Why Things Matter to People: Social Science, Values and Ethical Life

“…in their assertion that ‘ought’ cannot be logically derived from ‘is’, from a realist perspective, ‘[t]he force of the “ought” . . . is not a matter of the logical relations between statements, but of bodily needs or compulsions – states of being or becoming, not statements’ (Sayer, 2011, p. 51).”

“The sociologist Andrew Sayer challenges this notion in Why Things Matter to People (Sayer 2011).”

“As Sayer argues: [T]he quality of people ’ s lives depends hugely on the quality of the social relations in which they live, and on how people treat one another ’ (2011: 7).”

“Sayer (2005, 2011) argues that addressing the question of morality is inescapable because ordinary citizens are reflexive about their lives in a way often ignored by researchers: they base their actions not just on utility or advantage, but also on whether what they are doing is right.”

“In addition, they allow researchers to explore the complex connections between transformative moments and the attachments that constitute the ‘what matters’ (Sayer 2011) of individual lives.”

“Values-based approaches seek to understand political activism as a configuration of meanings and practices that express relationships of concern to the world (Sayer, 2011).”

“…a description of life before prison (not a full life history narrative) before focusing on the notion of personal change: did change ‘matter’ (Sayer 2011) to the interviewee; 4 O’Donnell’s coefficient (𝑃𝑄 = 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 ) quantifies the…”

“For causality, we can agree with Sayer that well-being “is unevenly achieved” within and between countries and that “the suffering and flourishing of different groups are frequently interdependent” (Sayer, 2011, p. 137).”

“This interpretation of happiness is consistent with an underlying assumption where subjective evaluations are seen to carry an objective element which is not reducible to individual emotions, preferences or traits.(29) Thus, we found that assessments of position on the social ladder were made in relation to whether th…”

“Drawing on existentialism and phenomenology, he posits that emotions are not just affective responses by a biological being, but sentiments that both organize and reflect our relationship to the world as one of care (also Mullin, 2006; Sayer, 2011).”

“We suggest that grandparental motives to provide childcare are more complex than this categorisation would indicate; as Reay et al. (2007) and Sayer (2011) have argued, individuals’ behaviour is often shaped by an amalgam of different influences.”

“Thus, social theory and philosophy have complementary strengths and deficiencies that call for an attempt at synthesis (Sayer, 2011).”

“We must, however, acknowledge that organizations are ‘important “moral arenas” for their members . . . [and] how they are treated within them significantly matters . . . [influencing] their moral sentiments . . . and well-being’ (Sayer, 2011: 22).”

“For example, in seeking to understand the ongoing presence of volunteers, we can retroduce from a variety of data (both in this case and elsewhere) that the properties of humans include the capacity to care (Sayer, 2011; Archer, 2000) - properties not possessed by, say, hotel lights.”

“…ones as well, which we justify across Aristotle’s concept of phronesis (practical wisdom) involving a capacity for moral actions towards good ends (Angier 2010; Bourdieu 1994; Sayer 2011); or more specifically, making relevant decisions and actions in the best possible manner towards good ends.”

“In this view, normativity is seen ‘more in terms of the ongoing flow of continual concrete evaluation, and less in terms of norms, rules, procedures, or indeed decisions and injunctions about what one ought to do’ (Sayer, 2011: 97).”

“…(descriptive and explanatory) analyses of economy and society conducted by social scientists have little regard for normative issues of well-being, indeed, for many researchers this is a point of principle, for they believe that addressing them would compromise their objectivity (Sayer 2011).”

“We are beings whose everyday lives are filled with questions about how to act, and what to do for the best, ‘beings whose relation in the world is one of concern’ (Sayer, 2011, p. 2).”

“To a large extent then, dignity flows from how one perceives that they are recognized and treated by others, making it a profoundly interpersonal matter (Sayer, 2011).”

“Following Sayer (2011) it locates the transformative potential of social science inquiry less in generalized critique and more in contributing to practical discussions about the possibility, feasibility and desirability of different forms of social organization.”

“For a concerted attempt to overthrow the doxa of axiological neutrality within sociology, see the contributions of Mustafa Emirbayer, Laurent Thévenot, Andrew Sayer, Anne Rawls and George Steinmetz in the forthcoming special issue on axiological engagement in the Canadian Review of Sociology (Vandenberghe and Gorski,…”

“…scholarly organization to enact its particular telos (i.e. a scholarly purpose), it would involve not merely finding the most effective means to facilitate its members’ communication, but also honouring the “value commitment” (Selznick 1984, p. 55) its telos constitutes (Selznick 1992; Sayer 2011).”

