0HV80 HTI in Social Context
Summary of the slides
Table of Contents
Meeting 1: Intro.................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Social context/Social Phenomena ........................................................................................................................................... 3
How to integrate micro and macro? ....................................................................................................................................... 3
The micro-macro transition ............................................................................................................................................... 3
Finding solutions to macro problems: rules of theory development ................................................................................ 3
2 Classical Theories: Thomas Hobbes versus The Scottish Moral Philosophers ..................................................................... 4
Thomas Hobbes: under which conditions do people live together peacefully? ............................................................... 4
Scottish Moral Philosophers .............................................................................................................................................. 4
Meeting 2: Problem of Cohesion and Inequality ................................................................................................................. 5
The Problem of Cohesion (E. Durkheim)................................................................................................................................. 5
The Core of Structural Functionalism ................................................................................................................................ 5
Application of the integration theory: ............................................................................................................................... 5
Integration with the help of ICT: Community Online? ....................................................................................................... 5
The problem of inequality....................................................................................................................................................... 6
Historic Materialism ........................................................................................................................................................... 6
Social inequality ................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Inequality in internet use ................................................................................................................................................... 8
Meeting 3: Discussion college ............................................................................................................................................. 8
The cycle of “Problem-Theory-Research”, the P-T-R cycle ..................................................................................................... 8
Article of Utz et al. (2009) Design of Online Reputation Systems .......................................................................................... 8
Meeting 4 ........................................................................................................................................................................... 9
1. Rational choice: a micro-theory for studying the social media & networks ...................................................................... 9
Recap .................................................................................................................................................................................. 9
2. Individual and collective goods (online and offline) ......................................................................................................... 10
Individual vs collective rationality .................................................................................................................................... 11
Interdependency as characteristic of production of collective goods ............................................................................ 11
3. The Prisoners’ dilemma and free riding in groups ............................................................................................................ 11
The Problem of Free-Riding ............................................................................................................................................. 11
4. The Coleman boat elaborated in more detail: bridge assumptions and transformation rules ........................................ 12
Example: Scottish Moral Philosophers............................................................................................................................. 12
Macro questions and Micro solutions ............................................................................................................................. 12
Meeting 5 ......................................................................................................................................................................... 12
How to come up with a good theory? .................................................................................................................................. 12
What is (good) theory? .................................................................................................................................................... 13
How do you develop a (good) theory? ............................................................................................................................ 13
0HV80 HTI in Social Context
1
, Example: anomie (Durkheim) .......................................................................................................................................... 13
Assignment 1: design (and management) of social media/ online communities: designing for sociability ........................ 13
Back to the Coleman boat: ............................................................................................................................................... 14
Meeting 6 ......................................................................................................................................................................... 14
1. The problem of rationalization (Max Weber) ................................................................................................................... 14
Social change, modernization, rationalization: the special feature of Western societies ................................................... 15
The rise of capitalism in Western societies: earlier explanations ................................................................................... 15
Max Weber: the core of interpretative individualism (fundamental idea) ..................................................................... 15
Different views of the world: ........................................................................................................................................... 16
The theory of world-views: first hypotheses ................................................................................................................... 16
Rationalization ................................................................................................................................................................. 16
2. Emotions and diffusion processes in social media: Facebook .......................................................................................... 17
Facebook’s emotional consequences .............................................................................................................................. 17
Meeting 8 Why some Innovations do not “take off” ......................................................................................................... 17
Rogers.................................................................................................................................................................................... 17
The (micro) innovation decision process ......................................................................................................................... 18
Adopter categories ........................................................................................................................................................... 19
Crossing the chasm model ............................................................................................................................................... 19
Short intro into the social system .................................................................................................................................... 19
Social influence and opinion leaders ............................................................................................................................... 20
Meeting 9 Social Network Theory ..................................................................................................................................... 20
Network structure, some observations ................................................................................................................................ 20
Graphs: network conceptualization ...................................................................................................................................... 21
The regulative cycle (problem solving cycle) ................................................................................................................... 22
0HV80 HTI in Social Context
2
,Meeting 1: Intro
Social context/Social Phenomena
Social phenomena: 3 fundamental questions
The problem of cohesion
The problem of social order
The problem of inequality
Stratification
The rationalization problem
Modernization and social change
How to integrate micro and macro?
