Theories
Sociology and science
The founding fathers of sociology were impressed with the success of science in explaining the natural
world and providing the knowledge with which humans could extend their control over nature.
Positivists:
Argue that it’s possible and desirable to apply the logic and methods of the natural sciences to the study
of society. Doing so brings us true, objective knowledge of the same type as that found in natural
sciences. This provides the basis for solving social problems and achieving progress.
They believe reality exists outside and independently of the human mind. Nature is made up of objective,
observable physical facts such as rocks, and stars to our mind and exists whether we like it or not.
Similarly, society is an objective factual reality, it’s a real ‘thing’ made up of social facts that exist out
there independent of individuals just like the physical world.
Verificationists: the patterns we observe can be explained and are verifiable by finding the facts that
caused them. For example, we can explain the social fact of educational failure by another social fact
such as material deprivation. Therefore seeking to discover the causes of the patterns they observe and
could be used to predict future events and to guide social policies.
Positivists favour Macro or structural explanations of social phenomena such as Functionalism and
Marxism. This is because macro theories see society and its structures as social facts that exist outside
of us and shape our behaviour patterns.
Objective quantitative research: Positivists use quantitative data to uncover and measure patterns of
behaviour. Researchers should be detached and objective, they should not let their subjective feelings,
values or prejudices influence how they conduct their research or analyse their findings. In science, it’s
claimed that the scientist's values and options make no difference to the outcome of their research.
HOWEVER, we are dealing with people and there is a danger that researchers may ‘contaminate’ the
research for example influencing participants in the way they conduct interviews that could reflect the
researcher's opinions. That’s why they favour official statistics, questionnaires and structured interviews.
Durkheim chose to study suicide to show that sociology was a science. He believed that if he could
prove that even such a highly individual act had social causes this would establish sociology status as a
genuine scientific discipline.
Using quantitative data from official statistics, Durkheim observed that there were patterns in the suicide
rate. For example, Protestants were higher than for Catholics. This could not be the product of the
motives of individuals but were social facts. He found Catholics were less likely to commit suits because
Catholicism was more successful in integrating individuals. The different levels of integration and
regulation produce different rates of suicide. Which shows scientific methods.
AO3 EVALUATIONS: Positivists and Interpretivists disagree on this.
- Positivism: an approach to research which believes that it is possible to understand society using
scientific research methods
- Interpretivism: an approach to doing research that takes the view that humans have free will and
consciousness and therefore cannot be studied using the same methods as used in natural
science.
- Social fact: knowledge based on positivist research which can be used to resolve social problems
in society. Positivists believe it is both possible and desirable to establish social facts.
, Interpretivism:
These sociologists don’t believe that sociology should model itself on the natural sciences as a positivist
scientific approach is inadequate or even as completely unsuited to the study of human beings and
society.
Subjective matter of sociology: the subject matter of sociology is meaningful social action, we can only
understand it by successfully interpreting the meanings and motives of the actors involved. Interpretivists
say sociology is about unobservable internal meanings not external causes therefore sociology is NOT
a science because it deals with the laws of cause and effect not human meanings.
Sociology studies people who have consciousness and make sense of and construct their world by
attaching meanings to it. Their actions can only be understood by meanings as it's internal to people's
consciousness, not external stimuli, not things. People have free will and can exercise choice by
choosing how to respond. Individuals are not puppets on a string, manipulated by supposed external
‘social facts’. Therefore sociologists' jobs are to uncover these meanings.
For these reasons, interpretivists favour the use of qualitative methods and data such as participant
observation, unstructured interviews and personal documents. These methods produce richer, more
personal data high in validity and give the sociologist a subjective understanding of the actor's meanings.
Supported Author: Weber
In the Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905), Weber showed how change at the level of
meaning (in other words, small-scale changes in the way people feel and act) can create wider social
changes.
Weber studied Calvinism and explored how this particular branch of Protestantism led to the
development of a particular set of attitudes and values. In particular, there were three ideas which
became significant in shaping behaviour: asceticism (in other words, a frugal lifestyle); work as a
calling; and predestination.
People began to see saving and working hard as ‘godly’. Each of these ideas created the context in
which capitalism could flourish. So, Weber asserted that changing meanings can lead to huge changes
in wider society. The idea of studying small-scale meanings to understand wider society is at the very
core of interpretivism.
AO3 Evaluation:
- ignores structural constraints on people's behaviour eg the impact of social class
- Interpretivist research tends to be small-scale and hard to generalise
- The theory doesn’t offer any solutions to societal problems, it simply offers observations.
Can sociology be value-free?
Value is people’s own subjective beliefs and opinions. If social research is value-free it means it’s free of
personal biases of researchers.
Positivists: can be value-free using scientific methods to create detachment from
researchers completely.
Positivists argued that such value-free social research was crucial because the objective knowledge that
scientific sociology revealed could be used to uncover the principles of good, ordered, integrated society,
principles which governments could then apply to improve society. Thus, research should aim to be
scientific or value-free because otherwise, it is unlikely to be taken seriously or have an impact on social
policy.
