POL208Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 12: Scientific Method, Tokenism, Intersubjectivity
Document Summary
Realism and liberalism are the mainstream of ir. They generally accept the rules of the game; they do not challenge the current structure; they generally view actors as rational. However, this is not the only way to study ir: Highlights the social structures in society and makes them the focus. It challenges the way we think about the social sciences. Material facts are secondary to the social meaning attributed to them. We should focus on the social meaning of material factors. These meaning are intersubjective they are understood by group members; they help regulate and produce behaviour patterns; in turn they are reproduced by those behaviour patterns. Identities, norms and social institutions that the main unit of analysis. Anarchy is what states make of it alexander wendt. The implications of anarchy are not straightforward. State of nature self help" is an institution. World ends up being like realism predicts anyways. Constructivism can lead to a realist" or liberal" prediction.
