Is Sociology a Science?

What is your view???

Why would Sociologistswant it to be a Science?

FundingPrestige

“Superior” knowledge (Wallace)

What is a Science?Empirical, untestable, testable, non-

causal relationships, causal relationships, cumulative, subjective, objective

TASKSELECT 6 WORDS FROM

THE ABOVE LISTAND CREATE A PARAGRAPH

Positivism

Comte

QueteletDurkheim

MARXParsons

Mayhew

Rowntree

Place the names in the correct chronological order

How could we arguethat Sociology isn’t a

Science?

Schutz…

Explore the meaningsThat people construct

C Wright Mills and Billing

“Science is a straight jacket”

Bauman

“Wanting to be Scientific is a product of modernity.”

Kuhn

Paradigms

Assess the view that sociologycan and should be seen as a

Science (33 marks)

The Official Statistics Debate

• Relevant names and issues to mention in your essay work.

Who gathers statistics?

• The government gathers statistics from the police.

• It commissions research projects from university researchers and teachers.

• Other agencies concerned with crime gather statistics.

Statistics: a social construction• Statistics may appear to be facts.

• However, statistics are not fully reliable as they are socially constructed by the people who gather the data.

What do statistics measure?

• Statistics measure crimes.• Crimes are socially defined, what is a crime

will vary according to changes in norms, values and mores.

• Things are made criminal, and they are legalised as society changes.

The case of domestic violence

• There are more reported cases of domestic violence than in the 1970s.

• Is there more violence?• Probably not – the police did not act on

reports of domestic violence and many women regarded violence as a ‘normal’ part of marriage.

Jock Young

• Jock Young (1994) pointed out that laws have been created, often quickly and without forethought, in response to moral panics or to political events.

• Examples include various laws against terrorism

Stephen Moore

• Stephen Moore points out that the police play a very significant part in the social construction of crime and deviance because it is they who record reported crimes.

Atkinson

• Atkinson criticised Durkheim’s study of Suicide.

• He said that Coroners create a definition of a typical suicide and then categorise individual deaths according to that social construction.

Frances Heidensohn

• Heidensohn says that the police have a powerful ‘canteen’ culture, which has elements of masculinism, authoritarianism, intolerance of ethnic minorities, a desire for excitement and strong notions of law enforcement.

• They will therefore categorise acts as criminal on the basis of these perceptions

Howard Becker

• Becker pointed out that delinquent boys were less likely to be charged if they behaved with a sufficiently cooperative and pleasant manner and if they were seen as basically ‘good’ than if they were aggressive or hostile.

How do we know about crime?

• Official Statistics• Victim Studies• Self Report Studies

Official Statistics

• Tell us about patterns of reporting, recording and conviction.

• We learn about public and police practice.• They give us a base line from which to work.

Victim studies

• The best known is the biennial British Crime Survey.• This is available on-line.• Adults from a large sample report which crimes they

have experienced.• They also report which crimes they have told the

police about – this is usually less than half the crime experienced.

The British Crime Survey• The statistically average person aged 16 or over can expect– a robbery once every five centuries (not attempts)– an asssault resulting in injury (even if slight) once every

century– a family car to be stolen or taken by once every 60 years– a burglary in the home once every forty years

• This glosses over the fact that some people are considerably more at risk than others.

The Islington Crime Survey

• Conducted by Jones et al (1986) • Islington is the seventh most deprived area in England). • The researchers found higher levels of victimisation and

multiple victimisation amongst women, ethnic minorities and the poor.

• Burglary, robbery, or sexual assault had touched a third of all households within the last twelve months.

Feminists and victim studies

• Feminist researchers such as Hanmer and Saunders 1984, Hall 1985 suggest levels of sexual crime against women are far higher that those revealed by national victim surveys and infinitely higher that those indicated by police records.

Fear of crime

• The British Crime Survey shows that older women tend to be the most afraid.

