SOAN 2120 Lecture Notes - Harold Garfinkel, George Herbert Mead, For Marx
23 Jan 2012
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Fundamental frames of references used to organize observations. Underlie different set of theories and explanation. Collections of theories which share common underlying assumptions, values and views of social reality. Thomas kuhn: the structure of scienti c revolutions (1962) Science does not progress via a linear accumulation of new knowledge, but undergoes periodic revolutions called paradigm shifts . Pre-science -> normal science -> crisis -> new paradigm. In social science paradigms are not displaced by new ones. A variety of paradigms that deal with similar social phenomena coexist with one another. Social paradigms are neither true nor false. They just suggest a different understanding of the world, comprise of different kinds of theories, and inspire different kinds of research. Some paradigms focus their attention on aggregate numbers of individuals and society at large --> macrotheoretical. Others take a more individual approach to social life --> microtheoretical: positivism. Application of natural science methods to study social reality.
