Section 8-14

Theory and Methods: Is Sociology a science?

Spec Title: the nature of science and the extent to which Sociology can be regarded as scientific

(AO1) Positivism recap

• Quantitative methods

• Structural theorists

• Macro

• Practical factors most important- reliability

• Establish a cause and effect relationship

• Secondary data sources e.g. ONS

(AO3) However, Interpretivism recap

• Qualitative methods

• Social action theorists

• Micro

• Theoretical factors are the most important- verstehen

Positivism:

• Comte- Sociology= ‘Queen of the Sciences’, apply the logic of science to everyday society.

  • This allows for the true, objective and measurable facts about society to be found

  • Facts work independently from the individuals in society

(AO2) Durkheim:

• Durkheim- Scientists observe, identify, measure and record information in order to identify patterns and trends in society and establish social facts

  • Social facts can be studied through what is known as inductive reasoning- coming to conclusions through careful observation

AO2- Durkheim’s study of suicide

• Protestants were more likely to commit suicides than Catholics and from this, he concluded that Catholics were more integrated than Protestants

Karl Popper: Sociology is not a science

One of the most important philosophers of science – believes sociology is not a science because it does not share the same principles of science. He argues that this is because of the following:

1. The fallacy of induction:

• Positivist by a strict definition: sociology is not scientific enough

• Verification: Things can never be true as all it would take would be one thing or event to prove the whole theory wrong

• Sociology shouldn’t follow verification- sociology bases too. Many of their theories on verification

• E.g. if white swans are the only ones observed, the conclusion is that only white swans exist however, it only takes one black swan to exist to prove wrong all observation

• E.g. Labelling and the consequences on labelling- the transversive findings by Fuller and the self-negating prophecy

1. Falsificationism:

According to Popper, what makes science unique is opposite to verification- but falsification. We must be able to create a test to disprove a theory- Sociology is only open to verification

• A scientific statement is something that can be falsified- proven wrong. However in sociology statements and beliefs can’t be falsified:

  • E.g. The Marxist idea of Permanent revolution, patriarchy, The existence of God, the w/c will realise their false class-consciousness

For Popper a good theory has two features:

1. A scientific statement is something that can be falsified and tested e.g. boiling and freezing point of water

2. Bold- provision of a theory that can disprove another theory on many different levels e.g. no matter the location the result remains the same for the boiling and freezing point of water

3. Truth:

Stephen Hawking- ‘no matter how many times the results of experiment agree with some theory, you can never be sure than the next time the result will not contradict the theory’

• A good theory is not necessarily a true theory but it has just withstood the test of time and attempts to disprove it

• Sociology can’t be scientific as e.g.

  • Marxism- capitalism always exploits the working-class

1. Open Society:

• Science thrives in open or liberal societies- ones that believe in free expression and the right to challenge accepted ideas. Science is essentially a public activity

  • Science is open to challenge

  • Open to change

  • = More chances for science to being falsified and deemed untrue

In closed societies are dominated by one official belief.

• Sociology is very closed

Marxism however…

• They have a monopoly of truth

• Any ideas that suggest the w/c can collaborate with equality against the m/c falls outside the realm of marxism

• Not open to challenge

• Cannot be falsified

AO2: Galileo for instance in the 17^th century was punished by the church for stating that the earth orbited the sun, and not the other way round.

AO3: Evaluation: Although Popper argues that most of sociology is not scientific, he says that doesn’t mean it cannot be. Sociology can be scientific if they produce hypotheses which can be falsified. For example

• Julienne Ford (1969) hypothesised that comprehensive schooling will produce social mixing of pupils from different classes. She was able to test and falsify this through empirical testing. Although Marxism is not testable, it does not mean it is worthless, it may become testable later on. - Thus sociology can become scientific

AO2: Popper’s hypothetico- deductive method

E.g. Rosenthal and Jacobsen: Pygmalion in the Classroom

Thomas Kuhn: Sociology is not a science:

1970- He is a historian of science who presents a radically diff view of what makes science unique

Paradigms: Shared by members of a given scientific community e.g. biology and defines what their science is.

• Paradigms= the norms and values of scientific study

• Sociology is pre-paradigmatic- there is not one single paradigm that people follow

• Conformity= rewards e.g. published work- funding and respect

• Non-conformity= unpublished work/ dismissal

  • Therefore, scientists have to follow the paradigm to work

Unlike sociology students, scientist accept one paradigm and don’t consider rival perspectives

Scientists work within paradigms because:

Conformity= rewards e.g. published work

Non-conformity= unpublished work/ dismissal

Most of the time, the work of scientists goes unquestioned and they engage in normal science which is puzzle solving, which is like completing a jigsaw puzzle. We know what we are working towards, and therefore we are not solving anything new.

