Is Sociology a Science?

Question 1

What is science the study of?

Answer 1

Observable, measurable ‘hard facts’

Question 2

What does sociology lean more towards?

Answer 2

The interpretation of often subjective, invisible phenomena.

Question 3

CRITICISMS - what does Popper (1959) argue science is about?

What does this therefore mean?

Answer 3

Falsification as it’s unique.

Sociology can’t be science until it removes value-bias from theories, at which point most wouldn’t exist.

Question 4

CRITICISMS - what does Kuhn (1970) argue science has?

What does this therefore mean?

Answer 4

Universal truths.

Sociology can’t be a science as it’s founded on competing ideas & theories.

Question 5

CRITICISMS - what does Biling (1980) suggest sociology does?

How?

Answer 5

It limits itself by trying to be a science.

Question 6

CRITICISMS - what idea does Wright-Mills (1959) put forward?

What does this suggest?

Answer 6

‘The Sociological Imagination’

Sociology has an important, creative, open-mind towards research & isn’t limited to one source of knowledge.

Question 7

CRITICISMS - what idea did Bauman (2000) put forward?

What does this suggest?

Answer 7

‘Liquid Modernity’

By the time sociological experiments have taken place, society has already changed.

Question 8

POSITIVISM - What term did August Comte (1798-1857) coin during the enlightenment era?

Answer 8

Sociology

Question 9

POSITIVISM - what did August Comte (1798-1857) believe we must seek out?
What did this train of thought lead to?

Answer 9

Cause & effect as philosophising is not enough.

The ‘secular/positivist’ view of society, providing ‘structural’ theories like Functionalism & Marxism.

Question 10

POSITIVISM - what did Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) claim about society?
Give an example.

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

POSITIVISM - What kind of theory is positivism?

What does this mean?

Answer 11

Macro

Individuals are governed by objective, external social facts & are passive.

Question 12

POSITIVISM - How did Durkheim apply positivism to his study of suicide in ‘Le Suicide’?

Answer 12

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.

Question 13

POSITIVISM - Science is empirical. What does this mean?
Why does this prove sociology is not a science?
What is the positivist response?

Answer 13

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.

Question 14

POSITIVISM - Science is theoretical. What does this mean?

Why does this prove sociology is not a science?

What is the positivist response?

Answer 14

It seeks out casual relationships.
It studies different unpredictable societies & individuals so no causal, predictive relationship can be found.
Durkheim - groups are predictable.

Question 15

POSITIVISM - Science is objective. What does this mean?
Why does this prove sociology is not a science?
What is the positivist response?

Answer 15

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.

Question 16

What is the hypothetico-deductive method?

Answer 16

You must have a hypothesis and then do an experiment

Question 17

POSITIVISM - Science is testable. What does this mean?
Why does this prove sociology is not a science?
What is the positivist response?

Answer 17

Knowledge is an open-system so it’s open to verification.
Sociological research is always biased.
Functionalism & Marxism

Question 18

INTERPRETIVISM - how do interpretivists see the social world?

Answer 18

A product of individuals, rather than an external, independent reality.

Question 19

INTERPRETIVISM - how do interpretivists see the social world as needing to be understood?

Answer 19

By interpreting individual behaviour & meanings rather than being shaped by an external reality.

Question 20

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 _________.

Answer 20

a) matter
b) consciousness
c) behaviour
d) force
e) another
f) humans
g) consciousness
h) behaviour
i) complex
j) meaning

Question 21

INTERPRETIVISM - The Social Construction of Scientific Knowledge.

K_______ (19__) claimed all __________ is socially __________ as it relies on the ___________ of people and ________ available to them.

Answer 21

a) Knorr-Cetina (1981)
b) knowledge
c) constructed
d) interpretation
e) resources

Question 22

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.

Answer 22

a) George Herbert Mead
b) interactions
c) people
d) behave
e) symbols
f) meaning
g) identities
h) interpreting

Question 23

INTERPRETIVISM - Ethnomethodology

M___ W____

________ - the ________ should see the ______ through the eyes of the _________.
You must _______ and investigate the ________ instead of just gathering _____.

Answer 23

a) Max Weber
b) Verstehen
c) researcher
d) world
e) indidivual
f) observe
g) scenario
h) data