COM 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Social Fact, Well-Founded Relation, Ethnography
10 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
Science is both an empirical & theoretical enterprise: empirical based on observations, theoretical logically connected set of ideas. Science is rational & critical: rejects explanations of the world based on myths, focuses of reasoned thought & critically analyze it, rejects dogmas. A: natural sciences study nature & physical stuff; social sciences study humans & society. Q: what differentiates social sciences or sociology in particular from common sense: sociology is not like natural sciences. Social perspective developed during 18th & 19th century. As a response to industrial revolution: the development of industrial production, growth of cities, emerging social values, ties, & classes, growing poverty & conflict among ppl. Sociological theories develop as reflections on these changes. Three strands of view on studying the social life: positivist, the study of observable phenomena, examining similarities & differences, these observations turn into laws outlining casual relationships between observed event & the social outcome.
