Methods in Dialogue

Chapter 3 , Methods in Dialogue , outlines the role of each discipline in society, explaining how each field operates and determines a set of values. For architecture this involves the production of the object, and for sociology the quest for the objective. The chapter explores the assumptions, perspectives, skills, and techniques that constitute these disciplines. We describe the processes of designing the built environment and of creating sociological knowledge. This involves the mechanics of how the building process works, the role played by architectural renderings and images, and the implications for the built environment. We argue that much of design practice leads to the proliferation of conventional and unquestioned forms. For sociology, reliance on the scientific method and the quest to work to understand society in ways that are empirically reliable, valid, and generalizable leads to a distracted attention to the specific qualities of places and the built environment, and its aesthetics dimensions. Architects focus on intervening: getting the work done to design and build the project. Sociologists are committed to rigorous research and knowledge production. This chapter explores these gaps in order to bridge the disciplines.