Sociology and Science

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Key terms:

Closed system - there is a main, dominating belief system that is not open to criticism or new ideas

Fallacy of induction - Popper's theory that using inductive reasoning leads to false hypotheses

Falsification - trying to prove a pattern as false before claiming it can be true

Grounded theory - formulating a hypothesis based on the results of sociological research

Inductive reasoning - basing hypotheses off of empirical observation

Interpretivism - theory of sociology which states we should attempt to understand people's individual meanings of situations

Meta-narratives - 'big story' e.g) religion, science, functionalism, Marxism. Postmodernists believe that meta-narratives only give a partial view of truth, despite claiming to give a full one

Normal science - theories that fit within the current paradigm and offer no challenges, but engages in 'puzzle-solving' by adding detail to the paradigm

Open system - all ideas are open to criticism and new ideas are considered and encouraged

Paradigm - taken for granted scientific knowledge, including the scientific method e.g) gravity

Positivism - theory of sociology which states that sociology should model itself on the natural sciences

Scientific revolutions - anomalies challenging the existing paradigm cause a paradigm shift

Verificationism - something must be supported by evidence in order to be true

Verstehen - empathetic understanding of meaning

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Is sociology a science? Introduction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMTl58sLOhA (Embed)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80GSz1laR_c (Embed)

Popper believes that science is about the falsification of a theory, not confirmation. He criticises Marxism because it cannot be proved wrong or tested, as it provides no specific timescale for its claims. Describing Marxism as an 'irrefutable pseudo-science' means that because it cannot be falsified, it isn't a real science.

For instance, Marxism uses the concept of class consciousness to explain why there will be a communist revolution in the future, but it also uses the concept of false class consciousness to explain why the revolution hasn't already happened.

Popper is sometimes mistaken for a positivist, however, positivists use inductive reasoning to prove their hypotheses, but Popper's theory of the fallacy of induction showed how this method can be problematic.

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