NATURALISM AND STATISTICS

Question 1

What epistemology does naturalism adopt?

Answer 1

Positivism

Question 2

What quote can we use to describe this?

Answer 2

‘Application of natural science methods to the study of social reality’ BRYMAN

Question 3

What is positivism/objectivism?

Answer 3

• There are ‘hard facts’ out there with an existence
  independent of us (social actors) to be discovered
• They are beyond our reach or influence
• Both natural and social phenomena belong to the same
  realm so need to be investigated in the same way

Question 4

Understand social world in the same way as?

Answer 4

Biological world

Question 5

Who are the 3 original main thinkers?

Answer 5

1) AUGUST COMTE (1798-1857)
2) HERBERT SPENCER (1820-1903)
3) EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917)

Question 6

AUGUST COMTE (1798-1857) main ideas?

Answer 6

• Formulated the doctrine of positivism (positive
  philosophy)
• Focused on the ‘empirical goals of sociological methods’
  leading to progression in society

Question 7

HERBERT SPENCER (1820-1903) main ideas?

Answer 7

• Most famous for ‘survival of the fittest’
• Rejected ideological aspects of Comte’s positivism
• Saw reform in all embracing concept of evolution
  humans progress in the same way biology/ science does

Question 8

EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917) main ideas?

Answer 8

• Social science was a logical continuation of natural
  science and there were ‘rules of sociological methods’
  leading to social ‘facts’

Question 9

DURKHEIM on SUICIDE

Answer 9

• Used Empirical data to explore suicide rates between
  protestants and catholics
• Stronger social control in Catholics led to lower suicide
  rates
• He could then PREDICT suicide rates due to religion

Question 10

What assumptions did they all share?

Answer 10

• A commitment to naturalism (science can translate to
  sociology)
• Only knowledge gained through OBSERVED
  EXPERIENCE (link to David Hume) can be taken seriously.

Question 11

What is empirical data?

Answer 11

• Information received by means of the senses
  (observation, measurement and comparison)
• Remains the same no matter who observes it
• Can only be ‘true’ if it can be tested and proved
• They assume it is possible to discover scientific laws
• Contrast to rationalism (based on thinking)

Question 12

STRENGTHS OF POSITIVISM

quantitative approach

Answer 12

(more reliable than qualitative?)
- ‘SCIENTIFIC’ = trustworthy you can PROVE it’s validity as
it doesn’t differ between people
- Objective information can then be used to create
scientific assumptions that remains consistent to ALL
researchers

Question 13

STRENGTHS

structure

Answer 13

• Set laws and rules to follow there will be minimum room
  for error
• Gives little room for variance and drastic variable
  changes
• Is REPRODUCABLE

Question 14

WEAKNESSES

human behaviour

Answer 14

• Believes conclusions can be reached if the person is
  OBJECTIVE and disregards emotion
• BUT human behaviour comes with emotional responses
  IS IT EVER POSSIBLE TO TRULY DISREGARD ALL EMOTION?

Question 15

WEBER interpretivist critique?

Answer 15

Stresses the DIFFERENCE between natural and social sciences

Investigates the ways in people interpret the world. The study of humans can never be entirely objective

Question 16

WEAKNESS

Inflexible

Answer 16

• Positivists believe everything can be calculated and
  measured this can be inflexible
• See things AS THEY ARE, tend to disregard unexplained
  phenomena
  eg Theory of B + C = A (B can never be A)
• This eliminates the process of finding answers
  CREATIVELY or indirectly solving a problem

Question 17

What is LOGICAL positivism?

Answer 17

• Extreme version of positivist approaches
• Every statement had to be a direct expression of
  observable things
• All metaphysical (abstract thought or subjects) ideas
  were removed as they couldn’t be subject to empirical
  testing/ observation

Question 18

Logical positivism

How did they achieve objectivity?

Answer 18

• Through human values not interfering with the accumulation of objective knowledge

Question 19

Logical positivism

What is the ‘verification principle’?

Answer 19

WITTGENSTEIN

Knowledge can only be qualified through empirical observation

Question 20

Logical positivism

What is an analytic statement and why are positivists not interested in this?

Answer 20

What is predicted of the subject is already included in the very definition of the subject
eg the bachelor has a wife = false automatically
There is no need for empirical evidence as it can be falsified through rational thought

Question 21

Logical positivism

What is a synthetic statement?

