Contents

Objective 1

Research Methodology 1

Review of Literature 1

Introduction 3

Sociology as a Science 4

Sociology as a value free science 8

Conclusion 10

Bibliography and Webliography 11

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 OBJECTIVES OF THE RESEARCH
 What is sociology?
 Sociology as a science.
 Sociology a value based science
 Sociology a value free science

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The nature of this research work is doctrinal. Secondary source of data has been used in this
study.The data have been obtained through –

Books
Journals
Internet
Reviews and editorials

REVIEW OF LITERATURE
DEFINITIONS-

 L.F. Ward defined Socioogy as -“Sociology is the science of society or of social

phenomena.”
 J.F.Cuber defined Sociology as- "Sociology may be defined as a body of scientific
knowledge about human relationships."
 R.E. Park and F.W. Burgess “Sociology is the science of collective beaviour”
 Reuter defined it as ‘The purpose of sociology is to establish a body of valid
principles a fund of objective knowledge that will make possible the direction and
control of social and human reality’
 T.Abel define it as “Sociology is the scientific study of social relationship, their
variety, their forms, whatever affects them and whatever they affect.”

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QUOTES-

 MaX Weber had clearly said about the sociology as a value free science “is not the
task which science can undertake ; it is rather the task of acting, willing person: he
weighs and chooses from among the values of the world. ” “As to whether the person
expressing these value judgements ought to adhere to those ultimate standards , is his
personal affair, it involves will and conscience, not empirical knowledge.”

BOOKS ON SOCIOLGY-

 An introduction to Sociology
-Vidya Bhushan & D.R. Sachdeva
 Sociology: Principles of sociology with an introduction to social thoughts .
-C.N.Shankar Rao

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 Introduction

What is sociology?
Sociology is the study of social behaviour or society, including its origins, development,
organization, networks, and institutions.1 It is a social science that uses various methods of
empirical investigation2 and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order,
disorder, and change. Many sociologists aim to conduct research that may be applied directly to
social policy and welfare, while others focus primarily on refining the theoretical understanding
of social processes. Subject matter ranges from the micro-sociology level of individual agency
and interaction to the macro level of systems and the social structure.3

The traditional focuses of sociology include social stratification, social class, social mobility,
religion, secularization, law, sexuality and deviance. As all spheres of human activity are
affected by the interplay between social structure and individual agency, sociology has gradually
expanded its focus to further subjects, such as health, medical, military and penal institutions, the
Internet, education, and the role of social activity in the development of scientific knowledge.

The range of social scientific methods has also expanded. Social researchers draw upon a variety
of qualitative and quantitative techniques. The linguistic and cultural turns of the mid-twentieth
century led to increasingly interpretative, hermeneutic, and philosophic approaches towards the
analysis of society. Conversely, the end of the 1990s and the beginning of 2000s have seen the
rise of new analytically, mathematically and computationally rigorous techniques, such as agent-
based modelling and social network analysis.4

Social research informs politicians and policy makers, educators, planners, legislators,
administrators, developers, business magnates, managers, social workers, non-governmental
organizations, non-profit organizations, and people interested in resolving social issues in
general. There is often a great deal of crossover between social research, market research, and
other statistical fields.

Subjectivity and objectivity :One of the central problem of sociology is subjectivity and
objectivity.

1
sociology. (n.d.). The American Heritage Science Dictionary. Retrieved 13 July 2013, from Dictionary.com
website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sociology.
2
Ashley D, Orenstein DM (2005). Sociological theory: Classical statements (6th ed.). Boston, Massachusetts, US:
Pearson Education. pp. 3–5, 32–40.
3
Giddens, Anthony, Duneier, Mitchell, Applebaum, Richard. 2007. Introduction to Sociology. Sixth Edition. New
York: W.W. Norton and Company. Chapter 1.
4
Macy, Michael; Willer, Robb (2002). "From Factors to Actors: Computational Sociology and Agent-Based
Modeling". Annual Review of Sociology. 28: 143–66. doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.28.110601.141117.

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The problem of subjectivity and objectivity can be divided into a concern over the general
possibilities of social actions, and, on the other hand the specific problem of social scientific
knowledge. In the former, the subjective is often equated (though not necessarily) with the
individual, and the individual's intentions and interpretations of the objective. The objective is
often considered any public or external action or outcome, on up to society writ large. A primary
question for social theorists, is how knowledge reproduces along the chain of subjective-
objective-subjective, that is to say: how is intersubjectivity achieved? While, historically,
qualitative methods have attempted to tease out subjective interpretations, quantitative survey
methods also attempt to capture individual subjectivities. Also, some qualitative methods take a
radical approach to objective description in situ.

The latter concern with scientific knowledge results from the fact that a sociologist is part of the
very object they seek to explain. Bourdieu puts this problem rather succinctly.

