Positivism and Sociology

This book offers a collection of articles which bear upon some of the problems related to the three aspects of positivism: problems of subjectivity and meaning, of generalization, and of values and interests. Most of the papers collected together in this book, 'Positivism and Sociology,' have a polemical character, being a discussion by one prominent author of the work of another. Anthony Giddens' Introduction traces varying uses of the term positivism, and analyses the major lines of argument developed by the authors represented in the book. The basic notion underlying positivism in sociology is that a science of society, directly comparable to natural science, is both possible and desirable. But this apparently straightforward idea involves at least three assertions: that the methodological procedures of natural science may be directly adapted to the study of human social action; that the outcome of research in the social sciences will take the form of causal laws; and that the results of social research are value-free. This book will dissect all these aspects of sociological perspectives.