Contesting Sociology as a Science

Interpretivism  Interpretivists argue that society cannot be studied in the same way as objects in natural science  Drawing from Weber’s concept of VERSTEHEN or empathetic understanding, Sociologists should place themselves in the position of others  In this way they can understand social behaviour from the viewpoint of the individual.

Subjectivity  One of the difficulties with this approach is that verstehen explanations are subjective.  Different researchers may interpret the same event in different ways.  Some sociologists would claim that the only way to study aspects of society is to immerse oneself into it  The objectivity of natural science then appears irrelevant to developing understanding

Thomas Khun – the structure of scientific revolutions  Khun’s work on the development of natural science has been related to the development of social science  Khun states that science does not change gradually but goes through scientific revolutions where a “paradigm shift” takes place.  A paradigm is a way of viewing the world through the theories and methodology of science in a particular period of time

Paradigm shifts  A scientific revolution occurs when a contradiction in the old paradigm becomes apparent  One way of thinking is swept away by another  E.g. the discovery by Copernicus that the Earth revolves around the Sun – not the other way round  “Normal” science then returns until the next scientific revolution  Some sociologists would use Khun’s idea, arguing that it justifies Sociology as a science  If normal science is dependent on paradigm shifts then sociology may be more like normal science.

The Social context of science  Khun’s work suggests that it may not be possible to achieve an objective truth  As paradigms shift, the truth shifts.  This position has been developed to argue that science is not necessarily the objective pursuit of knowledge  Science studied within a social context, may lead to harm

The Realist view  Scientific enquiry demands the investigation of observable phenomena  Realists would argue that explanations in natural science and social science must involve an understanding of underlying and unobservable processes  Science must go under the surface and beyond the obvious  Much of sociology aims to uncover underlying structures and mechanisms in society such as patriarchy or labelling in order to understand society and human behaviour

Summary  There are those who say that Sociology is like the natural sciences (POSITIVISTS)  There are those who say it could be a science (POPPER)  Those who say it cannot be a science (INTERPRETIVISTS)  And those who analyse the nature of science and compare it to Sociology (KHUN & REALISTS)  If science is the use of systematic methods of empirical research and the logical assessment of theories, then Sociology is scientific  However, Sociology cannot be neutral, because it influences the very behaviour it attempts to explain