is sociology a science???

Question

i have a presentation tomorrow which i am stuck for points. i have been told i have to be for the arguement (sociology is a science). please help if u have any veiws or knowledge on this matter. thanks.

Answer 1

I was a Sociology grad student for two years, after getting a degree in Anthropology. It IS considered a science, but a "social" science, or "soft" science, not a hard science (such as chemistry or physics).

Some areas within Sociology are just as quantifiable as a hard science (statistics in particular, which is mostly math), so the discipline is usually split into that, versus the "theoretical" type of Sociology, which rarely uses an absolute type of quantification.

Even in statistics, there is rarely any solid "proof", like you would get in a physics lab, using formulas. Statistics can be manipulated and interpreted, so it's still less of a "hard" science than those that can be proven by repeated experiments.

Still, I would call Sociology a science, as it uses many scientific methods (theory, hypothesis, observation, testing and analysis), unlike areas such as Literature or Art, which cannot be quantified in any meaningful way.

Read a dissertation on "Sociology as a Science", by Niemitz at the link below.(1)

Also, Max Weber gives a definition of Sociology, circa 1897: "Sociology (in the sense in which this highly ambiguous word is used here) is a science which attempts the interpretive understanding of social action in order thereby to arrive at a causal explanation of its course and effects. In “action” is included all human behaviour when and insofar as the acting individual attaches a subjective meaning to it. Action in this sense may be either overt or purely inward or subjective; it may consist of positive intervention in a situation, or of deliberately refraining from such intervention or passively acquiescing in the situation. Action is social insofar as, by virtue of the subjective meaning attached to it by the acting individual (or individuals), it takes account of the behaviour of others and is thereby oriented in its course." There is more to read at the second link.

Answer 2

No, sociology is not a science, but a social science that is held up to ridicule by all the scientist I know. The other social sciences at least give lip service to evolutionary theory, though they have a very weak version of it. Only sociology refuses to become evolutionarily informed. Their theories are not worthy of the name and their pronouncements are ideological and relativistic. They have yet to strip the sui generis model of society from their curriculum, so their perspective on society is backwards. Do not let any of these intellectually feeble sociologist convince you otherwise, except by evidence to the contrary.

Answer 3

Sociology is the study of society and human social action. A sociologist studies the social rules and processes that organize people in society as individuals and as members of associations, groups, and institutions, as well as how these rules and processes develop. Sociological research ranges from the analysis of short contacts between anonymous individuals on the street to the study of global social processes. Most sociologists work in one or more specialties or subfields.

click here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociology#History and then you have a lot of other links

Answer 4

Yes Sociology is a science, it is considered a social science or a soft science. It still has statistics. It is chocked full of research. and still has 10 steps to prove a theory. so therefore its a science.

Answer 5

Yes. Sociology is the study of human society.

Answer 6

Yes. Just like any other field.