Positivism

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Positivism

• There are different views of what societies are
  and the best ways of obtaining knowledge of
  them.Two most influential theories of knowledge
  in sociology
• Positivism
• Interpretivism

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Positivism

• Positivism is a logical system that bases
  knowledge on direct, systematic observation.
• It usually seeks out law-like statements of
  social life that can be tested. Its key idea is
  unity of scientific method.
• Scientific Inquiry is based on the systematic
  accumulation of facts rather than on belief,
  opinion, tradition or divine revelation.
• Sociologists in the 19th century (Comte and
  Spencer) believed that by applying the principles
  and practices of natural sciences, sociology
  could discover the laws that explained how
  societies worked and changed.

3
Causality

• For positivists, a good social science, involves
  describing and trying to explain causal
  relationships.
• Positivism sees the social world as comprising
  phenomena that are causally related to each
  other.
• Eg economic recession may cause higher
  unemployment and poverty in some sections of a
  society and this may then be a cause of
  increasing rate of crime.

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Determinism

• Another positivistic assumption Deterministic
  view of relationship between the individual and
  society.
• This means that the organisation of the societies
  in which people live causes them to think and act
  in the way they do, irrespective of their free
  will or choice.
• Researchers adopting a positive point of view may
  still be interested in finding out about peoples
  subjective views (attitudes and opinions )
  through survey research.
• In spite of the its deterministic views,
  positivism does not necessarily lead to a
  fatalistic acceptance of the way things are.
  sociological research can look into the causes of
  peoples behaviour which can be used to engineer
  social change.
• To know, to predict and to control (acc to Comte)

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Empiricism

• Another characteristic of positivistic approaches
  is the distinction between theories ( ideas) and
  observations (empirical knowledge)
• Empirical/factual knowledge is that which can be
  directly perceived through senses. (known as
  empiricist epistemology)
• Empiricist epistemology holds that only valid
  source of knowledge is that based on experience.
• Empiricist epistemology means that research has
  to be grounded in concrete evidence that can be
  checked out.
• Positivist research is confined to relationships
  between observable social phenomena. (facts speak
  for themselves)

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Methods

• For positivists, the goal of sociology is to
  produce an objective understanding of societies
  by following the principles of natural sciences.
• Positive research is guided by scientific
  criteria of measuring instruments of
  quantification, systematic collection of evidence
  reliability and transparency.
• Think of the methods they use..

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Interpretivism

• Interpretivism A tradition developed as a
  critique to the dominant one of positivism.
• Interpretivist do not reject the idea of
  scientific/objective knowledge, but they question
  the notion that the methods employed by natural
  science used also in the study of society or
  social sciences.

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Max Weber- Interpretivist

• According to Max Weber (1864- 1920) from whom the
  interpretivist tradition is derived, the
  enterprise of social science could not be treated
  as similar to that of the natural science.
• He stressed on social action which means the
  study of meaning which the individual attaches
  to his/her actions

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How is Interpretivism different from Positivism

• Both logic and methods of natural science are
  vastly different from that of social science .
• Interpretivism studies human beings who are
  socialized individuals and self conscious agents
  actively involved in the creation of their own
  reality. (unlike the object of enquiry in natural
  science).

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• Interpretivists criticize Positivists for
  neglecting the fact that they are studying
  people- who need to be explored in the ways they
  really think and act in different kinds of
  situations.
• The humanists movement is also influencing new
  ways of thinking about economic behaviour of
  human beings. For egeconomists are focusing on
  how people really think when they make choices in
  the market place. is it really rational choice'
  they are excercising? Consumers they find, often
  make very irrational choices.

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• Human beings engage in conscious activities to
  which they attach meanings (derived from their
  values, beliefs, ideas, motives etc.)
• Social institutions (the subject matter of
  Sociology) cannot be treated as separate entities
  or divorced from the subjective understanding or
  meaning that people have of them.
• Society cannot be studied on the principle of
  causality as positivists stress (stimulus and
  response) may make a great deal of sense in the
  natural world but according to the
  interpretivists, cannot be rigidly applied in the
  social world.

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• People do not just react to external stimuli like
  biologically programmed living organisms. They
  actively interpret and control the situation and
  control their behaviour,acting on the basis of
  their interpretations of what is going on, what
  is the best option/course of action.
• Eg if a teacher shouts at you, how would you
  respond?

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• Many different responses are possible. There are
  three different interpretations of a single
  event, ie there is no consistent cause and
  effect relationship.
• Whatever the response, an observer cannot make
  sense of your response without interpreting the
  meaning you attributed to your teachers
  behaviour,for it is this meaning that explains
  your response, not the observable event on its
  own.

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Verstehen

• Verstehen is a German word meaning empathetic
  understanding. It suggests the practice of a
  researcher/anybody seeking to understand
  something placing themselves imaginatively in
  the position of those they are studying and
  asking how they see the world/ what ends are
  served by their actions.
• Weber pointed out that behaviour seen from the
  outside is very different when seen from the
  inside.
• Now think of the methods interpretivist adopt..