Comparative Methods in Sociology

 
Comparative methods – purpose

The purpose of comparative research is, as in the case of all

scientific research, to test hypotheses.

Hypothesis is a statement, stipulated within a given theory, about

the relationship between variables (constructs) defined on
some objects (units of observation) within a causal framework
(time and sequencing).

In comparative sociology hypotheses deal with space and/or time.

Space and time

Space:
Cross-national studies involve, explicitly or implicitly, nations
(states, countries, societies) as units of observation and at
least one variable is defined on the national (country, society)
level.

Time:
In historical studies the same units of observations are compared
through time
Comparative methods

Comparative methods refer specifically to the methodology of

comparing “something” through space and/or time.

Generally, comparative methods for cross-national research and

historical research do not differ very much.
Comparative methods and comparative sociology

Clarification:
Most sociology is within-country, present-time sociology.

Comparative methods are specific in that they address

problems inherent in cross-national and/or historical studies.

Cross-national and/or historical studies constitute comparative

sociology. As it will be argued comparative sociology is a sub-
discipline of sociology as such.
Traditions of comparative sociology

Karl Marx (1818-1883) and his work (Capital, 1883) on

evolutionary processes of economic systems (cross-national
and historical).
Max Weber (1864-1920) and his work on The Protestant Ethics
and Spirit of Capitalism, 1905, (historical and cross-national).
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) and his Suicide, 1897, as an example
of quantitative studies on nations' characteristics.

In his Rules of Sociological Methods, 1885, Durkheim insists that

comparative sociology is not a particular branch of sociology; it
is sociology itself.
Does comparative sociology constitute a paradigm ?
“A paradigm is a fundamental image of the subject matter within
a science. It serves to define what should be studied, what
questions should be asked, how they should be asked, and
what rules should be followed in interpreting the answers
obtained.” (Ritzer, Sociology: A Multiple Paradigm Science,
1980: 7)

Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolution (1962)

Comparative sociology

Questions:
-- what should be studied?
-- what questions should be asked?
-- how they should be asked?
-- what rules should be followed?