The Social Science Jargon Buster

Zina O&#39;Leary

doi:10.4135/9780857020147

Summary
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- Are you confused by academic jargon? - Do you know your `discourse' from your `dialectic'? - Can you tell the difference between `anomie' and `alienation'? The Social Science Jargon Buster tackles the most confusing concepts in the social sciences, brea

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Instrumentalism

By:
Zina O'Leary
In:The Social Science Jargon Buster
Chapter DOI:https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857020147
Subject:Anthropology, Business and Management, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Communication and Media Studies, Counseling and Psychotherapy, Economics, Education, Geography, Health, Marketing, Nursing, Political Science and International Relations, Psychology, Social Policy and Public Policy, Social Work, Sociology
Keywords:instrumentalism; truth

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Instrumentalism

Core definition

Belief that the value of any particular theory does not lie in its ability to capture truth, but lies in its usefulness for understanding and predicting phenomena.

Longer explanation

You know some of the world's most influential social scientists (and natural scientists) have been wrong. We're still waiting for Comte's religion of ...

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  O'Leary, Z. (2007). Instrumentalism. In The Social Science Jargon Buster (pp. 139-140). SAGE Publications Ltd, https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857020147
  
  O'Leary, Zina. "Instrumentalism." In The Social Science Jargon Buster, 139-40. London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2007. https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857020147.
  
  O'Leary, Z. 2007. Instrumentalism. In: The Social Science Jargon Buster. London: SAGE Publications Ltd. pp. 139-140 Available at: <https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857020147> [Accessed 10 Dec 2023].
  
  O'Leary, Zina. "Instrumentalism." The Social Science Jargon Buster. London: SAGE Publications Ltd, 2007, pp. 139-40. Sage Research Methods, doi: https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857020147.
  
  O'Leary, Zina. Instrumentalism. In The Social Science Jargon Buster. London: SAGE Publications Ltd; 2007: 139-140. doi:10.4135/9780857020147
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Summary

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Instrumentalism

Instrumentalism

Core definition

Longer explanation

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