Sociology & Science

Question 1

Why do positivists believe in applying the logical methods of natural sciences to society? (Sociology is a science)

Answer 1

Comte
It is natural and desirable to apply the logical methods of natural sciences to study society , doing so will bring us true, objective knowledge that is found in the natural sciences
This will provide the basis for solving social problems and achieving progress

Question 2

How do positivists compare nature to society?

Answer 2

1 — Nature is made up of objectives observable, physical facts such as rocks, cells and stars, which are external to our minds and exist whether we like it or not

2 — Similarly, society is an objective factual reality, it is a real thing made up of social facts and ‘out there’ of independently of individuals just like the physical mind

Question 3

According to positivists, how are real laws discoverable?

Answer 3

Durkheim
Reality is not random or factual but patterned and we can observe this through empirical patterns or regularities for example water boils at 100 degrees celsius, it is the job of science to observe , identify and measure these patterns systematically and explain them

‘Real laws are discoverable’ Just as physicists have discovered the laws that govern nature, sociologists discover laws that determine how society works, the method for doing so is known as induction

Induction involves accumulating data about the world through careful observation — as our knowledge grows we begin to see general patterns

Question 4

Who studied what to prove sociology is a science?

Answer 4

Durkheim
Chose to study suicide to show that sociology was a science with its own distinct subject matter
Using quantitative data from official stats, he observed that there were patterns in the sucide rates, for example the rates for Protestants was higher than for Catholics
He concluded that these patterns were not the product of motives from the individuals, but were social facts — forces acting upon members of society to determine their behaviour
Claimed to discover a ‘real law’ different levels of integration produce different rates of suicide, social fact can be explained scientifically

Question 5

Why do interprerivsists argue there are differences between natural science and sociology?

Answer 5

Sociology is about unobservable, internal meanings not external causes and is not a science because science only deals with cause and effect not human meanings

There is a fundamental difeence between science and sociology:

• natural science: studies matter, which has no consciousness so its behaviour can be explained as a straight forward reaction to external stimuli, eg if an apple falls to the ground its because of gravity
• sociology: studies people, who do have consciousness, people make sense of and construct different meanings of the world, their actions are understood in terms of their meanings, which are internal to people’s consciousness, not an external stimuli, they are ideas not real things

Question 6

How does verstehen show that sociology cannot be a science?

Answer 6

Weber
Interpretivists reject the logic and methods of the natural sciences, they are that to discover the meanings people give to their actioned we need to see the world from their viewpoint
This involves abandoning the detachment and objectivity favoured by positivists, instead we place ourselves in the place of the actor, known as verstehen or emphatic understanding to grasp their meanings

Versheten requires subjective understanding which draws on peoples opinions, science is objective and does not allow for interpretation so sociology cannot be a science