Sociology and science
The founding fathers of sociology were impressed with the success of science in explaining the natural
world and providing the knowledge with which humans could extend their control over nature.
Positivists:
Argue that it’s possible and desirable to apply the logic and methods of the natural sciences to the study
of society. Doing so brings us true, objective knowledge of the same type as that found in natural
sciences. This provides the basis for solving social problems and achieving progress.
They believe reality exists outside and independently of the human mind. Nature is made up of objective,
observable physical facts such as rocks, and stars to our mind and exists whether we like it or not.
Similarly, society is an objective factual reality, it’s a real ‘thing’ made up of social facts that exist out
there independent of individuals just like the physical world.
Verificationists: the patterns we observe can be explained and are verifiable by finding the facts that
caused them. For example, we can explain the social fact of educational failure by another social fact
such as material deprivation. Therefore seeking to discover the causes of the patterns they observe and
could be used to predict future events and to guide social policies.
Positivists favour Macro or structural explanations of social phenomena such as Functionalism and
Marxism. This is because macro theories see society and its structures as social facts that exist outside
of us and shape our behaviour patterns.
Objective quantitative research: Positivists use quantitative data to uncover and measure patterns of
behaviour. Researchers should be detached and objective, they should not let their subjective feelings,
values or prejudices influence how they conduct their research or analyse their findings. In science, it’s
claimed that the scientist's values and options make no difference to the outcome of their research.
HOWEVER, we are dealing with people and there is a danger that researchers may ‘contaminate’ the
research for example influencing participants in the way they conduct interviews that could reflect the
researcher's opinions. That’s why they favour official statistics, questionnaires and structured interviews.
Durkheim chose to study suicide to show that sociology was a science. He believed that if he could
prove that even such a highly individual act had social causes this would establish sociology status as a
genuine scientific discipline.
Using quantitative data from official statistics, Durkheim observed that there were patterns in the suicide
rate. For example, Protestants were higher than for Catholics. This could not be the product of the
motives of individuals but were social facts. He found Catholics were less likely to commit suits because
Catholicism was more successful in integrating individuals. The different levels of integration and
regulation produce different rates of suicide. Which shows scientific methods.
AO3 EVALUATIONS: Positivists and Interpretivists disagree on this.
- Positivism: an approach to research which believes that it is possible to understand society using
scientific research methods
- Interpretivism: an approach to doing research that takes the view that humans have free will and
consciousness and therefore cannot be studied using the same methods as used in natural
science.
- Social fact: knowledge based on positivist research which can be used to resolve social problems
in society. Positivists believe it is both possible and desirable to establish social facts.
, Interpretivism:
These sociologists don’t believe that sociology should model itself on the natural sciences as a positivist
scientific approach is inadequate or even as completely unsuited to the study of human beings and
society.
Subjective matter of sociology: the subject matter of sociology is meaningful social action, we can only
understand it by successfully interpreting the meanings and motives of the actors involved. Interpretivists
say sociology is about unobservable internal meanings not external causes therefore sociology is NOT
a science because it deals with the laws of cause and effect not human meanings.
Sociology studies people who have consciousness and make sense of and construct their world by
attaching meanings to it. Their actions can only be understood by meanings as it's internal to people's
consciousness, not external stimuli, not things. People have free will and can exercise choice by
choosing how to respond. Individuals are not puppets on a string, manipulated by supposed external
‘social facts’. Therefore sociologists' jobs are to uncover these meanings.
For these reasons, interpretivists favour the use of qualitative methods and data such as participant
observation, unstructured interviews and personal documents. These methods produce richer, more
personal data high in validity and give the sociologist a subjective understanding of the actor's meanings.
Supported Author: Weber
In the Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905), Weber showed how change at the level of
meaning (in other words, small-scale changes in the way people feel and act) can create wider social
changes.
Weber studied Calvinism and explored how this particular branch of Protestantism led to the
development of a particular set of attitudes and values. In particular, there were three ideas which
became significant in shaping behaviour: asceticism (in other words, a frugal lifestyle); work as a
calling; and predestination.
People began to see saving and working hard as ‘godly’. Each of these ideas created the context in
which capitalism could flourish. So, Weber asserted that changing meanings can lead to huge changes
in wider society. The idea of studying small-scale meanings to understand wider society is at the very
core of interpretivism.
AO3 Evaluation:
- ignores structural constraints on people's behaviour eg the impact of social class
- Interpretivist research tends to be small-scale and hard to generalise
- The theory doesn’t offer any solutions to societal problems, it simply offers observations.
Can sociology be value-free?
Value is people’s own subjective beliefs and opinions. If social research is value-free it means it’s free of
personal biases of researchers.
Positivists: can be value-free using scientific methods to create detachment from
researchers completely.
Positivists argued that such value-free social research was crucial because the objective knowledge that
scientific sociology revealed could be used to uncover the principles of good, ordered, integrated society,
principles which governments could then apply to improve society. Thus, research should aim to be
scientific or value-free because otherwise, it is unlikely to be taken seriously or have an impact on social
policy.
