1. Define the terms science and social science.
List the differences between sciences and social sciences as academic disciplines.
Define the terms science and social science.
In what ways can the line between the two be described as blurred? Provide examples to demonstrate your point.

2. Sociology and science Learning outcomes
Described how Sociology as a discipline has changed over time.
Can define science and the factors which distinguish it.
List between 3-5 specific examples in favour of and against the argument that ‘Sociology is a science’.

3. Where does knowledge come from and why is it important?
Postmodernity and science
The feminist critique of science
Sociological criticisms of sociology as a science
What is science and the early use of positivism in sociology?
Is science even a science (objective)?

4. Intro- where does knowledge come from and why is it important?
Wallace 1971 said that there are four sources of knowledge (authoritarian sources, mystical sources, logico-rational sources and scientific knowledge).
Wallace argues that scientific knowledge is superior, particularly in its methodology. Any subject e,g. Sociology which claims to be a science, has to use rigorous methods.
Funding - subjects which are 'science' based are more likely to get funding, because they are more likely to produce reliable data for the org's that fund them.
Early sociology (modernist) was scientific and therefore gained prestige + funding. Sociologists up to and including the 60s promoted sociology as a science e,g. Weber, Durkheim.

5. What is science?+ The early use of positivism in sociology
The modernist approach to sociology identifies 5 components that distinguish science from other forms of knowledge.
It is - Empirical, Testable, Theoretical, Cumulative and Objective.
Early positivists e.g. Comte focused on statistics and est. cause and effect relationships. They attempted to uncover laws e.g. Social facts. Very good example =Durkheim and Suicide + Karl Marx's stage theory.
In the nineteenth century in Britain the above was developed through the study of working class life by sociologists such as Rowntree - work was empirical as it gathered info on social phenomena, but didn't aim to be theoretical . This has remained the most common form of sociological research funded by the government-empirical studies.
Post it question -
How have more recent theories and research in Sociology challenged the scientific basis of earlier works? (give examples to demonstrate your point)

6. Sociological criticisms of sociology as a science
Criticisms have mainly come since the 1960s, with the growth of interactionism +late and post-modernism. These all argue that sociology can't be a science.
One argument is that society is not comparable to the physical world in its very nature. They argue that the social world doesn't exist independently of what we think and feel. According to Shultz and others, society only has an existence through the realities and beliefs of people. Shultz sees sociology as being around to explore the meanings that people construct.
Billing argues that traditional scientific sociology engaged heavily with secondary research and reading, where as more current scientific sociology just focuses on scientific methodology and not freedom of thought as happened before.
Bay argues that modernist theories sought to explain the existence of order in spite of the fact that society is made up millions of individuals -therefore focused on structures and social groups e.g. Ethnicity to explain this. However as late/post modernity has arisen and people have become far more self aware and engaged with creating identities = structures have weakened. Now social science has been replaced by Sociological Thinking.

7. Is science even a science?!
Kuhn (1962/1970) -science exists within a paradigm (accepted framework of concepts regarding a particular area of knowledge) and this dominates scientific thinking and investigation. This means that over time as things don't fit, a new paradigm is born. Therefore science doesn't in the long run follow the 'cumulative progress' component mentioned earlier.
Sayer - argues that not all 'sciences' are sciences as only those that exist in closed systems (where all the variables can be controlled) e.g. Chemistry are sciences. Where as those that are in open systems e.g. Seismology can't follow a truly scientific approach. Sayer is a realist -believes that social science should aim to uncover the relationship between the wider structures that determine the way we relate to other people in everyday life.

8. The feminist critique of science
1.Harding (1986) argues that mainstream knowledge is based on male perceptions and understandings 'malestream'.
2. Until recently the majority of sociological studies were based on men.
3. Ramazanoglu (1992) argued that sociology shouldn't be neutral -should be driven by a desire to change the world, so feminist sociology should attempt to bring about the equality of females, not just explain the inequality (as a scientific approach would). NOT VALUE NEUTRAL!!!

9. Postmodernity AND science
Postmodernists challenge the traditional view that science can explain everything, referring to the fact that there are lots of natural phenomena which we are still unable to explain e.g. The origin of the universe.
Science like other disciplines struggles to divorce values from how it works. Those who fund science direct it e.g. Cigarettes are the result of science yet are one of the biggest killers of adults and pharmaceutical companies have produced drugs that are directly harmful to humans e.g. Heroin and thalidomide. Science has in fact created new and serious risks for society.

10. Yes Sociology is a science
No, Sociology isn’t and shouldn’t aim to be like the natural sciences
Positivists
Interpretivists
Durkheim (empiricism and induction)
Symbolic Interactionism (believe that we have to look at acts done by people as being motive / meaning driven e.g. crime)
Karl Popper (falsification and deduction)
Postmodernists (e.g. Bay criticises early Modernist Sociology – societies structures have now weakened, there are still lots of natural phenomena that are unexplained)
Wallace (4 sources of knowledge with scientific being the most important)
Prediction is impossible in the social world (most science involves inanimate objects which are predictable, people don’t behave in the same ways as each other)
Early Modernist Sociology focussed on cause and effect (Marxist stage theory and Durkheim – study on suicide)
Is science even a science? (As in is it as objective as it claims to be? Scientific studies still involve social processes- The Symmetrical Approach) (+ Scientific revolutions and paradigm shifts e.g. global warming – this is discussed by Kuhn)

11. Durkheim v Poppper Durkheim’s approach to research was inductive
What they have in common= both positivists and believe in using scientific methodology in sociology… but in
different ways
Durkheim’s approach to research was inductive
Popper’s approach to research
was deductive
What was Popper’s theory of falsification?
How is it an example of deductive reasoning?
How was Durkheim’s study of suicide an example of an inductive approach?

12. Sociology and science Learning outcomes
Described how Sociology as a discipline has changed over time.
Can define science and the factors which distinguish it.
List between 3-5 specific examples in favour of and against the argument that ‘Sociology is a science’.

13. Exam question
Assess the view that sociology can and should be seen as a science. (33 marks)