Social models offer the best future for political science

Academic social science is a cottage industry compared to the large-scale social experiments conducted by big business, governments, and election strategists. Titus Alexander argues that political scientists must recognize the power of institutions as social models and real-time experiments to help people solve problems

If it works, copy it

Have you noticed how politicians often imitate successful campaign strategies? When Barack Obama won the primary election against Hilary Clinton and then the presidency, he rewrote the campaign manual. Donald Trump's disruptive tactics later inspired Nigel Farages The bad boys of Brexitproviding Boris Johnson, Javier Bolsonaro and others with a new script.

Politicians also model their policies on effective examples. In the 1940s, the former British Minister of Health, Aneurin Bevanmodeled the National Health Service after his constituency Tredegar Workers' Medical Aid Society. Western welfare states have imitated the former chancellor of the German Empire, Otto of BismarckThe German social insurance system, launched in the 1880s. Bismark himself modeled his reforms on the mutual aid societies run by craft guilds since the Middle Ages. And after 1978, the former leader of the People's Republic of China, Deng Xiaopingadopted Singapore's model of economic development, which subsequently transformed China: a case of political copycat on a gargantuan scale.

Successful examples are proof that a particular form of organization works. They embody the tacit knowledge, protocols and principles that generate their results, which others can copy. Beliefs, ideologies, theories and values ​​play a role, but what matters is the integration of procedures, knowledge and ideas to create results that are replicated over time and in different contexts.

Social models are the social science equivalent of natural science theories

I suggest that the social models, patterns of behavior, and institutions that people copy or adapt are the social science equivalent of natural science theories.

Institutions as social science theories

Theories of natural science are models of how nature works. The more accurate the model, the better people can make nature do what they want. Good models are so reliable that humans can drive a vehicle on Mars more than thirty million miles away. They can configure electrons and radio waves to allow people around the world to talk together on portable devices.

It is more difficult for the social sciences to develop sustainable theoretical models, because individuals have capacities to act and modify their behavior, sometimes influenced by the theories concerning them. Conceptual theories can be informative, but over time most cease to be relevant, like old flowcharts.

The closest thing to a reliable model of society is an institution that we can replicate and adapt to achieve the desired results.

The closest thing to a reliable model of society is an institution that we can replicate and adapt to achieve the desired results. A government is a theory of how to run a country. Government structures have evolved since prehistoric statesadapted to meet new challenges. Modern Chinese leaders celebrate their states are deeply rooted in history and “the practices of having a central authority directing all areas of activity.” Imperial Britain once provided a model of parliamentary democracy for many former colonies. It now collaborates on new models of cooperation across the Commonwealth and the United Nations. Formerly warring states are experimenting with another model of transnational governance, the EU, drawing on older models of law, state, diplomacy, currency and representative assemblies. The EU, in turn, is a model for the African Union.

Business models

Companies are more explicit about working on their models. Fast food establishments have existed since Neolithic times, Godin Tepeand in Pompeiilong before a hot dog stand inspired the McDonald's Brothers go into business. They streamlined the model to produce reliable results worldwide. Aspiring entrepreneurs study business models because they provide models on how to achieve their goals. Businesses are dynamic models that analyze data in real time, so McDonald's is very different today than it was in 1952. Just like space travel depends on the laws of physics that are the same everywhere , companies rely on consistency across many regimes. According to Charles Edward Lindblom and David K. Cohenthe political frameworks that make this stability possible are equivalent to Thomas Kuhn's paradigms in natural sciences.

Social models are reproduced, copied, refined or extended to serve similar functions in different societies. In other words, they are similar to proto-scientific theories. They are also living experiences.

The world as a social science laboratory

Each institution is also a preliminary experiment in how to achieve a series of goals, adapting to changing power relations, social conditions, ideas and aspirations. Rulers developed accounting, writing, and record-keeping over millennia, primarily for tax and military purposes. Over time, people have created forms of detachment, verification and control to improve institutional performance, through assemblies, courts, elections, juries, inspectors, due diligence, data protection and other measures. Indeed, social science researcher Donald Campbell considered The sociologist at the service of the society in 1978. Since 2018, the American Foundations for Evidence-Based Policymaking And Evaluation.gov The dashboard aims to help policymakers and citizens use evidence to solve social problems.

Each institution is an experiment in how to achieve a series of goals, adapting to changing power relations, social conditions, ideas and aspirations.

Government research is overshadowed by corporations that use psychological research, social science, data mining, and randomized experiments to increase their influence. Data about people in a massive social search system is the lifeblood of today's economy.

Electoral strategists and political parties adapt this system to target messages aimed at obtaining power, not necessarily to govern better. In his book Lie machinesPhilip Howard describes how “shady ruling elites, lobbyists and politicians use new information technologies” and “produce, distribute and market untruths”.

These massive social experiments are not intended to discover truths or improve the human condition, but to manipulate people for commercial or political purposes.

So what can political science do?

The discipline of political science is overshadowed by the vast social experiments conducted by corporations and governments. His research has relatively little influence. But we need political and institutional imagination to develop institutions capable of solving today's problems. The power of example is a proven way to get ideas off the ground. When people see something that works and solves a problem or fills a need, it moves faster than any published research. By working with citizens, practitioners, and policymakers to identify and improve institutions that produce better outcomes, political scientists can enable individuals to improve the human condition.

Series No.12 in a Loop examining how political scientists and citizens can take practical steps to strengthen democracy