Is sociology a science? Interpretivism

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  • Created by: Megan
  • Created on: 07-05-15 21:08
What do Interpretivists argue the subject matter of sociology is?
Meaningful social action, and we can only understand it by successfully interpreting the meanings and motives of the actors involved.
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Why is sociology not a science?
Because science only deals with laws of cause and effect not human meanings
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What did MEAD argue? (Free Will)
People have free will and can exercise choice, rather than responding automatically to stimuli, humans interpret the meaning of a stimulus and then determine how to respond to it
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What are individuals according to Interpretivists?
Not puppets on a string manipulated by social facts, but free autonomous beings who construct the social world through the meanings they give to it
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What is Verstehen? Who came up with the term?
Term coined by Weber it means to put ourselves in the place of the actor to get an understanding of their meanings - subjectivity
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Quantitative or Qualitative?
Qualitative - They produce richer more personal data high in validity, and give sociologists a subjective understanding of the actors meanings
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Give some examples of the research methods interpretivists might use (3)
1)Participant observations 2)Unstructured interviews 3)personal documents
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Card 2

Front

Why is sociology not a science?

Back

Because science only deals with laws of cause and effect not human meanings

Card 3

Front

What did MEAD argue? (Free Will)

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

What are individuals according to Interpretivists?

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

What is Verstehen? Who came up with the term?

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
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