Sociology and Science

Question 1

Briefly outline the Enlightnment thinkers’ view of science.

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Question 2

Why did early sociologists want to use the methods of science?

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Question 3

According to positivists, what are the benefits of using the logic and methods of the natural sciences in studying society?

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Question 4

What is the key feature of the positivist approach?

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Question 5

According to positivists, in what way is society like the physical world?

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Question 6

According to positivists, what is the job of science?

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Question 7

Briefly explain what is meant by induction.

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Question 8

Briefly explain the process of induction, development of a theory and formulation of a scientific law.

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Question 9

Briefly explain what is meant by verificationism.

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Question 10

Briefly explain how macro theories see society and its structures.

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Question 11

Briefly explain why positivists use quantitative data.

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Question 12

According to positivists, why should researchers be objective and detached?

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Question 13

Give an example of how a sociological researcher might ‘contaminate’ their research.

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Question 14

According to positivists, which methods are most likely to avoid ‘contamination’ of their research?

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Question 15

What was Durkheim’s aim in studying suicide?

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Question 16

What does Durkheim mean by ‘social facts’?

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Question 17

According to Durkheim, which social facts are involved i determining the suicide rate? Give an example to illustrate your answer.

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Question 18

According to interpretivists, why is sociology not a science?

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Question 19

Briefly explain the difference between the subject matter of sociology and that of the natural sciences.

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Question 20

According to Mead, how do people respond to stimuli? Use an example to illustrate this

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Question 21

Define verstehen.

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Question 22

Why do interpretivists favour the use of qualitative methods?

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Question 23

Briefly outline the following type of interpretivism:

- Interactionists

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Question 24

Briefly outline the following type of interpretivism:

- Phenomenologists and ethnomethologists

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Question 25

According to Douglas, what determines how individuals choose to act?

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Question 26

Why does Douglas reject the use of quantitative data in the study of suicide?

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Question 27

According to Atkinson, what is the only aspect of suicide that can be studied?

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Question 28

Briefly explain why postmodernists argue against the idea of scientific sociology.

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Question 29

Why do postmodernists suggest the scientific approach may be dangerous?

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Question 30

Briefly outline the poststructuralist feminist view of scientific sociology.

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Question 31

Briefly explain what is meant by 'risk society' and why this might be a reason to reject a scientific model for sociology.

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Question 32

How do both positivists and interpretivists tend to see the natural sciences?

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Question 33

Give three examples of systems of thought that claim to have true knowledge about the world, according to Popper.

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Question 34

Briefly outline what is meant by induction.

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Question 35

Using an example, briefly explain what Popper means by the 'fallacy of induction'.

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Question 36

According to Popper, what is it that makes a statement scientific?

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Question 37

According to Popper, what are the two features of a good theory?

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Question 38

Explain why, in Popper's view, there can never be absolute proof that any knowledge is true.

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Question 39

According to Popper, why does openness to criticism enable scientific knowledge to grow?

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Question 40

What does Popper mean by a closed society? Give an example of a closed society.

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Question 41

Why might a 'closed' society stifle the growth of science?

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Question 42

According to Popper, why is much sociology unscientific? Use an example to illustrate this point.

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Question 43

According to Popper, how could sociology be scientific? Give an example to illustrate this.

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Question 44

Briefly outline the two reasons why untestable ideas may still have value.

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Question 45

Briefly outline what Kuhn means by a paradigm.

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Question 46

Why do scientists come to accept the paradigm uncritically?

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Question 47

How is scientists' conformity to the paradigm rewarded?

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Question 48

What does Kuhn mean by normal science?

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Question 49

According to Kuhn, what is the advantage of having a paradigm?

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Question 50

Briefly explain what happens when scientists obtain findings that do not agree with the paradigm.

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Question 51

Briefly explain how a scientific revolution begins.

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Question 52

Briefly explain why it might be difficult for scientists to switch to a new paradigm.

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Question 53

In what way can the acceptance of a new paradigm be compared to a religious conversion?

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Question 54

How does Kuhn's view of the scientific community from that of Popper?

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Question 55

Briefly explain why sociology is pre-paradigmatic.

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Question 56

According to Kuhn, how could sociology become a science?

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Question 57

Briefly explain why postmodernists would reject the idea of a paradigm in sociology.

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Question 58

Briefly explain what Keat and Urry mean by a closed system.

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Question 59

Briefly explain what Keat and Urry mean by an open system. Give an example of an open system.

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Question 60

In what way do Keat and Urry disagree with the positivist view of science?

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Question 61

In what way do Keat and Urry disagree with the interpretivist view of science?

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Question 62

According to realists, what is the similarity between natural and social sciences?

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Question 63

Briefly outline how positivists view the nature of sociology and its subject matter.

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Question 64

Briefly outline how interpretivists view the nature of sociology and its subject matter.

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Question 65

Briefly explain how Popper sees science and whether sociology can be scientific.

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Question 66

Briefly explain how Kuhn sees science and whether sociology can be scientific.

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Question 67

Briefly explain how realists see science and whether sociology can be scientific.

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