UPSC SOCIOLOGY : Paper 1 – Chapter 2 – Sociology as Science – Positivism and its critique.
- Positivism is an approach of studying Sociology as a discipline which aims at employing principles similar to those in natural sciences.
- Influenced by the prevailing atmosphere of rationalism and science, early sociologists like Saint Simon, Comte, Spencer and Durkheim attempted to define the subject matter and the method of sociology in scientific and objective terms.
- They argued that the society is also governed by certain fixed laws.
- Saint Simon – “Positivism was rooted in a science of society which is analogous to natural sciences.”
- August Comte – “Sociology is the last and the most sophisticated of all the sciences as it deals with all aspects of humanity and society”.
FEATURES OF POSITIVISM
- It lays emphasis on behaviour that can be directly observed. Feelings and meanings become unimportant.
- It gave primacy to the discovery of cause and effect relationship.
- Laid stress on the use of scientific methods similar to those used in natural sciences.
- Rejected commonsensical speculations.
- Focused on formulation of theories and universality of laws and principles.
- It discussed predictability of social events.
- Emphasized upon deductive approaches.
- Stated that sociological knowledge should be testable.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS
- Importance was given to structural approach.
- Macro perspective.
- Normative approach.
- Nomothetic view of things.
- They prefer quantitative tools of research.
- Generalised the conclusions after giving causal explanations.
THINKERS ON POSITIVISM
- The term originated in the 19th century, when Auguste Comte described his ideas in his books The Course in Positive Philosophy and A General View of Positivism.
- Two influential positivists include Comte, who coined the term ‘positivism,’ and Emile Durkheim, who established the academic discipline of sociology.
- These early thinkers laid the groundwork for a social science to develop that they believed would have a unique place among the sciences.
- The principal philosophical sources of positivism are the works of Francis Bacon, the English empiricists, and the philosophers of the Enlightenment; but the cultural climate that made it possible was that of the eighteenth-century Industrial Revolution.
- Comte and John Stuart Mill are the principal representatives of social positivism, and Herbert Spencer of evolutionary positivism.
CRITICISM
- Positivist approach failed on the parameters of objectivity, quantifiability, universal testability and inter-subjective reliability.
- Deductive approach is less fruitful in Sociology and inductive approach would be more helpful as it is very difficult to collect facts about abstract phenomena.
- Alfred Schultz contends that humans construct their world through common sense, ethical values, assumptions and perceptions. Sociologist should not disregard this while undertaking research.
- Criticised for their over-emphasis on universalism.
- Explanations by Positivists are also difficult to test contrary to their claim.
- Habermas criticises that positivism loses sight of the actors reducing them to passive entities determined by natural forces.
