Sociology As A Science (P1/3) Flashcards
(18 cards)
Describe Durkeheim’s study of suicide
study used official stats is an attempt to show that sociology can be a science, and he wanted to show that suicide had social causes.
through looking at suicide statistics, he found that Protestants had higher suicide rates than Catholics, and concluded that these patterns were not due to individual motives, but were social facts. As such, they must be caused by other social facts- such as integration and regulation e.g. if someone isn’t integrated enough into society, they are more likely to commit suicide.
Durkheim believed that ‘real laws are discoverable’ that will explain how society works and that sociology would bring true knowledge of society that could be used to tackle social problems.
Describe Positivism and its relation to natural sciences
Early sociologists like Comte described themselves as positivists. They believed the logic and methods of the natural sciences could be applied to the study of society- allowing us to gain objective (factual) knowledge of society, which could then be used to improve it.
They also believe that in the same way science studies observable ‘facts’ like gravity and cells, that society is made up of social facts- things that exist outside of individuals, which can be discovered. These incl customs, belief systems and social institutions. The different social classes are social facts, with measurable differences between them e.g. educational achievement, crime rates, etc.
Define social facts and which group believes that society is made up of them
Postivists
social facts- things that exist outside of individuals, which can be discovered
Describe Positivism in relation to inductive reasoning
They believe using inductive reasoning - we can find the laws that shape how society works - this is done by collecting data then developing a theory to explain the observations made from the data.
Positivists believe that like in science, in sociology we can explain the patterns we observe by finding the facts that cause them. E.g , we might explain the social fact of educational failure by another social fact, material deprivation. As our knowledge grows, we begin to see general patterns. These can then be used to predict future events and guide social policy e.g. if material dep causes educational underachievement, we can try and tackle it.
Describe which types of theories positivists favour
macro or structural theories such as functionalism and Marxism, which see society and its structures as social facts that exist outside of us and shape our behaviour.
Describe positivism in relation to objectivity
believe researchers should be objective: they shouldn’t let their own subjective feelings, values or prejudices influence their research- therefore they use methods that allow them to be objective and detached as much as possible: experiments, questionnaires, structured interviews, structured non-participant observation and official statistics.
As these methods produce quantitative data, the opinions of the researcher do not really influence how that data is analysed, so it is objective.
These methods also produce reliable data which can be checked by other researchers repeating the research to make sure the data is ‘true.’ Positivists also tend to like methods which are high representativeness as the data they produce allows generalisations to be made.
Give the Interpretivist criticisms of positivism
methods used by positivists aren’t objective but are instead subjective, as the researcher will have had some influence on the research e.g. on closed questionnaires, researchers decide on the questions and the answers based on what they think is important.
They also challenge the reliability of certain methods e.g. official statistics- some of these will be based on decisions people make, such as a coroner’s decision on a cause of death. As two different coroners could make different conclusions on a cause of death, this shows that official statistics may lack reliability. They may also lack validity e.g. crime statistics don’t cover the large amount of unreported and unrecorded crime, and so are very inaccurate.
Describe interpretivism
includes action theories- don’t believe sociology should model itself on the natural sciences, as studying humans in this way is unsuitable. They say the subject matter of sociology is meaningful social action, which can only be understood by successfully interpreting the meanings and motives of the actors involved.
Describe interpretivism in relation to science
Sociology is not a science as science only deals with cause and effect, not human meaning. They reject a scientific approach to sociology, arguing there’s a difference between the subject matter of science and sociology: science studies things like matter which has no consciousness, while humans have consciousness and use it to make sense of their world by attaching meanings to it. Their actions can only be understood in terms of these meanings, which are internal to peoples’ consciousness. Humans have free will and can exercise choice.
What does Mead say in relation to interpretivism
humans don’t just respond to external stimuli, but interpret the meaning of a stimulus and then choose how to react to it- e.g stopping at a red light - a motorist does this because they interpret the meaning of the sign to mean ‘stop’. Even then, they may not stop, due to free will- they may go through the red light because they are being pursued by the police.
Interpretivists do not see individuals as puppets manipulated by external ‘social facts’ as positivists believe but independent beings who construct their social world through the meanings they give to it.
What do interpretivists think about social facts
don’t see individuals as puppets manipulated by external ‘social facts’ as positivists believe but independent beings who construct their social world through the meanings they give to it
Who says we must put ourselves in the place of the actor and what is said?
Interpretivists
we must put ourselves in the actors place using what Weber calls verstehen or empathetic understanding to grasp their meanings. So they favour qualitative methods and data such as participant observation, unstructured interviews and personal documents. These produce richer, more personal data high in validity and give the sociologist a subjective understanding of the actor’s meanings.
Example : Interpretivism and Suicide
The interactionist Douglas argued that to study suicide, we must understand its meanings for those involved. He rejects Durkheim’s use of suicide statistics, which are simply constructed by coroners who label deaths as suicides. Instead, we should use qualitative data from case studies of suicide to find out actor’s meanings and get a better idea of the real rate of suicide
Give the positivist criticism of interpretivism
Positivists challenge the idea that qualitative methods are high in validity as intepretivists claim, as they always involve a subjective interpretation e.g. of what someone said. If a researcher misinterprets the data, this will lower the validity.
Also, in a variety of qualitative methods e.g. overt participant observation, unstructured interviews, participants may change their behaviour/lie to look better, which again would lower the validity of the data collected.
Who argues that if sociology were based on falsification it could be accepted as a science
Popper
Describe Popper’s views in relation to whether or not sociology is a science
he believed that a valid science must aim to refute hypotheses (prove them wrong). If sociology were based on falsification, it could be accepted as a science. This is when a scientist tries to find evidence to falsify a theory. We can use falsification to test the following statement: ‘All swans are white’. If we can find a black swan, we can challenge the statement and say it is not a scientific truth.
He thought that science can never discover the final truth, but the longer there is no falsification, the truer it is. Popper rejects the idea that Marxism is a science, because it uses concepts such as false consciousness that cannot be falsified. Popper thought that Marxism was a pseudo- science (pretend science).
Who argues that sociology can only be a science when sociologists work within one paradigm (one theory)
Kuhn
Describe Kuhn’s views in relation to whether or not sociology is a science
According to Kuhn, scientists work within a paradigm - a basic framework of assumptions, principles, methods and techniques (a set of norms).
Sometimes there are paradigm shifts a new way of thinking overrides an old way of thinking.
He states that sociology can only be a science when sociologists work within one paradigm (one theory): as there are currently different theories in sociology, by Kuhn’s definition it isn’t a science.
