TY  - CHAP
AB  - Abstract The vast majority of contemporary social scientists have distanced themselves from moral reflection and the academic disciplines that engage in it. Throughout his long career Philip Selznick took a different path, engaging deeply with the moral content of the concepts he employed. This paper argues that he had good reasons to do so. Value neutrality in social research can fatally sever inquiry’s connection to the practical concerns that originally motivated it, and it can distort our understanding of those concerns by recasting them in a scientific mold. To make this case I draw from a long tradition of philosophical thought about the relationship between facts and values, and I illustrate it by examining the limitations of recent social science research about procedural justice in organizations and the order maintenance function of the police.
VL  - 44
SN  - 978-1-78441-726-0, 978-1-78441-725-3/0733-558X
DO  - 10.1108/S0733-558X20150000044012
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20150000044012
AU  - Thacher David
PY  - 2015
Y1  - 2015/01/01
TI  - Perils of Value Neutrality
T2  - Institutions and Ideals: Philip Selznick’s Legacy for Organizational Studies
T3  - Research in the Sociology of Organizations
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 317
EP  - 352
Y2  - 2024/04/24
ER  -