sociology and science

Question 1

who believes sociology is a science

Answer 1

comte

Question 2

what does comte believe

Answer 2

science is there to explain how things relate to each other using laws - the laws that control and shape the behaviour of people in society so the main task of sociology is to discover general laws of societal development through laws of coexistence and succession

Question 3

what is the law of coexistence

Answer 3

looking at the relationship between parts of society

Question 4

what is the law of succession

Answer 4

laws that govern social change

Question 5

what did durkheim criticise comte for

Answer 5

argued he had failed to study sociology as a science, instead believed sociology is a science because we can study social facts as things to observe and measure (eg suicide rate)

Question 6

what is inductive logic and positivism

Answer 6

inductive logic is a feature of positivism making general conclusion from a set of facts - uses objects that have been examined to establish a conclusion about one that hasn’t been examined

Question 7

who believes that sociology is not a science

Answer 7

popper

Question 8

what does popper believe

Answer 8

be challenged by a deductive method to prove it wrong - cannot be a science as it can’t go through falsification due to how many sociological ideas are too abstract to be tested

Question 9

what does weber believe

Answer 9

uses interpretivism to study sociology from a subjective view - draws on the ideas of verstehen meaning sociology needs understanding relating to opinions - science is objective and could not be considered a science or should it want to be one

Question 10

who believes sociology is and isn’t a science

Answer 10

kuhn

Question 11

what does kuhn believe

Answer 11

scientific theory exists because it has undergone a series of paradigm shifts so there’s a unified theory and/or perspective that supports the scientific claim

Question 12

what is a paradigm shift

Answer 12

old way of thinking is replaced by a new one

Question 13

what are the 3 stages of kuhns theory

Answer 13

1. pre science - a period of discovery where there was no central paradigm
2. normal science - scientists used an established paradigm to support their theory
3. revolutionary science - paradigms are challenged kuhn argues sociology doesn’t have a dominant perspective