netherhalloctober news 2012
london 2012 the year of the mo-bot uprising
contents Cover page: the obvious highlight of this summer has been the olympic games in london. turn to p.10 where james osborn offers a spectator’s view on the games, then head to p.12 for simon jared’s round-up of the cultural olympiad CONTENT EDITOR Zubin Mistry MANAGING EDITOR, DESIGN & SETTING Luke Wilkinson CONTRIBUTIONS AND ADVICE Peter Brown, Fr Joseph Evans, Simon Jared, James Newman, James Osborn, Miguel Lim. PHOTOGRAPHY Various CIRCULATION Netherhall News is sent by e-mail to current and past residents of Netherhall House. It is also available at http://www. nh.netherhall.org.uk/magazine/magazine.htm CONTACT US Would you like to be included in our mailing list, contribute to or express your opinion on Netherhall News? Write to: LUKE WILKINSON C/O NETHERHALL NEWS, NETHERHALL HOUSE, NUTLEY TERRACE, LONDON, NW3 5SA, U.K. or E-MAIL: alumni@nh.netherhall.org.uk DISCLAIMER All opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the authors concerned and do not necessarily represent the views of the editors of Netherhall News, Netherhall House, Netherhall Educational Association, or of Opus Dei.
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regular features editorial
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zubin mistry suggests that not all cynicism is unhealthy
director’s notes
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peter brown pays tribute to some departing titans (and one in particular)
10 striking gold: an inside view of the london olympics
taught in the act: netherhall’s summer course
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14 clean models or dirty hands? a socio-economic dialogue
when the globe went global: the cultural olympiad
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editorial zubin mistry suggests that not all cynicism is unhealthy
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f there is any pleasure in being a cynic, there is also a strange pleasure in being a cynic proven wrong – or at least halfwrong. For killjoys the prospect of the Olympics and Paralympics elicited not much more than a shrug of the shoulders. But once the games started, something happened. The languid body language of the shrug slowly translated into more enthusiastic forms, from rapturous applause to awkwardly enjoyable renditions of the ‘Mo-Bot’ – at least when the coast was clear and nobody was looking. This time last year, London was gripped by angry and anxious soul-searching in the wake of the riots. But it is impossible not to mention the sweeping buzz which reverberated across the city and beyond twelve months down the line: the big stories of medal success, the moments of sportsmanship and an occasional but not unhealthy dash of controversy. Writing in these pages, James Osborn describes his own journey from a fresh-faced school pupil when London won the host bid to one of the excited spectators fortunate enough to attend multiple events. His enthusiasm is palpable. But the magnetic attraction of the Games pulled in more than just sports to the city. Simon Jared writes about one important sidearm of the Games, the Cultural Olympiad. A Shakespeare enthusiast, he was unsurprisingly drawn to ‘Globe to Globe’, a festival in which 37 theatre companies from around the world each performed one of Shakespeare’s 37 plays. The experience mingled the familiar with the strange: performances of plays he knows better than many in languages he knows worse than many more! The Cultural Olympiad, he argues, not only succeeded in ‘paving the way for most of the countries in the world to come and compete in a myriad of sporting events’, but will also be part of the shared memory of the Games. From the stage to the track, the dramatic to the sporting arena, what better symbiosis of theatrical and physical culture could be achieved? If this was multicultural exchange on a large scale, Netherhall has its own microcosms of multiculturalism condensed into the summer months: the English language summer courses. James Newman’s piece on his experience as a teacher this summer provoked in me a dose of nostalgia: my first stint at Netherhall came as an English language teacher almost a decade ago. He appears to have learned some perennial lessons: that teachers are taught not a few things by their students and also that complaints about the weather have little trouble in crossing the otherwise choppy waters of the language barrier.
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Old habits die hard, though, and not all cynicism is unhealthy. If the excitement of the Games was ultimately beyond question, the cost of hosting them and the long-term effects on a country under recession are more equivocal. There have been, of course, success stories. Public transport and road networks, for example, were not the utter shamble some had predicted, and the approach to ‘green’ sustainability bore the fruit of a low carbon-footprint stadium and largely successful waste management. Other elements of the Games were mixed. Security became something of a farce when private contractor G4S failed to deliver their promised 10,000 staff forcing the military to provide 5,000 personnel, though in the event the only major security story I can recall was the water bottle thrown onto the track before the 100m final. Similarly, ticketing problems, in particular a frustrating number of empty seats reserved for officials and sponsors in early events, were offset by full stadia (except for football) with bustling atmospheres by the end.