• e.g. latent and manifest functions within the strain theory shows the changes over time

Scientific revolutions:

• When science’s hegemony is in crisis it shifts the paradigm

AO2: The Sun orbited the earth to now the earth orbits the sun! The earth was flat to the earth's sphere.Homosexuality being acknowledged as a norm rather than genetic and illness

• Sociology isn’t a science as it is always in a position of revolution unlike science

AO3: Evaluation:

Postmodernists suggest that paradigms are metanarratives

Science is losing its ability to maintain the truth and their own metanarrative

Realism: Sayer (1992), Keat and Urry (2010) Sociology is a science:

• Reject positivist viewpoint that science is only concerned with observable phenomena e.g. The Big Bang Theory or the interior inside a black hole

  • Sociology is also concerned with things that can’t be observed e.g. patriarchy

• Reject the interpretivist point of view that sociology is only concerned with unobservable things e.g. crime rates

  • Science concerns it with observable things e.g. biology

Open Systems: w

• Where the researcher cannot control and measure all relevant variables and so cannot make precise prediction

• E.g. Seismology and the inability to predict earthquakes and their size

• Sociology= unpredictable, open-system science

  • Cannot control all the variables of what causes exploitation but predictions can be made that the working-class, EMs and young people are most likely to be exploited

Closed systems:

• Where the researcher can control and measure all relevant variables and so can make prediction

• E.g. Food tests and chemical flame tests

Why is sociology a science?

• They believe both natural science and social science attempt to explain the cause of events in terms of underlying structures and processes

• These structures are unobservable e.g. patriarchy so how do we work out if it exist?

• By observing their effects e.g. how patriarchy affects a woman's life chances

• Therefore, in this view a lot of sociology is scientific e.g. Marxism- we can see the effects of capitalism such as poverty

Evaluation: how is this different to what Interpretivists will say?

• By categorising sociology as a science, it places more emphasis on positivist methods

• Therefore, no individual experiences and deeper meanings can be founded

• A trend is found but there is no deeper explanation for the reasons for broader patterns or the anomalous results from the research

Theory and Methods: Is Sociology Value free?

Spec Title: debates about subjectivity, objectivity and value freedom

Objectivity: Judgement based on observable phenomena and uninfluenced by emotions or personal prejudices

Subjectivity: Judgement based on personal opinions, experiences or preferences

Value Freedom: The notion that social research shouldn’t be influenced by the researcher’s subjective beliefs and ideas

Value Laden: Social sciences are not objective subjects and that depending on how they are interpreted they can have a bias, hence “value”

Value Neutrality: The duty of sociologists to identify and acknowledge their own bias and values when conducting research and overcome these- Weber

Committed Sociology: Not only spelling out sociologists values but actively take sides

Can and should sociology be objective/value free?

• Sociologists have debated this question for over a century.

• Opinions tend to fall into one of Three categories:

1. It is both possible and desirable for sociology to be value free.

Only then can truly scientific knowledge about society be obtained.

1. It is impossible for sociology to be value free.

It is impossible for humans to keep out their personal feelings when studying other humans

1. Not only is it impossible to be value free, but it is actually desirable for sociologists to use their values to improve society.

1. It is both possible and desirable for sociology to be value free.

Early Thinkers (Positivists):

• Comte: Sociology is the queen of society as it uses scientific methods to discover facts about society as a whole.

• Durkheim: Using effective value free methods allows society to develop positively (social facts)

• Marx: Tried to prove cause and effect between capitalism and exploitation

  • As such, they are trying to establish an overarching theme or meaning for society as a whole

2. It is impossible for it to be value free

Weber - values and the time for some value neutrality

1. Values as a guide to research- Provides a focus for the research and judges what provides relevance for society.

   1. Society is made up of meaningless infinity therefore, they need a criteria or guide for relevance

2. Data collection and hypothesis testing- Remove values from the research. This allows for objective and accurate data collation to be done

   1. Objective judgement of where research needs to classified in sociology

3. Values in the interpretation of data- Spell out values to make our position very clear on certain issues

   1. Avoid unconscious bias allows the reader to understand possible biases in our research

4. Values and the sociologist as a citizen- Sociologists must take responsibility for their work

   1. Must not hide behind value freedom or objectivity but must take responsibility for the harm that researchers may create e.g. Peter Townsend and relative deprivation campaigning, Einstein’s research helped make the atomic bomb but was famously against its use.

