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Can Sociology be called a science?

‘Sociology can never be a science’. Discuss.


Definite laws that dictate everything govern the natural world of such things as physics, chemistry and geology. These laws are observed through experimentation and study, which allows us to understand these ‘positive facts’. Many argue that the search for a collection of facts and laws should not be limited to the natural world, but extended to human society. One such person was French mathematician, Auguste Comte. In the nineteenth century he foresaw a science of society that would discover the laws that govern us. This has led to the creation of positivist sociology, the belief that laws of behaviour govern human society. But to what extent is this true?

Positivist sociology seeks to create a research programme that parallel’s that of the natural sciences and aims to find either direct evidence of linked occurrences in society or at least strong correlations. For instance, a sociologist may investigate a possib...

Posted by: Jennifer Valles

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