Theory and Methods: Quantitative and Qualitative methods

What century did the enlightenment period come about?

18th century: 1700's

What are the two key features of the enlightenment?

1. Religion

2. Rational thinking

Human reason

Refers to being enabled to explain society and how it works. Moving from religion to rational thinking.

Human progress

Refers to the knowledge gained on how the world works in order to create a better world. E.g sciences helped to eradicate disease and social sciences help tackle poverty.

Empiricism

Knowledge based on reason

What occurred in the 19th century?

Sociologists aimed to create a Utopian society

Feminism

Believe society functions in order to benefit men at the expense of women. This is evident within our patriarchal society

Marxism

Society functions in order to benefit the ruling class at the expense of the subject class.

Postmodernists

Structures do not improve society, they accept it. Fragmentation etc, is inevitable.

Theory

An idea that attempts to provide explanation for something

Structural approaches overview

Macro view, modernist approach, top down deterministic approach, believe that in order to understand behaviour we have to understand the forces that shape it

Which theoretical approaches are structural?

Marxism, feminism and functionalism

Action approach overview

Micro view, bottom up anti-deterministic approach, understanding behaviour needs to be based on understanding of individual actions, free agents with free will

Postmodern approach over view

Argues that modernist theory is out dated, globalisation has fundamentally changed society, society is now an unstable saturated global village, which has a hyper reality which is fragmented and chaotic.

Functionalism: Durkheim

1858-1917

Marxism: Karl Marx

1818-1883

Neo-Marcism

1970's

Feminidm

First wave- 19th century. Second wave- 1960's onwards

Interactionism: Weber

1864-1920

Postmodernism

1970's onwards. Counter argument- late modernity

What kind of motivation do structural approaches possess?

Extrinsic motivation

How do functionalism, Marxism and feminism possess qualities of a modernist theory?

Believe we are able to gain true knowledge of society and thereby improve it.

What kind of motivation do action approaches believe individuals possess?

Intrinsic motivation

Are action theories voluntaristic?

Yes, as they note that we create and shape our lives, and in turn, society.

Why do Postmodernists believe that modernist theories are outdated?

As there are no more grand narratives, they are mere meta-narratives and plural truths. There is no objective reality which can be measured

Do positivists believe that sociology can be studied scientifically?

Yes. They believe that it has a clear cut predictable structure, which is measurable allowing for the identification of social facts and empirical knowledge.

What do positivism value?

Reliability- standardised info which can be replicated,

representativeness- large scale accounting for a typical cross section,

Cause and effect relationships

Practical factors able to impact research

Research opportunity,

Time and money,

Access, funding body, skills and characteristics of the researcher. (Largest funding body=gov. Quantitative method- stats)

Do interpretivists believe that sociology can be studied scientifically?

No. society is far too complex and should not be modelled on the natural sciences.

What do interpretivists value?

Validity