Tutorial Ticket (Week 9)
1) In light of [Iris Marion] Young's reflections [in 'Social Movements and the Politics of Difference' in Justice and the Politics of Difference, Princeton University Press, 1990: 156-191] on the importance of 'difference', give an example of other instances where inequality is necessary or appropriate.
2) From the course so far, briefly outline the method for dealing with complexity that most appeals to you.
1) It is important to retain an inequality in the selection of candidates for some jobs which involve sensitive material and deal with specific social groups. There are exceptions under various discrimination laws to allow applications from only those candidates with specific characteristics, such as being female or from a particular ethnic background. For example, it is often important that counsellors in women’s refuges be female. Women seeking refuge from domestic violence are expected to be more comfortable in dealing with other women. Similarly, it is reasonable to allow female victims of sexual violence to request a female doctor to treat or examine them.
2) I think that the scientific method is a useful approach to dealing with complexity. The use of hypotheses and rigorous testing can help test our assumptions about the problems we face. The scientific method can run the risk of oversimplifying problems by separating out variables and neglecting their relationships. However, this is a problem faced by other techniques such as economic modelling and means that the scientific method should be just one tool out of a range of approaches to complexity.
2) I think that the scientific method is a useful approach to dealing with complexity. The use of hypotheses and rigorous testing can help test our assumptions about the problems we face. The scientific method can run the risk of oversimplifying problems by separating out variables and neglecting their relationships. However, this is a problem faced by other techniques such as economic modelling and means that the scientific method should be just one tool out of a range of approaches to complexity.