NATURALISM AND STATISTICS Flashcards
What epistemology does naturalism adopt?
Positivism
What quote can we use to describe this?
‘Application of natural science methods to the study of social reality’ BRYMAN
What is positivism/objectivism?
- There are ‘hard facts’ out there with an existence
independent of us (social actors) to be discovered - They are beyond our reach or influence
- Both natural and social phenomena belong to the same
realm so need to be investigated in the same way
Understand social world in the same way as?
Biological world
Who are the 3 original main thinkers?
1) AUGUST COMTE (1798-1857)
2) HERBERT SPENCER (1820-1903)
3) EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917)
AUGUST COMTE (1798-1857) main ideas?
- Formulated the doctrine of positivism (positive
philosophy) - Focused on the ‘empirical goals of sociological methods’
leading to progression in society
HERBERT SPENCER (1820-1903) main ideas?
- Most famous for ‘survival of the fittest’
- Rejected ideological aspects of Comte’s positivism
- Saw reform in all embracing concept of evolution
humans progress in the same way biology/ science does
EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917) main ideas?
- Social science was a logical continuation of natural
science and there were ‘rules of sociological methods’
leading to social ‘facts’
DURKHEIM on SUICIDE
- Used Empirical data to explore suicide rates between
protestants and catholics - Stronger social control in Catholics led to lower suicide
rates - He could then PREDICT suicide rates due to religion
What assumptions did they all share?
- A commitment to naturalism (science can translate to
sociology) - Only knowledge gained through OBSERVED
EXPERIENCE (link to David Hume) can be taken seriously.
What is empirical data?
- Information received by means of the senses
(observation, measurement and comparison) - Remains the same no matter who observes it
- Can only be ‘true’ if it can be tested and proved
- They assume it is possible to discover scientific laws
- Contrast to rationalism (based on thinking)
STRENGTHS OF POSITIVISM
quantitative approach
(more reliable than qualitative?)
- ‘SCIENTIFIC’ = trustworthy you can PROVE it’s validity as
it doesn’t differ between people
- Objective information can then be used to create
scientific assumptions that remains consistent to ALL
researchers
STRENGTHS
structure
- Set laws and rules to follow there will be minimum room
for error - Gives little room for variance and drastic variable
changes - Is REPRODUCABLE
WEAKNESSES
human behaviour
- Believes conclusions can be reached if the person is
OBJECTIVE and disregards emotion - BUT human behaviour comes with emotional responses
IS IT EVER POSSIBLE TO TRULY DISREGARD ALL EMOTION?
WEBER interpretivist critique?
Stresses the DIFFERENCE between natural and social sciences
Investigates the ways in people interpret the world. The study of humans can never be entirely objective
WEAKNESS
Inflexible
- Positivists believe everything can be calculated and
measured this can be inflexible - See things AS THEY ARE, tend to disregard unexplained
phenomena
eg Theory of B + C = A (B can never be A) - This eliminates the process of finding answers
CREATIVELY or indirectly solving a problem
What is LOGICAL positivism?
- Extreme version of positivist approaches
- Every statement had to be a direct expression of
observable things - All metaphysical (abstract thought or subjects) ideas
were removed as they couldn’t be subject to empirical
testing/ observation
Logical positivism
How did they achieve objectivity?
- Through human values not interfering with the accumulation of objective knowledge
Logical positivism
What is the ‘verification principle’?
WITTGENSTEIN
Knowledge can only be qualified through empirical observation
Logical positivism
What is an analytic statement and why are positivists not interested in this?
What is predicted of the subject is already included in the very definition of the subject
eg the bachelor has a wife = false automatically
There is no need for empirical evidence as it can be falsified through rational thought
Logical positivism
What is a synthetic statement?
NOT included in definition.
Truth or falsity can only be established by using empirical evidence.
EG there are 12 blonde haired women in this village. You are able to PROVE this.
What is the ‘method of induction’?
- Collecting observational data and building theories to
explain the observations made - This is then combined with the verificationist approach to
CONFIRM the general laws ALREADY ESTABLISHED - Encourages further research to search out similar types
of info (provides continuous proof again and again)
What are criticisms of this?
If you are looking to prove a theory, you only look for evidence to verify this so can miss out on other evidence
SEX WORK ON THE STREETS: PROSTITUTES AND THEIR CLIENTS
McKagney and Bernard 1996
Raised themes of sexual frustration, risk taking and dominating a sexual partner in married men
These are themes that can then be further explored
KARL POPPER 1959
criticises method of induction
- Regardless of how many examples, it is logically
impossible to prove whether a theory is true in
ABSOLUTE TERMS - He presents a very different view of human knowledge
- Scientists should constantly be trying to prove their theories WRONG through a method of FALSIFICATION
SWAN EXAMPLE
‘there are only white swans’
If using the verificationist approach, you would continue to count hundreds and hundreds of white swans to add to your theory BUT it only takes ONE black swan to prove it FALSE
In Popper’s view, what should scientists constantly be trying to do?
Prove their theories wrong
scientific ‘truth’ has yet to be proven wrong
What are the 3 ideals that Popper critiqued?
1) Marxism
2) Psychoanalysis
3) Astrology
Why did Popper critique these?
- Statement’s that can’t be submitted to falsification should be dismissed
- He argued they all had the same flaws
- They all convinced adherents of the ‘truth’ by providing explanations for everything that could possibly happen
What was the issue with this idea of ‘truth?’
THEIR TRUTH COULD NEVER BE PUT TO THE TEST
They were ideologies not sciences
What is his idea of ‘open society’?
We have to be intentionally CRITICAL to avoid being dogmatic
not continue to collect evidence on already existing theories
What book did Barker (1984) write that used the method of falsification?
THE MAKING OF A MOONIE: CHOICE OR BRAINWASHING?
- Research as response to media reports that people were being brainwashed into joining the new religious movement
- 7 years of research
- Proved her theory of people being BRAINWASHED WRONG as she found so many cases of people joining naturally.
- SHE FALSIFIED HER THEORY instead of verifying it.
Who was the Spirit Level written by and in what year?
Pickett and Wilkinson 2009
What were both authors?
Epidemiologists (health within societies)
What was the original problem they were looking at?
Why HEALTH gets worse at every stage down the social ladder
What did it develop into?
That the same approach can be used to explore a wide range of problems (eg violence, drugs, obesity, mental illness all more common in UNEQUAL SOCIETIES)
What does looking at large statistical surveys (empirical observations) when testing their theory allow them to do?
They can PREDICT that when we see vast inequalities, we can predict social problems
(AND predict country’s performance on one outcome based on another eg low health can predict larger prison populations)
Can this link to Durkheim?
And quote?
It can be compared to his idea of an OBJECTIVE ‘social fact’
‘Inequality seems to make a country dysfunctional across a wide range of outcomes’ = this is a social FACT based on empirical data
CONTEMPORARY POSITIVISM?
- Positivism does not dominate the paradigm in the way it once did, as the importance of interpretism has become apparent
- Tend to be less enthusiastic about traditional assumptions HOWEVER
The role of empiricism and statistical data is still a highly useful tool
What is an example of contemporary positivism?
PUBLIC GOOD OR PRIVATE WEALTH? Oxfam report January 2019
How is this report relevant to positivism?
It looks at sources such as
‘Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report’ and other empirical data to draw conclusions about global inequality
= eg the top 26 richest people have the same amount of wealth as the poorest 50% of the world
Conclusions about unpaid care work?
- including caring, housework and voluntary community work
- The annual value of all unpaid care work done by women is equivalent to 43 times the annual
sales of Apple in 2017
