Subjectivity, Objectivity And Value Freedom.

Question 1

Early positivists : comte

Answer 1

Believed that sociology was a new religion of scientific truth and that sociologists should be able to say objectively

Question 2

Early positivists : Marx

Answer 2

Sociological research could be used to reveal the truth of inequality to the working classes in order to motivate them to bring about revolutionary change.

Question 3

Weber

Answer 3

Rejected the idea of value freedom and argued that sociologists must take moral responsibility for the harm that their research might do e.g Gonzalez argues that social scientists embedded within military units in Iraq and Afghanistan were engaged In identifying those likely to become terrorists may have been responsible for the subsequent deaths of people in the religion

Question 4

Derek Phillips

Answer 4

Data collection is a social process that involves interaction between researchers and their human subjects. Values inevitably bias this interaction :
Some respondents when faced with a questionnaire may seek social approval and deny behaviour that they perceive not to fit the value position of the researcher

Question 5

Domain assumptions : Gouldner

Answer 5

Believes value free sociology is a myth because it is impossible to separate sociologists from what they observe since sociological knowledge is a social product. All sociologists possess domain assumptions such as male sociologists may unconsciously subscribe to the domain at value system of their patriarch nature