objectivity and values in society

objectivity and values in society

1. the early positivists - comte and durkheim - the creation a better society was not a matter of subjective values or personal opinions about what was best. they shared the enlightenment or modernist view of the role of sociology.

   • sociology's job was to discover the truth about how society works, uncovering the laws that govern its proper functioning. equipped with this knowledge, social problems could be solved.
     • in their view, the scientific sociology would reveal the one correct society. sociologists would be able to say objectively and with scientific certainty what was best for society. comte regarded sociology as 'queen of the sciences'. & saw sociologists as latter-day priests.

2. karl marx - debate over whether he was a positivist. he believed he saw himself as a scientist, believed in his method of historical analysis . historical materialism could reveal the line of development of human society.

   • the role of marx's sociology, was to reveal truth of this development, especially to the proletariat since they would be the class to overthrow capitalism. marx thus takes for granted the value of the ideal communist society and argues his scientific approach will show us how to reach it.
     • similar to comte & durkheim - sees science helping to deliver the good society.

3. max weber - marx, durkheim & comte tended not to see a distinction between the facts as revealed by science and the values we should hold - since they believe science could tell us what these could be.

   • max weber makes a sharp distinction between value judgements and facts and he argues that we cannot derive the one for the other.
     • research might establish the fact that divorcees are more likely to commit suicide, however this does not logically demonstrate the truth of the value judgement that we should make divorce harder to obtain. there is nothing about the fact that logically compels us to accept the value. we might argue that we should instead make it harder to get married or that people have every right to commit suicide if they wish. none of these value judgements are proven by the established fact. weber - a value can neither be proved nor disproved by the facts.
       • however, weber still saw an essential role for values in sociological research.

4. 1. values as a guide to research - social reality is made up of meaningless infinity. the best the researcher can do is to select certain facts and study these. we can only select them in terms of what we regard important based on our own values,. feminists value gender equality and this leads them to study womens oppression and to develop concepts like patriarchy.

   • 2. data collection and hypothesis testing - weber - must believe objective and unbiased when collecting facts. we should not ask leading questions designed to give the answer we want to hear: our q's aim should get respondents view not our own. once got facts we can test hypothesis - must stand on whether it fits the observed facts.
     • 3. values in the interpretation of data - the facts need to be set in a theoretical framework so that we can understand their significance and draw conclusions from them, which is influenced by our values, we must be explicit about them, spelling out values so other can see if unconscious bias is present.
       • 4. values and the sociologist as a citizen - sociologists argue that their job is to conduct objective research the public decide what use to make of their findings. weber rejects this. sociologists are human beings and must not dodge moral issues their work raises by hiding being 'objectivity'. must take moral responsibility.
       • weber, sees values as relevant to sociologists in choosing what to research, but values must be kept out of the actual process.

5. value freedom - modern positivists - own values irrelevant to research.

   • the desire to appear scientific - science is concerned with matters of fact, not value. sociologists should remain morally neutral. job is to establish truth. this is reflected in desire to make sociology respectable. science has high prestige in modern society so mimicking ways would raise subjects respectibility.
     • social position of sociology- gouldner - sociologists had become spiritless technicians. sociologists were no longer problem makers but takers who had hired them e.g government to solve their problems. by leaving values behind they would not question paymasters. own values irrelevant as they were hired hands.