Sociologists do not simply declare their beliefs indisputable truths – they do research to determine whether those beliefs are correct. Their investigations are rooted in the scientific method that distinguishes the sociological perspective from “commonsense” interpretations of the world. The sociological perspective emphasizes that people’s thoughts and action are strongly influenced by the groups to which they belong as well as by impinging social factors such as beliefs, values, practices and institutions. From birth to death individuals are imbedded within and influenced by groups and larger structures. As sociologists our main goal is to understand social situations and look for repeating patterns in society.
The sociological theory upholds that, people are not instinctively good or bad, happy or depressed, and intelligent or ignorant, but are rather shaped into their own individuality over time by the interactions, connections and relations that one endures along with the situations and circumstances which are undergone throughout a lifetime. First off what is sociology? Well it is the study of the development, structure, and functioning of human society, or to put it more simply it is the scientific study of social structure. With that is where the understanding of the sociological perspective comes into play. There are two major aspects in regards to the sociological perspective, the first being interaction between social structure and an individual and the idea of two levels of analysis.
Sociology differs from social psychology because sociology specifically looks at the different social behaviors and the surrounding influences at more of a broader view. Sociologists look at and their interests are with the institution and also the different cultures that influence how people behave. Psychologists or researchers use many different scientific methods to conduct their research in social psychology. Some examples of these methods are; descriptive research- shows what may already exist within a group.
Sociologists carry out their research from a number of theoretical perspectives, and depending on the views they adopt they will have different ideas about the nature of social problems and know how to solve them. Early positivist and functionalist sociologists, such as Comte and Durkheim, would argue that sociology was a science and would discover both the cause of social problems and scientifically based solutions to them. Both positivist and functionalists see social policies beneficial to society as a whole, and contribute to it running smoothly. For example, educational policies help to promote equal opportunity and reduce class boundaries. However Marxists would argue that social problems such as underachievement are simply aspects of a wider structure of class inequality, and unlike functionalists, they do not see the state and its policies beneficial to all members of society.
Positivism is a huge part of sociology. There is an abundance of controversy between whether sociology should be studied using that or Interpretivism. Positivism, adapted by Marx and Engels, allows sociologists to make laws about human behavior just like how scientists make laws of the natural world (Gordon). Sociology should use positivism because sociology uses empirical research methods, behaviors can be objectively studied and values can be removed from the equation, and also because sociology mainly consists of discovering social facts. Positivists tend to use empirical research methods such as experiments and questionnaires to study sociology (Andrews).
Giddens (2009 p.6) defined sociology as ‘‘the scientific study of human life, social groups, whole societies and the human world as such’’. He argued further about sociology by suggesting that, ‘‘it is a dazzling and compelling enterprise, as its subject matter is our own behaviour as social beings’’. Hence, it is opined that sociology is an academic tool that broadly looks at human organisms’ lives in order to explain why they act the way they do. Black (1979 p.18) defines common sense as ‘‘the style of discourse by which people understand reality in everyday life”. Sociology is in one way or another related to science and common sense but it is also in many ways distinct from the two.
This science has allowed for collected data and theories to be tested and proven on the effects of exterior motives that implement individual behavior. Define social psychology Social psychology concentrates on individual behavior in a social context. Baron, Byrne & Suls (1989) define social psychology as “the scientific field that seeks to understand the nature and causes of individual behavior in social situations”. (p. 6). Social psychologist observe human behavior and significance of influence by outside sources such as people, society, environment, and culture.
Interpretivists are those who support the use of more humanistic methods within research as they believe society cannot be studied as a science because human behaviour is not governed by society. These sociologists each make different claims to support their use of either quantitative or qualitative data. Within this essay, the claims supporting the use of each data will be discussed as well as the claims to dispute them. Quantitative data, according to Mustapha (2009), is data that usually takes the form of statistical and numerical information. This form of data is obtained using various quantitative research methods such as questionnaires and structured interviews.
What arguments would a sociologist use to counter the idea that “Biology is destiny”? The idea that “biology is destiny” is an intrinsic element of what is known as the genetic self, the nature part of the nature or nurture debate. A sociologist will use points with grounds in social influences on the self to argue that rather than biology, there are other elements such as socialization that affect how we behave and are “destined” to be. This paper demonstrates the ideas and research of several sociologists to counter the ‘destiny of biology’ as it were, to show that development and behaviour are not pre-determined by genetics but instead by other, social-related factors, and goes on to level the argument with the notion that perhaps both are mutually influential on one another in the outcome of the self. Determinism is the philosophical doctrine that all events, including human action, are ultimately determined by causes external to the will.
Sociological views are based on rigorous research and therefore evidence based. This can either be based on large scale quantitative research or in-depth qualitative research. Sociology knowledge is, therefore, the product of theory development and testing. 2. Common sense views tend to reflect social traditions and conventions and therefore tend to reinforce the status quo and resist social change.