But, in a sense, the real test is what happens next. The cost of the Games remains to be calculated. The figures have swelled somewhat to preserve the appearance of keeping to budget: original figures of £2.4bn grew to £9.3bn, with the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee putting the figure at £11bn in August and others more than doubling it. Like all previous Games, London 2012 will have exceeded the projected budget – but by how much and who will pick up the cost? The Montreal Olympics, held in 1976 but with debts serviced well into the new millennium, are a sobering case in point. The effect on retail and tourism has been clearer. According to the British Hospitality Association, there were twice as many vacancies as usual in London’s hotels and B&Bs. Retailers normally fear August as a quiet time – and in some sectors it was even quieter than usual.
taken seriously and in ways which, perhaps unlike the Shard, seek to embed new projects in their surroundings and local communities. At the surface, a part of London which has been especially vulnerable to rogue landlords and has seen impoverished tenants compelled to rent sheds will benefit from the 2,800 new homes once the Athlete’s Village is transformed, with a further 8,000 homes planned for the coming decade. While the precise fate of the Olympic Stadium is yet to be settled, many of the other sites, such as the Aquatics Centre in Greenwich and velodrome in the Lee Valley, will be put to good use and may become real public assets.
Turning to the future, it is to the organisers’ credit that they have attempted to incorporate legacy strategies into their planning. Plans to regenerate Stratford and surrounding areas are being
But the uncertain economic climate, which was far away from the minds of the campaign team and broader populace when London won its bid, complicates matters somewhat. The idea,
above: Plans to regenerate Stratford and surrounding areas seek to embed new projects in their surroundings and local communities
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commonly expressed, that the Games will inspire a generation of future athletes coincides jarringly with the drying-up of sports funding at the grassroots and school level. Similarly, how will the regeneration of Newham, one of the most deprived boroughs in the country, negotiate such problems as youth unemployment and reductions in housing benefits? The regeneration plans are undoubtedly well-intentioned, but whether they will serve inhabitants of one of the poorest boroughs in the country or groups of people who come to displace them remains to be seen. Perhaps such questions will come to be debated in the Netherhall lounge by residents who become de facto Londoners during work or study in the capital, and perhaps such debates will partly gravitate around the different things people see in the same phenomena, rather like the ‘clean models’ and ‘dirty hands’, respectively, of economists and sociologists which Miguel Lim writes about penetratingly in this edition. As the euphoria slowly dissolves, the taboo of raising questions which sit uncomfortably, as the journalist Simon Jenkins has noted, with public discourse on the Olympics, will dissolve too: Apparently any gesture of national prestige, glory and self-congratulation, once declared by government to be ‘worth every penny’, is beyond rational debate. To quarrel with any feature of the games is to be a whingeing, unpatriotic naysayer. In actual fact, many of the ‘naysayers’ ask such questions precisely because they care about their city. To deny the buzz and the intangible benefits of the Olympics is an excess of cynicism; to deny their potential cost, however, represents the opposite extreme. The truth, contrary to the optimistic soundbites floating around in the build-up to London 2012, is that holding the games does not provide a tangible economic boost to host cities, something which is given further support by studies of host cities of other big sporting events. This was true for Sydney, Athens and Beijing. That London will prove to be an exception to the broader rule has been asserted by many, but argued by few. My heart hopes it does; my head fears it won’t. Either way, I hope the coming round of new Londoners entering Netherhall, both naysayers and optimists, debate it vigorously because they come to care about their new city. On a final note, one person who won’t act as a peacemaker in such debates must be mentioned. After a decade as Netherhall’s chaplain, Fr Joe Evans is moving on. Different residents will have their memories of him and, with them, reasons for gratitude. Here are my own. To my shame, he is the only member of the clergy at whom I have directed what the Football Association would call ‘foul and abusive language’. During a football match some years ago we both ran towards the ball. For the record, I nicked it past him. Then we collided. Now, Fr Joe is (how to put this?) built like a rugby player and I (how to put this?) am not. Upon colliding, he was an immoveable object and I became an eminently moveable one. He took my linguistic lapse in good spirit – and even apologised, a lesson in lightning-quick forgiveness, if not quite pin-point tackling.
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above: Old habits die hard, though, and not all cynicism is unhealthy.
“The idea, commonly expressed, that the Games will inspire a generation of future athletes coincides jarringly with the drying-up of sports funding at the grassroots and school level” Despite this run-in, I have spent many happy hours with Fr Joe, along with Luke, collaborating on the magazine. Needless to say, his penchant for succinctness has countered my tendencies in the opposite direction. He has been a punctilious punster, charitable critic, painstaking proof-reader and perhaps the most important source of dynamism behind the magazine’s evolution over the years – and sometimes at unearthly hours and never, it seems to me, in neglect of his other responsibilities. I know I speak for Luke (and countless residents) in saying that he has also taught me many practical lessons, and some even more important ones. One of the practical lessons was always to check the ‘cc’ and ‘bcc’ recipients of emails – and we had to exclude him from our round of emails in preparing this edition to smuggle this bit in. The reason is that he does not necessarily relish being the focus of attention and so I offer this in revenge for all his kindness over the years: he has been a pleasure to work with and I know for certain that he will be missed at Netherhall.
