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Debates Sociology > Sociology and Value Freedom > Flashcards

Sociology and Value Freedom Flashcards

SHOULD BE VALUE FREE VS VALUE DRIVEN

1
Q

What are the 4 explanations as to why Sociology should be VALUE FREE?

A
  1. Early Positivists
  2. Modern Positivists
  3. Positivist (Durkheim)
  4. Methods (Experiments)
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2
Q

What are the 4 explanations as to why Sociology should be VALUE DRIVEN?

A
  1. Committed Sociologists
  2. Criticisms of Funding Bodies
  3. Interpretivists
  4. Limitations of Experiments
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3
Q

What is meant by ‘value free’

A

Sociology should be based on objective, true facts - more scientific without opinion.

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4
Q

What is meant by ‘value driven’

A

Sociology should include personal values, subjective, and should take a stand to support a group/issue

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5
Q

How else might a question say ‘value driven’

A

Value laden

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6
Q

What did Early Positivists believe in?

A

Early Positivists, such as Comte, believed in the Enlightenment Project - believing science could discover factual knowledge to improve society.

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7
Q

Early Positivists: What was the Enlightenment Project?

A

A modernist notion of progress applying rational knowledge and thinking to social problems.

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8
Q

What is Sociology considered? What is its role, according to Early Positivists?

A

Sociology is the ‘science of society’ - discovering the truth about how society works and fixing social problems - a crucial role.

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9
Q

Early Positivists: Who saw themselves a scientist? Why?

A

Marx saw himself a scientist, believed his methods of historical analysis revealed the line of development for society, involving an evolution, leading to a future classless, communist society.

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10
Q

By discovering the truth about how society works, sociologists can do what, according to Early Positivists?

A

Able to say objectively and with scientific certainty what is best for society, without values interfering.

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11
Q

What explanation of why sociology should be value laden matches Early Positivists?

A

Committed Sociologists

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12
Q

Committed Sociologists: What does Gouldner suggest about Sociologists and their discipline?

A

Marxist, Gouldner, argues sociologists should be committed to their discipline by openly taking sides and advocating the values/interests of a particular group - the ‘underdogs’ of society (EMs, WC, women)

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13
Q

Committed Sociologists: Who would take a similar stance to Gouldner?

A

Feminists: Sociologists should be on the side of females so they have a voice in a patriarchal society. Empathising with thee ppts = verstehen.

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14
Q

Committed Sociologists: In order to advocate for the ‘underdogs’ of society, sociologists..

A

In order to advocate for the ‘underdogs’, Sociology should be value driven, not value free, in order to improve things for the disadvantaged groups in society.

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15
Q

Committed Sociologists: What is the significant different between social and natural sciences?

A

The natural sciences are value free and opinions of scientists are not expected to impose values into scientific research - highlights a significant difference between social and natural sciences.

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16
Q

Modern Positivists: What did Positivists in the 20th century believe? Why did they think this?

A

Positivists in 20th century believed their values were irrelevant to research. Desire to be scientific was the main reason for this, and as the natural sciences did not include moral/opinions, neither should sociology.

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17
Q

Modern Positivists believe sociology should remain….in order to establish the…

A

Sociology should remain morally neutral, establishing the truth about people’s behaviour, not judging it.

18
Q

Modern Positivists: In the mid 1950s, several sociologists were seen as….and what were they hired to do?

A

‘problem takers’ - hired by businesses/military to solve problems. Left their values out of research as their ‘pay masters’ were not interested in those, and was not paying hem to implement their views.

19
Q

Therefore, according to Modern Positivists, why should Sociology be value free?

A

Sociology should be value free to give the subject a purpose- providing useful, factual information to help society grow.

20
Q

What explanation of why sociology should be driven by values matches Modern Positivists?

A

Criticisms of Funding Bodies.

21
Q

Criticisms of Funding Bodies: Who might be classed as a funding source?

A

Government departments, businesses and voluntary organisations

22
Q

Criticisms of Funding Bodies: Who controls the direction the research takes?

A

The funding body often controls the direction the research takes - so sociologists work likely embodies the values of their paymasters (value driven)

23
Q

Criticisms of Funding Bodies: What might funding bodies do if research findings are deemed unacceptable?

A

Block publication

24
Q

Criticisms of Funding Bodies: All research is inevitably..

A

All research is inevitably influenced by values, whether values of sociologists or funding bodies.

25
Q

Therefore, according to criticisms of funding bodies, research is always going to be, what?

A

Research is always going to be value driven - impossible to keep all values out of research.

26
Q

Another reason why Sociology should be value free is due to Durkheim (Positivist). What did Durkheim study?

A

Durkheim used official statistics (fact-based) to study suicide to establish reasons for suicide and compare/contrast suicide rates across Europe.

27
Q

Through using official statistics, what was Durkheim able to leave out of his research…

A

Opinions and thoughts - remaining objective.

28
Q

What was key for Durkheim in research? How does this prove sociology should be value free?

A

Objectivity is key for Durkheim, should be value free, as researchers should not taint the research process or data by imposing their values, resulting in data low in validity and biased. The

29
Q

Who might criticise Positivist, Durkheim, and argue that Sociology should be value driven?

A

Interpretivists.

30
Q

Why would Interpretivists argue that sociology should be value driven?

A

Allows them to gain in-depth, rich, qualitative data that has verstehen and a deeper understanding.

31
Q

Who specifically criticised Durkheim’s methods of using official statistics to research suicide?

A

Douglas

32
Q

Interpretivists, like Douglas, argue that, by using official statistics…

A

No verstehen is gained, and research does not understand meaning behind suicide.

33
Q

Why did Douglas consider suicide statistics as socially constructed?

A

Suicide statistics are socially constructed - coroners decide whether a death classifies as a suicide. Subjective decision, and differs between different coroners. Reduces validity of statistics.

34
Q

Therefore, Interpretivists believe Sociology should be value driven in order to..

A

Gain verstehen by using our values

35
Q

What kind of methods might suggest sociology should be value free?

A

Experiments.

36
Q

What methods are often used by Positivists?

A

Experiments are an example of methods often used by Positivists. Can be laboratory or in a natural field environment.

37
Q

Methods (Experiments): Positivists believe Sociology should be…

A

Sociologists should be objective in conducting research methods - should aim to adopt the same principles as natural sciences.

38
Q

Who used a lab experiment to investigate obedience?

A

Milgram used a lab experiment to study effects of having an authority figure on obedience. His data was value free as no researcher bias or researcher involvement within the study - remains detached and objective.

39
Q

Therefore, due to Methods (Experiments), sociology should be…

A

Value-free so that scientific methods can be used and increase objectivity.

40
Q

However, Methods (Experiments) is contradicted by..

A

the limitations of experiments.

41
Q

What are some weaknesses as to why lab experiments should not be used as a method in sociology?

A
  • Impossible to control all the possible EVs in an experiment.
  • Not a natural environment, so Hawthorne effect may occur, where natural behav changes as aware being studied.
  • Difficult study wider societal issues (eg. poverty) in artificial setting of a lab.
  • Verstehen cannot be gained - no insight into meaning behind HB.

Debates Sociology (3 decks)

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