AO3- New Right (1970s/80s)

Marsland- ‘Sociology is the enemy within. It is an enemy that sows the seeds of bankruptcy and influences huge numbers of impressionable people… Sociologists are neglecting their responsibility for accurate, objective description and biasing their analyses of contemporary Britain to an enormous extent… huge numbers of people are being influenced by the biased one-sidedness of contemporary Sociology.’

AO3- Feminism- malestream

(AO2)Oakley- ‘Sociology reduces women to a side issue from the start.’- Birth and motherhood: attended births and befriended women and gave advice.

• Heidensohn- Sociology is malestream

  • History of sociology is the history of studying male interests and male participants

(AO3) Alvin Gouldner (1975):

ARGUES THAT IN THE 1950’S, POSITIVIST SOCIOLOGISTS HAD DELIBERATELY LEFT THEIR OWN VALUES OUT OF THEIR RESEARCH FOR TWO MAIN REASONS:

1. The desire to appear scientific:

• Gain prestige, recognition and same level of funding as science

1. Employment by government, business and military:

• Sociological theory creates problems for society to solve e.g. Marx and capitalism causing exploitation

• However, since the 1950s, sociologists have become problem takers as they now try to solve problems for the government, military and businesses e.g. realists coming up with solutions to crime

  • If sociologists are unable to solve problems then they lose the funding, research and prestige that they seek.

• Reflect views of employers to solve problems e.g. the Government and Realists supporting the CJS

3. AO1- Sociology is not and should not be value free- it should be committed sociology

(AO1) Interpretivists- Value free research isn’t valid or representative in painting an accurate picture of society.

• Oakley is criticised by interpretivists as she gave advice to participants which shows her imparting her own values onto participants

(AO2) Gomm-‘a value free Sociology is impossible… the very idea is unsociological’: Aim to improve society through using the inevitability of values to help individuals

(AO2) Gouldner- “Those who claim to be value free are merely gutless non-academics with few moral scruples who have sold out to the establishment in return for a pleasant university lifestyle.”

(AO2) Becker: Underdog Theory:

• Traditionally sociology has taken the view of those in power e.g. teachers/doctors being the highest authority

• Argues that sociologists should in fact take the view of the underdog

• Found how the teachers were harming their students and ignored teachers to create that barrier and distance

• Directly went against teachers by putting pressure on the teachers e.g. rapid changes in personality in order to help the student

• A similar viewpoint should be taken with the healthcare sector

  • Take the view of the patient rather than the doctor e.g. a patient’s experience of mental illness

(AO3) Postmodernism Lyotard (1984), Baudrillard (2001):

• Lyotard- Sociological value debate= metanarrative

• Baudrillard-

Relativism- Truth is relative and the value freedom debate has no monopoly of truth or special access

Therefore, value freedom and value laden is equally true.

(AO1) Marxism

(AO2) Taylor, Walton and Young (1979)- New criminology

‘Radical criminology's strategy is to show up the law, in it’s true colours, as the instrument of the ruling class, and the rule makers are also the greatest rule breakers’

Theory and Methods- Suicide (AO2)

Durkheim Research on Suicide:

Emile Durkheim conducted a research in 1869, on suicide rate in three countries, Denmark England and France. He was not interested in determining the personality traits of the individuals who committed suicide, however, he wanted to identify social links in the countries which influence the rate of suicide. His prime objective of the research was to study the social facts (beliefs, value, norms and culture) of the countries which have impact on suicide rate.

The statistics of his research state that, in England 67 individuals committed out of per million inhabitants, however, in France 137 people committed suicide out of per million inhabitants, whereas highest rate of suicide was in Denmark 277 people committed suicide out of per million inhabitants.

Emile Durkheim got curious about the high rate of suicide in Denmark. He wondered why Denmark have such a high rate of suicide compare to England and France. To find out the answer behind his curiosity, he considered social factor which might influence the behaviour of individual to commit suicide. Those social factor are given below; 
• Level of solidarity and cohesiveness in society

• Individual standing within a society

• Individual position in religious, social and occupational group

Durkheim identified that, suicide is committed by individual but the reason behind this act is hidden in the social life and group of the individual.

Findings of Durkheim Research

Findings of Durkheim research was based on correlation between some social factor and suicide rate such as, there is relationship between being married or single with suicide rate, people economic position and suicide rate and occupation of people and suicide rate. Detailed findings of Emile Durkheim research on suicide are given below.

