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Sociology and values Summary notes Value freedom- Positivist If values were driving in a car on the sociology motorway positivists would show them the red light and demand that they leave the road. Sociology is a science its research is objectiveSociologist should not be influence by their values (personal beliefs) A sociologists job is to objectivity uncover ‘social facts’ which uncover the truth about society and people’s behaviour, not to make judgements about it i.e. argue for or against something or argue that one way of organising society is better than another. EvaluationWeber- Our values will of course influence what we decide to research, it is unrealistic to assume otherwise. We also have a moral responsibility to think about how our research will be used, our values must influence who we allow to use our research for example if we conduct research into working class educational under achievement we have a moral responsibility to ensure that our findings are not used to justify denying working class students access to better quality of schools just because our findings suggest that we can prdict that working class students will get poorer results. Gouldner- If sociologist don’t consider their values when choosing research topics and conducting research then it will only ever benefit the people paying for it and not wider society. Focusing on being value free has meant that sociology has gone from being critical and pointing out social problems to becoming passive and only researching the topics that those in positions of power have argued are a problem. This undermines the purpose of sociology. Value laden/driven sociology –Weber if values were driving in a car value laden/driven sociologists would show them an amber light but inform them that they can only drive in certain lanes. Values will impact our choice of research topicValues should not impact on our choice of methodology- i.e. they should mean we ask leading questions or only use participants who we think will support our hypothesis.Values will impact the way we interpret the data we have collected, they will shape how we understand what we have found out, this s fine so long as we honestly declare what values we hold and what theoretical perspective we view the world from.Values must impact what we allow to be done with our research. Evaluation: Committed sociologist argue we need to go a step further so rather than just declaring our values we should actually take sides, sociology should seek to support those in society who have the least power (the underdog) or taking this further should be committed to revealing the ways in which the powerful maintain control) . Committed sociology- Marxist, feminists, interactionalist (labelling theorists e.g. Becker) If values were driving a car committed sociologist would show them the green light, allow them access to all the lanes and tell them they’re the most important thing on the road!Values must influence our research it is the role of the sociologist to uncover inequality and support those who are denied power. Values must influence our choice of research methodology, we should use qualitative methods such as unstructured interviews as these give the people who are often over looked in society (i.e. women, those in poverty, ethnic minorities) a voice, they create rapport and make people without power in society feel mattered and reveals how the world really is, whereas statistics are produced by those in power (i.e. the government and businesses) who have an interest in maintaining unequal society.Values must influence what we do with our research- it should always be used to improve the lives of the least powerful in society, it’s not just a moral responsibility it’s a moral imperative (a must) that sociology makes positive changes to the world.Evaluation: Positivists would argue that because this approach uses qualitative methods its findings cannot be generalised to the whole population, the small sample sizes used in this type of research will not be generalise able and it is not the sociologist’s role to make judgements about who research should support or not, it is simply our job to uncover social facts, just as scientist uncovers facts about the natural world. ................
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