This article assesses the value of Karl Popper's situational analysis for contem porary sociology We maintain that this element of Popper's social science methodology has been largely neglected by sociologists and suggest that this is because it is borrowed from economics. As such, situational analysis has much in common with recent attempts to introduce rational choice in sociology. Our main question is this: What is the contribution of situational analysis to the current debate about rational choice in sociology? Our answer (...) is that Popper has little to add to this debate. His formulation of situational analysis is too general and too vague to be much of a guide to research. Among other things, situational analysis fails to pay due attention to interests and to social interaction in the explanation of social phenomena. On the positive side, we notice that Popper does include social institutions as the most important element in individuals' situations. (shrink)

This article chronicles the difficulties that methodologists of economics have had in introducing Karl Popper’s philosophy to their fellow economists. It presents some general reasons for the problem before specifically examining the proposition that a sound appreciation of Popper’s doctrines cannot be attained from simply studying the doctrines themselves. What it also requires is an understanding of the problem situation that the doctrines sought to address. This is illustrated through an examination of the way methodologists have grasped, or failed to (...) grasp, the development of Popper’s own thought about the problem of demarcating empirical science from non-science and the related problem of whether the limits of empirical science coincide with the limits of arguability. The article demonstrates that a neglect of these considerations has produced confusion in the literature, both in the way that Popper’s philosophy has been presented and in the way in which its contemporary relevance has been assessed. (shrink)