Integration

The connectedness of individual with a group is called integration. The more individual is connected, loved and wanted by a group the lower is the chances of committing suicide. Individual who are not wanted or associated with a group, higher the chances of committing suicide.

Religion

Individual who is not affiliated with any religion, has a higher probability of committing suicide. According to Durkheim finding Protestants have high rate committing suicide compare to Jews and Catholics

Marriage

Individual who is not married or single has a higher rate of committing suicide compare to the married individual. Because a married individual is more connected and integrated with group than single individual.

Military

Soldiers have higher rate of committing suicide compare to civilians.

Economy

When the economic conditions of a country is unstable there is higher chance of committing suicide by individual compare to the time of prosperity.

Peace and War

The probability of committing suicide in the time of peace is higher than in the time of war.

Wealth

Individuals who are wealthy have higher probability of committing suicide than middle class and lower class individuals.

Sex/Gender

Males have higher rate of suicide compare to females.

Race

The rate of committing suicide in white people are higher than ethnic minorities.

1. What research method did Durkheim use?

• Durkheim used comparative method study

• He used secondary data sources in the form of official statistics

1. AO1- What social facts did Durkheim aim to measure?

• Beliefs

• Norms

• Values

1. AO1- Highlight the area that identifies patterns and trends?

2. AO2- How could this be used in the ‘is sociology a science debate’?

• Sociology= science as patterns and trends are being determined from quantitative data source

• His findings are open to falsification and

• Aims to identify cause and effect relationships

• Sociology= not a science as there is determinism rather than true reasoning behind the rates of suicide

• Fallacy of induction means that he has no absolute proof that the factors directly cause suicide

• Not relevant as it has been falsified rather than withstanding the test of falsification

1. AO2- How could this be used in the value freedom/ value laden or objectivity/ subjectivity debate?

• This shows that sociology is value-free as it used a detached researcher and secondary data sources

• Sociology is value laden as in order to interpret the data Durkheim would have to impart his own values

1. AO3- provide analysis of Durkheim’s study

• Men commit more suicide than women and as of 2004 France had a much higher rate of suicide than the UK

• Greece, Mexico and Italy are Catholic countries and have the lowest rates of suicide amongst OECD countries

1. AO3- evaluate Durkheim’s study

• Generalises suicide rates with mental health but the constraints of society may prevent suicide

• The suicide statistics may be skewed by the values of those that collate data e.g. coroner

• Can’t measure control or integration- operationalisation

Interpretivist/ ethnomethodologist study of suicide

These are criticisms from outside the positivist perspective. They make fundamental criticisms of the whole positivist approach to the study of suicide, its use of official statistics and its claim to scientific status. This alternative approach is based on the interpretive perspective.

Interpretivists place central importance on the role of meaning in human action. It is how a person interprets a situation that gives it a particular meaning and therefore calls forth a particular action. Humans do not simply have an 'automatic' response to external stimuli, they think, and thus behaviour reflects a person's interpretation of the significance of external stimuli. Hence people will respond differently to experiences such as unemployment and divorce, they will not automatically go out and kill themselves.

Interpretivist sociologists make two major criticisms of the traditional sociological approach:

• Statistical problems

• Theoretical problems

Statistical problems

Interpretations suggest that official statistics are not simply collected but are socially constructed - that is they are a product of a process of interpretation and negotiation and decision making by various officials. The central problems (like all official statistics) centre around the issues of reliability and validity. As regards validity, it is likely that there is an under-recording of the true rate of suicide. As regards reliability, it is clear that there are differences between coroners and officials in determining suicidal intent, consequently it is likely that there will be problems in comparing different regions or countries and developing a general theory to explain suicide.

J. Douglas (1967) The Social Meaning of Suicide

Douglas suggests that:

• Durkheim did not give enough consideration to how official statistics on suicide are collected. They contain gross inaccuracies.

• In each case of death an official agency investigates and officials interpret the death to decide cause.

• What ends up in the official statistics as a suicide is therefore the end result of a process of interpretation and decision-making.

• These data problems arise from the criteria used by coroners to diagnose death.

J. Maxwell Atkinson, Societal Reactions to Suicide: The Role of Coroner's Definitions.

• Individuals create meanings for phenomena

1. The data problem

Suicide is clearly not easy to study and thus there has tended to be an over reliance on official statistics. Two main data problems have been investigated: investigations into the accuracy of official statistics, and investigations into the validity of such statistics.

2. Problems of the coroner

The coroner has to conduct an inquest where s/he is forced to rely on clues to infer suicidal intent. In fact, a coroner constructs a psychological autopsy.

