SPS seminar, second edition

Our inter-disciplinary, inter-institutional SPS seminar (Paris Seminar on the Analysis of Social Processes and Structures) has just started its second edition! Its purpose is to take stock of the debates within the international scientific community that have repercussions on the practice of contemporary sociology, and that renew the ways in which we construct research designs, i.e., the ways in which we connect theoretical claims, data collection and methods to assess the link between data and theory. Several observations motivate this endeavor. Increasing interactions between social sciences and disciplines such as computer science, physics and biology outline new conceptual and methodological perspectives on social realities. The availability of massive data sets raises the question of the tools required to describe, visualize and model these data sets. Simulation techniques, experimental methods and counterfactual analyses modify our conceptions of causality. Crossing sociology’s disciplinary frontiers, network analysis expands its range of scales. In addition, the development of mixed methods redraws the distinction between qualitative and quantitative approaches. In light of these challenges, the SPS seminar discusses studies that, irrespective of their subject and disciplinary background, provide the opportunity to deepen our understanding of the relations between theory, data and methods in social sciences.

Calendar for 2017-18

• 20.10.2017 Delia Baldassarri (New York University), Cooperation in Complex Societies: How does Ethnic Diversity Affect Pro-social Behavior in Contemporary Communities?
• 17.11.2017 Martin Aranguren (CNRS–URMIS), Misrecognitive Discrimination: Clarification and Field Experimental Operationalization.
• 15.12.2017 Olivier Godechot (CNRS–OSC, Sciences Po, Paris), Structural Exchange Pays off. Reciprocity, Cycles and Board Compensations in UK Firms (2001-2011).
• 19.01.2018 Milena Tsvetkova (London School of Economics), The Emergence of Inequality in Social Groups.
• 16.02.2018 Sarah Valdez (Linköping University), Patterns in Radical Right Party Emergence.
• 16.03.2018 Fabien Accominotti (London School of Economics), Experimental Studies of the Acceptability of Inequality.
• 13.04.2018 Henning Hillmann (University of Mannheim), Quantitative Analysis of Qualitative Data: The Case of Historical Networks.
• 4.5.2018 Ivano Bison (University of Trento), Time, Events, and Sequences.
• 15.6.2018 Richard Breen (University of Oxford), Intergenerational Mobility and Demographic Change.

All seminars take place at Maison de la Recherche, 28 rue Serpente, 75006 Paris, 15:00 – 17:00.

Organizers: Ivan Ermakoff, Gianluca Manzo, Etienne Ollion, Ivaylo Petev, Paola Tubaro.