Sociology as a Science

Is Sociology A Science?

• This reviews evidence supporting and opposing sociology as a science.

Science Defined

• Science consists of principles for producing valid knowledge.
• Scientific aims involve establishing laws and theories based on objective facts derived from observing phenomena.
• Empiricism (knowledge from experience/observation) and objectivity (research without opinions/bias) are essential to science.
• Empirical knowledge comes from experiments testing relationships between variables.
• Accepted scientific knowledge comes from theories and laws tested repeatedly via replication.

The Scientific Method

• Common steps include:
  • Stating the problem
  • Gathering information
  • Forming a hypothesis
  • Testing the hypothesis
  • Recording and analyzing data
  • Stating the conclusion
  • Repeating the work

Evidence Supporting Sociology as a Science

• Positivism argues sociology is a science
• Auguste Comte coined the term sociology and laid the foundation for its study.
• During the Enlightenment Era, Comte argued that philosophizing is not enough and that seeking cause and effect relationships, hard facts, and measurable patterns is necessary
• This led to the development of a "Modernist"/"Positivist" view that spawned Structural Theories like Functionalism and Marxism.
• Positivism posits that society exists independently of individuals, and nature comprises observable, objective facts, like rocks and atoms
• Society constitutes an objective reality separate from individuals, composed of observable, measurable "things" similar to the natural environment.
• Emile Durkheim stated society comprises Social Facts.
• Social scientists discover measurable laws and patterns in society and behavior.
• Social Class exemplifies a Social Fact governing society like gravity governs nature via observation, measurement, and causal effects on society and individuals
• Positivists advocate for sociologists to use Induction (Accumulating Information) in order to apply Deductive Logic to their studies to explain the social world.
• Individuals and their social world are governed by external social facts/reality and thus are passive
• Identifying patterns between social facts leads to formulating theories predicting future behavior; this is 'General Law' of society
• This is open to verification or refutation.
• Positivists aim to apply the 'Experimental'/'Hypothetico-Deductive' Method to the study of society.
• The method involves:
  • Observing a phenomenon
  • Formulating a hypothesis
  • Setting up an experiment to test the hypothesis in control and experimental groups
  • Controlling and changing key variables one at a time
  • Observing and noting the effects of variable changes
  • Collecting, organizing, and quantifying data
  • Drawing objective, value-free conclusions
  • Accepting or rejecting the hypothesis
  • Formulizing a theory
  • Critiquing the theory by other researchers
• Qualitative, formal, structured methodologies are needed.
• Mayhew and Rowntree famously collected government statistics on income/drugs/education/ poverty/ crime etc.
• They looked for casual relatoinships between social facts to understand society.
• Using the Comparative Method, he sought causal relationships to determine factors (Social Facts) that lead to Suicide (Another Social Fact).
• Durkheim concluded that suicide, at scale and consistency across different countries, could not stem from individual motives, so it comes from external social facts acting on individuals.
• The individual remained passive and was forced to commit suicide.
• Suicide levels are caused levels of integration into & regulation by society; the Catholic religion integrates & regulates individuals better than Protestantism.

Challenges to Sociology as a Science and Positivist Responses

• The scientific community disagrees with positivist ideas.
• Science is Empirical; positivist sociologists claim all objects are physical and measurable
  • Critics claim sociology measures invisible phenomena like religion, faith or social class which can't be measured.
  • Durkheim argued external, independent 'Real Things' exist in the social world, observed and measured (e.g. Social Class, Language, Religion).
  • Marx argued a capitalist structure is very real, observed, and measured.
• Science is Theoretical; it seeks out causal relationships relying on predictable phenomena (e.g. the movement of the planets).
  • Critics note sociology's study of diverse societies/individuals yields unpredictability and thus no causal/predictive relationships.
  • Durkheim conceded Individuals cannot be predicted, but said that Groups are.
  • Durkheim's study showed levels of integration/regulation predict suicide, where more Protestants commit suicide vs. Catholics..
• Science is Objective, and doesn't leave room for personal bias, preferences. It must be Value-Free
  • Critics beleive anything social is Subjective & Value-Free as it is created by Value-Biased Individuals
  • Durkheim, by following Hypothetico-Deductive and Comparative Methods, made sociology Value-Free
• Science is Cumulative, so Knowledge builds on old knowledge - Linear Progression.
  • Cannot disagree with Positivism.
• Science is Testable, so Knowledge is open to Verification, and is an Open-System
  • Critics claim everything 'Social' is Value-Laden & Biased, and therefore Sociological Research is always Biased & full of Values, so knowledge is free to objective verification/refutation
  • All put-together theories are open to verification/refutation from other theories.
  • Differences between Durkheim's Functionalism & Marxism account for testing & re-testing, even if they stem from differing values.
• From a Positivist perspective, sociology passes all 'Scientific Criteria' and should be classed as a science.

Interpretivism and the Critique of Scientific Sociology

• Scientific methodology is unsuited to studying human beings
• The social world consists of individuals, so reality without people would be non-existent and connected, not seperate.
• Individual behavior, action, and motives can only be understood by studying interpreting individual behavior, while science deals with cause/effect laws, not human meanings.
• This approach uses Inductive Logic.

Symbolic Interactionism

• Society exists because of interactions between people, and sociologists must interpret these Interactions Symbolise (Hence Symbolic Interactionism)
• People behave via symbols they give Meaning to (e.g., objects, words, expressions).
• Meanings are 'negotiated' during interactions.
• Individuals imagine themselves in other people's positions.
• Individuals develop identities via interpreting how others see them, where behaviour and thought are not determined by fixed rigid social structure but come from complex interactions.
• People's action isn't externally forced, such as stopping at traffic lights.

Ethnomethodology

• This refers to the use of Interpretivist methods and procedures:
  • This approach assumes that society has no social structure (POST-MODERNITY) as a result.
  • Social Order is an illusion that individuals create - reality is social constructed
• Aims to discover how individuals make sense of social world and it's order, even without an external objective structure
• Max Weber used VERSTEHEN to study society with social action, and aimed to see the world through the eyes of the individual actor'.

Interpretivist Examples

• Woolgar (1988), in Little Green Men, notes that even scientists interpret the things they face.
• When Cambridge Scientists discovered Pulsating Neutron Stars' they called the signals 'Little Green Men 1 & 2' until this was replaced with something acceptable - the signals actually meant something unknown.
• Douglas (1967) advocated understand suicide in order to understand individual meaning rather than applying objective 'Positivist' theories like Durkheim's integration/ regulation' theory.
• Instead of using stats, Qualitative information from individual case studies of suicide is needed, in order to move away from structural approaches.
• Suicide statistics are not facts but social constrcutions decided by coroners.

Post-Modernism & Scientific Sociology

• Bauman & Baudrillard argued science acts as a 'meta-narrative' that lacks any extra validity over other systems of beliefs.
• Many 'truths' from 'points of view' makes it dangerous for Science to have too much power.
• Beck notes Science created nukes, pollution, and greed, so sociology shouldn't associate with it.

Feminism & Scientific Sociology

• Harding (1984) & Hart (1994) argued science lacks worth as it's "malestream"