Macro Micro
Sociology Societies Humans
Social media research Communities/groups/networks Members
The micro-macro transition
Individualist theory: a theory that puts forward propositions about causal regularities of
human behaviour under (specific)
social conditions; behaviour has
consequences for specific macro-
phenomena
Collectivist theory: a theory making statements about regularities and associations between
specific macro=phenomena (social conditions and social phenomena) without taking into
account human behavior
- Sociology examines characteristics of societies, not characteristics of individuals: cohesion,
inequality, rationalisation
- Most important phenomena to be explained macro-phenomena not micro-phenomena
- Also for explanatory conditions the sociologist first looks at social conditions (= macro-
conditions)
- But: what does this imply for the (explanatory) theory?
- Are the theories exclusively about macro-phenomena (= collectivist theories) or are theories
that do not take into account individual behaviour less satisfying?
Why micro-hypotheses (behavioural theories)?
1) The predictions of macro-hypotheses often do not find enough empirical evidence – often
exceptions do exist
- With the help of micro-hypotheses we can clarify under which conditions the macro-
hypothesis is true and under which conditions not
2) Macro-hypotheses often leave open what causal mechanism leads to a specific relationship
between macro-phenomena
Finding solutions to macro problems: rules of theory development
Deeper (more general) explanations of macro-phenomena through reduction of macro-
hypotheses to micro-hypotheses (and additional conditions)
0HV80 HTI in Social Context
3
, Sometimes correction of macro-hypotheses: the macro-hypothesis will be made more
precise by indicating under which condition the macro-hypothesis is true, and under which
condition not
When formulating questions about characteristics of a society: take into account the
behaviour of individuals which determines the characteristics of the society
Sociologists analyse how social conditions influence behaviour and how behaviour
translates into macro phenomena
Thus: relate apparently inherent characteristics of individuals (e.g., weak digital skills) to
characteristics of social conditions (member of online community with difficult-to-use app)
Thus: transform apparently global characteristics of societies (e.g., degree of community
activity in social media) to a combination of characteristics of its members (e.g., percentage
of members who actively share content)
2 Classical Theories: Thomas Hobbes versus The Scottish Moral Philosophers
One big problem: Social cohesion/social order: trust. Trust is the willingness of a party to be
vulnerable to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other will perform a
particular action important to the trustor
Thomas Hobbes: under which conditions do people live together peacefully?
Hobbes’ search for an answer uses: (1) (simple) behavioural theory about human nature, and (2)
conclusions based on these assumptions: what will people do under what social conditions?
People have goals/needs/aversions. Everybody fears death and injury, everybody needs
food and water, and everybody wants wealth and honor
To achieve their goals, people use:
o Property and knowledge
o Physical strength
Thomas Hobbes’ conclusions:
In an area without a state, under scarcity and with people of equal strength there will be “a
war of all against all”
Life is “solitary, nasty, brutish, and short”
Hobbes’ solution:
A powerful state forcing people not to make use of violence
Powerful state is in the best interest of citizens
Cooperative behavior does not emerge endogenously
Scottish Moral Philosophers
Same question: when do people live together peacefully?
