Is Sociology a Science Flashcards
What are the two reasons that sociology would want to be seen as scientific?
- It is easier to find funding from the goverment, charities and industry. If you are scientific it is more likely that you will be seen as producing useful reliable data. 2. Science is seen as more prestige.
Do positivists believe that science is a science?
Yes whilst interprestists believe that it isn’t.
What are two major sociologists who argue that sociology should strive to be a science?
Comte and Durkheim
Why did early sociologists want sociology to be viewed as a science?
The 19th century saw the rise of science as a way of explaining things eg huge advances in medicine and Darwin theory of evolution
Why do some cynics argue that sociologists want to make it a science?
To make their new subject respectable and accepted in University’s.
How can Marxism be used to support the idea that sociology is a science?
Marx worked his whole life to show that there were laws or economics that would eventually lead to a communist society and a revolution
What does Kaplan argue?
Sociology is as scientific or unscientific as the natural sciences, there are times when the natural sciences are not as scientific as should be such as some break through being to luck or how scientists would manipulate data into fitting their hypothesis. Therefore, if natural science can be accepted as a science then so can sociology.
What did Kaplan point to the differences between?
Reconstructed logic and logics in use
What’s reconstructed logic?
The methods scientists claim to use
What’s logics in use?
The actual method scientists use, very little scientific research is checked so much of it contains personal bias.
How would realism be used to support the idea that it is possible for sociology to be seen as scientific?
They see the similarities between the natural sciences and sociology. Some sciences work through closed systems where all variables can be measured whilst others work in more open systems. Sociology just uses an open system as society’s are so complex.
What do interpretetivits believe about sociology as a science?
They argue that people can not be studied in a controlled way. Individuals are not passive recipients of external forces meanings and motives have to be taken into account to gain a valid view. They say that approaching studies subjectively is much better than scientifically.
What does Popper argue?
He says that most sociology does not produce testable hypotheses (proving a hypotheses false as you can never prove anything to be true) so cannot be seen a science.
What does Kuhn argue?
Even Natural science is not scientific as they do not involve a cumulative process. This is because science operates within paradigms (an accepted body of knowledge)and this dominates scientific thinking and traps thoughts and investigations within it. This then leads to a scientific revolution. If science doesn’t fit the criteria of what it is supposed to be then sociology can not be seen as scientific.
