Answer to Question #242727 in Sociology for VINCENT RAMANAMANE

Question

List and explain 3 unique features of the Positivists, Humanists and the Critical approach. (cite the work)

Answer 1

Positivists have the view that sociology can and should use the methods of the natural sciences. Positivists believe that science is the only valid knowledge, the fact is the object of knowledge, and philosophy does not possess a method different from science. Comte suggested that all societies have three basic stages: theological, metaphysical, and scientific. Finally, Comte believed in positivism, the perspective that societies are based on scientific laws and principles, and therefore the best way to study society is to use the scientific method (Taylor & Medina, 2011).

Humanistic sociology is a domain of sociology that originated mainly from the work of the University of Chicago Polish philosopher-turned-sociologist, Florian Znaniecki. It is a methodology that treats its objects of study and its students, that is, humans, as composites of values and systems of values. Humanists emphasize issues such as self-understanding, positive self-regard, and self-growth, with the aim of helping each individual by addressing and treating the whole person. Humanistic therapies include a number of approaches. Three of the most common are Gestalt therapy, client-centered therapy, and existential therapy (Hirschman, 1986).

Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud, critical theorists maintain that a primary goal of philosophy is to understand and to help overcome the social structures through which people are dominated and oppressed. It is used to analyze, question, interpret, synthesize and evaluate literary works, with a specific mindset or “lenses” of New Criticism contend that literature needs little or no connection with the author's intentions, life, or social/historical situation. A "critical theory" has a distinctive aim: to unmask the ideology falsely justifying some form of social or economic oppression to reveal it as ideology and, in so doing, to contribute to the task of ending that oppression (Willis et.al., 2007).

References

Hirschman, E. C. (1986). Humanistic inquiry in marketing research: philosophy, method, and criteria. Journal of Marketing Research, 23(3), 237-249.

Taylor, P. C., & Medina, M. (2011). Educational research paradigms: From positivism to pluralism. College Research Journal, 1(1), 1-16.

Willis, J. W., Jost, M., & Nilakanta, R. (2007). Foundations of qualitative research: Interpretive and critical approaches. Sage.