OBJECTIVITY, SUBJECTIVITY, VALUE FREEDOM

Why is it important for sociology to be seen as value free?

Desire to link sociology to ‘science’, want to be taken seriously, any research claiming to be value free is in fact value laden (scientists at best can only make empirical statements about the world)

Why is value freedom a myth?

influence of funding. body, publisher, have to select what to include on the research, choosing a research topic, interpreting the findings and choosing a research method

Why does Durkheim argue that sociology is a science and therefore value free?

need to disregard all preconceptions and treat social facts as things, sociology can be studied in the same way the natural world is which involves value freedoms

Why is Durkheim’s argument that we need to treat social facts as things invalid?

sociologists live in socueyu so its impossible to value free and not objective as categories are subjectively defined

What is Weber’s aim?

sought to establish sociology as a social science, independent from the natural sciences as its concerned with understanding human social action which makes it value free to an extent

According to Weber, which areas cannot be value free?

choice of topic, influenced by their views

According to Weber, which areas can be value free?

must not allow values to influence research process of data collection, sociologists must outline their values at the start to allow effective scrutiny, and one must use ideal types to make comparisons about the social world in value free fashion,

What are the evolutions of Weber’s ideas?

assumes people consciously attach meanings to their actions (ignore tradition or law) and ideal types are based on the value of the researcher

What is the issue with sociological facts?

subjective and thus not meaningful =, sociological research is ultimately based on researcher assumptions

How should we deal with values and personal opinion?

should not enter the research process, evidence should be collected and analysed objectively based on evidence, not the researchers subjective view

When should values and personal opinions be considered?

when examining ethics, eg if a sociologist is undercover studying a gang should they engage in crime or report those about to murder another (must rely on own moral judgement and ethical principals0

What does Gomm say about value freedom being not desirable?

value free sociology impossible and not sociological since sociologists react to political economic and social events (political ny nature)

What does Gouldner say about value freedom not being desirable?

value freedom is only a refusal to criticise, not taking sides in research should support the powerful in society, instead we should use research to change society to be more equal

What does Becker say about value freedom not being desirable?

‘it is impossible to study anything without using your personal opinions’ - sociology can’t avoid values as group interactions are largely made up of values, researchers must outline their personality before data collection and analysis

What do marxists say about value freedom?

rejects value freedom as ruling class control all ideas, such concepts are formed buy the bourgeoisie to meet their needs, instead we need to reject all existing approaches and use our values of Marx’s historical materialism

What does feminism say about value freedom?

rejects value pluralism as sociology is male stream instead they advocate for focus groups, qualitative interviews and feminist ethnography where values are present so that researchers have a full understanding of relationships in society

What do postmodernists think of value freedom>

reject value pluralism as a meta narrative instead that argue research should be focused on the deconstruction of knowledge and transgression

What is Becker’s quote?

take the side of the underdog