Sociology Being Value Free

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Sociology Being Value Free

There have been many assumptions that sociology is a science because

of the assumption that science is objective or value free. In

sociological research a problem arises when unconscious researchers

bias enter the hypothesis and research topic. Robert Bierstedt stated

that the results of an investigation or inquiry are independent for

external variable such as race, gender, occupation etc. Bierstedt is

quoted saying that ‘if his research is truly objective, it is

independent of any subjective elements that he may have’. Critics

could say that this definition of objective definition may revel

Bierstedt own values of patriarchal bias that he expresses in his own

work.

Both Comte and Durkheim held that sociological research could be

performed objectively if scientific methodologies are applied. Marx

also agreed that social research could be performed objectively if

science methodologies are applied, but held very different views about

society to Comte and Durkheim.

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Similar to the Positivists and the Marxists, Max Weber believed that

sociological research should be value free but did not think that

complete value freedom was possible to obtain in sociological

research. However he did believe that once a research topic had been

selected the research could be performed objectively. Weber wanted to

apply natural science method to sociological research, but he claimed

these methods could not be usefully applied unaltered to the social

world. This was due to his claims that people meaning some thing when

they interact with each other, unlike chemicals in a test tube. Weber

also argued that all researcher should not be forced to make value

judgment in relation to their research i.e. they are not required to

state what aspect of society they found desirable or undesirable to

research into.

=====================================================================

Weber developed the term verstehen, which he described as attempting

to prevention of imputing meanings and values into research.

====================================================================

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