Again: assumptions about human nature
- But the assumptions emphasize other skills of people
- And there are some other assumptions about the conditions under which people live
o People strive for goals, and behave to achieve them
o People’s behavior will be awarded or sanctioned through the reactions of others
o Skepticism with respect to general altruism (only for family)
o Social relations are a web of achievements and counter-achievements: reciprocity
o People’s interests are inter-twined: “By helping myself I help you”
0HV80 HTI in Social Context
4
Summary of the slides
Table of Contents
Meeting 1: Intro.................................................................................................................................................................. 3
Social context/Social Phenomena ........................................................................................................................................... 3
How to integrate micro and macro? ....................................................................................................................................... 3
The micro-macro transition ............................................................................................................................................... 3
Finding solutions to macro problems: rules of theory development ................................................................................ 3
2 Classical Theories: Thomas Hobbes versus The Scottish Moral Philosophers ..................................................................... 4
Thomas Hobbes: under which conditions do people live together peacefully? ............................................................... 4
Scottish Moral Philosophers .............................................................................................................................................. 4
Meeting 2: Problem of Cohesion and Inequality ................................................................................................................. 5
The Problem of Cohesion (E. Durkheim)................................................................................................................................. 5
The Core of Structural Functionalism ................................................................................................................................ 5
Application of the integration theory: ............................................................................................................................... 5
Integration with the help of ICT: Community Online? ....................................................................................................... 5
The problem of inequality....................................................................................................................................................... 6
Historic Materialism ........................................................................................................................................................... 6
Social inequality ................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Inequality in internet use ................................................................................................................................................... 8
Meeting 3: Discussion college ............................................................................................................................................. 8
The cycle of “Problem-Theory-Research”, the P-T-R cycle ..................................................................................................... 8
Article of Utz et al. (2009) Design of Online Reputation Systems .......................................................................................... 8
Meeting 4 ........................................................................................................................................................................... 9
1. Rational choice: a micro-theory for studying the social media & networks ...................................................................... 9
Recap .................................................................................................................................................................................. 9
2. Individual and collective goods (online and offline) ......................................................................................................... 10
Individual vs collective rationality .................................................................................................................................... 11
Interdependency as characteristic of production of collective goods ............................................................................ 11
3. The Prisoners’ dilemma and free riding in groups ............................................................................................................ 11
The Problem of Free-Riding ............................................................................................................................................. 11
4. The Coleman boat elaborated in more detail: bridge assumptions and transformation rules ........................................ 12
Example: Scottish Moral Philosophers............................................................................................................................. 12
Macro questions and Micro solutions ............................................................................................................................. 12
Meeting 5 ......................................................................................................................................................................... 12
How to come up with a good theory? .................................................................................................................................. 12
What is (good) theory? .................................................................................................................................................... 13
How do you develop a (good) theory? ............................................................................................................................ 13
0HV80 HTI in Social Context
1
, Example: anomie (Durkheim) .......................................................................................................................................... 13
Assignment 1: design (and management) of social media/ online communities: designing for sociability ........................ 13
Back to the Coleman boat: ............................................................................................................................................... 14
Meeting 6 ......................................................................................................................................................................... 14
1. The problem of rationalization (Max Weber) ................................................................................................................... 14
Social change, modernization, rationalization: the special feature of Western societies ................................................... 15
The rise of capitalism in Western societies: earlier explanations ................................................................................... 15
Max Weber: the core of interpretative individualism (fundamental idea) ..................................................................... 15
Different views of the world: ........................................................................................................................................... 16
The theory of world-views: first hypotheses ................................................................................................................... 16
Rationalization ................................................................................................................................................................. 16
2. Emotions and diffusion processes in social media: Facebook .......................................................................................... 17
Facebook’s emotional consequences .............................................................................................................................. 17
Meeting 8 Why some Innovations do not “take off” ......................................................................................................... 17
Rogers.................................................................................................................................................................................... 17
The (micro) innovation decision process ......................................................................................................................... 18
Adopter categories ........................................................................................................................................................... 19
Crossing the chasm model ............................................................................................................................................... 19
Short intro into the social system .................................................................................................................................... 19
Social influence and opinion leaders ............................................................................................................................... 20
Meeting 9 Social Network Theory ..................................................................................................................................... 20
Network structure, some observations ................................................................................................................................ 20
Graphs: network conceptualization ...................................................................................................................................... 21
The regulative cycle (problem solving cycle) ................................................................................................................... 22
0HV80 HTI in Social Context
2
,Meeting 1: Intro
Social context/Social Phenomena
Social phenomena: 3 fundamental questions
The problem of cohesion
The problem of social order
The problem of inequality
Stratification
The rationalization problem
Modernization and social change
How to integrate micro and macro?