3. Indicators of suicidal intent

Suicide notes:

1. Surest sign - but notes can conceal homicide and notes are only found in a minority of cases. Additionally, notes might be destroyed (by friends/relatives).

2. Study of suicide notes suggests that genuine notes are rational, give practical advice and have an awareness of the consequences of their death. They also give some idea of the social meaning of suicide.

Mode of death:

1. Certain types of death are more likely to be interpreted as suicide than others. For example, road deaths are unlikely to be viewed as suicide, but hanging is.

2. Some methods are less clear-cut. For example, drug overdoses, because there is the problem of proving intent, rather than a mistake. Atkinson writes:

'In the absence of a suicide note... the way a person died serves as a general initial pointer to the kind of verdict which is expected or to the further kinds of evidence which will be needed to make a decision.'

3. The search for clues can lead to idiosyncratic rules of thumb in making a decision. For example, a thing I look for in a drowning is whether or not the clothes are left folded. If they are found neatly folded on the beach, it usually points to a suicide.

(We are left to wonder why!?)

Location and circumstances of death:

These give clues as to suicidal intent, for example a deserted place is seen as more likely to be a real attempt. There seems to be a belief that if someone wants to kill themselves, they will make a realistic attempt at it and steps will be taken to ensure the maximum probability of death.

Life history and mental condition:

Coroners tend to have ideas about the kinds of circumstance which can lead people to suicide. For example, broken homes, divorce and redundancy. The general belief is that the suicide is unhappy, so coroners search for a possible cause of unhappiness.

Atkinson, Kessel and Dalgaard (1975) The Comparability of Suicide Rates, British Journal of Psychiatry

Suspecting that suicide rates were the product of coroner's judgements, four English and five Danish coroners were asked to decide on forty cases. The Danes were much more likely to pronounce a suicide verdict, since in Denmark the verdict can be used when on the balance of probabilities suicide seems likely, whereas in England, coroners have to find evidence of definite suicidal intent - beyond reasonable doubt.

Consequently, it can be argued that, the higher suicide rate in Denmark is due to the different rules for reaching a verdict rather than any differences in suicidal behaviour between the two countries.

1. What meaning and experiences did Douglas and Atkinson try to uncover?

• The social and indivdualistic experieneces of suicide and social construction of data

• Human error involved in suicide collection

• Looking at causes in what causes depression rather than just individuals reacting to phenomena

1. AO2- How could this be used in the ‘is sociology a science debate’?

• This suggests sociology isn’t a science as it becomes clear that data cannot be objective as it is met with social and individual interpretation at every turn

• This isn’t open to falsification but instead verification

1. AO2- How could this be used in the value freedom/ value laden or objectivity/ subjectivity debate?

• Suggests that to get both internal and external validity sociology must be value laden in order to correctly interpret data and avoid generalisations being made

• Value laden allows for the idiocinrcies of suicide to be interpreted

1. AO3- provide analysis of the interpretivists work

• This is clear from the social construction of victimhood e.g. Stephen Lawerence Murder, Hillsborough disaster rise in 2014 homicide rose by 96

• BLM protests=unacceptable teacher protests= acceptable

• Grenfell vs Notre Dame

• Rise of technology makes being a coroner becoming less subjective

• Coroner reports are still used today

1. AO3- evaluate Interpretivists work

• Impractical as it can never truly be representative of everyone as there is no way to establish cause and effect relationship

• undereplays the role of detachment from mainstream society in causing suicide

• overestimates the amount of police error and bias as 90% of crime is reported to the police by the public

• Suicide is a tangible and measurable phenomena, which is not socially constructed but prevalent in society

Exam questions

Outline and explain two arguments for the view that society can be studied objectively (10 marks)

A Level Sociology

Theory and Methods: Theory and approaches to methods

Spec Title: the theoretical, practical and ethical considerations influencing choice of topic, choice of method(s) and the conduct of research consensus, conflict, structural and social action theories

RECAP: What are their views on statistics:

Functionalism:

• Useful in gaining a representative view of society

• Helps sociology become more scientific

• Used to inform policy

• Reliable because they can be repeated at a cheap rate

• Can inform other methods of sociological study

• Objective- social facts

Feminism:

• They are unrepresentative as statistics are male stream and are based on the issues that affect men and men want to explore

• Unreliable due to the dark figure of crime

• Male categories

Marxism:

• Bourgeoisie reflect interests

• Neglect views of the Proletariat

• Not useful as they only represent Bourgeoisie interests and norms

• Hide the failings of capitalism e.g. unemployment statistics hidden in prison statistics

• CSEW= government funded

• Official statistics reflect blue collar crime rather than white collar crime

Interactionism:

• Disregard and denounce official statistics as there is low validity

• Only reflects the views of moral entrepreneurs

• Official statistics are a social construction

AO1: Alternative methodologies make assumptions about the nature of society and how research should be conducted.

