abril de 2004 - CCHLA - Universidade Federal da Paraíba

Generated by Foxit PDF Creator © Foxit Softwarehttp://www.foxitsoftware.com For evaluation only.of welfare recipients in Sweden combine economic andpsychological variables (Starrin, et al 1997, 2000, 2001and additional publications in Swedish). Their basicfinding, that shame and financial stress together predictpoor health far better than either variable alone, has beenreplicated in different populations.In addition to the integration of human sciencedisciplines, a second task may be still be conceptual, andtherefore, pre-scientific. The scientific approach isorganized in terms of theory, method and data. But thesetools are weak until concepts have been clearly defined,because scientists, like everyone else, live in theassumptive world of our own culture. The ocean ofassumptions that each culture reflects and generates arevirtually invisible. Unless these assumptions are identifiedand discussed, the tools of science may merely uphold thecultural/social status quo, rather than breaking newground. In Mannheim’s sense, they are ideological, ratherthan utopian.The way that cultural assumptions impede sciencehas been nicely caught by the philosopher Quine:The neatly worked inner stretches of science are anopen space in the tropical jungle, created by clearingtropes [metaphors] away" (1979, p. 160).That is to say, it usually happens that beforescientific procedures are applicable, a ruling trope has tobe overthrown. Quine’s formulation captures the radicallyintuitive element necessary for scientific advance. Tropesare linguistic/mental routines that both reflect and hidecultural assumption.Perhaps Erving Goffman’s work is a model in thisregard, since it has de-routinization as its main goal(Scheff 2003). Each study can be seen as deconstructinglay and social sciences tropes, rather than establishingtheory, method or data. His favorite trope was theWestern individualized idea of the self. The self or person,he proposed in many different contexts, can just as easilybe seen as a social arrangement. He also attackedestablished social institutions, such as sex roles andmental illness. This goal would explain why he seemed tostart afresh with each work. "Look," he could have said,"We need to construct alternative universes. That’s why I115