above, top left: For health and safety reasons, anyone abseiling down the side of Netherhall is obliged by the local council to secure the ropes onto Fr Joe above, top right: Netherhall’s outgoing chaplain next to a suspiciously cheery Director above: Fr Joe was always ‘voluntarily’ offered the second chair at magazine meetings below: Celebrations for Fr Joe’s 40th birthday, which may or may not have taken place a few years back
fr joe in full cassock makes a run for touch, weilding a karaoke mike in the other hand to scare off any opponents with his dulcet welsh tones (cartoon by miguel rojo) netherhall news
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director’ s notes peter brown pays tribute to some
departing titans (one literally a titan) and ushers in the new academic year
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n September 2006 a precocious 18-year-old Portuguese piano student turned up at Netherhall with his father to begin a course at the Royal College of Music. Six years later João Bettencourt has gone back to Portugal having won all manner of prizes and competitions. He graduated in 2010 as the Royal College’s best student and went on to earn a distinction in his Master’s degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Throughout his time here at Netherhall he entertained us both on the piano and with his passionate views on all manner of things, but especially politics and football. (How anyone could spend so much time arguing with so much passion about Jose Mourinho and Cristiano Ronaldo is beyond me). He was confirmed in the Netherhall oratory in a beautiful ceremony conducted by Fr Joe in February 2010. His departure leaves a huge hole in our musical arsenal. I wish him every success for the future and many, many thanks for the wonderful music he brought to the House.
“Fr Joe has always been somewhat confused in his national identity. His name (Evans) and a caravan holiday in Newport forever gave Fr Joe a sense of being Welsh despite his South London roots and formative years” Last week we waved good bye to Raffy Rodriguez who, after four years in Netherhall, has followed Jorge Aguirre to Hong Kong where he starts work in the HR department of a large company. Raff has been a great asset to the House in his time here whilst studying (undergraduate) at Heythrop and then (postgraduate) at King’s College. He spent most of his first year coughing and with a cold but he overcame all that to take the frisbee and rock-climbing worlds by storm (not at the same time). Confused about his own identity (born in Thailand of Filipino parents but brought up in Malaysia) he had an affinity for all.
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Fr Joe too has always been somewhat confused in his national identity. His name (Evans) and a caravan holiday in Newport forever gave Fr Joe a sense of being Welsh despite his South London roots and formative years. None of that however held him back and for a decade he has done a tremendous job as chaplain of Netherhall. In recent years he has also been chaplain of King’s College. Hundreds of students have profited from his encouragement, understanding and patience. He’s been on work camps with only hose-pipe water access. He’s turned out in the cold on Primrose Hill to play football when men of half his age would
prefer to be sitting in front of a TV. He’s twice been paintballing (brave when you are Fr Joe’s size and therefore an obvious target). He’s been the inspiration behind this magazine, the source for a range of guest speakers and a permanent resident spell checker for those of us who are challenged by speling [surely spilling? Eds.]. And all of that whilst labouring under the delusion that he can sing. Fr Joe has moved to Orme Court (Opus Dei’s central offices in London) where he has taken up a post assisting the Regional Vicar of Opus Dei in Britain, Fr Nicholas Morrish. His replacement at Netherhall is Fr Michael Lowenthal - the very same Michael Lowenthal who, acting as Secretary of Netherhall from 1992-99 before his ordination in 2003, did his utmost to stop Peter Herbert spending all the House’s money! Whilst on the subject of editors of this magazine, congratulations to Zubin and Harpreet on their engagement. Given Zubin’s (almost unfailing) tendency to use 200 words where four would do I am very curious to know how Harpreet coped with an 800 word proposal of marriage (plus footnotes) from our editor and whether she was completely baffled at the end of it.
above: The Wu Quartet, 1st Prize winners at the 23rd V. E. Rimbotti International String Quartet competition Italy 2012. they played Haydn: op.50 no.5 Ligeti: String Quartet No. 1, Wolf: Italian Serenade, Mendelssohn: op.80 top: fr joe deep in concentration during one of his famous alvaro tintore impressions
And so another year begins. The 2012/13 residents are arriving and I find myself repeating the same message as always: give yourself a few days and you’ll be settled in. These last days of September and first days of October are always like this. So many new faces to cope with both here and at college, and all the time having to start studying. It can be quite disorientating. On 19th October we have the start of year formal dinner and our experience is that by then everyone feels quite at home.
I’m delighted that we have two wonderful chamber music recitals arranged for this term. The first is that by The Wu Quartet which is reported elsewhere in this magazine. The other is to be given on 3rd November by the Trio Satz, the piano trio formed by Ricard Rovirosa (2007-), Oscar Alabau (2007-10) and Pablo Hernan all of whom study at the Guildhall school of music. Trio Satz have just won a full scholarship to study under Ralph Gothoni at the Escuela Reina Sofia in Madrid. I am very grateful to them for agreeing to perform for us.