AO2: Feminism for example can be an alternative methodology as they have a unique way of doing research.

AO1: Social constructionism

• Social constructionists are critical of knowledge

• Burr (1995)- Knowledge is not product of objective observation but socially constructed through discourse, and therefore statistics are socially constructed

Method of deconstruction:

• Discourse- shared set of assumptions and way of thinking about a particular subject

AO1: Foucault (1967,1977) adopted a case study approach to prisons, medicine and sexuality.

• Case study on the history of Mental illness:

  • Found that in the Middle Ages madness and mental illness was seen as harmless

  • However, in 20th century society mental illness needs to be labelled and diagnosed through a discourse of medicine- NOW it needs to be treated

• Case Study on the history of sexuality:

  • Before the influence of the Church, there had been a range of sexualities

20th century since the influence of the Church, sexualities have been tempered and categorised and now viewed as good or bad

• Case Study on the history of Gender:

  • Pre-colonialism in India, there was a 3rd gender called Hijras

  • 20th century- 2 genders in India

AO2:

• Aries: social construction of race

• Social construction of ethnicity on census

Marxism:

• Marxist reject the view that statistics are objective:

• Created by and reflect the views of the Bourgeoisie

• Statistics serve the objectives of capitalism and the ruling class

• Increased life expectancy justifies the increase of the retirement age

• increased productivity of workers.

• Hides failings of capitalism in prison statistics and unemployment statistics

• Despite GDPgrowing and suggesting growth, it hides the individual loss and failings of individual capitalism

• Althusser- statistics are a type of ideological state apparatus:

• False class-consciousnessmakes people feel capitalism is beneficial to them e.g. PISA rankings, Life expectancy

• Statistics distorts and conceals the real issues:

• The success in one area of society comes at the expense of another area in society

• Taxation and tax cuts leads to less public service funding

• Globalisation and outsourcing

AO2: Hall-

• Unemployment statistics hidden within prison

• Downes- 40% of unemployment is soaked up by prison population

AO3: Evaluation:

• Not all official statistics show the successes of capitalism

  • e.g. a rise in the prison population

• Joseph Rowntree Foundation- exposes the failings of capitalism

  • E.g. after housing costs 30% of children are in relative poverty and 22% of all people are in poverty

Methods used by Feminists: Ethnographies, surveys and statistical studies, experiments, cross-cultural comparisons, oral histories, content analysis and case studies (Reinharz 1992)

AO1: Reinharz (1992) proposes a number of features:

• Feminist research uses a range of methods and gives an ongoing criticism of non-feminist research.

  • Heidensohn- sociology= male stream

• Feminist research is guided by feminist theory and aims to create social change.

• Feminist research frequently includes the researcher as a person and attempts to develop a special relationship with the people studied.

  • Oakley- Birth and motherhood research

AO1: Feminist methodology:

• Government statistics conceal real issues of patriarchy and are a form of patriarchal ideologies:

  • There are no statistics on housework or unpaid labour thus, women’s issues are being ignored e.g. domestic violence and sex trafficking

  • Underrepresentation of female criminality

• Definitions for statistics are constantly changing:

  • The class of a woman was tied to her husband’s career- 2001 classification changed to who pays the rent/ owns the house, now whoever earns the most and this now ties women to their job and ignores their contributions in the private sphere

• Feminist methodology offers a critical stance towards positivism and non-feminist research:

  • Positivism hides the meanings and experiences of women

  • Combines women experiences to their husbands

  • Ignores the true and accurate position of the woman

• It aims to avoid gender bias and reveal true experiences of women

  • Avoid ‘patriarchal methods’ e.g. structured interviews, Official statistics, questionnaires

  • Quantitative methods create power imbalance reflects the subordination of women

  • Aim of research should be complete equality between researcher and participant

• Oakley (1981) -structured interviews and quantitative research are regarding as ‘masculine’ and should be replaced with reflexive unstructured interviews that are distinctive feminist approach

• No hierarchies in research:

• Researchers should be attached to participants:

• Participants/respondents are not pods for information:

AO2/3: Ann Oakley’s research ‘birth and motherhood’ study:

In her research on women becoming mothers, she used 178 unstructured interviews.

