sociology and values Flashcards
traditional positivists - comte and durkheim - can be objective
can model itself on logic of natural sciences
can follow methods of natural sciences using those that keep sociologists detached to produce social facts
quantitative methods allow little room for bias or subjectivity
Durkheim - official stats - hard statistics on suicide study
traditional positivists - comte and durkheim - should be objective
allow researchers to look at things are they really are - get truth without opinions
allow us to tackle social problems and leads to human progress
allows us to establish laws of cause and effect
traditional marxists - marx - should be objective
role of sociology is to reveal the truth - only scientific methods will achieve this
saw method of historical analysis - historical materialism as scientific
truth was the development of human society ending in communism
eval of positivists
functionalism and marxism
- many sociologists consider their work value-free accused of being value laden
functionalists - seen as having conservative bias in stressing the usefulness of institutions and ignoring effect of power inequalities
marx - committed to revolutionary politics - must been subjective
sociology can and should be only partly value free - max weber
weber separates values from facts - they are separate things
some parts of research cannot be value free
- selection of topic, interpretation of data
use of data - must take moral responsibility
the research itself can and should be value free
sociology can and should be only partly value free - personal beliefs and interests
sociologists - find certain areas interesting - reflect personal interest
Ken Plummer - published widely on sexual issues - own sexual orientation encouraged him to become interested in gay issues
feminists - interest to women
sociology can and should be only partly value free - funding and careers
sociologists - personal ambitions and career goals - funding from outisde bodies
publication delayed or blocked if fail to meet objectives
sociologists may choose fashionable topics or try to do research which can link into governments - may lead to self-censoring to protect career
Kuhn - paradigms - anyone who doesnt follow dominant be taken seriously
postmodernism values
the world consists of diversity of individuals including socioogists
- no way of judging whether view is truer than others
- any perspective that claims to have truth is just metanarrative - no absolute truths just a multiplicity o truths
value-free process is itself based on a set of values
HOWEVER - if this is true - then it is just another one of many truths and no truer than any others
sociology cannot be value free - what is committed sociology
sociologists believed that sociology should not be value free but should have some explicit values guiding its approach to study - should be committed
- advocated of this approach are feminists, marxists and sociologists who are committed to opposing the oppression of a range of disadvantaged minorities
cannot be value free - feminism
Ann Oakley
- only by taking an active part in the research process can sociologist gain truth of those they research
- sociologists should be reflexive as shown - open mind - her own research into motherhood where she interviewed first-time mothers before and after childbirth and developed empathy
reflexivity - openly reflecting upon the ways in which our own values, experiences and beliefs have shaped
- feminist methodology should be collaborative and democratic
cannot be value free -interactionism
Becker
sociologists should be committed to social change for human improvement and take responsibility for moral implications - should be commitment to value position
Becker - work on how some people become labelled - underdogs - hierarchy of credibility - those on top more credible - have resources to produce objective evidence - job of sociologist help underdogs find a voice
cannot be value free - neo-marxism
Alvin Gouldner
value-freedom is refusal to criticise society as it is
agrees with Weber - sociologists should take moral responsibility for work
Gouldner - becker does not go far enough - failed to focus on those with most power - society really needs to study the very powerful who create structures of oppression
- becker also seen as romantic and sentimental view of disadvantaged groups
- sociologists should take side of those fighting back
