Sociology - Theory

What is hyper-reality?
"too good to be true" a good example is disney
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What is Frangmentation?
Post-modernists believe society has split into its own beliefs and ideas.
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What is meant by "science"?
A set of principles that tel us how to produce valid knowledge. It aims to base laws and theories on objective facts gained through observing phenomena.
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What is meant by objectivity?
where research does not involve opinions bias or prejudice
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What is meant by empiricism ?
Something is scientific when it uses empiricism (knowledge gained from actually experiencing/observing something)
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How does Compte support the idea that sociology is a science?
"its possible to discover the laws that shape and control people in society"
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How does Durkheim disagree with Compte's theory that sociology is a science?
Thought he had failed to establish sociology s a science and that instead sociology social facts as things to observe and measure.
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What is the deductive method?
Starts with theory, the theory is then bombarded with challenges to its hypothesis in order to see if it stands up to claims.
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What talked about falsification and what does it mean?
Karl Popper - you test something, if it can't be proven false, it must be true
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What is the inductive method?
Starts with theory, finds loads of evidence to prove that it is true
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Why does Fayerabend believe sociology is a science?
A lot of breakthroughs are by chance or war, not all discoveries are in labs but by chance
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What did Khun say about sociology being a science?
Believes that sociology is in the pre-science stage and cannot be a science until there is a unifying belief
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What is meant by subjective?
Your on subjective opinion
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What is meant by value-free and value laden?
Value-free (having no values), value-laden (having values attached even if not wanted)
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Who believe sociology should be value free?
Positivists - believe it should be totally value free, should study observable stuff, record as quantitative data so correlations can be identified
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Who believes society should be value-laden?
Weber - believes it cannot be value free, sociologists will use their subjective opinions to identify a research topic and concepts they feel are relevant
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What are some of the values in a research process?
choosing which topic to research, getting funding, choosing research method.
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Why do interpretativists argue that sociology cant be value free?
Because sociologists are human beings studying human beings,
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What is committed sociology and who argued it?
Becker - says you have to set out with core values. Says its impossible to study anything without using your personal and political beliefs to understand and judge it.
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What do postmodernists argue about science?
That it is another meta-narrative, it is not factual, research itself is a social construct.
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What is a social policy?
The action taken by governments in responding to or pre-empting social issues.
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What are 3 government departments and a social policy they passed?
1. Home office, equality act 2010 2. Department of health, care act 2014 3. MOJ, smoking ban 2016
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How does sociology fit into social policy?
Sociological research carried out to identify social issues and causes of social issues
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What are the criticisms to social policies?
Governments only make social policies on issues they want t address. Lots of work gets commissioned but not a lot gets used as evidence
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Other cards in this set

Card 2


What is Frangmentation?



Card 3


What is meant by "science"?


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Card 4


What is meant by objectivity?


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Card 5


What is meant by empiricism ?


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