How can the sociologist effect in practice this radical doubting which is indispensable for
bracketing all the presuppositions inherent in the fact that she is a social being, that she is
therefore socialised and led to feel "like a fish in water" within that social world whose structures
she has internalised? How can she prevent the social world itself from carrying out the
construction of the object, in a sense, through her, through these unself-conscious operations or
operations unaware of themselves of which she is the apparent subject.

Sociology as a Science

Social research is a process for producing new knowledge about the social world in a
structured, organized, and systematic way .

I. Why Is Sociology a Science?

Why is social science (sociology) science? Is sociology simply a pseudo-science? After all, its
ability to predict the future is questionable! Isn't it? What is science? In mathematics, 2 + 2
always = 4. Sociology often cannot make precise predictions.

In response, one might argue that just because the subject matter of sociology is more difficult to
study than the subjects pursued in other sciences, it does not mean that the scientific method is
inappropriate for the social sciences. The subject matter of sociology experiences continuous

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change. This fact alone renders efforts at prediction difficult. Problems relating to prediction can
be found in the biological science as well. One should note the problems encountered as
biologists try to track the AIDS virus. It too continually mutates.

Sociology is a science every bit as much as biology or chemistry. Social sciences, like natural
and biological sciences, use a vigorous methodology. This means that a social scientist clearly
states the problems he or she is interested in and clearly spells out how he or she arrives at their
conclusions. Generally, social scientists ground the procedure in a body of existing literature.
This is precisely how other sciences function.

The Scientific Method5

The scientific method is a systematic, organized series of steps that ensures maximum objectivity
and consistency in researching a problem (Schaefer and Lamm, 1992:35). The following are
some components of the scientific method.

A. Test Ideas

Don't take assumptions for granted. Don't rely on common sense. Don't rely on traditional
authority figures.

B. Evidence must Be Observable

Evidence should be observable because other Sociologists might want to perform the same
study in order to verify or refute findings.

1. Social Facts

Henslin (1999:16) notes that Durkheim stressed social facts. He calls them "patterns of
behavior that characterize a social group." Appelbaum & Chambliss (1997:12) defines social
facts as "qualities of groups that are external to individual members yet constrain their thinking
and behavior." For example, one may display a particular behavior when with friends, but feel
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constrained to act differently when in a more formal setting. The effect of a social group on
individual behavior is a social fact.

C. Describe How Evidence is Gathered

Any study of society should specify the methods the researcher used to obtain his or her
information, the setting (where the researcher conducted the study), and the population (whom
they studied). This is done so that other social scientists may test your findings. Social scientists
are cautious in accepting the findings of other. Studies are often replicated to verify findings of
initial studies.

D. Theory

A theory is a set of ideas [generalizations] supported by facts. Theories try to make sense out
of those facts. Social scientists seldom accept theories as laws. Often they are not considered
totally true. Furthermore, the subjects they attempt to explain (i.e., people and social institutions)
are variable. Gergen (1982:12) in D'Andrade (p 27) states:

"It may be ventured that with all its attempts to emulate natural science inquiry, the past
century of sociobehavioral research and theory has failed to yield a principle as reliable as
Archimedes principle of hydrostatics or Galileo's Law of uniformly accelerated motion."

E. Hypothesis

Because theories are general ideas, social scientists do not test them directly. A hypothesis is a
speculative (or tentative) statement that predicts the relationship between two or more variables.
It is, in essence, an educated guess. It specifies what the researcher expects to find. To be
considered meaningful, a hypothesis must be testable; that is, capable of being evaluated
(Schaefer & Lamm, 1992: 38).

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Methods of Gathering Data6

Weber suggested that sociology needs several methods of investigation. The following material
provides various benefits and problems associated with four methods of gathering data.

A. Case Studies (field study)

1. Description

Case studies (or field studies) explore social life in its natural setting, observing and
interviewing people where they live, work, and play (Kendall, 1998:25).

B. The Survey (Interviews)

1. Description

The researcher asks questions of the cases face to face or in a questionnaire.

C. Experiment

1. Description

Kendall (1998:26) describes an experiment as a "carefully designed situation (often taking

place in a laboratory) in which the researcher studies the impact of certain factors on subjects'
attitudes or behaviors."

D. Existing data (Secondary Data Analysis)

1. Description
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 Existing data includes government records (census), personal documents, or mass
communication (published books, the news, movies).

The Statistical Abstract of the United States is an excellent source of existing data.

Sociology as a value free science7

The subject matter of sociology is human behavior in society. All social behavior is guided by
values. Thus the study of social behavior can never be value-free if value freedom is interpreted
in the sense of absence of values because values of the society under investigation form a part of
the social facts to be studied by sociology. Moreover social research is in itself a type of social
behavior and is guided by the value of search for true knowledge. Then what is meant as clarified
by Max Weber value-free sociology means that the sociologist while carrying social research
must confine called value relevance. Thus the values can operate at three levels:

At the level of philological interpretation.

At the level of ethical interpretation in assigning value to an object of enquiry.

