Sociology and science Flashcards
What does compte say to support the view that sociology is a science ?
We can discover laws that control and shape the behaviour of society
Science isn’t here to tell us why something came into being
Science is there to explain how things relate to one another using laws
What did Compte say were the 2 laws of social development ?
Laws of co-existance
Laws of succession
What is inductive positivism ?
A type of reasoning that involves moving from a set of specific facts to a general conclusion using the principle of verification
What did Durkheim think about sociology ?
That sociology should study social facts as things to observe and measure, in this way sociology can be a science
What is Webers view ?
That sociology is not a science, but a means of studying society form the perspective of others to understand WHY things happen
What does Weber say about sociology and science ?
Sociology cannot be a science because science is objective and doesn’t allow opinion to influence research
Why do interpretivists say sociology cannot be a science ?
Because of individuals free will
Individuals are in no way manipulated by social facts
Because they see qualitative data as being far superior
What did Karl popper say about subjects wanting to be called science ?
They have to subject themselves to falsification and come up with testable hypotheses
Why did Popper call marxism a
pseudo-science ?
Because of concepts such as false class consciousness
What did Kuhn say ?
Sociology could be considered as a young science but cannot be called a full science until it finds a unifying theory
What is a Paradigm shift ?
When an old way of thinking is shoved away/ disproved by another way of thinking
What do interpretivists say about sociology as a science in general ?
That it explores unobservable phenomena
