rather can remain true to the ways in which concepts are understood in context.
This
would provide more reliable and valid data for those with statistical inclinations, for those
who wish to specify survey and focus group insturments, and for those who wish to
construct models with grounding in some reality.
The objective should be to return to Laitin’s original insight. Theories of political
action, of identity, of mobilization and identification require accounts of preferences that
are not merely assigned, but theorized and empirically uncovered. And preferences
themselves are not just the oral statements or written testimonies of subjects, but are
embodied in their mundane daily practices. Ethnography, in this sense, is necessary for
rational choice to produce creditable knowledge claims of any kind.
6
Lisa Wedeen, “Conceptualizing Culture: Possibilities for Political Science,” American Political Science
Review 96:4 (December 2002), 713-28.
12