ABSTRACT
Blumer starts from a conception of science modelled on experimental method, though not requiring physical control of variables. Science simplifies reality through the isolation of causal relations that permit no exceptions. Blumer's appraisal of The Polish Peasant was reissued in 1979, and he wrote an introduction for this new edition. In it he repeated his praise of the study for containing 'a theoretical scheme of the nature of human group life that is comprehensive, elaborate, logical, and very clear'. The function of science, Blumer argues, is to transform experience, to identify instrumental relationships among phenomena that will facilitate their control. The multiple, competing interpretations produced by Verstehen are not the only problem involved in the comparative study of unique cases. Blumer lists the logical aspects of science as observation, induction, deduction, classification, framing of hypotheses, and experimentation.