• Younger men - who are most likely to end up victim in a violent or criminal incident on the street - are the least likely to admit fear.

• However the repercussions for older people may be more serious if a crime is committed.

Self Report studies

• Ordinary people are asked what crimes they have committed.

• These reveal high levels of petty criminality.• They tend to focus on minor misdemeanours

rather than serious acts of deviance.

Hypothetico-Deductive Method

TaskDesign a survey aimed at finding

Out how happy young people are in Britain today

7 Steps

• Match the suicide activity

Starter – with the person next to you discuss and note down why suicide is an issue in crime and deviance and

reasons why someone might attempt suicide.

Learning objective – To understand the positivist explanations and methodology

for suicide.

• Learning outcomes – • I will be able to identify the positivist method and explanations for suicide

– E• I will be able to explain how Durkheim studied suicide – C-D• I will be able to evaluate Durkheim's methodological approach and

explanation for suicide – A-B

Task Published in 1897, Emile Durkheim's Suicide: A Study in Sociology was the first major sociological study of suicide. Keen to establish the value of a sociological approach,

Durkheim chose suicide, a highly personal act, which seemed more suited to a psychological rather than a sociological explanation. If he could show that suicide was

linked to society, rather than simply to individual psychology, then the value of sociology would be established.

In The Rules of the Sociological Method, Durkheim outlined the rules that sociologists should follow in order for sociology to become a science. In his words, The first and

most fundamental rule is: Consider social facts as things. Social facts include the norms, values and institutions of society. Durkheim found correlations between

suicide rates and a range of social facts. He claimed that these correlations indicated causal relationships. For example, an individual's) religion, marital status, family size

and age can all be used as measures of their level of integration in society. And in each case, the lower the level of integration, the higher the ‘rate of suicide’. In Durkheim's words, 'suicide varies inversely with the degree of integration of the social groups of

which the individual is a part'.

Durkheim used European suicide statistics to study suicide. In pairs, look at the numerous statistics on suicide and identify any facts and figures which might explain

suicide rates. If you can, try and identify any possible reasons.

Task From the statistics, Durkheim identified 4 categories for the types of suicide. There were ways he found

which helped him categories them. These were ....• Suicide and society (The answer for suicide lays in the relationship between society and the individual);

• Integration (how strongly or weakly individuals are bound to society) and• Regulation (how much or not society controls its members)

Now, copy the four types of suicide and add in the correct definition and examples below.

Type of suicide

Altruistic (too much

integration)

Egoistic (too little

integration)

Anomic (too little regulation)

Fatalistic (too much

regulation)

Means ....• The individual stands alone.

• The individual acts unselfishly and as a sense of

duty.• The individual has a sudden

change in their lives.• The individual believes nothing can be done and suicide offers an escape.

Now add in two examples of types of suicide for each category.

Task Read the following extract which challenges Durkheim's categorisation. Why is this?

Suicide bombings can be categorised as an extreme form of political protest. They appear to fit into Durkheim's category of altruistic suicide - acts by

people who are so highly integrated into a group that they are prepared to sacrifice their own lives to further its cause. The hopelessness experienced by some might also give ground for interpreting these suicides as fatalistic - the actions of people who feel trapped in a repressive regime, which is how

Palestinians would undoubtedly describe the state of Israel. Alternatively, their suicides could also be described as anomic - the result of living in a

society undergoing dramatic and disorientating social change. They could be egoistic, if the desire for reward in Paradise is the bombers' highest

motivation. Source: Swale, 2004A Palestinian suicide bomber Now, pick one of the

examples of suicide from the previous activity. Can

it fit more than one category?

Task Not only has Durkheim’s explanation for suicide been criticised, but his

methodological approach has too. In a table below, include four methodological advantages and disadvantages for his positivist approach. The first one has been

done for you (you can use page 218 for help).

Advantages Disadvantages

Representative Every act of suicide is an individual case/act, statistics are not the way to investigate it.