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striking gold james osborn counts himself lucky to have been a spectator at the olympic games
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rom the moment it was announced that London was to host the 2012 Olympic Games, I knew I had to be part of it. I was in Year 10 at the time, and it seemed a very long time until the opening ceremony, but this summer the London Olympics finally came around and I was there! My Olympic journey had already begun last year, as I entered the first ballot for tickets and was successful in getting hold of some water polo tickets, which led to good-natured ribbing from my fellow Netherhall residents. As it turned out, that was not the only Olympic action I was fortunate to see, as football (both women’s and men’s), road cycling and a visit to the Olympic Park also found their way onto my Olympic schedule! It was clear from the opening ceremony that this was going to be a very special Olympic Games, and I made up my mind to get to as much of it as I could. Over the course of a week, I managed to attend four different events and only illness struck me down for the fifth (ironically, the water polo). So what was it like to be one of the millions of spectators catching a glimpse of history? Perhaps the best way to answer this is to take the occasion of my visit to the Olympic Park. There are few words to describe the feeling of walking into the complex knowing that your own capital city is playing host to such a festival of sporting action. In fact, on entering I paused just to take it all in. Immediately my eyes were directed to the Stadium itself, the focal point for some of the most memorable occasions of the Games, which opened out in front of me and which could be seen strikingly from all sides of the park. It was clear that each of the venues was designed to be as unique as possible. The unmissable hot pink decor, a major part of the Riverside Arena, encroached onto the blue hockey pitch which the organisers had decided upon to provide a better view for the spectators, all in all a real festival of colour. Having checked out the television coverage of the hockey, this pink layout even encroached onto the outskirts of the pitch making it a festival of colour particularly when combined with the blue playing surface that the organisers had decided upon to provide a better view for the spectators. Perhaps the most beautiful of the venues was the Velodrome, its graceful roof design in contrast to the intensity of the sprinting that was to take place inside. Around these venues was plenty of space for spectators to relax and chatter about the thrilling sport they had seen. Onto the action then, and whilst my ticket to the Olympic Park gave me no access to any of the venues, I did find time to cram
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in three football matches and the cycling time trial on other days. The first of these was an afternoon of men’s football up in Coventry, as Mexico took on Gabon and Switzerland took on South Korea. Although the matches themselves were unmemorable, during my first taste of Olympic action the vibrant yet friendly atmosphere stood out above all, so unlike the emotionally charged tension all too common at regular football matches. Next came Team GB v Brazil in the women’s football which does not necessarily sound like the golden ticket to those who prefer the men’s game, but this was a memorable occasion. Taking place at a packed Wembley Stadium, the GB girls recorded a famous 1-0 victory and did wonders for the profile of the women’s game in this country.
“the vibrant yet friendly atmosphere stood out above all, so unlike the emotionally charged tension all too common at regular football matches”
opposite: bradley wiggins on his way to a gold medal below: usain bolt celebrates his win
above: the olympic park in stratford
“There are few words to describe the feeling of walking into the Olympic Park - on entering I paused just to take it all in”
Along with my tour of the Olympic Park, my favourite event of those I attended had to be the cycling time trial. Now this has less to do with the fact that a British rider won the event and more to do with the good-natured and typically British atmosphere which captured the imagination of all who attended Olympic events. The local pub opposite where we were standing kept the punters well served, and people decorated their houses with Union Jacks for all to see. But it was not all about Team GB, for in the best spirit of the Olympics every cyclist passing through was cheered enthusiastically. Coupled with some gorgeous July weather, this was the perfect setting for sport, and Bradley Wiggins did not let Team GB down as he powered home to gold. From the wonderful work of the volunteers to the unmatchable brilliance of Usain Bolt’s sprinting, these were days that London will never forget. As the Olympic flame showed us as it became one flame out of many smaller lights, this really was the world coming together to watch and celebrate sporting achievement at its finest, and it was amazing to be part of it! James Osborn is a graduate of Theology from King’s College London. He was a resident at Netherhall House from 2010-2012.
