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Making the familiar strange > NATURALISM AND STATISTICS > Flashcards

NATURALISM AND STATISTICS Flashcards

1
Q

What epistemology does naturalism adopt?

A

Positivism

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2
Q

What quote can we use to describe this?

A

‘Application of natural science methods to the study of social reality’ BRYMAN

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3
Q

What is positivism/objectivism?

A
  • 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
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4
Q

Understand social world in the same way as?

A

Biological world

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5
Q

Who are the 3 original main thinkers?

A

1) AUGUST COMTE (1798-1857)
2) HERBERT SPENCER (1820-1903)
3) EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917)

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6
Q

AUGUST COMTE (1798-1857) main ideas?

A
  • Formulated the doctrine of positivism (positive
    philosophy)
  • Focused on the ‘empirical goals of sociological methods’
    leading to progression in society
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7
Q

HERBERT SPENCER (1820-1903) main ideas?

A
  • 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
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8
Q

EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917) main ideas?

A
  • Social science was a logical continuation of natural
    science and there were ‘rules of sociological methods’
    leading to social ‘facts’
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9
Q

DURKHEIM on SUICIDE

A
  • 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
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10
Q

What assumptions did they all share?

A
  • A commitment to naturalism (science can translate to
    sociology)
  • Only knowledge gained through OBSERVED
    EXPERIENCE (link to David Hume) can be taken seriously.
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11
Q

What is empirical data?

A
  • 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)
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12
Q

STRENGTHS OF POSITIVISM

quantitative approach

A

(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

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13
Q

STRENGTHS

structure

A
  • Set laws and rules to follow there will be minimum room
    for error
  • Gives little room for variance and drastic variable
    changes
  • Is REPRODUCABLE
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14
Q

WEAKNESSES

human behaviour

A
  • 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?
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15
Q

WEBER interpretivist critique?

A

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

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16
Q

WEAKNESS

Inflexible

A
  • 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
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17
Q

What is LOGICAL positivism?

A
  • 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
18
Q

Logical positivism

How did they achieve objectivity?

A
  • Through human values not interfering with the accumulation of objective knowledge
19
Q

Logical positivism

What is the ‘verification principle’?

A

WITTGENSTEIN

Knowledge can only be qualified through empirical observation

20
Q

Logical positivism

What is an analytic statement and why are positivists not interested in this?

A

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

21
Q

Logical positivism

What is a synthetic statement?

A

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.

22
Q

What is the ‘method of induction’?

A
  • 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)
23
Q

What are criticisms of this?

A

If you are looking to prove a theory, you only look for evidence to verify this so can miss out on other evidence

24
Q

SEX WORK ON THE STREETS: PROSTITUTES AND THEIR CLIENTS

A

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

25
Q

KARL POPPER 1959

criticises method of induction

A
  • 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
26
Q

SWAN EXAMPLE

A

‘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

27
Q

In Popper’s view, what should scientists constantly be trying to do?

A

Prove their theories wrong

scientific ‘truth’ has yet to be proven wrong

28
Q

What are the 3 ideals that Popper critiqued?

A

1) Marxism
2) Psychoanalysis
3) Astrology

29
Q

Why did Popper critique these?

A
  • 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
30
Q

What was the issue with this idea of ‘truth?’

A

THEIR TRUTH COULD NEVER BE PUT TO THE TEST

They were ideologies not sciences

31
Q

What is his idea of ‘open society’?

A

We have to be intentionally CRITICAL to avoid being dogmatic

not continue to collect evidence on already existing theories

32
Q

What book did Barker (1984) write that used the method of falsification?

A

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.
33
Q

Who was the Spirit Level written by and in what year?

A

Pickett and Wilkinson 2009

34
Q

What were both authors?

A

Epidemiologists (health within societies)

35
Q

What was the original problem they were looking at?

A

Why HEALTH gets worse at every stage down the social ladder

36
Q

What did it develop into?

A

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)

37
Q

What does looking at large statistical surveys (empirical observations) when testing their theory allow them to do?

A

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)

38
Q

Can this link to Durkheim?

And quote?

A

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

39
Q

CONTEMPORARY POSITIVISM?

A
  • 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
40
Q

What is an example of contemporary positivism?

A

PUBLIC GOOD OR PRIVATE WEALTH? Oxfam report January 2019

41
Q

How is this report relevant to positivism?

A

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

42
Q

Conclusions about unpaid care work?

A
  • 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

Making the familiar strange (4 decks)

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