Objectivity & values in sociology

Values - Weber

Guide to research - Weber; values are essential in enabling us to select which aspects of reality to study, and in developing the concepts with which to understand these aspects.
Data collection & hypothesis testing - We must be as unbiased & objective as possible when collecting the facts, keeping our values & prejudices out of the process.
Interpretation of data - Facts need to be set in a theoretical framwork so that we can understand their significance & draw conclusions from them, values then become important. We must be explicit about our values, so others can judge if unconscious bias is present in our interpretation of data.
The sociologist as a citizen - Sociologists are also human beings/citizens, so they must not dodge the moral & political issues their work raises by hiding behind words such as; objectivity, or value freedom, they must take moral responsibilty for any harm their research causes.

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Modern positivists - The key to a better society was not subjective values or personal opinions.
The desire to appear scientific - Sociologists should remain 'morally neutral', their job is simply to establish the truth about people's behaviour, not to judge it.
Criticism - This only reflected a desire to make sociology respectable, mimicking the way's of science would raise the subject's status.
The social position of sociology - Gouldner; by the 1950's, American sociologists had become mere 'spiritless technicians', sociologists no longer challenged accepted authority but worked for them as 'problem takers', instead of 'problem makers'.
Sociologists made a 'gentleman's promise'; to not rock the boat by criticising their paymasters, because they were hired, they saw their own values as irrelevant.

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Feminism - Sociology is sex blind & sexist. Anne Oakley; 'Sociology reduces women to a side issue from the start', presenting a detached reality from the perspective of men.
More radical feminists believe that there should be a Sociology for women by women.
Becker; 'Whose side are we on?' argues that sociology should side with the disadvantaged.
Interpretivism - Gomm; value free Sociology is impossible because what is seen as a social issue is dependent on the power of different groups to define & shape reality. Sociologists are not immune to ideological hegemony, therefore social research has social & moral implications.
Gouldner; the principle of value freedom has dehumanised sociologists, they confuse moral neutrality with moral indifference, not caring about how their research is used.
Marxism - Value freedom is conservatism in disguise, a elaborate defence of the status quo. Positivism cannot be applied to social life because truth is not obtained through impartiality.
The truth about social reality is achieved through involvement in political struggle, only the working class can gain the 'true' nature of social organisations.
However, they don't deny the possibility of the scientific study of society, but they argue it is inconcievable that such knowledge can be neutral, it has to do with a capitalist society.

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Mrydal; sociologists should not only spell out their values, they should openly 'take sides' by espousing (supporting) the values & interests of particular individuals or groups.
Gouldner; value-free sociology is impossible because neither the sociologists own values, nor their paymasters, are bound to be reflected in their work. Also, it is undesirable because without values to guide research, sociologists are merely selling their services to the highest bidder.
Whose side are we on? - Becker; values are always present in sociology, positivists & functionalist have taken the viewpoint of powerful groups. Becker believes sociologists should take the side of the least powerful groups.
Criticism - Gouldner; a romantic & sentimental approach to disadvantaged groups, Becker is only concerned with those who are 'on their backs'; misunderstood, negatively labelled, exotic specimens of deviant behaviour.
We should instead emphasise with those who are fighting back, we should be committed to ending their oppression by unmasking the ways in which the powerful maintain their position.

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