Science isn't the only form of empiricism. In this case, the writer is reporting what she has learned through a long process of observation, a useful form of experience. No doubt in the process she has formed ideas, watched to see if they bear out, changed her mind, examined events in context and their outcomes, and so on. You know, how most people learn most things they know. Could she be wrong, sure, but as we have learned over the past few years, so can more "scientific" approaches to psychology and sociology.