methods in context topic 1 Flashcards
Positivists
-Believe sociology is a science
-Believe we should study society using experimental methods used in the natural sciences (so we can test hypothesis in a systematic and controlled way)
Interpretivists
-Believe sociology is not a science
-Science studies the unconscious and therefore humans/society cannot be studied scientifically
-Interpretivists aim to achieve verstehen
Comte
Positivist
Believes in inductive reasoning and verificationism
Lukes
Positivist
Believes verificationism leads to social facts
Inductive reasoning
Accumulating data and patterns in research
Verificationism
Verifying the theory when there is enough data to prove it
Social facts
Similar to scientific facts but about society as they are proven through verificationism
Durkheim’s social fact
In his suicide study, his social fact was that religious belief can impact social integration (measured through suicide rates)
Verstehen
Putting yourself in someone else’s position
Three sociologists believe sociology is not yet a science:
Popper
Kuhn
Realists
Popper
Believes science uses falsification but sociology does not therefore sociology cannot be a science until it starts using falsification
Falsification
Trying to disprove an idea and if it cannot be disproved then it is the best version of the truth at that time
What does Popper believe about inductive reasoning?
Popper believes inductive reasoning is a myth (eg. Swan study)
Kuhn
Believes that until sociology has an agreed upon paradigm it will not be a science
Paradigm
An agreed set of assumptions, principles, methods and techniques within a scientific community
Realists
Believe there is open and closed systems within a subject and sociology operates within an open system
Open system
Researcher cannot control all variables so accurate predictions cannot be made (not scientific)
Closed system
Researcher can control all variables so accurate predictions (hypothesis) can be made (scientific)
Keat and Urry
Believe sociology is not completely scientific but can study certain aspects of society scientifically
Postmodernists (Foucault)
Believe in meta-narratives and say science is simply another meta-narrative, a version of the truth that people can choose to believe or not
Meta-narratives
There are different versions of the truth which people can choose to believe
