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sociology as a science - Coggle Diagram
sociology as a science
POSITIVISM: Sociology IS and SHOULD BE considered a science
BIRTH OF POSITIVISM:
‘founding fathers’ of sociology in the 19th century were very impressed by the success of science in explaining the natural world and providing humans with knowledge which could extend their control over nature
Comte (1798-1857) was one of sociologists who invented the term sociology and described themselves as positivists.
believe its possible & desirable to apply logic and methods of natural sciences to study sociology
bcus it will bring us true objective knowledge and provide the basis for solving social problems and achieving success
key feature of this approach is the belief that reality exists outside & independently of the human mind
OBJECTIVE QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH:
sociology should take the experimental mehod used in natural sciences as it allows a hypothesis to be tested
use quantitative data to uncover & measure patterns of behaviour allowing them to produce mathematically precise statements about the relationships between factors they investigated
seek to discover cause & effect laws that determine human behaviour ( how one stimuli can lead to a certain action)
believe researchers shouldn't be detached and objective to avoid influences on their study
methods that allow maximum objectivity eg questionnaires as they acknowledge researchers can be biased otherwise
quantitative methods can produce reliable data that can be standardised
SOCIOLOGISTS:
Durkheim (chose to study suicide to show that sociology was a science with its own distinct matter)
Comte
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES: functionalism, marxism, feminism
INTERPRETEVISM: sociology CANNOT and SHOULD NOT be considered a science
sociology is the study of peoples social action and behaviour
this is based on internal meanings that people hold about their social world
argue these cannot be observed as they are internal so its impossible to be scientific as that requires objective observation
SUBJECT MATTER OF SOCIOLOGY:
differences between natural science and the study of humans:
natural sciences- study unconscious things & matter
sociology- study humans who have consciousness which affects behaviour
According to interpretivism, humans construct their social reality based on their own interpretations and the internal meanings they give to what they see around them in society.
VERSTEHEN AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH:
studies of sociology should be carried out using verstehen (empathy) to grasp meaning for peoples actions
based on this they favour qualitative methods eg observations, unstructured interviews and documents
these methods rely on interpretation of meaning , so the researcher needs to put themselves in their participants shoes to see things s they do- VERSTEHEN
SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES:
interactionalists
phenomenologists
ethnomethodologists
SOCIOLOGISTS: - weber, Goffman , mead
REALISM: sociology COULD BE a science depending on definition of science
KEAT & URRY- stress similarities between sociology and natural sciences depending on the degree of control the researcher has over the variables being researched
IDENTIFY 2 TYPES OF SYSTEM WITHIN SCIENCE:
CLOSED SYSTEMS: researchers can control and measure all relevant variables and can therefore make precise predictions. typical research method is lab experiments as used in sciences
OPEN SYSTEMS: researchers cannot control and measure all relevant variables and so cannot make percise predictiosns
sociology is an open system as there are too often complex systems and multiple uncontrollable variables.
EG we cannot predict the crime rate precisely because there are too many variables that cannot be measured, controlled or even identified.
PARADIGMISM: sociology IS NOT a science but COULD BE
THE PARADIGM( KUHN):
shared by members of a scientific community and defines what their science is
provides a framework of assumptions, principles, methods & techniques which members of that community work
tells scientists what methods should be used, what kinds of questions they should ask, etc
paradigm- set of norms as it tells scientists how to behave
Scientists conformity to the paradigm is rewarded with publication of their research and career success
in KUHNS view, science cannot exist without a paradigm
IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIOLOGY:
currently sociology is pre-paradigmatic so therefore pre-scientific
there is no agreement on the fundamentals of what to study, what method to use and what to expect
EG within perspectives(feminism) there are often disagreements about key concepts, issues and methods. It is hard to imagine such differences being overcome to create a unified paradigm.
FALSIFICATIONISM: sociology IS NOT a science but COULD BE
FALSIFICATIONISM( POPPER):
opposite of vericationism- ( which positivists prefer)
a scientific statement is one that in principle is capable of being falsified - proved wrong - by the evidence
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DEDUCTIVE REASONING:
observe a phenomena; create a hypothesis, then seek to test to prove the hypothesis wrong; if we can’t we know it is a good hypothesis to explain the phenomena
POPPER: ANALOGY OF THE SWANS:
if someone made a claim that 'all swans are white' and went to verify this claim by searching and taking photos of every white swan this encounters
this doesn't prove their hypothesis right because it would only take 1 black swan to disprove their claim
sociology at present isn't a science because its theories and statements are not able to be put to the test with the possibility of being falsified
AO2 marxism states that there will be a revolution to overthrow capitalist oppression however this hasn't happened yet due to false class consciousness- this means marxism cannot be falsified because they are correct either way, whether the revolution happens or doesn't.