SOC101

Slide 2: Asking and Answering Sociological

Questions

The Aim of Science

 Science means knowledge in Latin.

 The aim of science is to produce knowledge

 What unites science are its objective, its presuppositions, its general

methodology, and its logic.

Science as a Product and Science as a Process

 Laws, principles, and theories that constitute the product of science.

Scientific disciplines differ in terms of their objects of study. For

instance, while physics’ study object is matter and energy and biology’s

is life processes of living beings, sociology’s object of study is relations

and processes of social groupings.

 Methods and logic of inquiry that comprise the process. The process is

cyclical. Theories – Predictions (Hypotheses) – Observations –

Empirical Generalizations – Theories ….

Scientific vs. Non-scientific Questions

Principle of Verification: whether a question can be approached scientifically

and answered by a verifiable-empirical observation. Hence questions

qualify as science the answers to scientific questions must meet the

requirements of description, explanation, prediction, and understanding.

Assumptions: Based on the assumptions below, scientist aim to discover to

order and the laws that describe the order.

1. The world exists

2. Empirically verifiable knowledge is possible

3. We know the world through our senses

4. There is order to the world

Concepts: abstractions could be shown example as in “mass” in physics or

“status” and “class” in sociology. Concepts either redefine existing words or

construct new ones.

Empirical Generalizations: are various terms that are derived from

observations or hypotheses when they have been proposed but not tested.

When hypotheses are derived from observations, they are called empirical

generalizations. Once they have been repeatedly tested and verified, they

become scientific laws.

 The complete formal presentation of a theory includes definitions of

concepts and a set of assumptions. They have the same basic form as

laws but are more general.

since more than one theory may explain a particular occurrence or

empirical regularity.

 A law or hypothesis is thought to be scientifically meaningful if it

describes a causal relationship

 Science is cumulative and progressive.

 Scientists never achieve complete understanding. Every answer leads

to new questions, and every new fact, law, or theory presents new

problems.

Logical reasoning: Scientists are expected to follow the principles of logical

reasoning.

1. Deductive reasoning: All union members are Democrats. Joan is a

union member; therefore, Joan is a Democrat.

2. Inductive reasoning: Hubert, Walter, and Joan are union members

and Democrats. Therefore, all union members are democrats.

Empiricism is a way of knowing or understanding the world through our

senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. Empirical evidence is assumed

to exist outside of scientists themselves. However, objective observation free

from bias and emotion is not possible. Our perceptions are framed by our

interpretations.

Scientific control is the procedure for eliminating bias and misleading results

from experiments and research, aiming to obtain accurate and reliable results.
 Control Group: The group that does not receive any treatment or

intervention in an experiment. The purpose of the control group is to

provide a reference point for comparing the effects of the treatment or

intervention in the experiment.

 Double-blind investigation: A research method in which neither the

researchers nor the subjects have any information about which group

receives treatment. This is used to prevent misconceptions such as the

placebo effect.

The research process

Definition of the research problem->Literature Review->Formulation of a

Hypothesis-> Selecting a Research Design-> Carrying out the Research-

>Interpretation of Research Findings->Reporting the Research Findings:

Publication

Research Designs in Social Sciences

a. Qualitative Research Methods

1. Field Work-Ethnography: a detailed, long-term investigation of the

total behavior of a particular social unit

2. Participant Observation: Researchers try to take part in the lives of

the members of the group under analysis, sometimes without

revealing their purposes. Mostly used in Sociology and Anthropology.

3. Historical Research: Oral history and documentary research

underline universality and uniqueness.

b. Quantitative Research Methods

1. Survey

2. Experiment

Slide 3: Theories and Perspectives in Sociology

Sociological Imagination requires us to “think ourselves away from the

familiar routines of our daily lives to look at them in new perspectives.

Social Structure refers to the fact that the social contexts of our lives are

structured and they have patterns and regularities. Our activities both

structure the social world around us and are structured by the social world.

Pre-Modern Sociology: Ibn Khaldun

 Muqaddimah: the foundational work of sociology. His purpose in

Muqaddimah was to explain the how’s and why’s of events not only

what’s unlike previous historians he criticized

 He devised a theory of social conflicts based on the characteristics of

nomadic and sedentary societies

Classical Sociology

a. Auguste Comte

 Invention of the term sociology

 Comte’s law of three stages: Theological-Metaphysical-Positive stages

faith and doctrine

b. Emile Durkheim

 Durkheim argued that Comte’s ideas were vague and he was not able

to establish sociology on a scientific basis.

 He argued that we must study social life with the same objectivity as

scientists study the natural world. “Study social facts as things!”

 His theory of division of labor:

1. Mechanic solidarity: in rural areas

2. Organic solidarity: in urban areas

 His study of suicide: attempts to explain the stability and variation in

suicide rates. He noted that the suicide rate among the protestant

countries was higher than the Catholic countries. He reasoned this to

the weaker social integration of the Protestant community. Later on he

used the concept of social integration in other aspects of social life

(marriage, having child, political crisis)

 His typology of social suicide

problem was the creation of educational and occupational institutions

c. Karl Marx

 Historical Materialism occurs due to the development of the basis of

the society (the economy)

 Mode of Production

Primitive communism->Ancient MoP(Slavery)->Asiatic MoP->Feudal

MoP->Capitalist MoP->Communist MoP

 Marx’s Politics: Socialist Revolution and transition to communism

d. Max Weber

 Casual Explanations and Interpretative Explanation

 He objected to Marx’s economistic explanations and proposed “multi-

casuality” -not the economy as the single cause, but multiple causes

such as economy, politics, culture, and religion-

 Weber’s politics: The Iron Cage of Rationalization Bureaucratization

as a threat to democracy.

Modern Theoretical Approaches

a. Structural Functionalism

 Continuation of the Comtian and Drukheimian traditions

 The main question: How is moral consensus achieved?

 Talcott Parsons: The social system is a combination of 4 subsytems:

Economic, political, education and socialization, community

 Robert Merton
 Mezzo level analysis: When analyzing assets, neither takes only

individuals (micro) nor only all capitals (macro). He suggests an

intermediate level of analysis such as institutions, organizations, social

groups.

Manifest function and Latent function

Interactionist Perspectives

 Symbolic Interactionism: Goffman and Hotschild

 Phenomenology: focuses on things that are taken for granted

 Ethnomethodology: Systematic study of small social groups

 Gender and Feminist Theory: Judith Butler: Gender is not fixed but

fluid, gender is performed

 Post-structuralism and post-modernity, Michel Foucault: Focuses

on studying mental health institutions, discipline and punishment,

sexuality has been created by the process of social development.