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when the globe went global simon jared gives a gold medal to the cultural olympiad
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or most undergraduate students studying in London means arriving in September, working through to June or July and then going home; whether that is to another part of the UK or another part of the world. For those of us unfortunate enough to be in postgraduate education or, even worse, working in the city the summer offers no such break. 2012 however, may just have been the best year in recent memory for being forced to stay in London. The Olympics and Paralympics swept through London and caused none of the travel despair or outrageous inconvenience that so many cynics and sceptics said they would. In fact the city buzzed with the unparalleled gathering of cultures, sport stars, and the world’s media that an Olympic games brings to a host city. As a borderline obsessive sports fan I enjoyed the Olympics and Paralympics games enormously. But I think I enjoyed the build-up just as much. By ‘build-up’ I do not mean the media-produced hype surrounding athletes like Jessica Ennis, nor do I mean the plastering of tube stations with poster signs for the Olympic park, but rather something much more substantial: the Cultural Olympiad. While many of my student friends were frantically preparing for their end of year examinations, sitting them, and then getting out of London before what we were promised would be a hectic summer, I was spending far too many evenings and afternoons (for someone with numerous coursework essays to do) at
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Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre on the Southbank. From Saturday 21st April to Saturday 9th June the Globe held an international Shakespeare festival called ‘Globe to Globe.’ During this festival 37 companies from around the world each performed a different one of Shakespeare’s 37 plays in their own language. It was an unprecedented cultural event which used Shakespeare, one of England’s most recognisable and exported cultural icons, to bring together cultures and communities under one open roof; the Globe, after all, is an open-air playhouse. The variety of the performances was astounding. Some particular highlights were: the Maori Troilus and Cressida, Othello in ‘HipHop’ performed by a group from Chicago, a Polish Macbeth, Japanese Coriolanus, Love’s Labour’s Lost in British Sign Language (BSL) which was the first ever time a full-length Shakespeare play has been translated into and performed in BSL, and Cymbeline in Juba Arabic performed by a group from the Republic of South Sudan, the world’s newest country. I count myself very lucky to have been able to see so many Shakespeare plays in so many languages I do not understand. I enjoyed almost every play that I saw during the festival. I will not say that the incomprehensibility of the languages for an ashamedly monolingual English speaker like myself was no issue, because it was. I did not understand the vast majority of the plays I saw. As a student of Shakespeare I was familiar with the plays, I knew
their plots and their characters, but at the same time the language and cultural differences between myself and the performers kept the plays at a distance; it was a strange, new, and unique experience. I was watching plays I know and love, both understanding what was going on, and not understanding what was being said; whilst simultaneously watching hundreds of audience members, many of them Londoners, who had come to watch Shakespeare in their mother tongues.
below: the Ngakau Toa theatre company from new zealand kicked off the festival with their version of Troilus and Cressida
Globe to Globe was just one of the events held across the UK as part of the Cultural Olympiad. In total, according to the London 2012 organisers, more than 16 million people in the UK benefited from the Cultural Olympiad, going to, or partaking in various performances and events. What the Cultural Olympiad did was bring British culture to the world, whilst also bringing the world’s culture to Britain. Many of the events were aimed at and attended by people who would never usually take-part in such events: the Globe, for example, sold 700 five pound tickets to every performance, and went out to the different communities already in London to tell them that Shakespeare was going to be performed in their language by people from their home-country, in a very British setting.
opposite: The Olympics and Paralympics caused none of the travel despair that so many cynics and sceptics said they would
What the Cultural Olympiad tried to do, and I think succeeded in doing, was to open up world cultures to the UK, paving the
“it is admirable that the organisers of the Olympics also tried to inspire with cultural activities and create a legacy for the games that is more than just the re-use of buildings”
way for most of the countries in the world to come and compete in a myriad of sporting events. London 2012 was the first games to make the idea of ‘Legacy’ an integral part of their campaign to host the Olympics. Consequently the Olympic Park was the ‘greenest’ ever in terms of environmental impact. It is currently being transformed into a usable renovated area of the city. The huge overachievement of Team GB has constantly been talked about as something which has and will inspire a generation. But I think it is admirable that the organisers of the Olympics also tried to inspire with cultural activities, and create a legacy for the games that is more than just the re-use of buildings. The legacy includes the memories of all those who visited the UK during the games and experienced a city alive with sporting greatness, cultural richness, and multiculturalism. Simon Jared has recently finished his MA in Shakespeare Studies at King’s College London and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
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clean models or dirty hands? miguel lim examines the competing visions of economics and sociology ‘Economic man’: a self-interested individual with stable preferences seeking maximum personal utility in everything he or she does.
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he evening get-togethers at Netherhall are normally restful moments given over to the recapitulation of the daily news and the progress of various well (and lesser) known football teams. Yet not infrequently, some truly non-trivial debate arises and rivets Netherhall students of various persuasions. One of the more common battle lines drawn is between (some) economists and more or less everyone else. A common argument is whether a particular issue is sufficiently explained, if at all, by economic models. While economists claim that the queen of the social sciences has most of the answers, the gut feeling of others is that it does not - that it misses out on a great many explanations of why the world is as it is. Surely there must be more that turns the world around than money and selfinterest? In this we have echoes of a long-standing discussion at a higher academic level: that between economists and sociologists. Neoclassical economics and sociology seem to rest upon fundamentally distinct approaches and assumptions about what counts as scientific research as well as the relationships between theoretical concepts and the real world. Not only do the methods of neoclassical economics and sociology seem to be irredeemably separate, but even their objects of study seem distinct, with economics focused on the quantitative worlds of markets and transactions, and sociology revolving around seemingly unquantifiable realities of culture and values. I outline below some of the differences between these disciplines. These differences are wellfounded and have persisted even in the face of attempts to cross the disciplinary boundary. Key tenets of neoclassical economics The key elements of neoclassical economic theory are few, in keeping with the desire for a simple, easily grasped approach with which to understand the world. This brand of economics rests upon a fundamental assumption, i.e. that individual actions are driven by the principles of the ‘economic man’: a self-interested individual with stable preferences seeking maximum personal utility in everything he or she does.
