is sociology a science? Flashcards
what does positivist Comte argue about sociology being a science?
believes it is desirable to apply the logic of natural science to study sociology and can be used to develop rational theory
do positivists believe sociology should be a science?
believe reality is not random and chaotic but patterned and we can observe these patterns (such as water boils at 100 degrees celsius) and sociologists can discover laws that determine how society works which is known as inductive reasoning
what is positivist’s idea of verification?
inductive reasoning claims to verify a theory and prove it is true which is known as verification as patterns we observe in society can be explained scientifically by finding facts and patterns
what does positivist Durkheim’s suicide study show about sociology as a science?
key example of avoiding researcher’s influence and detachment as he used official statistics to discover that protestant suicide rates were higher than catholics
what is positivist Durkheim’s idea of ‘real law’?
claimed to have discovered a ‘real law’ and demonstrated that sociology had its own unique subject matter which could be explained scientifically
what is Popper’s fallacy of induction?
believes we should reject verification because for a theory to be viewed as scientific it must be able to be tested and proven false
what example does Popper use to explain fallacy of induction?
illustrates this through an example of swans: having observed a large number of swans which are all white we may generalise that ‘all swans are white’ but one observation of a black swan will destroy the theory
what is Popper’s idea of falsification?
believes science is a unique form of knowledge where it was not possible to know the absolute truth because you can prove things correct
why does Popper see sociology and not scientific?
so much of sociology is unscientific because it consists of theories that cannot be put to the test however it is capable of producing a hypothesis that can be falsified
what does Kuhn argue about sociology not being a science?
argues sociology does not have a paradigm so he sees it as unscientific
what is a paradigm? (Kuhn)
a paradigm is shared by its members of a given scientific community and defines what science is which provides a basic framework of assumptions, methods and techniques
how does Kuhn define sociology?
it could only be science if disagreements are resolved
what doe interpretivists argue about sociology being a science?
do not believe sociology should be a science as subject matter of sociology is meaningful social action and can only be understood by successfully interpreting meanings of actors involved
what is interpretivist Weber’s idea of verstehen?
argue that to discover meanings people give to their actions we need to put ourselves in the place of the actor
what do realists Keat and Ury argue about sociology as a science?
stress similarities between sociology and science in terms of control over variables and argue sociologists study open systems where processes are too complex to make accurate predictions
