1.2.7

Sociology as a Science

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Sociology as a Science

Positivists argue that sociology is a science.  Interpretivists believe sociology is not a science.

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Positivism

  • Auguste Comte developed the theoretical perspective of positivism with regard to conducting research.
  • Their belief was that society could be explained with scientific principles based on objectivity, reliability, and generalisation, which can be obtained from quantitative data. 
  • Positivists believe that you can acquire cause and effect relationships – when one thing occurs or changes it always provides the same result. 
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Induction

  • Functionalist Emile Durkheim was particularly influenced by Comte and applied it to his sociological study on suicide.
  • He used induction, which is the process where a researcher gathers a large sample of statistics, with the aim of finding trends and patterns that illustrate the impact of particular ‘social facts’ upon society. 
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The hypothetico deductive model

  • Durkheim used official statistics and the Hypothetico-Deductive model in his research.
  • This is when a researcher starts with a hypothesis they wish to prove correct. 
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Interpretivism

  • Interpretivists believe that the study of human behaviour cannot be scientific as our nature is completely unreliable and our actions can have a variety of complex meanings.   
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Verstehen

  • Interpretivists suggest that in order to get a valid understanding of the experiences of an individual, the researcher must try to understand them through abandoning the principles of objectivity by putting themselves in the place of the other – known as ‘Verstehen’. 
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Critical

  • Interpretivists are critical of science as a discipline.
  • From an interpretivist point of view, science lacks validity as a subject area and therefore sociology should distance itself from the discipline.

Postmodernism and Sociology

Positivists argue that sociology is a science. Interpretivists believe that sociology is not a science, as do postmodernists.

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Postmodernists

  • Postmodernists would agree with interpretivists by arguing that sociology is not a science nor should it want to be.
  • This is because science is a ‘meta-narrative’ or big story that tries to generalise every individual into a catch-all theory.
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Jean-Francois Lyotard

  • Lyotard believes that any belief system that attempts to do this is irrelevant in today’s fragmented postmodern society as there is no accepted monopoly of the truth.
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Karl Popper

  • Popper also argues that sociology is not a science.  
  • Popper’s views are very positive of science as a discipline as he believes that it has become dominant due to its rapid growth during and after the ‘Enlightenment’. 
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Verificationism

  • Popper disagreed with positivist researchers as he believed that ‘Verificationism’ was irrelevant to science due to what he calls the ‘fallacy of induction’.
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Falsification

  • Popper argued that a scientist will never set out to prove themselves and their theory correct, instead they set out to prove themselves incorrect.
  • This is known as falsification.
  • According to Popper the longer a theory stands without being proven incorrect the more accurate it is.

Jump to other topics

1Theory & Methods

2Education with Methods in Context

3Option 1: Culture & Identity

4Option 1: Families & Households

5Option 1: Health

6Option 1: Work, Poverty & Welfare

7Option 2: Beliefs in Society

8Option 2: Global Development

9Option 2: The Media

10Crime & Deviance

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