Mothers Who Work and Attend College

There has been a debate on the previous years on whether sociology must be regarded as a science or not. Experts had presented their stand and study why sociology is a science and why not. Many of them started by defining what science, what comprises a science, and what can be called and claimed scientific. Even in our early school days, science by definition is the logical activity of observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena. Science is a big scope of study and therefore must be divided into categories. So, the branches of science appeared.

Early sociologists fought to establish sociology as a science. Their main argument is on the methodology used in sociology that is for them, is a science. According to Comte, like what is observable methodologies in science, are what sociology has. Scientific methodologies such as observation, experiment, comparison and historical research are all present and used in sociology. For him, if sociology uses these four methodologies which are common to scientific methodologies then, a strong claim for sociology as a science must be recognized. But because Comte did not execute an experimental research about this, then his claim was not valid.

The argument of Comte approached Durkheim. Durkheim made the claim that sociology is a study of social facts, that is “a thing that is externalto, and coercive of, the actor” (http://www.human.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~iseda/works/soc-sci.html)

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Durkheim introduced a thing that he called externalto in his claim to make sociology as a science. He deepened what Comte cannot explain. His argument is that, social facts cannot be explained by the detailed mental examination of your own feelings, thoughts, and motives because social facts are external. Durkheim did an experimental research on suicide to support his claim. Suicide has been a global social problem. Suicide happens for a total of 90 countries around the world. Wasserman (2005) cited that, “Lithuania has the highest suicide rates per 100, 00 young person aged 15-19 in 90 countries with 23.9 in 2002.”

Durkheim included statistical analysis on suicide rate. By that, the goal is a have a support for the claim that suicide is a social phenomenon. The predictions did not agree with statistical data. Durkheim rejected the alternative hypotheses. The attempt of Durkheim to present an empirical result was admired though it faced several problems. The falsification criteria did not work because Durkheim resulted to very strict criteria. Consequently, precise predictions are hard to achieve and/or gain based on sociological theory.

Others argued to the work of Durkheim that conflicted on his definition of suicide and his removal of introspection in the methodology. Suicide for him is any cause of death that the executor knows that death is the result. Many questioned that if introspection is not present, how can the executor knows that the result of his/her action which is suicide, is death?

Weber also attempted to provide explanation and support in making sociology as a science. Unlike Durkheim, Weber used introspection. According to him, the understanding on other people’s motivation is needed for it necessary for sociology. This understanding can be attained through introspection. But this was never easy to be presented as a science. A strong falsification was given to interpreted facts. Philosophers of science explained that interpreted facts cannot be run to the theory because anyone can give his/her interpretation.

There is a way for sociology to be known as science. It is when the provided criteria are not too strict, and when minimal possibility of falsification is presented.

Works Cited

“Science” American Heritage Dictionaries. Retrieved November 5, 2007, from (http://www.answers.com/topic/science)

“The Case for Sociology as a Science” Retrieved November 5, 2007, from (http://www.human.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~iseda/works/soc-sci.html)

Max Weber. “Sociological Writings.” (1994) Retrieved November 5, 2007, from (http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/weber.htm)

Wasserman, D., Qi Cheng, Guo-Xin Jiang. “Global suicide rates among young people aged 15-19” World Psychiatry (2005) 4(2): 114–120. Retrieved November 5, 2007, from (http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1414751)

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