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Economists mathematically build models that allow them to understand social realities as the choices of individuals acting to maximise utility, thus predicting outcomes given certain conditions – prediction being a central aim of the discipline. Sociology is a much broader cathedral and would be impossible to encapsulate in such a brief space. In general, though, it is far less prescriptive than economics and makes no discipline-wide assumptions about human nature. Instead of a neat theory, sociologists tend to be more involved in the complexities of the phenomena under scrutiny. They take an empirical approach to questions, recognizing that action is driven by social, cultural, and economic interests. The differences between economics and sociology We can better understand some of the differences between neoclassical economics and sociology by juxtaposing their treatments of key aspects of social reality. Let us begin with the concept of the actor. The analytic starting point of economics is the individual while that of sociology is typically groups, institutions, and society. Sociologists tend to conceive of the actor as socially constructed, as an actor-in-society or an actor-in-network. Economists, however, are so wedded to the individual actor that the economist Joseph Schumpeter rightly referred to the discipline’s approach as methodological individualism. Economics assumes a given and stable set of preferences which govern the individual’s utility maximisation. The pursuit of these preferences is the root of rational action - it is the logic of economics. Sociology, on the other hand, encompasses several possible logics, not just that of rational action. It concerns itself with cultural logics; it seeks to know where preferences come from and how they are created and changed. Thus, while the economist traditionally identifies rational action with the efficient use of scarce resources, the sociologist’s view is broader. Sociologists might consider how resources are used based on other value systems such as a socially-accepted notion of common good. Sociologists regard rationality as a variable to be explained rather than
as something which can be assumed. While the economist seeks to apply a specific economic rationality, there is a continuum of rationality or even various rationalities at play for the sociologist. Economists and sociologists both consider constraints on action. For economists, constraints are usually in the form of budgets or limited resources and technology. These can be incorporated into models after which the logic of utility maximisation can proceed to explain and predict the rest. Sociologists do not want to airbrush away these constraints which cannot be assumed to remain the same for different sets of actors in the way that economists make them out to be when they isolate an action ceteris paribus (i.e. all other things being equal). To remain faithful to social reality, they take account of these constraints directly, e.g. a person’s position in the social structure conditions his economic choices. One important constraint that sociologists problematise is differences in power. They have a richer view of power within economic action whereas economists tend to regard transactions as between equals and have had difficulty incorporating the quality and texture of asymmetry between actors who have different dimensions of power.
“Surely there must be more that turns the world around than money and selfinterest? In this we have echoes of a long standing discussion at the high academic level: that between economists and sociologists”
The analytical objectives also differ. Economists seek to make robust predictions and feel that mere descriptions are too atheoretical. Sociologists are generally less interested in predictive power and modelling. For them, detailed descriptions are useful, often interesting, and usually necessary for explanation. Perhaps we might sum up the differences as a profound divergence in the mode of reasoning between the two disciplines. Economics tends to be deductive and sociology inductive. Economists develop arguments deductively, they begin with a line of argument and pursue it to its logical end and extreme. Sociologists prefer a plurality of arguments that comprehensively explain phenomena. To use a dimensional analogy, economics presents a vertical analysis as opposed to the horizontality of sociology. This difference makes itself keenly felt in the use of models. Economists have a great facility with mathematics because they use it to express hypotheses on which their predictions are founded and can be furthered along a line of argumentation. Sociologists make use of ethnographies or detailed and extended histories and a wide variety of other methods.
Sociological critiques of economics Yet beyond the differences in scope and aim some sociologists profess that economists’ wrong-footed approach to the world at best does not tell us as much as we would like and at worst actively misleads us to mistaken conclusions. Sociologist Paul Hirsch argues that economists’ ‘clean models’ have great appeal but their simplicity and elegance comes at the cost of neglecting the complicated and messy interactions between the economy, culture, and society that are the reality which sociologists handle with ‘dirty hands’. Sociologists such as Amitai Etzioni, Neil Smelser, and Charles Tilly further argue that the core assumption of economics, individual rational choice, is not even very useful for explaining the functioning of economic systems themselves. Etzioni (1991, 3) quips: ‘Neo-classical economists view man as a two-legged calculator, efficient and cold blooded. But truth reveals him more often as muddleheaded, part morally conflicted and selfish, part morally dedicated and caring and prone to moving in herds.’
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Influence of economics over sociology Despite the shortcomings that sociologists point out, economists have already encroached upon the fields of study once reserved to sociologists. From a general neglect of sociological topics in the 1960s, neoclassical economics have aggressively broadened their scope by creatively analyzing non-market phenomena such as tastes and culture. The best-known scholar in this respect is Gary Becker who has asserted that rational choice theory should be the dominant paradigm in the social sciences because a neoclassical economic approach explains social variables better than other social theories. Many sociologists had assumed these topics were not subject to rational choice analysis but were explained only by normative factors. Sociologists have felt the need to battle with the economic imperialist – the economist who uses neoclassical economic theory to explain social phenomena.
