“Thomas theorem” and self-fulfilling prophecy: methodological analysis of concepts

Cover Page

Cite item

Full Text

Abstract

The article proposes an analysis of using «Thomas theorem» in sociological discourse against the background of the widespread belief that this «theorem» is a synonym for «self-fulfilling prophecy». The author proves that these principles describe two partially intersecting sets of situations. The main conclusion is that only some self-fulfilling prophecies are explained by «Thomas theorem» and only some cases of applicability of the theorem relate to self-fulfilling prophecies. Apparently, W.I. Thomas and R.Merton understood this terminological nuance, but then the understanding was lost. This loss obscured the meaning of Thomas's theorem. The author also analyzes the methodological value of correctly understood Thomas theorem, which consists in the possibility to incorporate human subjectivity into causally interpreted reality. This allows classifying social ontologies in Thomasian and non-Thomasian.

About the authors

Nikolay S. Babich

Institute of Sociology of FCTAS RAS; RUDN University

Email: sociolog@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0001-8697-3038
SPIN-code: 8164-5646
ResearcherId: I-5630-2016
Candidate of sociological sciences, Senior Research Fellow of the Institute of Sociology of the Federal Center of Theoretical and Applied Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Associate Professor of the Department of Sociology of the RUDN University Moscow, Russia

References

  1. Thomas W.I., Thomas D.S. The child in America. New York: Knopf, 1928. 583 p.
  2. Bornmann L., Marx W. Thomas theorem in research evaluation // Scientometrics. 2020, № 123(1). P. 553-555. doi: 10.1007/s11192-020-03389-6. EDN: LJMRJY.
  3. Esser H. Die Objektivität der Situation: Das Thomas-Theorem und das Konzept der sozialen // Das Auge der Wissenschaft / ed. by R. Martinsen. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlag, 1995. 215 s. ISBN: 978-3-7890-4011-5.
  4. Kippenberg H.G. Searching for the link between religion and violence by means of the Thomas-theorem // Method & Theory in the Study of Religion. 2010, № 2. P. 97-115. doi: 10.1163/157006810X512310.
  5. Link B.G., Monahan J., Stueve A., Cullen F. Real in their consequences: A sociological approach to understanding the association between psychotic symptoms and violence // American Sociological Review. 1999. Vol. 64, № 2. P. 316-332. EDN: GSHRUB.
  6. Mehan H. Oracular reasoning in a psychiatric exam: the resolution of conflict in language // Conflict talk: Sociolinguistic investigations of arguments in conversations / ed. by A. D. Grimshaw. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990. P. 160-177. ISBN: 0521335442.
  7. Tumminia D.G. When prophecy never fails: myth and reality in a flying-saucer group. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005. 240 p. ISBN: 0195176758.
  8. Wiley N. The self as self-fulfilling prophecy // Symbolic interaction. 2003, № 4. P. 501-513. doi: 10.1525/si.2003.26.4.501.
  9. Merton R.K. Sociological ambivalence and other essays. New York: Free press, 1976. 287 p. ISBN: 9780029211205.
  10. Козер Л. Мастера социологической мысли. Москва: Норма, 2006. 513 с. ISBN: 5-89123-963-9. EDN: QOESUR.
  11. Коллинз Р. Социология: наука или антинаука? // THESIS. 1994, № 4. С. 71-96.
  12. Хедстрем П., Иликоски П. Каузальные механизмы в социальных науках // Журнал социологии и социальной антропологии. 2014. Т. 17, № 1. С. 14-40. EDN: SBXONZ.
  13. Sztompka P. Society in action: the theory of social becoming. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. 219 p. ISBN: 0226788156.
  14. Ядов В.А. Возможности совмещения теоретических парадигм в социологии // Социологический журнал. 2003, № 3. С. 5-19. EDN: PZQNYB.
  15. Vera H. Rebuilding a classic: The Social construction of reality at 50 // Cultural Sociology. 2016. Vol. 10, № 1. P. 3-20. doi: 10.1177/1749975515617489.
  16. Ритцер Д. Современные социологические теории. Санкт-Петербург: Питер, 2002. 688 с. ISBN: 5-318-00687-6.
  17. Мертон Р.К. Социальная теория и социальная структура. Москва: АСТ, 2006. 873 с. ISBN: 5-17-029089-6.
  18. Hedström P. Dissecting the social: on the principles of analytical sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 188 p. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511488801. ISBN: 9780511488801.
  19. Sampson R.J. When things aren't what they seem: context and cognition in appearance-based regulation // Harvard Law Review Forum. 2011. Vol. 125. P. 97-107.
  20. Kelleghan T., Madaus G.F., Airasia P.W. The effects of standardized testing. Boston: Kluwer Nijhoff, 1982. 284 p. doi: 10.1007/978-94-009-7386-2.
  21. Kendall D.E. Sociology in our times. 8th ed. Belmont: Wadsworth, 2011. 741 p. ISBN: 9780495905097.
  22. Krishna D. "The self-fulfilling prophecy″ and the Nature of Society // American Sociological Review. 1971. Vol. 36, № 6. P. 1104-1107. doi: 10.2307/2093771.
