Why We Work (TED Books) by Barry Schwartz

Why We Work (TED Books) by Barry Schwartz

Author:Barry Schwartz
Language: eng
Format: mobi, azw3
Publisher: Simon & Schuster/ TED
Published: 2015-08-31T14:00:00+00:00


4

The Technology of Ideas

“Human Nature” as a Battle Between Metaphors

On the campus where I teach, every time a new building is built or an old one is substantially renovated, an issue arises about where to locate the asphalt walkways that go between that building and other campus locations. One school of thought suggests that the placement of walkways should be part of the building plan. But a second school, no doubt having observed many asphalt paths that lie unused near trails of dirt where once there had been grass, has the view that you build the building, watch where people walk, and put the asphalt where the grass has been worn thin. Proponents of the first view are folks we might call “theory driven.” Guided by some sense of efficient movement, aesthetics, or both, they are inclined to do the “ideal” thing, and have people conform to it. Proponents of the second view are folks we might call “data driven.” They let the users of the space tell them, with their behavior, what the “ideal” thing is.

When done right, all of science is an ongoing conversation between theory and data. The point of theories in science is to organize and explain the facts. Facts without organizing theories are close to useless. But theories must ultimately be accountable to, and conform to, the facts. And new facts force us to modify or discard inadequate theories.

That’s the ideal. But in real life, things don’t always work out this way. At least in the social sciences, proposing theories, rather than being beholden to facts, can shape facts in a way that strengthens the theories. You build that path and then force people to walk on it, perhaps by roping off the grass.

“If you build it, they will come.” This is the mantra that the main character in the movie Field of Dreams keeps hearing as he turns his farmland into a baseball park in the middle of nowhere. He builds it, and they do come. In this chapter, I will try to show that at least sometimes, when social scientists build theories, the people come. That is, the people are nudged into behaving in ways that support the theories. This chapter, then, is an attempt to resolve a battle between these metaphors. The “watch where they walk, then pave it” metaphor argues that the empirical data shape the theories people develop. The “if you build it, they will come” metaphor argues that theories shape data. I will attempt to defend the second metaphor.

The battle here is one that has been going on in more familiar territory for years. Does the market cater to consumer desires or does it create consumer desires? Do the media cater to people’s tastes in news and entertainment or do the media create those tastes? We are all accustomed to the difficulties surrounding discussion of these issues in modern society, and we may all have fairly strong opinions about the “cater/create” debate. Questions of just this sort are all



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