Answer 21

NOT included in definition.
Truth or falsity can only be established by using empirical evidence.
EG there are 12 blonde haired women in this village. You are able to PROVE this.

Question 22

What is the ‘method of induction’?

Answer 22

• Collecting observational data and building theories to
  explain the observations made
• This is then combined with the verificationist approach to
  CONFIRM the general laws ALREADY ESTABLISHED
• Encourages further research to search out similar types
  of info (provides continuous proof again and again)

Question 23

What are criticisms of this?

Answer 23

If you are looking to prove a theory, you only look for evidence to verify this so can miss out on other evidence

Question 24

SEX WORK ON THE STREETS: PROSTITUTES AND THEIR CLIENTS

Answer 24

McKagney and Bernard 1996
Raised themes of sexual frustration, risk taking and dominating a sexual partner in married men
These are themes that can then be further explored

Question 25

KARL POPPER 1959 | criticises method of induction

Answer 25

- Regardless of how many examples, it is logically impossible to prove whether a theory is true in ABSOLUTE TERMS - He presents a very different view of human knowledge - Scientists should constantly be trying to prove their theories WRONG through a method of FALSIFICATION

Question 26

SWAN EXAMPLE

Answer 26

'there are only white swans' If using the verificationist approach, you would continue to count hundreds and hundreds of white swans to add to your theory BUT it only takes ONE black swan to prove it FALSE

Question 27

In Popper's view, what should scientists constantly be trying to do?

Answer 27

Prove their theories wrong | scientific 'truth' has yet to be proven wrong

Question 28

What are the 3 ideals that Popper critiqued?

Answer 28

1) Marxism 2) Psychoanalysis 3) Astrology

Question 29

Why did Popper critique these?

Answer 29

- Statement's that can't be submitted to falsification should be dismissed - He argued they all had the same flaws - They all convinced adherents of the 'truth' by providing explanations for everything that could possibly happen

Question 30

What was the issue with this idea of 'truth?'

Answer 30

THEIR TRUTH COULD NEVER BE PUT TO THE TEST | They were ideologies not sciences

Question 31

What is his idea of 'open society'?

Answer 31

We have to be intentionally CRITICAL to avoid being dogmatic | not continue to collect evidence on already existing theories

Question 32

What book did Barker (1984) write that used the method of falsification?

Answer 32

THE MAKING OF A MOONIE: CHOICE OR BRAINWASHING? - Research as response to media reports that people were being brainwashed into joining the new religious movement - 7 years of research - Proved her theory of people being BRAINWASHED WRONG as she found so many cases of people joining naturally. - SHE FALSIFIED HER THEORY instead of verifying it.

Question 33

Who was the Spirit Level written by and in what year?

Answer 33

Pickett and Wilkinson 2009

Question 34

What were both authors?

Answer 34

Epidemiologists (health within societies)

Question 35

What was the original problem they were looking at?

Answer 35

Why HEALTH gets worse at every stage down the social ladder

Question 36

What did it develop into?

Answer 36

That the same approach can be used to explore a wide range of problems (eg violence, drugs, obesity, mental illness all more common in UNEQUAL SOCIETIES)

Question 37

What does looking at large statistical surveys (empirical observations) when testing their theory allow them to do?

Answer 37

They can PREDICT that when we see vast inequalities, we can predict social problems (AND predict country's performance on one outcome based on another eg low health can predict larger prison populations)

Question 38

Can this link to Durkheim? | And quote?

Answer 38

It can be compared to his idea of an OBJECTIVE 'social fact' 'Inequality seems to make a country dysfunctional across a wide range of outcomes' = this is a social FACT based on empirical data

Question 39

CONTEMPORARY POSITIVISM?

Answer 39

- Positivism does not dominate the paradigm in the way it once did, as the importance of interpretism has become apparent - Tend to be less enthusiastic about traditional assumptions HOWEVER The role of empiricism and statistical data is still a highly useful tool

Question 40

What is an example of contemporary positivism?

Answer 40

PUBLIC GOOD OR PRIVATE WEALTH? Oxfam report January 2019

Question 41

How is this report relevant to positivism?

Answer 41

It looks at sources such as 'Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report' and other empirical data to draw conclusions about global inequality = eg the top 26 richest people have the same amount of wealth as the poorest 50% of the world

Question 42

Conclusions about unpaid care work?

Answer 42

- including caring, housework and voluntary community work - The annual value of all unpaid care work done by women is equivalent to 43 times the annual sales of Apple in 2017