SOCB42H3 Lecture : SOCB42-Lec 2.rtf
Document Summary
Difficulties with application of positivism in social sciences. Not only analysis, but observation without some interpretation is impossible even in natural sciences. Assumptions about reality guide questions i. e. topics of research. Sociology does not strive for theoretical homogeneity (as natural sciences claim to do) Explanation of meaning from the standpoint of actors. People do not react to their environment, but to their own interpretation of the environment, based on their culture and previous experience. Extreme interpretivism (post-modernism) does not allow that social reality exists independently of the subject. Used to work as a nurses aid in a mental hospital. Devised on a nomothetic explanation: mental hospitals and other total institutions change personalities by isolating the person from their social network. Ashley & orenstein: types of theory: critical theory. It explains how social relationships influence the way reality is presented to and understood by members of society. Ik: this perspective is usually called social constructionism.