The familiarity with mathematics might be one overlooked factor in the disciplinary divide. While this risks a gross generalisation, sociologists are (relatively) not as numerate as economists. This lack of familiarity might give rise to narrow visions of the economic ‘straw man’. Scholars may be arguing past each other or arguing over each others’ heads. Despite attempts to build bridges between the two disciplines some sociologists remain hold-outs. Using economic methods, they maintain, would direct attention away from questions about meaning, perceptions, legitimacy, power and influence:
It would be easy to paint this conflict between economists and sociologists in black-and-white. However there are in fact sociologists who believe that economics has much to offer their discipline. Sociology need not eschew what has been described as the universal grammar of the social sciences: economics. What needs to be kept in mind is that it is but one paradigm that can be used to explain a reality in tandem with other approaches. Economic methodology might be used as a method of triangulation or verification of a sociological finding.
Bridges between the two disciplines will be built only when more economists recognize the need for more inductive analysis and sociologists, similarly, the need for a deductive aspect of scholarship. Meanwhile, some get-togethers at Netherhall should continue to remain lively.
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‘Our ‘comparative advantage’ - an openness to culture and an interest in values and social structure - must not be traded in for a simple rational action theory. Our penchant for and emphasis on empirical research ... must not be abandoned for deductive modeling’ (Hirsch et al 1987, 320).
Miguel Lim is doing a PhD in Accounting at the London School of Economics. His first degree was in Economics; he now uses sociological approaches in his current research. He is about to begin his fourth year at Netherhall.
london walks: the thomas more tour left: residents went recently on an excursion with Kiko mitjans for a Thomas more tour around London. they are pictured here outside the tower of London which they managed to enter for free with a special deal! the residents got to visit the cell where Thomas more was imprisoned and also to see the common grave where his body is (his head is in St Dunstan’s church in Canterbury).
APPEAL We hope you enjoy reading this edition of Netherhall News. Please support us so this wonderful story can continue. We need to install a new goods lift and combination cooker in Lakefield, which provides the hall’s catering. The hall’s dining room is also in great need of upgrading. To this end, we need to raise over £150,000. Can you help? Donations of £2,000 and £1,000 would be particularly welcome but all offerings would be gratefully received. Please contact Peter Brown on peterb@nh.netherhall.org.uk for more information on this or other ways to support the hall (e.g. standing orders, bursaries to finance less well-off students, etc). Bank Account of Netherhall House HSBC 122 Finchley Road Hampstead London NW3 5JD IBAN: GB40MIDL40030201125613 Branch Identifier Code: MIDLGB2106H SWIFT Code: MIDLGB22 Account name: Netherhall House Account number: 01125613 Sort Code: 40-03-02
60th anniversary edition 1952 - 2012 NETHERHALL NEWS SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY EDITION
JUNE 2012
There are still several copies of the 60th Anniversary edition of Netherhall News available for purchase. If you would like a hard copy of this wonderful memento, please get in touch with Peter Brown. The magazines are sold at £5 per copy, plus postage
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taught in the act an english teacher over the summer, James newman experienced no post-grammatic stress disorder
Y
ou may or may not be aware that each summer, in place of university students, the rooms of Netherhall are filled with overseas students. ‘Not that much of a difference!’ I hear you say, but these are not the same overseas students as the ones who are probably reading this; these are marauding hordes of teenagers here to learn English and experience the British weather. For the month of July I was one of the fledging underqualified teachers tasked with imparting Anglo-Saxon wisdom to the Mediterranean nations. Whilst half of the students in July were from Spain, I was fortunate enough – along with two other teachers – to have been given the Swiss-Italian group. After placing them into sets, the first course of action was to decide what exactly we would be teaching. The luxury of a free syllabus meant that we each came up with our own somewhat idiosyncratic lessons. The age of the students ranged from 16-18 years and the advantage of their maturity was countered by their being oddly adept at finding holes in our own knowledge. Each of them lived up to their national stereotype and whilst keen to learn, they also delighted in mischief (a word they were quick to learn from me) and deviating along their own lines of intrigue and interest. It was brilliant to see students so engaged with being in lessons and take such an active part in directing their own education. Giving into their persuasion, we would on occasion watch a film with them – something I think they gained from almost as much as we did! The real benefit of a course such as this, though, is not so much in the teaching (despite its high quality standard). The real appeal and success of the month-long summer experience is just that, the experiences. Whilst the mornings would be dedicated to lessons and the odd test, the afternoons as well as two days a week were the preserve of excursions. What finer place to be located than central London to do so? With the city being so accessible the students and teachers saw everything from the Wallace Collection to the London Eye. Seeing the city through the perspective of a foreigner opens up the capital to a resident. Those buildings and sights you pass by on a daily basis are questioned and investigated and you finally get around to visiting all the attractions you’d been meaning to see. The RAF museum didn’t elicit the same interest from the German-Swiss as much as the others, which I attribute to some
