The Sociology of Sociology As told by Dr. Frank Elwell

The Sociology of Sociology

As told by Dr. Frank Elwell

Paradigms

A paradigm refers to the fact that scientists assume a view of what the world is like and then work within this assumption.

It is a set of background assumptions about how the world works--a world view.

Paradigms

A common assumption of how things work aids research because it helps trained minds to focus on problems with a concerted effort.

Paradigms

Paradigms are a kind of intellectual roadmap for practitioners to follow when doing their research. The map tells them what to look for, how to go about looking, and what they might find. Scholars work within paradigms. At the same time, paradigms can narrow your view.

Paradigms

In 1962, Thomas Kuhn, a physicist, proposed the concept of paradigm in his book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.

Paradigms

So paradigms form a framework for understanding the world, but at the same time, they may serve to restrict our vision, to bias the result of our investigations.

Paradigms

According to Kuhn, science does not advance by the evolutionary process of slow accumulation of knowledge. Science advances by revolution.

Paradigms

The Kuhnian model of the advancement of all sciences:

Paradigm 1 ---> Normal Science ---> Anomalies ---> Crisis--> Revolution ---> Paradigm 2 --->…

Paradigms

"Normal science" is a period of the slow accumulation of knowledge. In these periods, scientists work on, expand, and modify the reigning paradigm.

Paradigms

The work of normal science inevitably spawns anomalies--things or facts that simply cannot be explained by the existing paradigm.

Paradigms

As anomalies mount, a crisis stage is reached, and some scientists begin attacking the reigning paradigm and to cast around for a new paradigm that can explain what is known.

Paradigms

At this point, somebody looks at the subject differently and formulates a new paradigm.

The proponents of the new paradigm are often attacked and ridiculed--sometimes even expelled from the ranks of scientists.

Paradigms

Over time, if the new paradigm makes more sense of reality, it gains supporters, and soon the new paradigm becomes dominant.

The stage is then set for the process to repeat itself.

Scientific Revolutions:

Copernicus and Sun Centered Universe

Newton and Physics Pastuer and Germ Theory Lister and antiseptics Darwin and Evolution Einstein and Relativity

Properties of Paradigms

The new paradigm is often met with hostility.

The new paradigm explains many anomalies, it also paves the way for new anomalies to arise.

There are many social factors involved in the scientific enterprise.

Properties of Paradigms

Science is not the ivory tower of pure thought and rationality that it pretends to be.

Some Observations:

Western science is becoming smug. Practitioners believe that they possess all the answers, or that they will be able to discover all the answers simply by extending the existing paradigms.

Some Observations:

While they may be able to look at paradigmatic revolutions of the past--there is a smugness involved with this examination.

There are many anomalies in the modern world that cannot be accounted for under existing paradigms.

Some Observations:

Even today, scientist who propose new paradigms, who step outside the bounds of their science and propose new ways of looking at their subject matter, are still ridiculed, and expelled from professional societies.

Some Observations:

Some are even subject to government persecution. Medical science offers many examples: chiropractic medicine; faith healing; acupuncture; "cancer cures."

Some Observations:

People that subscribe to the reigning paradigm in medical science deny the existence of any anomalies.

They do not attempt to extend their own paradigm to account for any anomalies, but respond politically.

Some Observations:

They heap ridicule on innovators, labeling them as charlatans and quacks (many probably are).

They deny research funds to those who would seriously investigate outside .

Some Observations:

By its refusal to look at new phenomenon, by its refusal to seriously investigate alternative theories and claims that do not fit into the reigning paradigm, scientists are paving the way for ignorance.

Some Observations:

Charlatans, mystics, and their theories are not subjected to the scientific method, and thus take root among the general population. Such action ultimately results in a distrust in science in general.

Sociology of Sociology

Most scientific disciplines are dominated by a single paradigm, they develop a shared set of concepts, methods, and assumptions about their subject matter.


Sociology is a multiple paradigm science.

It is a collection of different perspectives based on different background assumptions of a common social reality.


A sociologist, like anyone else, has certain pre-conceived assumptions about social life.

Many of these assumptions are unexamined, not even a part of the science of sociology, but gained through the socialization process.


Many of these assumptions are based on beliefs, ideologies and experiences. They are back-ground assumptions of how the world operates that are rarely examined.


All of science is influenced by back-ground assumptions, social ideologies and perspectives.

This is especially noticeable in the social sciences (political science, anthropology, sociology, economics) because we deal with phenomena close to human experience.


Much theory may be subscribed to because the theory fits the back-ground assumptions of the holder, or the sociocultural system itself pushes one to look in that direction--not because of any “scientific proof.”


For example, the concept of evolution was established in social thought well before Darwin.

Darwin simply applied the evolutionary concepts developed by Malthus and Spencer to biological speciation.


The industrial and democratic revolutions are often identified as being responsible for the rise of sociology itself.


The growing concern over the environment has brought a strong ecological influence to contemporary sociological and anthropological theory.

Some Observations:

The point is that we should be conscious of the influence of social factors in social theory.

Some Observations:

For example, a psychologist who becomes a Freudian may do so because of faulty toilet training.

Some Observations:

Or, we may give our allegiance to the first theory we encounter in our field that fits our background assumptions. It may be entirely accidental.

Some Observations:

She (the psychologist) may have bought into Freud be cause she needs a father figure--or because she has been tormented by sexual desires all her life.

Dad:

Some Observations:

Alternatively (if your into conditioning), she may have become a Freudian because she had a good experience when answering an essay question on Freud.

Some Observations:

Or she may have become a Freudian because all her friends became Freudians.

Or, finally, it may have been the only perspective taught at her school.

Some Observations:

Science, both natural and social, is a system of perspectives and beliefs.

While these perspectives and beliefs are continually tested against reality, science is not a perfect rational system.

Some Observations:

It cannot be, it is a human construction of reality (either social or natural) and as such, must be imperfect.

No scientific theory is absolute. All science are tentative interpretations of reality. There should be doubt about any paradigm.

A Note:

This class should have been called social paradigms instead of social theory. What most people call theory are more precisely paradigms.

A theory states relationships in a testable manner, paradigms are world views, many parts of which cannot be tested.


What we will look at in this class are the founding fathers of the various paradigms in sociology.


Sociology began as a discipline in the 19th century largely as a reaction to the the democratic and industrial revolutions.


These men were acutely aware that their traditional society was crumbling.

They were especially concerned with where society (especially western society) was going.


Each of the eight we will study attempted to construct a paradigm (or theory if you like) that would explain what in the world was gong on.


A paradigm does not attempt to explain all of social reality. It simply attempts to describe the most important features of the social system.


If you attempted to account for everything, it would be long, boring, and as confusing as social reality itself.

The best theory (or paradigms) attempt to describe the most with the fewest possible statements or assumptions.


Social paradigms (or theories) are not made up for the express purpose of tormenting students.

Rather, their purpose is to aid people in understanding the social world around them.


Good theory should contribute to your understanding of the world around you.

It should serve as a beginning framework to organize the diverse data (not only in the sociological sense) that you encounter.


Theory serves as a guide that is especially helpful when you begin study of a new social area.

It tells you what to look for, how variables relate to one another, what you are likely to find.


Theory is absolutely essential in the scientific enterprise.

Science can only be advanced through theory; theory is disciplined by research.

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The Sociology of Sociology As told by Dr. Frank Elwell