Essay Positivists - 1421 Words

Positivists believe that we can gain true and objective knowledge of reality by applying methods of natural sciences in sociology . For them, reality exists independently of the human mind and nature is made up of objective, observable, physical facts that are external to our minds. They believe that like matter, humans are directed by an external stimuli-the society-and they act accordingly (example: functionalism, Marxism). By analyzing quantitative data, positivists simply seek to discover laws of cause and effect that determine human behavior. One of the first positivists, August Comte was confident that scientific knowledge about society could be accumulated and used to improve human existence. Adding to Comte, Durkheim argued that†¦show more content†¦Mead argues responding automatically to external stimuli humans interpret the meaning of stimulus and then choose how to respond to it. Thus Interpretivist argues individuals are not puppets manipulated by social facts bu t they are autonomous and construct their social world by meanings they give to it. The job of the sociologist is to uncover those meanings. Interpretivists reject the methods of natural science. They argue to discover meanings people give to their actions we need to see the world from their viewpoint. This involves abandoning objectivity of positivists. We must put ourselves in the place of the actor using what Weber calls verstehen. Thus they favour the use of qualitative methods and data such as participant observation. These methods produce in depth and valid data and give the sociologist a subjective understanding of the actor’s meanings. All interpretivists seek to understand actors meanings, however divided whether or not we can combine this understanding with positivist style casual explanation of human behaviour. Interactionists argue we can have casual explanations. However they reject the positivist view that we should have a definite hypothesis before we start our research. Phenomenologist’s and ethno methodologists such as Garfinkel reject causal explanations of human behaviour. They take an anti structuralism view arguing society isn’t a real thing out there governing ourShow MoreRelatedPositivism : The Positivist Approach1629 Words   |  7 PagesPositivism/ Managerialism: One of the most, if not the most, mainstream approach to organizational study in understanding organizations is the positivist approach. The premise of positivists’ argument is that only an objective, quantitative research into organizations can provide a clear understanding, as they believe there exists an organizational reality that is detached from organization theory and actors. 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