SOCI1001 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Inductive Reasoning, Sex Education, Deductive Reasoning
Sociology 1001 September 20th 2016
Cont’d
Postmodern Perspective(s):
Nature of (postmodern) society: shifts from manufacturing products to producing
ideas/images; from more structured to more fragmented social life; from
production to consumption; to greater cultural eclecticism.
Rejection of overarching (macro) theories of society, and broad categories of people
( “women” or “ black”)
Task is to deconstruct what is perceived as knowledge, expose “elite discourses”
View of science as discourse.
Introduction to the Sociological Toolkit: Research Methods
Common sense: understanding of the world that people assume to be true.
E.g. Sex education in school encourages young people to experiment sexually,
leading in teenage pregnancies.
Sociological ( social) research: understanding of the social world derived from
systematic study.
Higher prevalence of sex education has been associated with lower rates of teen
pregnancies. (e.g.,Holland)
Difference between the deductive and inductive approaches
Theory and Research:
Theory: offers a tentative account of some aspect of social life
Research: A process of collecting information about social life in order to test or
build theories.
Deductive approach: research as theory driven and theory testing
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Nature of (postmodern) society: shifts from manufacturing products to producing ideas/images; from more structured to more fragmented social life; from production to consumption; to greater cultural eclecticism. Rejection of overarching (macro) theories of society, and broad categories of people ( women or black ) Task is to deconstruct what is perceived as knowledge, expose elite discourses . Common sense: understanding of the world that people assume to be true. Sex education in school encourages young people to experiment sexually, leading in teenage pregnancies. Sociological ( social) research: understanding of the social world derived from systematic study. Higher prevalence of sex education has been associated with lower rates of teen pregnancies. (e. g. ,holland) Theory: offers a tentative account of some aspect of social life. Research: a process of collecting information about social life in order to test or build theories. Deductive approach: research as theory driven and theory testing.
