Association for the Teaching of the Social Sciences

Teacher Support Materials

Booklet 3

Teaching ‘Is Sociology a Science?’

Written by Jonathan Blundell

For the ATSS

ATSS Ltd.
PO Box 6079
Leicester LE2 4WB

http://www.atss.org.uk

© Jonathan Blundell for the Association for the Teaching of the Social Sciences page 0
ATSS Ltd. PO Box 6079 Leicester LE2 4WB
Note to Teachers

This pack has been produced by Jonathan Blundell. Jonathan is the author of the
forthcoming Active Sociology for GCSE. He is a senior examiner for A level
Sociology and an active member of the Executive of ATSS. He is Head of Sociology
at Lord William’s School, Thame.

The ATSS is an organization designed to support the teaching of Social Sciences in

schools and colleges. Among its members are many serving teachers and lecturers
in schools and FE. If you would like further information then please contact the ATSS
at ATSS Ltd. PO Box 6079 Leicester LE2 4WB

Visit the Website that is run by Tony Lawson at

http://www.atss.org.uk

Among the services, which the ATSS offers to teachers and lecturers, is the Annual
Conference that is held at a different venue each year. The journal, Social Science
Teacher offers a forum for academic articles and teaching ideas. In addition, there
are a variety of teaching resources and marketing materials to support the teaching
of social sciences.

This Booklet

This booklet is designed to support teachers who are delivering coursework modules
for either the OCR or the AEB examination. It consists of notes and exercises for a
teaching module designed to cover the question of the claims for a scientific basis for
sociology.

The emphasis is on active learning exercises so that development ideas and

activities are included in the materials.

If you feel that you would like to contribute work to this series, please contact the
Resources Editor c/o ATSS.

© Jonathan Blundell for the Association for the Teaching of the Social Sciences page 1
ATSS Ltd. PO Box 6079 Leicester LE2 4WB
Introduction

This booklet is based on a session presented at ATSS Conference in September

1999. It will focus on summarising the debate surrounding the question of whether
sociology is a science and then will include some teaching materials to support the
basic notes.

The objectives of the teaching sessions described in this booklet are:

 To encourage students to view the debate as still being active and relevant
 To promote theory and methods teaching.
 To develop knowledge and understanding, interpretation and application, and
evaluation skills in context to student-centred learning.

Recommended texts and further research ideas include:

Garrod J, Clynch A and Lawson T (1999) The A-Z Sociology Coursework

Handbook Hodder and Stoughton

Dunsmuir A and Williams Lynn (1991) How to do Social Research Collins

Educational

Best S, Griffiths J and Hope T (2000) Active Sociology Longmans p 77 ff

Morgan I (1998) Letts A Level Sociology Revision notes Letts p 16 ff

Haralambos M and Holborn M (2000) Sociology Themes and Perspectives

Collins Educational p 17 ff

The Sociology Central Website run by Chris Livesey has a variety of notes and
teaching modules on this theme. You are advised to download to a disc for some of
these files.

© Jonathan Blundell for the Association for the Teaching of the Social Sciences page 2
ATSS Ltd. PO Box 6079 Leicester LE2 4WB
IS SOCIOLOGY A SCIENCE? (SHOULD SOCIOLOGY BE A SCIENCE?)

Typical examination questions on this topic are:

 Sociology can be scientific. Evaluate the sociological arguments for and against
this view.
 Evaluate the usefulness of the positivist approach in sociology.
 Outline and assess the influence of scientific thinking on sociological research

KEY TERMS

Positivism – These are approaches which have tried to make sociology as close to
a science as possible because it is believed that sociologists can establish laws of
human behaviour in the same way that scientists have established scientific laws.
This perspective is typical of Functionalism and of Marxism

Anti-positivist or interpretivist – These approaches suggest that sociology cannot

be scientific, nor should it try to be scientific because we should look for the
meanings that people apply to the world. This perspective is typical of symbolic
interactionalism and phenomenology.