She looked into issues such as returning to work after birth and postnatal depression

She would on average spend 9 hours a week on interviews.

She would answer questions about herself and took the participants as her friends.

She attended some of the births of these women and carried the child.

She says this relationship meant that women were engaging in the research and would call her to give her more information

• Advice was given to improve her results by providing more information and valid data

• Showed involvement and immersion with her participants

• ‘Feminists should collaborate with their participants to gain information’

• They called her following her kindness to give her more information

AO3: Evaluation of Oakley:

• Highlights weaknesses in positivist research

• Interpretivists would partially support her study as she looked for the deeper meanings

• Positivists would argue that she became too attached which therefore, undermines her validity

• Interpretivists would also criticise Oakley as she imparted her own bias into the research by giving them advice.

AO3: Evaluation of Feminist approaches to methods:

• Not value-free, no objectivity

• Impractical, high time and cost

• Misrepresent the opinions of participants:

  • Shape research to support our own hypothesis

  • Dobash and Dobash domestic violence is caused by marriage

• Value of liberation- ethnocentric e.g. putting priority on financial independence and matrifocality

• Post-structural feminists reject the idea that research reveals the truth (socially constructed discourses)- source of discourse will liberate women

  • The value laden research leads to determinism and generalisation

Theory and Methods: Sociology and Social policies

Spec Title: the relationship between Sociology and social policy.

Social Policy:

• A government initiative, central or local, that aims to meet the welfare needs of the population

  • Aiming to achieve societal goals or directly trying to solve a social problem.

    • Ban of Single Use Vapes:

Social Problem:

• An area of concern in society that causes politicians, the media or the general public to think that something needs to be done

  • Something that causes harm or discord to society

How do social problems lead to social policies?

• Gender pay gap= Equal Pay Act

• Knife crime= Knife Amnesty bins (2020), Manchester Feb 2020- July 2020 554 knives

The role of sociology in social policies (Giddens, 2001):

• 3rd Way Labour policies

• Sociology has an important role in the creation of social policy.

• Sociologists have the knowledge and skills required to conduct research into, and conclude reasons for certain social phenomena. They can:

• Inform policy makers on cultural differences:

• Insights into the effectiveness of policy on different individuals

• Research to motivate policies:

• Generate patterns in which certain groups follow to better understand them:

• Cause people to question government:

AO2: The economics and social research council (ESRC):

Funds research, for example Middleton et al 2005 looked at policies to increase participation in post 16 to reduce numbers not in education, employment or training.

• Link to Sugarman Immediate gratification and w/c culture

This caused the introduction of EMA – increased uptake by 6% - national policy in 2004

Key findings:

• Paid to young people rather than their caregivers

  • Increased participation than paying to caregivers

• EMA had a strong impact on boys over girls

• Hit objective of increasing participation rates by 6%

How did they reach the conclusion that EMA should be paid directly to young people rather than adults?

What would Sociologists say the roles of social policies are?

Marxism: Social policy benefits and reinforces the hegemony and ideology of the ruling class

• EMA

• EBACC

Feminism: Radical feminism- social policies are used to oppress women: Sure start, paternity leave, care in the community, child maintenance paid directly to the mother

Liberal feminists- March of Progress for women: Equality Act 2010, Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act, Martial rape Act 1991

Functionalism: Social policy keeps society in consensus and functioning and prevents anomie keeps everyone engaged in society

• FSM: keeps children in school so they can maintain norms and values

• Sure Start

• Every Child Matters

New Right: The government’s job to maintain liberalism therefore, they should reduce government intervention to minimal amounts

• e.g. Universal credit, marriage tax allowance

Postmodernism: Sociologists should not be involved with social policy

• Social policy research= metanarrative

• Social policy can only ever truly reflect the views of a single sociologist:

  • Situational crime prevention only reflects views of the New Right

AO2: Social Democratic Perspective: Townsend (1979):

• 1977 hired by labour party to research UK poverty

• Coined the term relative deprivation

• Offered solutions on how to solve relative deprivation

  • 23% of the country were in poverty and the government put it down as 7%

• Thatcher won the election so ignored his left-wing solutions

Evaluation of Positivism: Do Quantitative methods address social problems?

• Housing- expensive

• Sociological solutions are too idealistic to work in the political realm

• Frankfurt School- Sociology is restricted to the political field to gain true influence and funding, society is too complex to be measured under exclusively positivist methods to implement change

Frankfurt school: argues that research like this takes out the expertise of sociologist interpretation

Sociologists are experts in their field so they should not just rely on facts and figures– society cannot just be rationally understood.

