Sociology and “Science”

Sociology: The Science of What? “Society” is an elusive concept. Examples from Four Theoretical Perspectives: Symbolic Interactionism Marxism Ethnomethodology Functionalism Thus according to the definition of Thomas Kuhn, Sociology is not a “normal science.” Normal science is “paradigmatic. Sociology is “pre-” or “multi-paradigmatic.”

Sociology: The Science of What? Similarly, Morris Cohen suggested that sociology can never share features of normal science, for three reasons: The complexity and variability of social phenomena; The differences between “laws” in natural/physical sciences and “laws” in sociology; The differences between natural and social causation.