3. POSITIVISM INTERPRETIVISM
• August Comte- founded • Max Weber; William Dilthey
Sociology; John Stuart Mill; • Associated with Symbolic
Emile Durkheim interactionism,
• Associated with Structural – constructionism, ethno
functional, rational methodology, hermeneutics,
choice, exchange-theory phenomenological, qualitative
frameworks sociology
• Related to ‘hermeneutics’-
indepth inquiry into texts in
which the parts are related to
the whole for revealing deeper
meanings
4. POSITIVISM
• Maintains that reliable knowledge is based on direct, verifiable
observation or manipulation of natural phenomena through empirical/
experimental means.
• Aims to discover universal laws of behaviour- nomothetic orientation
• Believes in existentialist orientation to reality- reality is for us to discover,
it is patterned, stable, and additive
• Believes in a mechanical model of human beings- rational, pleasure
seeking
• Seeks the facts or causes of social phenomena with little regard for the
subjective states of individuals, opinions etc;
• Objectivity and Replicability –important criteria
• Maintains Social Science should be value free – ‘disinterested scientist’
• Discovers universal causal laws -nomothetic; Essentialist, Verification-
oriented, Reductionist, Deterministic, Inferential and Hypothetico-
deductive, predictive
5. INTERPRETIVISM
• Maintains that the world is constructed, interpreted and
experienced by people in their interactions within their
environment- reality is socially constructed by people-
constructionist view point;
• Emphasizes voluntary, free choice of humans- voluntarism; human
agency
• Relies on subjective meanings/ perceptions of people, contexts,
beliefs –idiographic i.e. limited abstraction and particularistic
• Understanding human behaviour from the actor’s own frame of
reference
• SS needs to be relativistic regarding value positions (i.e. no single
value position is better than others; all are equally valid)
• Grounded, discovery-oriented, exploratory, expansionist,
descriptive, and inductive; exploratory research
6. Sociological theory is a bit like political parties. There are a range of sociologists who
have differing opinions about how the world operates.
Examples of some of these groups are:
Functionalists Marxists Interactionists
Feminists Post-Modernists
These groups then fall into one of two categories and will either be known as:
Positivists Interpretivists
7. So, who controls who?
Does Society control us? Do we control society?
(Positivism) (Interpretivism)
8. Positivism vs Interpretivism
Positivists believe we are influenced by Interpretivists believe in social
social systems, that society controls who action, that we as individuals
we are control society
Positivists use large samples Interpretivists use small
of people samples/individuals
MACRO MICRO
9. Positivism vs Interpretivism
• Also known as top-down/macro/social • Also known as bottom up/micro or social
systems or structural theory action theory
• Believe that it is important to look at • Believe that it is important to analyse
society as a whole when studying it society by studying individuals
• Believes sociologists should use more • Believes sociologists should use more in-
scientific approaches to society depth approaches to society
• Use methods such as Statistics and
questionnaires • Use methods such as observations and in-
depth interviews
• Examples are Functionalists, Marxists and
Feminists • Examples are Interactionists and Post-
modernists
