Conceptions of Social Reality

8/3/2019 Conceptions of Social Reality

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Conceptions of social reality

1. Sources of knowledge

2. The nature of science

3. Assumptions of social science4. Practice


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Nature of science

Determinism: events have causes; the same

causes produce the same events.

Empiricism: verifiable by observation

(experience classification quantification

discovery of relationships approximation to

the truth)

The principle of parsimony (Occams Razor)

Generality: what is true for some is true for all


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Functions of science

1 Its problem-seeking, question-asking,

hunch-encouraging, hypotheses-producing

function.

2 Its testing, checking, certifying function; its

trying out and testing of hypotheses; its

repetition and checking of experiments; its

piling up of facts 3 Its organizing, theorizing, structuring,

function; its search for larger generalizations


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4 Its history-collecting, scholarly function.

5 Its technological side; instruments, methods,

techniques. 6 Its administrative, executive, and

organizational side.

7 Its publicizing and educational functions. 8 Its applications to human use.

9 Its appreciation, enjoyment, celebration


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Social reality

What is the nature of social phenomena?

Are they observable?

Can the social sciences achieve the samedegree of rigor as the natural sciences?

Should they adopt the same methods as those

used in the natural sciences?


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Ontology

Is social reality external to the individual, or is

it the product of his consciousness?

The nominalist-realist debate:

Nominalism: the object of thought (i.e.

concepts) are merely words the meanings of

which are not dependent on reality;

Realism: objects have an independent existence

Particulars vs. universals; e.g. John is a man


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Epistemology

Positivist: knowledge is hard, real and can be

acquired and communicated. Therefore, the

researcher can act as observer.

Anti-positivist: knowledge is personal,

subjective and unique. Therefore, it requires

involvement with subjects on the part of the

researcher

Consider the role of language in transmitting

information.


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Human nature

Determinism: humans respond mechanically

to their environment. There is no free will.

Voluntarism: humans are initiators of their

own actions.

Consider the uprising in Tunisia: was it

initiated by individuals who controlled fully

their actions, or was it the work of some

extraneous factors?


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Methodological consequences

Positivism: the same methods used for natural

science are extended to social sciences.

-methods are quantitative: measurement of

concepts and identification of underlying

themes in search for universal laws.

-This approach is called nomothetic.

But what is the meaning of statistics?


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Anti-positivism: interest in subjective

experience of individuals as they create their

social world, how they create, modify and

interpret the world in which they live.

- methods are qualitative: emphasis is on the

unique and the particular, rather than the

universal

-This relativistic approach is called ideographic


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Practice

The study of language attitudes:

Which is more beautiful: English or French?

Which is richer?

Which is more modern?

How do individuals experience the beauty, the

richness, or the modernity of these

languages? Do they experience them in thesame way? What does it mean to say that 60%

found English more beautiful than French?

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Conceptions of Social Reality