2 A. Science, scientific method, and critique
Sociology as Science:
Science is a systematically acquired, organized body of certified and changing knowledge which is based upon observable facts and methods used to acquire this knowledge. Saint Simon, Spencer, Comte, Durkheim, and Weber were attempts to develop sociology on the basis of natural sciences. Science is characterized by:
Hence, as Giddens puts it, sociology is a scientific endeavor according to this definition, as it involves systematic methods of empirical investigation, analysis of data, and assessment of theories in light of evidence and logical argument.
There are four sets of postulates which social scientists apply to their disciplines which determines the degree of science involved. These are:
To determine if sociology is a science, different schools of thought delved into the nature of these assumptions. And hence, we get two approaches along the subjective-objective dimension.
According to Comte, there is a hierarchy of sciences in which sociology is at the top. And hence, with progressively increasing time and efforts, it will achieve empiricism, value neutrality, testability, and universal theories and thus the status of a positive science. Karl Popper, Goode, and Hutt and anti-positivists see science as a method of approaching and studying a phenomenon and hence claim that sociology is a science in itself.
Critique:
Jacques Barzun writes that blindly believing the conclusions of science gives science a divinity. Science is evolving into a new form of divination and it is a faith as fanatical as any in history. Theodor Adorno states that in the 17th and 18th century, science attempted to study nature; in the 19th century, it exploited nature; the 20th century saw the destructive power of science, and in the 21st century, science has been colonized by the state. So, we should not celebrate science. Carl Jung states that subjective things like happiness, beauty, pleasure, etc., cannot be measured with methods of science, and so the methodology should be discipline-specific. Experimentation has both practical and ethical limitations in sociology. However, there are mature sciences like Astronomy, where experimentation is not possible. Quantification: large aspects of sociological phenomena are qualitative in nature. Generalization: human behavior often does not follow recurrent patterns like physical objects. Objectivity.
Scientific Method:
Theodorson and Theodorson define scientific method as building a body of knowledge through observation, experimentation, generalization, and verification. It is a procedure followed while conducting research, and steps of scientific research as listed by Horton and Hunt are:
Critique:
Scientific method is just one method among many as a means to an end. Glorification of any one method is bad for the growth of knowledge. It is often based on induction and does not promote refutability. Before research is initiated, the result is already known, hence not innovative or creative but rather very predictable. Karl Popper suggests falsification as a counter to this. It kills the creative spirit and freedom of thought, the result of following any scientific method. Adorno states that science is suffocating and kills creativity. Paul Feyerabend. He sees the scientific method as one method of looking at truth and stated that there are many more manners of looking at the truth and they need to be explored and thus expand the scientific method types. Science is thus limitless and epistemological. Binding it to a methodology restrains it. In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Thomas Kuhn states that even with non-scientific methods, many disciplines, like history and philosophy, have grown and matured. A researcher using a scientific method also makes certain assumptions, so it is wrong to glorify the method. Phenomenologists like Peter Berger, Thomas Luckmann, and Alfred Schutz outrightly reject the scientific method. JS Mills suggest methodological pluralism instead of dependence on any one method. Possibility of value biasness. Conflicting paradigms: a paradigm exists and the researcher tries to prove it and ignores anything contrary. Problem of understanding cause and effect: Durkheim found a correlation between rates of suicide and seasons of the year. This may lead to the conclusion that temperature affects the rates, but in reality, it is because in spring and summer people are more active socially than in winter. Karl Popper in *points out that because scientific methods are based upon existing scientific theories, they are vulnerable just like any other methods. Social life cannot be laboratoryized.