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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
