Sociology and Science

Question 1

Comte (Sociology is a science)

Answer 1

Science is there to explain how things relate to each other, using laws. It is possible to discover the laws that control and shape the behaviour of people in society. Therefore, the main task of Sociology is to discover general laws of social development through:
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Laws of co-existence - looking at the relationship between parts of society
Laws of succession - laws that govern social change

Question 2

Durkheim (Sociology is a science)

Answer 2

Criticised Comte in arguing he had failed to study sociology as a science. Instead, he believed sociology is a science because we can study social facts as things to observe and measure (eg. suicide rate).

Question 3

Inductive Logic & Positivism (Sociology is a science)

Answer 3

Inductive logic is a feature of positivism that makes a general conclusion from a set of specific facts. It uses objects that have been examined and experiments that have been conducted to establish a conclusion about an object that has not been examined.

Question 4

Popper (Sociology is not a science)

Answer 4

For sociology to be a science it must undergo a process of falsification. In order to do this, the theory must use an inductive method, and then be challenged by a deductive method to prove it wrong. However, sociology cannot be a science because it cannot undergo falsification, due to how many sociological ideas are too abstract to be tested.

Question 5

Weber (Sociology is not a science)

Answer 5

Uses interpretivism to study sociology from a subjective perspective. This draws on the ideas of verstehen which means sociology requires a subjective understanding which relates to opinions. However, science is strongly objective and could not be considered a science, nor should it want to be a science.

Question 6

Kuhn (Sociology is & isn’t a science)

Answer 6

Scientific theory exists because it has undergone a series of paradigm shifts (an old way of thinking is replaced by a new one), whereby there is a unified theory and/or perspective that supports the scientific claim. In this instance, there are three stages:
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Pre-science - a period of discovery where there was no central paradigm.​
Normal science - scientists used an established paradigm to support their theory.​
Revolutionary science - paradigms are challenged.
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Kuhn argues sociology will never pass the period of pre-science because sociology does not have a dominant perspective.