Summary
Contents
Subject index
Objectivity and subjectivity are key concepts in social research. This book, written by leading authors in the field, takes a completely new approach to objectivity and subjectivity, no longer treating them as opposed - as many existing texts do - but as logically and methodologically related in social research.
The book debates: The Philosophical Bases of Objectivity and Relativity; Situated Objectivity; Theorized Subjectivity; Relationism and Dynamic Synthesis; Social Objects and Realism; Objectivity, Subjectivity and Public Social Science
The authors explain complex arguments with great clarity for social science students, while also providing the detail and comprehensiveness required to meet the needs of practicing researchers and scholars.
The Philosophical Basis of Objectivity and Relativity
The Philosophical Basis of Objectivity and Relativity
This chapter sets the scene for our later discussions by exploring the philosophical arguments over knowledge and the basis of disputes over the ‘truth’ of observational and theoretical statements.
Arguments for the objectivity of sociology as a ‘scientific’ discipline have tended to rest on the claim that this can be achieved simply by invoking ‘facts’. It is assumed that observational statements about the social world are unproblematic reports on the way that things actually are. We have shown in Chapter 1, however, that statements about the world cannot simply be detached from the values held by individual scientists and scientific communities and that these values influence many aspects of scientific practice. This has led many critics of the scientific ...
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