ontology and epistemology Flashcards
what are 5 possible sources of knowledge?
- Common sense knowledge
- Authority based knowledge
- Experiential knowledge –
- Traditional knowledge –
- Non-rational knowledge
what does common knowledge describe?
routine knowledge of the everyday world that ‘everyone’ knows which may not be entirely true
what does authority-based knowledge describe?
comes from an established institution eg religion or science
what does experiential knowledge describe?
knowledge you obtain through personal experiences
what does traditional knowledge describe?
knowledge passed down from generation to generation eg about healing plants
what does non-rational knowledge describe?
the subjectiveness of knowledge
what are 3 key components of social research?
- Involves systematic and rigorous investigation
* Produces data of some kind Generates new knowledge and expands horizons of the known
what assumption can be questioned about research?
by ‘new knowledge’, are social scientists just conforming to the general idea of the forward march of ‘progress’?
what is the subject/object problem?
In social science, we are both the subject and object of our own knowledge as we aim to create explanations about society whilst we are part of society
what is an example of the subject/object problem?
the family
what did studies of families in the mid 20th century focus on?
the nuclear family
what has now happened to the traditional family form? (3)
- Traditional gender roles have been challenged
- Family forms are now more fluid
- Family breakdown and divorce are a significant part of contemporary family life
what were a lot of political articulations of the family based on?
functionalist ideology
what did Parsons say about the family?
Family is a stable environment in which to socialise children to become acceptable members of society, so good for the individual and society
what did John Major say about the family?
“it’s time to get back to basics: …for accepting responsibility for yourself and your family, and not shuffling it off on to the state” (address to the Conservative Party conference – 1993)
what did Laing want to argue about the family in his book the Divided Self?
the family reproduces power relationships and distorts personality development
who also criticised the functionalist depiction of the family?
feminists such as Millet’s Sexual Politics
how can Laing’s own experience with schizophrenia be seen as a good thing for his research?
provided a unique insight
how can Laing’s own experience with schizophrenia be seen as a bad thing for his research?
may have narrowed his analysis by ruling out alternative forms of schizophrenia
why does the ontological and epistemological position of the researcher matter?
profoundly changes their perspective and thus what is seen
what did Becker argue about scientific research?
impossible for the social sciences to be value neutral
“…the question is not whether we should take sides…but rather, whose side are we on”
what are the two epistemological positions?
positivism and interpretivism
what is positivism?
he application of scientific methods to study social reality, attempts to discover ‘scientific laws’ that can be tested and assessed
what is interpretivism?
stresses the differences between the natural and social sciences, investigates the ways in which people understand and interpret the world