Quantitative – This is the type of sociology that is concerned with the collection of
numbers.

Qualitative – This type of sociology is concerned with gathering information about

meaning and emotions.

Validity – This term refers to the success of the methods in accurately measuring or
describing what they are intended to measure.

Reliability – This term refers to the extent to which research can be repeated in the
same conditions and the same results be obtained.

Social construct – Something socially invented to which we attach a meaning. Many

phenomena which at first seem natural can be said to be social constructs. For
example, childhood is a biologically defined period of immaturity, but it is also a social
construct because what it means to be a child is different in different cultures

© Jonathan Blundell for the Association for the Teaching of the Social Sciences page 3
ATSS Ltd. PO Box 6079 Leicester LE2 4WB
ARGUMENTS USED IN FAVOUR OF THE VIEW THAT SOCIOLOGY SHOULD BE SCIENTIFIC.

Modern society arose out of a series of changes in the way that people looked at the
world at the middle and end of the C18th and through the start of the C19th. This was
a social and historical period known as the ‘Age of Enlightenment’. Before that time,
religion had been the dominant force in society.

People moved from having a sense of faith, to a spirit of enquiry, questioning the
world about them. Out of this period came the view that the key to understanding the
world is science.

Key positivist ideas

 The methods of natural science can be transferred to social science.

 We should only study what we can see, measure and observe.
 The purpose of science is to discover what causes things to happen (causal
relationships).
 Facts exist and should not be influenced by the person doing the research.

WHY DO INTERPRETIVISTS DISAGREE WITH THE ABOVE VIEWS?

Interpretivism comes from a different tradition, that of idealism. We can only

understand the world by using social and mental constructs (ideas). We cannot
know the world as it really is, because we all have personal viewpoints about what is
happening and what we can see.

Interpretivists say that positivists are incorrect because:

 The world has to be interpreted to understand what is happening.
 Qualitative methods and data are essential for a full understanding of social
reality
 Reality is too complicated to understand through using numbers to explain
events.
 No-one can be truly scientific because we all have viewpoints that affect what we
discover.
 People are part of the society that they study and so they bring their own ideas to
what they see.
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ATSS Ltd. PO Box 6079 Leicester LE2 4WB
VIEWS WHICH YOU SHOULD REFER TO IN YOUR DISCUSSIONS AND ANSWERS:

Most positivists use the hypothetico-deductive method of studying science. This

means that they have a statement, which they call a hypothesis, and then they
prove it true using methods that other scientists could refer to.

Karl Popper

Popper argued that scientists should try to disprove their hypotheses. If they set out
instead to prove a hypothesis, they are likely to distort the evidence and claim to
have found what they were looking for. Proving your hypothesis wrong is called
falsification.

A lot of claims in sociology cannot be disproved, so they do not come up to Popper’s

standards. Sociologists should therefore try to come up with hypotheses that can be
disproved. If they can do this, they will be being scientific. Sociologists who have tried
to disprove a hypothesis include

Eileen Barker - The Making of a Moonie

Members of the unification church are brainwashed.

Ann Oakley - The Sociology of Housework

There is greater equality between men and women in the home.

Thomas Kuhn

Kuhn argued that throughout history, ideas that have been accepted as ‘scientific’
have later been rejected. For example, at one time people believed that the sun
revolved around the Earth.

The ideas that are current at any one time are a paradigm. A paradigm is generally
agreed upon by most scientists working in that area of research at that time. It will
eventually be overturned and replaced by a new paradigm. Sociology does not have
one paradigm; it has marked differences between theoretical perspectives. It is not
yet therefore a science though it is possible it could become one.
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ATSS Ltd. PO Box 6079 Leicester LE2 4WB
Realism

Positivists say that science should be about experiments in controlled

environments.

Realists say that science in the real world has moved away from that perspective
because there are so many things that can affect the results of an experiment that
they all have to be taken into account.

