Sociology Definitions 3

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Positivist

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Approach to scientific inquiry arguing the world exists independently of the observer and is discoverable through the use of rigorous scientific methods and unbiased observation: the result is objective knowledge

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Interpretive

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Theorists argue the most useful point of view from which to understand the social world is that of the social actors themselves. an understanding of social reality must include an account of how that reality is subjectively meaningful to those who participate in it.

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Critical

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An approach to knowledge that involves an attempt to assess the contribution and limitations of other approaches to knowledge and to move beyond them. These approaches attempt not only to make sense of "what is" but also to suggest "what might be"

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Relativist

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Research methods that stressways in which the relationship between observer and observed affects the results of research. Researchers don't assume a reality exists to be discovered; instead, knowledge is accumulated. In the process of its development it affects research methods and forms of interpretation. This research is reflexive; it focuses on identifying assumptions, biases, and interests and attempts to account for them in the course of research

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Standpoint Epistemology

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Approach to knowledge & research arguing the POV of researchers & researched is shaped by their social positioning and material activities. Therefore knowledge generated by research is shaped by the standpoint from which it is done. Involves the claim that less powerful members of society have the potential for a more complex view of social reality than the powerful because their standpoint isn't limited by the need to justify/protect a privileged position

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Sensationalism

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Theory of human learning popular in 18th century. Argued humans acquire ideas, beleifs, and knowledge through sensory experience. Because of the influence of this philosophy feral children became objects of much interst when it was thought the study of such children could reveal the extent towhich human existence was affected by sense experience alone, devoid of culture and language.