is sociology a science Flashcards
what is the positivism POINT
sociology is the study of society through the empirical observation of human behaviour measured through quantitative, scientific methods.
positivism EVIDENCE
Durkheim
official statistics on suicide rates, identified patterns and categorised the causes
positivism ANALYSIS
Rosenthal and Jacobson
- self-fulfilling prophecy
- experiment fake test that would identify pupils who would ‘spurt ahead’ 47% of students made significant progress. established a cause-and-effect relationship between teacher labelling and student’s academic success.
positivists EVALUATION
Ryan
- gender bias as a man
-research would be adjusted to account for these biases
- quantitative and qualitative data sources can be used to ‘triangulate’ ideas,
what is the interpretivist POINT
sociology is not a science
- study of how people attach reflective, subjective meanings to their social experiences
- qualitative, non-scientific methods
what is the interpretivist EVIDENCE
Weber
Verstehen - conscious meanings people attach to their social experiences
what is the interpretivist ANALYSIS
Becker
- open ended interviews and participant observations good for doing verstehen
- e.g interviewed cannabis users about being called the ‘label deviant’
- criticise close ended questionnaires and experiments as theyre are too limited
what is the interpretivist EVALUATION
Bourdieu
- ignores how self concepts can be embodied through habitus
- structures like social class can shape behaviour and can be embodied through habitus
what is the philosophy of science POINT
falsification and paradigm
sociology is NOT a science
what is the philosophy of science EVIDENCE
Popper
- falsification: capability of being proven wrong
- critiques verification which is the opp
- emperical observation is actually used to test and disprove science
what is the philosophy of science ANALYSIS
Bold-claim making
-ability to make major predictions about cases or events
- contrasts this to Inductive reasoning : positivism idea that moves from specific observations to general conclusions and science
E.g all swans are white = inductive reasoning
( observed only white swans and concluded, wrong because black swans exist)
what is the philosophy of science EVIDENCE (paradigms)
Khun
- paradigm- set of practices, theories and methods that define scientific work within a particular time
- normal scientific paradigm, science creates a shared pardigm
- paradigm shift, new paradigm replaces old paradigm because the evidence doesnt fit anymore
what is the philosophy of science ANALYSIS (paradigm)
earth centric model
- new astronomical evidence for the development of practices, theories and methods
what is the philosophy of science EVALUATION
Feyerabend
- against method- there is not a single univeral method that defines science
- her theory is flawed because a lot of scientific theories are hard to falsify
e.g tectonic plates, movement is slow and changes are long term