For example, the weather is a scientific phenomenon, yet many scientists cannot
accurately predict the weather. The influences on the weather are too many and too
varied; it is an open system. Society can be seen as an open system

It might be that there can be a science of society – we just have to discover more
about society and what affects events.

Realists also say that some of these factors are very difficult to quantify so that we
cannot understand all that is happening because they are happening at a deep level
in our society.

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ATSS Ltd. PO Box 6079 Leicester LE2 4WB
Glossary Activity

Look at the above notes. What do the following words mean? Write the meanings
into the boxes next to each word.

Paradigm

Realism

Falsification

Hypothesis

Social
constructs

Positivism

Reliability

Validity

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ATSS Ltd. PO Box 6079 Leicester LE2 4WB
Can Sociology be a Science?

Look at your favourite textbooks under the headings of sociology and science.

You could look at the index of each book to discover more of the names that are
mentioned. Make simple notes for your folders in the discussion that takes place.

Make sure that you have an opinion of your own and can understand the issues.

1. What is science?
2. Can Sociology be studied in a scientific manner?
3. Should Sociology be studied in a scientific manner?
4. What advantages and disadvantages are there for someone who attempts to
use scientific methods in order to study society?

Further ideas for thought:

 Is science as ‘scientific’ as it claims?

 Is scientific research funded by tobacco and alcohol producers likely to be ethical
and value free?
 How far do the texts themselves agree on their definitions of science?
 What do other texts including science books say about the nature of scientific
enquiry?
 Is truly scientific sociology likely to be fully ethical?
 To what extent is any sociological enquiry likely to replicable (repeatable)?
 Why should anyone care whether sociology is scientific or not?
 To what extent is the desire for sociology to be scientific a political aim?
 Interactionalism may not fit the definition of scientific, does that mean the findings
should be assumed to be invalid?

If you think hard enough about this topic, you could come up with similar questions of
your own to add to the notes provided. Write them below.

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ATSS Ltd. PO Box 6079 Leicester LE2 4WB
Should Sociology be a Science?

 Key Skill: Communication

 Skill Domain: Learning to Evaluate

Activity

 Look at the following statements. Are there any words that you do not understand
fully? If so, ask or use a dictionary to discover the meaning.

 When you feel that you understand the language, look at the meanings of the
sentences.

 Cut each box out and arrange it on a piece of paper in the order in which you
agree, starting with the one that you think is most important at the top of the
page.

 When you are certain of the order and can justify your views. Glue the boxes
down.

Statements

1. Sociologists can establish laws of human behaviour in the same way that
scientists have established scientific laws

2. Facts exist and should not be influenced by the person doing the research.

3. We should only study what we can see, measure and observe.

4. We cannot know the world as it really is, because we all have personal viewpoints
about what is happening and what we can see.

5. Reality is too complicated to understand through using numbers to explain

events.

6. People are part of the society that they study and so they bring their own ideas to
what they see.

7. Sociology cannot be scientific yet because there are differences of opinion, but
there could be a science of society.

8. It might be that there can be a science of society – we just have to discover more
about society and what affects events.

9. Scientific knowledge changes all the time. Knowledge moves forward and
changes, so that one belief is replaced by another

© Jonathan Blundell for the Association for the Teaching of the Social Sciences page 9
ATSS Ltd. PO Box 6079 Leicester LE2 4WB
The Association for the Teaching of the Social Sciences (ATSS) is a charitable body run by teachers and lecturers in
sociology which supports the teaching of social sciences in schools and colleges.

We make all reasonable efforts to contact the authors of material quoted and to acknowledge the copyright of
authors. If however, you feel that your copyright has been infringed in any way, then please contact the resources
editor immediately.

Copyright for this material is owned by the authors. Educational institutions may copy this material for use by their
staff and students provided that they have paid the ATSS for the original pack.

Resources Editor: Janis Griffiths

ATSS Ltd.
PO Box 6079
Leicester LE2 4WB