sociology as a science Flashcards
Do positivists believes sociology is a science
Yes - use quantitative data like official statistics in studies
What does Comte say about sociology as a science
looked at social facts and said we change people’s behaviours through discovering the laws
the main task of sociology is to discover general laws of social development
What does Durkheim say about sociology as a science
agreed but failed to establish this
sociology should study through social facts as thing to observe and should do this through objective methods
What is the difference between closed systems and open systems
closed - variables can be controlled and measured like in Chemistry or Physics
open - cannot control all variables or measure them and prediction are uncertain like in meteorology or sesimiciology
Do interpretivists believes sociology is a science
No - it doesn’t need to be
What is Poppers main theory
sociology isn’t a science - rejects the idea of inductive reasoning and verification
verification is the fallacy of induction as all academic areas that wanted to be a science should subject themselves to falsification
What is the fallacy of induction
induction is the process of moving from the observation of particular instances of something to arrive at a general statement of law
uses swans as an example
what did popper believed about falsification
a scientific statement is one that in principle is capable of being classified but when tested can’t stand up to disprove it and makes a bold generalisation
When is Kuhns main belief
science is seen as one paradigm as there is shared beleifs while sociology is not yet a paradigm as there are no shared assumptions
What is Kuhn’s theory about scientific revolutions
scientists obtain findings contrary to the paradigm and as this build up the confidence in the paradigm declines
scientists begin to formulate trivial paradigms where one paradigm eventually wins out
related this to religious conversion
What do postmodernists say about sociology as a science?
natural sciences are a meta narrative and therefore makes false claims as it doesn’t take other views into account
this is a form of domination
What for feminist say about sociology as a science
support postmodernists
looking for one scientific feminist theory excluded all other groups of women
form of oppression