Macro Micro
Sociology Societies Humans
Social media research Communities/groups/networks Members
The micro-macro transition
Individualist theory: a theory that puts forward propositions about causal regularities of
human behaviour under (specific)
social conditions; behaviour has
consequences for specific macro-
phenomena
Collectivist theory: a theory making statements about regularities and associations between
specific macro=phenomena (social conditions and social phenomena) without taking into
account human behavior
- Sociology examines characteristics of societies, not characteristics of individuals: cohesion,
inequality, rationalisation
- Most important phenomena to be explained macro-phenomena not micro-phenomena
- Also for explanatory conditions the sociologist first looks at social conditions (= macro-
conditions)
- But: what does this imply for the (explanatory) theory?
- Are the theories exclusively about macro-phenomena (= collectivist theories) or are theories
that do not take into account individual behaviour less satisfying?
Why micro-hypotheses (behavioural theories)?
1) The predictions of macro-hypotheses often do not find enough empirical evidence – often
exceptions do exist
- With the help of micro-hypotheses we can clarify under which conditions the macro-
hypothesis is true and under which conditions not
2) Macro-hypotheses often leave open what causal mechanism leads to a specific relationship
between macro-phenomena
Finding solutions to macro problems: rules of theory development
Deeper (more general) explanations of macro-phenomena through reduction of macro-
hypotheses to micro-hypotheses (and additional conditions)
0HV80 HTI in Social Context
3
, Sometimes correction of macro-hypotheses: the macro-hypothesis will be made more
precise by indicating under which condition the macro-hypothesis is true, and under which
condition not
When formulating questions about characteristics of a society: take into account the
behaviour of individuals which determines the characteristics of the society
Sociologists analyse how social conditions influence behaviour and how behaviour
translates into macro phenomena
Thus: relate apparently inherent characteristics of individuals (e.g., weak digital skills) to
characteristics of social conditions (member of online community with difficult-to-use app)
Thus: transform apparently global characteristics of societies (e.g., degree of community
activity in social media) to a combination of characteristics of its members (e.g., percentage
of members who actively share content)
2 Classical Theories: Thomas Hobbes versus The Scottish Moral Philosophers
One big problem: Social cohesion/social order: trust. Trust is the willingness of a party to be
vulnerable to the actions of another party based on the expectation that the other will perform a
particular action important to the trustor
Thomas Hobbes: under which conditions do people live together peacefully?
Hobbes’ search for an answer uses: (1) (simple) behavioural theory about human nature, and (2)
conclusions based on these assumptions: what will people do under what social conditions?
People have goals/needs/aversions. Everybody fears death and injury, everybody needs
food and water, and everybody wants wealth and honor
To achieve their goals, people use:
o Property and knowledge
o Physical strength
Thomas Hobbes’ conclusions:
In an area without a state, under scarcity and with people of equal strength there will be “a
war of all against all”
Life is “solitary, nasty, brutish, and short”
Hobbes’ solution:
A powerful state forcing people not to make use of violence
Powerful state is in the best interest of citizens
Cooperative behavior does not emerge endogenously
Scottish Moral Philosophers
Same question: when do people live together peacefully?
Again: assumptions about human nature
- But the assumptions emphasize other skills of people
- And there are some other assumptions about the conditions under which people live
o People strive for goals, and behave to achieve them
o People’s behavior will be awarded or sanctioned through the reactions of others
o Skepticism with respect to general altruism (only for family)
o Social relations are a web of achievements and counter-achievements: reciprocity
o People’s interests are inter-twined: “By helping myself I help you”
0HV80 HTI in Social Context
4
