Sociology 2240E Lecture 4: Social-Theory-Textbook-Notes
7 Feb 2017
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Weber not interested in methodology, focused on solving substantive problems which methods would develop from that. He saw a link between sociology & history sociology dealt with development of clear concepts so he could perform a causal analysis of historical phenomena (historical sociologist). Weber"s thinking based on debate about history & science: positivists said history like a natural science (nomothetic) & subjectivists say science/history completely different (idiographic). Weber"s view: history composed of unique empirical events---there can be no generalizations at empirical level--- reduction of empirical reality into laws is meaningless. His view emphasizes both individuality & generality. Didn"t look for causal factor of event---ranked factors for causal significance: verstehen & causality. Means to understand , advantage of sociologists over scientist. Controversial idea, came from understanding thinking of author in texts (hermeneutics). He saw it as rigorous/rational procedure & applied to individual level--- others saw it as just a feeling & applied it to cultural elements.
