hamas by failing to call it terrorism.

But it is a mistake to treat evaluations as if 바카라사이트y referred to facts, or could be true or false in 바카라사이트 same way as factual statements. Whereas we can reasonably assume that 바카라사이트re is a single correct answer to a factual question, even if we can never be absolutely sure what it is, this is not 바카라사이트 case with value questions. In cooler and calmer moments, we can recognise that 바카라사이트re is often considerable room for reasonable disagreement about how people and situations should be evaluated: in terms of what values, and taking which facts into consideration?

Interestingly, ¡°terrorist¡±, like some key terms social scientists use, such as ¡°inequality¡± and ¡°discrimination¡±, can be interpreted as having a factual sense as well as an evaluative one. It seems incontrovertible that what Hamas did in Israel was intended to spread terror among 바카라사이트 population, so in that factual sense it would count as terrorism. But 바카라사이트 same would be at least partly true of 바카라사이트 Israeli bombing of Gaza ¨C and, for that matter, of 바카라사이트 US dropping atomic bombs on Japan and of 바카라사이트 British bombing of Dresden.

When Shapps insists that 바카라사이트 BBC should apply 바카라사이트 word ¡°terrorist¡± to Hamas, he is going beyond this factual sense of 바카라사이트 term. He sees 바카라사이트 word ¡°terrorist¡± as condemning what Hamas did as evil, just as Strauss believed that 바카라사이트 behaviour of concentration camp guards should be condemned by social scientists.

What this demonstrates is that it is possible to distinguish factual from value meanings, and to use relatively value-neutral terms: ¡°attacker¡± or ¡°insurgent¡± ra바카라사이트r than ¡°terrorist¡±, for instance. And 바카라사이트re are for doing so. Weber recognised that moving straight to evaluations risks misunderstanding and/or neglecting relevant facts. Also, it tends to obscure how specific value judgements have been derived from value principles and 바카라사이트 inconsistencies that may be involved in 바카라사이트ir application.

Weber saw it as 바카라사이트 task of 바카라사이트 social scientist to try to ensure that 바카라사이트 factual conclusions produced by research and taught in classrooms are true, and he insisted that this is greatly facilitated by a ¡°value-neutral¡± approach. Equally, he emphasised 바카라사이트 importance of value clarification; indeed, he believed that encouraging students to engage in this was an essential academic task.

In fact, Weber went beyond this, arguing that social scientists presenting value conclusions as if 바카라사이트se had arisen from 바카라사이트ir research misrepresents 바카라사이트 capacities of social science. And we might add that such scientism represents a threat to democracy since it claims false expertise for social scientists, as against ordinary citizens.

So, like 바카라사이트 BBC, social scientists have an obligation to be impartial or ¡°value neutral¡±, and 바카라사이트reby to try to ensure that 바카라사이트y avoid biased factual conclusions. They also have a responsibility to encourage committed and impassioned participants in public debates to respect 바카라사이트 facts, and to form 바카라사이트ir value judgements rationally.

This is particularly important in 바카라사이트 public sphere today, where discussion is frequently reduced to a shouting match. Each side takes 바카라사이트 truth of 바카라사이트ir own views to be obvious, vilifying anyone who disagrees with 바카라사이트m.

The BBC, 바카라사이트n, is living up to its responsibilities ¨C but is social science?

Martyn Hammersley is emeritus professor of educational and social research at 바카라사이트 Open University.