Positivism: is sociology value free/should it be Yes!!!

Why

Positivists believe that sociology can be value free because they are uncovering the objective laws of how social systems work- these laws exist independently of the researchers observing them All the research is doing is uncovering social facts that exist out there in the world – facts that would exist irrespective of the person doing it Positivists argued that such value free social research was crucial as the objective knowledge that scientific sociology revealed could be used to uncover the principles of good, ordered, integrated society (functionalism), 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 Durkheim: suicide

Sees sociology as a science External forces cause action so isolate the variables, research shouldn’t be involved- detachment Measure society like a science make predictions with facts Methods similar to science

Weber: the ideal type He maintains that although values ever into the choice of the topic once the sociologist has chosen their topic they can adopt a neutral framework to carry out their research He calls this the ideal type – a methodological model which can be applied to a subject in order to carry out value free research

Link to functionalism Sees society as harmonious and espouses conservative values that favour the status quo

Modern positivists

The desire to appear scientific Science is concerned with facts and not values, so sociological study should remain neutral, just to establish truths about human behaviour not opinionise it This could just be seen as a way to raise the credibility of sociology not to get the best research (a03)

Social position of sociology: gouldner Argues that in early 20th century sociologists were seen as trouble makers who challenged authority By the 50s sociologists were essentially hired hands who worked for the government to solve their problems Gouldner argues this hired hands role made them remove their own values Weber argued they also left their morals behind and didn’t take responsibility for their research (a03)