Discuss the view that sociology is more than just common sense.
Sociology is one of a group of subjects known as the social sciences. Sociologists focus on the study of certain aspects of human behaviour and create theories to explain the workings and patterns found in society. Yet human behaviour is something we all have experience and at least some knowledge about. In our daily lives, we rely on common sense to get us through many different situations, however while sometimes accurate, it is not reliable, as it’s based on beliefs and theories rather than statistics, evidence and facts.
Evidence of sociology has been found from as early as the 14th century in medieval Islam as well as samples of individuals traced back to 1086 and the Doomsday book . Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) and Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) are two of the most popular and influencial 19th century sociologists.
There are many theories researched by quantitative and qualitative methods. Positivism, anti-positivism and functionalism are the key research models that I shall be discussing. Within this essay, I will be discussing the view that sociology is more than just common sense.
Methodology is the research methods used for collecting data. This can be achieved using the quantitative design: using statistics and documents. Or the qualitative design: using experiments and observation to collect data. Science has several key features: the hypothetico-deductive method, the principle of falsification, the use of experiments and quantitative methods, the possibility of replication and attempts at objectivity. ‘Science is not what you study but how you study it’.
Science bases its explanations on reason, logic and evidence rather than belief, faith, personal experience and ideology. The hypothetico-deductive method states exactly what will happen in particular circumstances and enables predictions to be made which are tested. Sociology is an evidence based subject which studies behaviour...