  23. Карлсен Я.Э. Самоосуществляющееся пророчество // Теория и методы в социальных науках / под ред. С. Ларсен. Москва: РОССПЭН, 2004. С. 102-114. ISBN: 5-8243-0468-8.
  24. Хаустов Д.С. Теорема Томаса и особенности конструирования социальной реальности через массовые коммуникации // Социологические исследования. 2012, № 7. С. 29-36. EDN: PBVOEJ.
  25. Collins R. Theoretical sociology. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1988. 565 p. ISBN: 978-0155914742.
  26. Sanderson S.K. The evolution of human sociality. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001. 393 p. ISBN: 9780847695355.
  27. Бабич Н.С. Рецепция социологической гипотезы на примере теоремы Томаса // Социология науки и технологий. 2021. Т. 12, № 2. С. 58-70. doi: 10.24412/2079-0910-2021-2 58-70. EDN: BXZZAR.
  28. Бабич Н.С. К вопросу о точной формулировке «теоремы Томаса» // Общество: социология, психология, педагогика. 2021. Т. 11, № 91. С. 42-47. doi: 10.24158/spp.2021.11.5. EDN: IAJAPT.
  29. Stinchcombe A.L. Stratification and organization. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. 381 p. ISBN: 9788200073765.
  30. Wan Y., Yang X. An empirical study of the self-fulfilling prophecy effect in Chinese stock market // The Journal of Finance and Data Science. 2019. Vol. 5, № 2. P. 116-125. doi: 10.1016/j.jfds.2019.04.001.
  31. Henshel R.L. The boundary of the self-fulfilling prophecy and the dilemma of social prediction // British Journal of Sociology. 1982. Vol. 33, № 4. P. 511-528. doi: 10.2307/589359.
  32. Девятко И.Ф. В сторону справедливости: экспериментальное исследование взаимосвязи между дескриптивным обыденным знанием и восприятием дистрибутивной справедливости // Журнал социологии и социальной антропологии. 2011. Т. 14, № 2. С. 139-164. EDN: ODPUOX.
  33. Thomas W.I., Znaniecki F. The Polish peasant in Europe and America. Vol. 1. Chicago: The University of Chicago press, 1918. 310 p.
  34. Томас У.А. Поведенческий паттерн и ситуация // Интеракционизм в американской социологии и социальной психологии первой половины ХХ века / сост. В. Г. Николаев [и др.]. Москва: ИНИОН РАН, 2010. С. 185-200. ISBN: 978-5-248-00526-0.
  35. Merton R.K. The Thomas theorem and the Matthew effect // Social Forces. 1995. Vol. 74, № 2. P. 379-422. doi: 10.2307/2580486.
  36. West D.J., Walk A. Daniel McNaughton: His trial and the aftermath. Ashford: Headley, 1977. 185 p. ISBN: 090224101X.
  37. Mead G.H. Movements of thought in the nineteenth century. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1936. 519 p.
  38. McNair B. Glasnost, perestroika, and the Soviet media. London: Routledge, 1991. 231 p. ISBN: 0-415-03551-1.
  39. Dickerson C.A., Thibodeau R., Aronson E., Miller D. Using cognitive dissonance to encourage water conservation // Journal of Applied Social Psychology. 1992. Vol. 22, № 11. P. 841-854. doi: 10.1111/j.1559 1816.1992.tb00928.x.
  40. Petty R.E., Cacioppo J.T. Issue involvement can increase or decrease persuasion by enhancing message-relevant cognitive responses // Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 1979. Vol. 37, № 10. P. 1915-1926. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.37.10.1915.
  41. Stone J., Aronson E., Crain A.L., Winslow M.P., Fried C.B. Inducing hypocrisy as a means of encouraging young adults to use condoms // Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. 1994. Vol. 20, № 1. P. 116-128. doi: 10.1177/0146167294201012.
  42. Richardson G.P. Feedback thought in social science and systems theory. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991. 374 p. ISBN: 0812230531.
  43. Biggs M. Self-fulfilling prophecies // The Oxford handbook of analytical sociology / ed. by P. Hedström, P. Bearman. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009. P. 294-314. ISBN: 978-0-19-958745-2.
  44. Ball D.W. 'The definition of situation': Some theoretical and methodological consequences of taking W. I. Thomas seriously // Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour. 1972, № 1. P. 61-82. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-5914.1972.tb00304.x.
  45. Varela C. Science for humanism: the recovery of human agency. London: Routledge, 2009. 352 p. ISBN: 9780415481823.
  46. Kim J. Supervenience and mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. 377 p. ISBN: 0521433940.
  47. Schutz A., Luckmann T. The structures of the life-world. Vol. 2. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1989. 339 p. ISBN: 978-0810108332.
  48. Гумплович Л. Основы социологии. Москва: Либроком, 2010. 360 с. ISBN: 9785397014755.
  49. Metzinger T. Being no one: the self-model theory of subjectivity. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2004. 699 p. ISBN: 9780262633086.

Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
Action
1. JATS XML
Download

Согласие на обработку персональных данных

 

Используя сайт https://journals.rcsi.science, я (далее – «Пользователь» или «Субъект персональных данных») даю согласие на обработку персональных данных на этом сайте (текст Согласия) и на обработку персональных данных с помощью сервиса «Яндекс.Метрика» (текст Согласия).