Is sociology a science ? Flashcards
What do positives argue / believe ? (Yes)
That sociology can use scientific methods to establish social facts and prove universal laws.
What do interpretivists argue / believe ? (No)
That sociology is not a science and shouldn’t attempt to be, as humans have agency (free will) and will not conform to predictable patterns.
What 2 factors help to determine whether sociology is a science or not ?
Research methods used and whether there is an agreed definition of science.
What is the definition of science ?
Organised and systematic knowledge proved through rigerous testing and hypothesis.
What 3 things does science put emphasis on ?
Proof, testing and objectivity (focusing only on proven facts and evidence and eliminating personal bias)
What do some argue science is based on and what does it mean ?
Empiricism (gaining knowledge through observing or experimenting something yourself)
What tends to be a widely used scientific method ?
Pose a question, conduct background research, create a hypothesis, test with experiments, analyse data and reach a conclusion, results reviewed by peers and published.
What would positivists argue they use in their scientific research ? (Yes)
Rigorous and reliable research methods that produce strong quantitative data (numbers) which can be analysed and concluded before being published.
What are two examples of positivist sociologists ? (Yes)
Auguste Comte and Emile Durkheim.
What study did Durkheim conduct ? (Yes)
Suicide.
Why did Durkheim conduct his study ? (Yes)
To establish how science can explain human behaviour even those that were individual.
How did Durkheim conduct his study ? (Yes)
He tested his hypothesis against a range of ‘variables’ to understand the impact these social features had on suicide rates.
What was the conclusion of Durkheim’s study ? (Yes)
He reached a conclusion that was supported by his hypothesis and published his work in a highly influential essay.
What do interpretivists and postmodernists argue / believe about positivists belief ? (No)
That humans within a certain extent will do as they please and this cannot be predicted or scientifically studied in the same way as other things.
What did Karl Popper argue / believe about positivists ? (Yes)
That positivist sociology misunderstood the nature of society and human behaviour.
What reasoning did Karl Popper believe positivist scientists to use ?
Inductive reasoning (making conclusions based off of specific scenarios) - trying to prove their hypothesis
What is deductive reasoning ?
A theory or hypothesis is researched and tested to see if the theory or hypothesis is supported by evidence. - trying to disprove their hypothesis.
What scenario example is used to describe Karl Popper’s belief.
The idea of swans and that if you spend time looking for evidence that there are white swans you will find more white swans (supporting evidence), whereas if you find a black swan this can prove your hypothesis wrong meaning you have more research to do and improve on until no black swan can be found.
What is falsification and why does Popper believe that it is important ?
Where you try and falsify (prove wrong) your hypothesis and if you cannot find anything wrong with it then it remains the best explanation.
What is an example of a Marxist concept that Popper criticised ?
False class conscious as he believed that it is not possible to falsify.
Why was Durkheim’s study criticised ?
Critics question the reliability of his data with the calculation of suicide rates possibly being inconsistent within different countries. As well as this key concepts in his study such as social cohesion and social control are very difficult to operationalise.
What does social cohesion mean ? (Yes)
Bonds linking people to each other.
What does operationalise mean ? (Yes)
Turning concepts into measurable observations.
What do interpretivists argue / believe ? (No)
That the study of human society can’t be directly observed or counted as society is about subjective values and cannot be understood in a scientific way. Therefore sociology isn’t and shouldn’t try to be a science.
What are subjective values ? (No)
Judgement based on personal bias.
What do interprevisists believe happens when positives try and make sociology a science ?
That they miss the truth in trying to make everything measurable and reliable it stops it from being real.
What do postmodernists argue about science ? (No)
They also believe that sociology cannot and should not be trying to be scientific.
What is a problem with the argument that sociology isn’t a science.
It then poses the question of what sociology actually is.
What does Weber argue ? (No)
That sociologists should approach their study in an entirely objective way (no personal bias) but should interested in the subjective (personal bias) opinions of the people they study.
What is a paradigm ?
A particular and accepted set of thoughts and assumptions about the way things are and how research should be done.
What does Thomas Kuhn argue / believe ? (Maybe)
That the way that most people see science is not quite accurate and that science is not purely objective. (removed personal bias / opinions).
What does mainstream science do ?
Accepts the assumptions of the paradigm and views its conclusions with those basic assumptions.
What is a paradigm shift ? (Maybe)
When ‘radical science’ challenges assumptions made and may become the new mainstream.
What does Kuhn argue / believe about Sociology ? (Maybe)
That it is not a mature mainstream science because it hasn’t found a unifying paradigm. Sociologists do not share a set of assumptions about the world, research etc. He says that it is a “young science” however it could possibly become a science in the future.
What do postmodernists believe about science ? (Maybe)
That it is not objective or value free, often carrying out their research for a reason and are funded by the cause they are researching.