Simmel (1950) identified factors which affect social policies:

Giddens (2001):

• Giddens identified ways in which social policy relates to sociology:

  1. Sociology can inform policy makers

  2. Sociological research can assess the results of policy initiatives

  3. Sociology may generate greater self-understanding. This can lead to the formation of pressure and protest groups. - Fathers 4 Justice, Just Stop Oil, Christian New Right (Westboro Baptist Church)

• Giddens has been influential in policy making.

• His work on third way politics was seen as the manifesto for New Labour.

  1. EDUCATION, EDUCATION, EDUCATION

  2. Clause 4- removal of nationalisation of Banks, giving more freedom to banks

• His recent book, Over to You, Mr Brown, outlines the current issues that need to be addressed after Tony Blair.

• Giddens; theoretical ideas can therefore be seen as setting the political agenda for policy making.

Giddens (2006)

9 ways sociology can improve our lives:

• Providing an awareness of cultural differences and of others

• Radical empathy, verstehen

• Providing self-awareness and understanding

• Reflexivity- reflect, change, challenge and question our actions

• Challenging assumptions- McNeill (1986)

• Sociology can become a common sense way of thinking

• Providing a theoretical framework

• Crime- realism= policy, cause of crime and solutions to crime

• Providing practical, professional knowledge

• Large scope and limitless areas for research

• Direct impact on individuals

• Identifying social problems

• Providing the evidence

• Inform policy makers- provide evidence through research

• Identifying the unintended consequences of policies

• Latent functions of sociology and research

• Addressing the results

• Was the research effective and successful

(AO2) Gregg et al – example of how social research can be used to create social policy

• They used a group of 6,000 children born in and around Bristol in 1991 and 1992. The research considered various categories of development such as school performance, self-esteem and IQ.

• These areas were analysed in relation to parental income and behaviours. Behaviours included depression, the food eaten, reading to children and their physical environment.

• They found that by 7, children in w/c families were doing worse in education, had low self-esteem and were at a greater risk of obesity.

• They also found that car ownership of m/c families discouraged the participation of physical activity.

• Long hours in childcare for children aged 3 or 4 generated greater behavioural problems for affluent families.

• The research proposed that policy interventions must recognise that the impact of income operates in different ways.

• A multifaceted approach is needed in policymaking.

Applying year 13 concepts to year 12 research methods

Starter

1. Outline two problems of using qualitative data in sociological research (4 marks)

2. Outline two ethical issues research should consider before carrying out a sociological study (4 marks)

3. Outline two differences between public and personal documents (4 marks)

4. Outline two reasons why sociologists may undertake a pilot study (4 marks)

5. Outline two types of sampling methods (4 marks)

Example 10 mark questions

1. Outline and explain two advantages of using official statistics in sociological research (10 marks)

2. Outline and explain two reasons why experiments are often associated with the positivist approach in Sociology (10 marks)

3. Outline and explain two ethical problems with covert research. (10 marks)

4. Outline and explain two theoretical problems with participant observation (10 marks)

5. Outline and explain two practical problems of the use of postal questionnaires in sociological research (10 marks)

Example 20 mark questions

Applying material from ITEM C and your knowledge, evaluate the advantages of using structured interviews in sociological research. [20 marks]

10 mark question

Outline and explain two disadvantages of using laboratory experiments in sociological research (10 marks).

One disadvantage of using laboratory experiments is the lack of ecological validity. This is because in a laboratory experiment, all variables are controlled within a setting including the independent variable in order to identify the cause and effect by measuring the impact on the dependent variable. An example of this is Albert Bandura’s experiment (bobo doll) used to measure the impact of the exposure of violence on young people. However, the setting in which Bandura created the play room is not reflective of reality. Children within the experiment may have reacted violently towards the bobo doll but the bobo doll does not reflect individuals in society, and this was potentially recognised by the children within the study. According to Interpretivists, this weakness is significant as validity is pivotal in understanding the choices and actions of individuals. This can be supported by Interactionists who argue that humans do not behave like animals or any other creature, since they are actors who interpret a stimuli and make informed decisions by taking on the role of the other (Mead). Consequently, for Interpretivist, laboratory experiments are in an artificial setting and therefore any behaviour which occurs within it is a product of its environment and not applicable to society and the natural phenomena. Likewise, Positivists that choose laboratory experiments in the desire to investigate humans and individuals similar to natural sciences fail to recognise that humans have free will. Therefore, one significant weakness of laboratory experiments is the lack of validity and therefore the inability to apply it to humans in society.