At the level of rational interpretation in which the sociologists seeks the meaningful
relationship between phenomena in terms of causal analysis. The point of value interpretation is
to establish the value towards which an activity is directed.

Sociologists should observe value neutrality while conducting social research. It means that he
should exclude ideological or non -scientific assumption from research. He should not make
evaluative judgment about empirical evidence. Value judgment should be restricted to
sociologists' area of technical competence. He should make his own values open and clear and
refrain from advocating particular values. Value neutrality enables the social scientists to fulfill
the basic value of scientific enquiry that is search for true knowledge. Thus sociology being a
science cherishes the goal of value neutrality. According to Alvin Gouldner value-free principle
did enhance the autonomy of sociology where it could steadily pursue basic problems rather than

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journalistically react to passing events and allowed it more freedom to pursue questions
uninteresting either to the respectable or to the rebellious. It made sociology freer as Comte had
wanted it to be -to pursue all its own theoretical implications. Value free principle did contribute
to the intellectual growth and emancipation of the enterprise.Value-free doctrine enhanced
freedom from moral compulsiveness; it permitted a partial escape from the parochial
prescriptions of the sociologists' local or native culture. Effective internalization of the value-free
principle has always encouraged at least a temporary suspension of the moralizing reflexes built
into the sociologist by his own society. The value-free doctrine has a paradoxical potentiality; it
might enable men to make better value judgments rather than none. It could encourage a habit of
mind that might help men in discriminating between their punitive drives and their ethical
sentiments. However in practice it has been extremely difficult to fulfill this goal of value
neutrality. Values creep in various stages in sociological research. According to Gunnar Myrdal
total value neutrality is impossible. 'Chaos does not organize itself into cosmos. We need view
points.' Thus in order to carry out social research viewpoints are needed which form the basis of
hypothesis which enables the social scientists to collect empirical data. These view-points
involve valuations and also while formulating the hypothesis. Thus a sociologist has to be value
frank and should make the values which have got incorporated in the choice of the topic of the
research of the formulation of hypothesis clear and explicit at the very outset in the research. The
value-free doctrine is useful both to those who want to escape from the world and to those who
want to escape into it. They think of sociology as a way of getting ahead in the world by
providing them with neutral techniques that may be sold on the open market to any buyer. The
belief that it is not the business of sociologist to make value judgments is taken by some to mean
that the market on which they can vend their skills is unlimited. Some sociologists have had no
hesitation about doing market research designed to sell more cigarettes although well aware of
the implications of recent cancer research. According to Gouldner the value-free doctrine from
Weber's standpoint is an effort to compromise two of the deepest traditions of the western
thought, reason and faith but that his arbitration seeks to safeguard the romantic residue in
modern man. Like Freud, Weber never really believed in an enduring peace or in a final
resolution of this conflict. What he did was to seek a truce through the segregation of the
contenders by allowing each to dominate in different spheres of life.

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 Conclusion

Sociology8 is the study of social behaviour or society, including its origins, development,
organization, networks, and institutions. It is a social science that uses various methods of
empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about social order,
disorder, and change. Many sociologists aim to conduct research that may be applied directly to
social policy and welfare, while others focus primarily on refining the theoretical understanding
of social processes.

Sociology is a very subjective concept as it is a science of society which involves research based
on the perceptions and opinions of different indivisuals with different views. So it is very
obvious that it involves values. And also the researcher carrying out research work may be
biased towards drawing certain conclusions. So all this collectively results in making the
research subjective, biased and based upon values. The study of values cannot be removed from
the scope of sociology.

And by value free9 science we mean that sociology as a science should keep itself away from the
question of social values and study oof social behaviour in its empirical sense. It is none oof the
tasks of the sociology to point out the goodness or badness of social values and determine which
values are ultimately good. Its purpose is to make an empirical analysis of social institutions and
not to lay down the norms regarding them. Different societies in different ages have believed in
different types of institutions. Sociology should isolate and test the empirical aspect of social
behaviour without going into the value laden question of whether the empirical proposition are
true or false. Sociologist have made it possible for the proper study of sociology as a organized
science to be value free. But then somehow we cannot ignore values.

So, basically sociology is both a value free as well as value based science.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology
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 Bibliography and Webliography
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology
 http://www.sociologyguide.com/research-methods&statistics/sociology-value-free-
science.php
 http://dmc122011.delmar.edu/socsci/rlong/intro/science.htm
 Macy, Michael; Willer, Robb (2002). "From Factors to Actors: Computational Sociology
and Agent-Based Modeling". Annual Review of Sociology. 28: 143–66.
doi:10.1146/annurev.soc.28.110601.141117.
 Giddens, Anthony, Duneier, Mitchell, Applebaum, Richard. 2007. Introduction to
Sociology. Sixth Edition. New York: W.W. Norton and Company. Chapter 1.
 sociology. (n.d.). The American Heritage Science Dictionary. Retrieved 13 July 2013,
from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sociology.

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