should sociology be a science Flashcards
positivism - what is a science
- an experimental procedure that produces knowledge that is certain
- science uses inductive reasoning
- based on objective observation of patterns
- to produce theories that are verified through replication
positivism - can sociology be a science
can be:
- subject matter of society similar to natural science - humans react to external forces - caused and predictable
- social world is patterned - possible to observe, identify, measure and record these patterns to discover laws
- quantitative methods - allow replicate methods of natural sciences - producing reliable objective data - show correlations and causality
positivism - should sociology be a science
should
- using the logic and methods of natural sciences brings us true, objective knowledge
- produces empirical evidence
- results can be used to generalise, establish laws of cause and effect and make predictions
- basis for solving social problems and achieving progress
advantages of positivist theory
- status
- funding
- representativeness - helps to solve global social issues
- trends do exist - objectivity/ reliability eg education
limitations of positivist theory
- differences between society and natural world - different people act in same way for different reasons - revealed through qualitative methods
- problems of predictions - humans are not passive robots - consciousness to make active decisions
interpretivism - can sociology be a science
cannot
- subject matter of society is not similar to natural science
- humans do not react in a causal way to external forces
- humans act in terms of feelings, meanings and emotions and interpret events during social interaction
- not possible to study humans objectively - all research is subjective and value laden
- much of what positivists claim are social facts are social constructions
interpretivism - should sociology be a science
should not
- not desirable to be scientific - quantitative methods obscure and hide the truth
- favour qualitative methods for meanings behind actions
- non-scientific approach generates data that is highly valid
feminism - can and should sociology be a science
cannot
- quantitative methods of science cannot capture the reality of women’s experience
should not
- science leads to malestream view and understanding of the world
- science searched for single absolute truths - a single scientific feminist theory would privilege the views of some groups of women over others
karl popper - what is a science
popper - all knowledge is provisional, temporary, capable of refutation at any moment - potentially falsified at any moment
hawking - no matter how many times the results of experiments agree with some theory - you can never be sure that the next time the result will not contradict the theory
karl popper - the scientific method
rejects positivist view
- use inductive reasoning - observe world then generalise based on observation
- use verification - proving something is true through repetition
popper - black swan theory
- no matter how many swans we observe we cannot prove all swans are white - a single swan destroys the theory
popper - science should use hypothetico-deductive method - drawing up questions for research based on previous research
popper’s hypothetico-deductive method
hypothesis formation - forming ideas
falsification - aim of testing hypotheses is to try to prove them wrong
prediction - through establishing cause and effect relationships - precise predictions can be established
theory formation - if hypothesis capable of being tested and cannot be shown to be false then confidence hypothesis is sound
scrutiny - a scientific theory will be scrutinised by other scientists until someone proves its false
popper - implications for sociology
sociology not currently scientific - consists of theories that are not falsifiable eg marxism
sociology can be scientific because it can produce falsifiable theories
karl popper eval
- positivists argue scientists use verification not falsification so sociology should do the same
- interpretivists argue popper is irrelevant - people have consciousness so cannot be studied scientifically
objectivity of science - bruno latour
bruno latour - science as a construction of versions of reality
- scientists spend a lot of time trying to get funding - have little incentive to disprove ideas
- funding bodies distort the agenda of scientific research
objectivity of science - Kuhn
paradigms and scientific revolutions
disagree with popper
- scientific communities develop commitment to shared paradigm - knowledge evolves within dominant paradigm
scientists resist new observations which do not support the paradigm
scientific knowledge evolves through series of revolutions making shifts between different paradigms
kuhn - implications for sociology
cannot be science
- sociology is pre-scientific - no shared paradigms but a variety eg functionalism, marxism
- not clear that it is possible for sociology to become a science
- may not be desirable for sociology to become scientific - conflict between perspectives is a critical element of sociology
Kuhn eval
- idea of paradigms too simplistic - only applies to past - modern science more sophisticated and open-thinking
- in sociology - a single paradigm rarely been dominant - functionalism popular paradigm 1950s and 1960s - marxism and weberism open to sociologists too
postmodernism - can and should sociology by a science
cannot
- unable to capture the multiple truths that explain the world
should not
- science - metanarrative - all knowledge is story-telling - no way to distinguish between true and untrue stories
- use postmodern ethnography - allow us to collect different stories
modernity, postmodernity and science
Ian Angell - just because science works, doesnt mean its ture
science can explain how but not why things happen
in terms of finding the truth - science no better than religion
postmodernists - we should see other knowledge systems as equally legitimate as science - science is just one way of understanding the world
realism - what is a science
closed systems
- all variables can be measured
open systems
- all variables cannot be measured and precise predictions cannot be made
realism and science
science are able to create closed systems fairly easily - due to limited number of variables which can all be controlled
open systems eg meteorology - science but unlikely to make accurate and precise predictions
society is an example of an open system
- too many variables however still underlying structures to allow for probability predictions
Andrew Sayer - social sciences are no different from physical sciences
realism - implications for sociology
can and should be a science
sociology is scientific but societies are complex open systems - making precise predictions impossible
can still be seen as scientific if studies unobservable meanings and motives