“…of January 2015, member check through a presentation to the committee on 14 April 2018, personal communications with committee members 5, 6, and 7) to see whether the interpretation made by the authors stayed close enough to the interpretation of those observed (Sayer, 2011) (see also Table 3).”

“Amid this contradiction they struggle to be seen as both sensitive and worthy of being “taken seriously” as dignified professionals (Sayer 2011, 197).”

“…our axiological stances with collaborators thus allows researchers to be seen as social beings embedded in patterns of social interdependence, who are not only “ capable and can fl ourish ” but also “ vulnerable and susceptible to various kinds of loss or harm [and] can suffer ” (Sayer, 2011, p. 1).”

“…under the arts and humanities, the most frequently cited are: the book Why Things Matter to People: Social Science, Values and Ethical Life [32], with 542 citations; again, the article by Huppert and So [29]—also classified as social sciences—with 524 citations, and the article Mental…”

“Indeed, designing and maintaining inclusive ethical organizations to provide the context for employee courage is imperative for workplace dignity, an unspoken yet accepted convention of mutual respect in daily life (Lucas, 2015; Sayer, 2011), to be realized.”

“intellectual virtue for a good end (Angier, 2010; Bourdieu, 1994; Sayer, 2011).”

“…of practical philosophy, the rediscovery of virtues and moral sentiments, the ethical turn within post-structuralism and feminist theory have dislocated the normative emphasis from the basic structure of well-ordered societies to intersubjectivity, alterity and primary sociability (Sayer, 2011).”

“Sayer (2011), Laidlaw (2014), Abend (2014), and Keane (2016) are fine examples of theory construction at the intersection of philosophy, sociology, and anthropology.”

“…it remains other in the sense articulated by Fagan when she describe Levinas’ concept of the other ‘completely other and impervious to my powers of comprehension and control’ (Fagan 2009, 7), as ultimately unknowable to the subject and uncontrolled by it, as a source of surprise (Sayer 2011, 123).”

“(2004, p. 231) A correspondence theory of truth—and the kind of ethical realism proposed by Latour and Sayer (2011)—can be seen as a part and parcel of what Gramsci saw as the “healthy nucleus” of common sense, namely, good sense (Gramsci, Hoare, & Smith, 1971, p. 328).”

“This is the “ two-world theory ” that Hannah Arendt (1978: 23) summarized as “ the old metaphysical dichotomy of (true) Being and (mere) Appearance ” comprising an “ insu-perable opposition between the concrete world and the human intellect ” (Rehmann, 2013: 184; cf. Sayer, 2011).”

“What becomes apparent is that the identity of place, as much as human identity, is the outcome of an iterative and interactive process along which certain kinds of experiences and interactions create intertwined narratives (Johnson 1993: 150–184) and values (Sayer 2011: 27).”

“For instance, Andrew Sayer (2005, 2007, 2011) forcefully argues that these boundaries are grounded in people’s practical reasoning and reasonableness and how they view social arrangements and practices as leading to human suffering or flourishing.”

“generated new understanding of societal patterns but one criticism of the social practice perspective has been the omission of the essential human condition of caring about events and outcomes [36].”

“Values matter to people (Sayer 2011), and affect the”

“…I am indebted to the many scholars who have explained, developed and debated critical realism including specifically Collier (1994), Danermark et al. (2002), Gorski (2004; 2013), Lawson (1997), Norrie (2010), Olsen (Olsen and Morgan 2005; 2010), Porpora (2010; 2016) and Sayer (2000; 2011).”

“However, while Hannah received a negative performance evaluation, her perception of injustice was buffered through the moral values of recognition, care and respect for her efforts and knowledge received from her colleagues that characterised the ‘thick’ horizontal relationships in the PRU (Sayer, 2011): Since we last…”

“We explored the connection between freelancers’ effort-bargain experiences and the concept of recognition exchange (Calhoun 2004; Sayer 2011).”

“With this especially important aspect of social work practice and research in mind, practitioners and scholars must be aware of how it is we make evaluations in moment-to-moment exchanges (in practice and research on practice) as we recognize (Houston, 2001, 2009), consider, attempt to understand, and engage in reflex…”

“Social facts, such as the girl’s wish to hug her family, do not necessarily dictate which values to follow, but they raise unavoidable questions and choices about the values which are integral to social relations (Archer, 2003; Bhaskar, 2008; Midgley, 2014; Sayer, 2011).”

“This implies a morality that is not just about rejecting rules and religion but also paying attention to the concrete situations of judgement and evaluation that constitute everyday morality (Sayer, 2011, p. 254).”