3. Sequence of presentation
• Group members
• Introduction to philosophy
• Introduction to positivism
• Philosophical overview of positivism
• Characteristics of positivism
• Difference between positivism and interpretivism
4. Group Members
• Gulfam Ali (Group Leader)
• Safina Hayat
• Inayatullah
• Salahuddin
• Zia Shahid
• Umer Abbas
• Shahid Kamal
• Wajid Iqbal
• Sakhawat Hussain
• Yahya
• Saleem Abbas
• Sajad Anwar
• Ishfaque Ahmad
• Rehman Wali
• Sajjad Shahid
• Salahuddin
• Zia Shahid
5.
6.
7.
8.
9. Introduction to positivism (½)
• There are different views of what societies are and the best ways
of obtaining knowledge of them.
• Two most influential theories of knowledge in sociology
• Positivism
• Interpretivism
10. Introduction to positivism (2/2)
• Positivism is an ideology that reliable and authentic knowledge
can only be obtained by using the scientific knowledge such as
experiment, measurement, observation and testing and
verification .
• Positivism is emerged as a scientific approach in the 19th century
and challenged the traditional style of acquisition of knowledge
which was primarily based on speculation, imagination and
guess work rather than the scientific method.
11. Main Assumption of Positivism
.
• Only reliable and authentic knowledge can be called positive or
scientific knowledge
• Positive knowledge is the knowledge that is obtained using the
scientific method
• The term positive knowledge simply means scientific knowledge, and
this is why this ideology is called positivism
• Positivism advocates the use of scientific methods (i.e experiment,
measurements, observation, testing and verification) to generate
positive or scientific knowledge which is scientifically testable and
verifiable
• This approach challenged the traditional style of building knowledge
based on speculation, imagination and guess work because the
knowledge generated that way cannot be considered as positive or
scientific.
12. Philosophical overview of positivism
August comet- the founder of positivism
August comet a French Sociologist, is widely seen as the
founder of modern positivism. He was the first philosopher
who presented the theory of positivism by giving criteria for
building scientific knowledge. The above mentioned
assumptions of positivism draw their insight from the
published work of august comet where he emphasized the
application of the scientific method for the acquisition of
positive or scientific knowledge.
Comte theory of positivism originated from his ideas in two
major works as follow:
• The course of positive philosophy published in 6
volumes from 1830 to 1842
• His book A General View of Positivism, published
in 1848
August comet- the
founder of positivism
14. Causality
• For positivists, a good social science, involves describing and
trying to explain causal relationships.
• Positivism sees the social world as comprising phenomena that
are causally related to each other.
• Eg economic recession may cause higher unemployment and
poverty in some sections of a society and this may then be a
cause of increasing rate of crime.
15. Determinism
• Another positivistic assumption Deterministic view of relationship
between the individual and society.
• This means that the organization of the societies in which people live
causes them to think and act in the way they do, irrespective of their
free will or choice.
• Researchers adopting a positive point of view may still be interested
in finding out about peoples subjective views (attitudes and opinions
) through survey research.
• In spite of the its deterministic views, positivism does not necessarily
lead to a fatalistic acceptance of the way things are. Sociological
research can look into the causes of peoples behavior which can be
used to engineer social change.
• To know, to predict and to control (acc to Comte)
16. Empiricism
• Another characteristic of positivistic approaches is the distinction
between theories ( ideas) and observations (empirical knowledge)
• Empirical/factual knowledge is that which can be directly perceived
through senses. (known as empiricist epistemology)
• Empiricist epistemology holds that only valid source of knowledge is
that based on experience.
• Empiricist epistemology means that research has to be grounded in
concrete evidence that can be checked out.
• Positivist research is confined to relationships between observable
social phenomena. (facts speak for themselves)
17. Methods
• For positivists, the goal of sociology is to produce an objective
understanding of societies by following the principles of natural
sciences.
• Positive research is guided by scientific criteria of measuring
instruments of quantification, systematic collection of evidence
reliability and transparency.
• Think of the methods they use..
18. Interpretivism
• Interpretivism A tradition developed as a critique to the
dominant one of positivism.
• Interpretivist do not reject the idea of scientific/objective
knowledge, but they question the notion that the methods
employed by natural science used also in the study of society or
social sciences.
19. Max Weber-Interpretivist
• According to Max Weber (1864- 1920) from whom the
interpretivist tradition is derived, the enterprise of social science
could not be treated as similar to that of the natural science.
• He stressed on social action which means the study of meaning
which the individual attaches to his/her actions
20. How is Interpretivism different from
Positivism(1/5)
• Both logic and methods of natural science are vastly different
from that of social science .
• Interpretivism studies human beings who are socialized
individuals and self conscious agents actively involved in the
creation of their own
reality. (unlike the object of enquiry in natural science).
21. How is Interpretivism different from
Positivism (2/5)
• interpretivists criticize Positivists for neglecting the fact that
they are studying people- who need to be explored in the ways
they really think and act in different kinds of situations.
• The humanists movement is also influencing new ways of
thinking about economic behavior of human beings.
• For economists are focusing on how people really think when
they make choices in the market place. is it really rational
choice’ they are exercising? Consumers they find, often
make very irrational choices.
22. How is Interpretivism different from
Positivism (3/5)
• Human beings engage in conscious activities to which they attach
meanings (derived from their values, beliefs, ideas, motives etc.)
• Social institutions (the subject matter of Sociology) cannot be treated
as separate entities or divorced from the subjective understanding or
meaning that people have of them.
• Society cannot be studied on the principle of causality as positivists
stress (stimulus and response) may make a great deal of sense in the
natural world but according to the interpretivists, cannot be rigidly
applied in the social world.
23. How is Interpretivism different from
Positivism (4/5)
• People do not just react to external stimuli like biologically
programmed living organisms. They actively interpret and
control the situation and control their behavior, acting on the
basis of their interpretations of what is going on, what
is the best option/course of action.
• E.g if a teacher shouts at you, how would you respond?
•
24. How is Interpretivism different from
Positivism (4/5)
• Many different responses are possible. There are three different
interpretations of a single event, ie there is no consistent cause
and effect relationship.
• Whatever the response, an observer cannot make sense of your
response without interpreting the meaning you attributed to
your teachers behaviour, for it is this meaning that explains
your response, not the observable event on its
own.
25. Verstehen
• Verstehen is a German word meaning empathetic
understanding. It suggests the practice of a researcher/anybody
seeking to understand something placing themselves
imaginatively in
the position of those they are studying and asking how they see
the world/ what ends are served by their actions.
• Weber pointed out that behavior seen from the outside is very
different when seen from the inside.
• Now think of the methods interpretivist adopt..
