Is Sociology a Science? Flashcards
What is science the study of?
Observable, measurable ‘hard facts’
What does sociology lean more towards?
The interpretation of often subjective, invisible phenomena.
CRITICISMS - what does Popper (1959) argue science is about?
What does this therefore mean?
Falsification as it’s unique.
Sociology can’t be science until it removes value-bias from theories, at which point most wouldn’t exist.
CRITICISMS - what does Kuhn (1970) argue science has?
What does this therefore mean?
Universal truths.
Sociology can’t be a science as it’s founded on competing ideas & theories.
CRITICISMS - what does Biling (1980) suggest sociology does?
How?
It limits itself by trying to be a science.
CRITICISMS - what idea does Wright-Mills (1959) put forward?
What does this suggest?
‘The Sociological Imagination’
Sociology has an important, creative, open-mind towards research & isn’t limited to one source of knowledge.
CRITICISMS - what idea did Bauman (2000) put forward?
What does this suggest?
‘Liquid Modernity’
By the time sociological experiments have taken place, society has already changed.
POSITIVISM - What term did August Comte (1798-1857) coin during the enlightenment era?
Sociology
POSITIVISM - what did August Comte (1798-1857) believe we must seek out?
What did this train of thought lead to?
Cause & effect as philosophising is not enough.
The ‘secular/positivist’ view of society, providing ‘structural’ theories like Functionalism & Marxism.
POSITIVISM - what did Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) claim about society?
Give an example.
It consists of 'social facts' & it's the job of social scientists to discover patterns of society & behaviour. Example = class is measurable & has causal effects on society & individuals.
POSITIVISM - What kind of theory is positivism?
What does this mean?
Macro
Individuals are governed by objective, external social facts & are passive.
POSITIVISM - How did Durkheim apply positivism to his study of suicide in ‘Le Suicide’?
Looked for causal relationships in statistics to see what lead to suicide.
Concluded suicide on this scale & consistency isn’t due to individual motives but external social facts acting on them.
POSITIVISM - Science is empirical. What does this mean?
Why does this prove sociology is not a science?
What is the positivist response?
Objects are physical & measurable.
It measures invisible phenomena - some of which can’t be measured eg religion.
Durkheim - social facts.
Marx - Capitalist structure = social fact.
POSITIVISM - Science is theoretical. What does this mean?
Why does this prove sociology is not a science?
What is the positivist response?
It seeks out casual relationships.
It studies different unpredictable societies & individuals so no causal, predictive relationship can be found.
Durkheim - groups are predictable.
POSITIVISM - Science is objective. What does this mean?
Why does this prove sociology is not a science?
What is the positivist response?
It’s value-free.
It’s not objective as it’s created by value-based individuals.
Durkheim - sociology can be value-free as long as the Hypothetico-Deductive Method is followed strictly.
What is the hypothetico-deductive method?
You must have a hypothesis and then do an experiment
POSITIVISM - Science is testable. What does this mean?
Why does this prove sociology is not a science?
What is the positivist response?
Knowledge is an open-system so it’s open to verification.
Sociological research is always biased.
Functionalism & Marxism
INTERPRETIVISM - how do interpretivists see the social world?
A product of individuals, rather than an external, independent reality.
INTERPRETIVISM - how do interpretivists see the social world as needing to be understood?
By interpreting individual behaviour & meanings rather than being shaped by an external reality.
INTERPRETIVISM - interpretivists believe sociology and science are fundamentally different because:
Science studies ______ with no ___________ - _________ is one ______ acting on ________.
Sociology studies _______ with ___________ - ________ is _______ & is understood by interpreting _________.
a) matter
b) consciousness
c) behaviour
d) force
e) another
f) humans
g) consciousness
h) behaviour
i) complex
j) meaning
INTERPRETIVISM - The Social Construction of Scientific Knowledge.
K_______ (19__) claimed all __________ is socially __________ as it relies on the ___________ of people and ________ available to them.
a) Knorr-Cetina (1981)
b) knowledge
c) constructed
d) interpretation
e) resources
INTERPRETIVISM - Symbolic Interactionism
G______ H______ M____.
Society is made by __________ between _______.
They _______ according to ______ which they give ________ to eg traffic lights.
Individuals develop _________ by __________ how others see them.
a) George Herbert Mead
b) interactions
c) people
d) behave
e) symbols
f) meaning
g) identities
h) interpreting
INTERPRETIVISM - Ethnomethodology
M___ W____
________ - the ________ should see the ______ through the eyes of the _________.
You must _______ and investigate the ________ instead of just gathering _____.
a) Max Weber
b) Verstehen
c) researcher
d) world
e) indidivual
f) observe
g) scenario
h) data
