Values in Sociology: Positivists argue that society (and therefore individuals) objectively & scientifically. This approach assumes that the researcher can remain fully objective and detached from their research. This approach however can be accused of ignoring the fact that all individuals have values – feelings, thoughts, emotions, preferences & prejudices. This topic therefore asks the questions; can sociological research ever be truly objective? And can values actually have a positive effect in the research process? Your Learning Objectives for this topic are as follows. You Should: > Understand the meaning of objectivity, subjectivity & Value-Freedom, Value-Laden & Value-Committed. > Know the main views put forward of the relationship between sociology & values. > Be able to evaluate the strengths & limitations of different views as to whether sociology can & should be value-free.

Classical Sociology & Values: ‘Classical Sociology’ refers to sociology in it’s earliest forms & examines ‘Classical Sociologists’ such as Comte, Durkheim, Marx & Weber. Auguste Comte (1798 – 1857) Emile Durkheim (1858– 1917) Karl Marx (1818– 1883) Max Weber (1864– 1920) Comte & Durkheim can without a doubt be labelled as ‘positivists’ in the truest sense in that they both share the Enlightenment view that a better society can be produced by studying it in an objective, value-free, scientific & systematic manner (Social Facts) They argue that the sociologists job is to uncover ‘truths’ & ‘laws’ of society that govern its proper functioning. Preferring objectivity & value-freedom meant, Comte & Durkheim argue that the sociologist is free from values & bias & thus in a perfect position to suggest what is best for society. Comte saw sociologists as ‘latter-day priests of the new scientific religion of truth’.

Marx is somewhat of enigma in terms of Values within sociology. Generally speaking, Marx favours a scientific approach to the study of society & is thus usually classified as a Positivist sociologist along with Comte & Durkheim. Karl Marx (1818– 1883) Marx applied scientific, objective, value-free historical research into the development of capitalism via different class-based societies throughout history. He argued that there was a progressive, linear development from Feudalist society to Capitalist society. Capitalism would ultimately lead to alienation of the W/C & would thus cause a W/C revolution & Capitalism would be replaced by Communism. However,……. Marx did talk about Values in his work (making his view of Society Value-Laden & non-scientific). > Marx values the strengths of Communism, taking for granted that it is ‘Ideal’ i.e. this is not an objective approach but it is central to Marxist Theory.

Weber tells us why Values are so important to Sociological Research….. Although Weber is, generally speaking, a contemporary of Comte, Durkheim & Marx, he broke the mould of this dominant ‘Positivist- Value-Free’ approach by arguing that Values are actually very important to Sociological research. Max Weber (1864– 1920) In taking this different approach to society, Weber laid the foundations for ‘Social Action’ theories of society (as opposed to Structural Theories of society) i.e. Interpretivism & Symbolic Interactionism Weber argues that Social Facts cannot tell us how society should work. Values tell us this information e.g. Positivism can tell us that there are more divorces happening BUT this does not mean that people do not value marriage. It could be argued that divorce is too easy, that marriage should be harder to obtain, that marriage is pointless etc….. Society is built on different Value-Judgements NOT Predictable Social Facts. This ultimately means that the scientific, value-free study of social facts is not particularly useful in studying society – instead; to understand society we need to understand the subjective, value-laden opinions, thoughts, emotions and meanings of individuals (VERSTEHEN). Weber tells us why Values are so important to Sociological Research…..

Values Guide Research: It is impossible to fully understand society just by collecting meaningless ‘Social Facts’ i.e. Quantitative, General, Macro patterns of society. Instead the sociologist should pick out the most important areas to examine in a Qualitative, Specific, Micro manner. What areas should be ‘picked out’ to study? According to Weber, Sociologists could use positivist statistics to inform their choices of topic but ultimately the choice of topic fully depends on the importance of the topic to the researcher (and/ or the funders of the research) i.e. All research is Value-Relevant / Value-Driven & therefore unavoidably Value-Laden. Data Collection & Hypothesis Testing: Even though topic choice is Value-laden / Value-Relevant, Weber does agree with positivists that once the topic is chosen, the consequent research should be conducted objectively without bias. Values when Interpreting Data: Data does not necessarily need to be interpreted objectively as long as the researcher has made it clear the perspective (or angle) they have adopted e.g. A feminist has to make it clear that their interpretation is from a gender biased view, Marxists from a class biased view.