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“Giving into their persuasion, we would on occasion watch a film with them - something I think they gained from almost as much as we did” of the shared history between us. The trip to the Olympic Park however provided something everybody could enjoy and find an interest in – the only issue was that the main reason they wanted to go was to see the world’s largest MacDonald’s – quite a claim to fame for London to boast. Better even than that, however, were the day excursions away. We three teachers were permitted the choice of what to see on these days away and leapt at the chance to steer their desires away from Dover (because it’s a dump) and Sherwood Forest (which doesn’t exist…and is also a dump). Rather the students experienced Windsor Castle, Oxford and Brighton early on in the month – giving a large cross-section of British cities and architecture, especially considering we changed at Slough to reach Windsor. A couple of trips were especially good, though, the first of which was to Canterbury and then the Kent coast. I had not been to either before and my excitement at seeing the cathedral was a little diminished after we walked into the courtyard and one of the students looked at me, sighed and said, ‘It is boring, in England zey are all ze same.’ Thankfully the apathy at the start was converted after exploring the building, and by the end of our time there, when asked if he still thought the same as before, he did at least concede, ‘Vell, maybe zis one is good.’ The day continued as we took a train to Margate of all places. Yes, Margate. If you don’t know about Margate, do a Google-
search; it’s not a very nice place. It is however a very interesting alternative to the coastal hotspots. We had learnt that our students were swift in pointing out their opinion that British coastal resorts are worse than their Italian counterparts; therefore we decided we might as well give them at least one end of the spectrum and marched them off on a five mile walk around the coast to Broadstairs. Contrary to some predictions made, it turned out to be a splendid decision and an experience enjoyed by all. We coaxed them into the sea at one point and by all accounts those who went for it relished the opportunity to try their mettle in British waters.
above: Margate (which, according to a Google-search, looked like a nice enough place, at least in 1895 - Ed.) below: some of the students on an excursion in London
In many ways it summed up the purpose of the trip – people who hadn’t met before, coming together and being united by shared experiences. Even such a simple thing as a walk around the coast brought the students together and by the end of it realised just how good a time they had had. Helped of course by the Domino’s Pizza that materialised there. I think that the other teachers, of other groups and nationalities as well, would agree with me, that we learned from them as they learned from us. It wasn’t just an opportunity to teach English or learn it – the course was much more than that. It was a chance to meet new people and share common bonds across European countries; it was a holiday and a chance to see England; and it was a chance to have a good time whilst developing yourself socially as well as academically.
Would I recommend teaching next summer? Of course – just provided you don’t mind people complaining about the lack of sun. James Newman is a fourth year medical student.
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passing through
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news from former netherhall residents
opposite far left: Eoin (2006-8) and Tess McCarthy on their wedding day top left: Daniel Pytlik (2004-6) and his wife Barbara recently had a son, Charles middle left: Carlos Frazao (198889) (studies Protein Crystalography at Birkbeck) called by in August with his family bottom left: Chema Alamo (20024) and his wife Maria had baby nicolas in August right: Rufaro Butau (2003-4) married Leonora in August bottom: Gabriel Dawid (2nd left on back row) from Malaga stayed in Netherhall for a few days in August. His father (furthest left) was a resident in 1994. congratulations also go to Josh fransen (2011, right) and to eric blomquist (2009-10) (below) both of whom got married this summer
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guest speaker series the line-up of this term’s visiting speakers, as well as other activities available to residents and friends october Monday 1st Brazil today: its recent emergence and political, social, and economic challenges. Professor Anthony Pereira, Director, King’s College London Brazil Institute Monday 8th The Fincial crisis: how did we get there? Robert Padron, Equity research analyst, Merrill Lynch (2010-2012), Equity research analyst, Barclays Capital (2009-2010) Friday 12th or Saturday 13th Real Madrid Ramon Calderon, President, Real Madrid 2006-8 Monday 22nd Privacy in Social Networking sites Dr Ian Brown, Associate Director (Cyber Security Centre) and Senior Research Fellow (Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford) Monday 29th A History of Modern Poland Adam Zamoyski, Author, Poland: A History
November Monday 12th The Limits of Reproductive Liberty Jacqeline Laing, Senior Lecturer, Law, Governance and International Relations Department, Metropolitan Univerity Monday 19th Jane Austen Professor John Mullan, Head of Department, Department of English Language and Literature, University College London Monday 26th Spain: The way Ahead H. E. Federico Trillo, Spanish Ambassador to the UK
december Saturday 1st An evening of Carols and Punch Saturday 8th Christmas Dinner and Show Jacket and tie (or national dress) required
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