The Rhetoric of Positivism Versus Interpretivism

-Ron Weber (Editor in Chief of MIS)Presented By

-Mehul Kanodia (Jobless)

LIFE OF PI

POSITIVISTS INTERPRETIVISTS

POSITIVISM

• August Comte- founded Sociology; John Stuart Mill; Emile Durkheim

• Associated with Structural –functional, rational choice, exchange-theory frameworks

INTERPRETIVISM

• Max Weber; William Dilthey• Associated with Symbolic

interactionism, constructionism, ethno methodology, hermeneutics, phenomenological, qualitative sociology

• Related to ‘hermeneutics’- indepth inquiry into texts in which the parts are related to the whole for revealing deeper meanings

POSITIVISM• Maintains that reliable knowledge is based on direct, verifiable

observation or manipulation of natural phenomena through empirical/ experimental means.

• Aims to discover universal laws of behaviour- nomothetic orientation• Believes in existentialist orientation to reality- reality is for us to discover, it

is patterned, stable, and additive• Believes in a mechanical model of human beings- rational, pleasure

seeking• Seeks the facts or causes of social phenomena with little regard for the

subjective states of individuals, opinions etc;• Objectivity and Replicability –important criteria• Maintains Social Science should be value free – ‘disinterested scientist’• Discovers universal causal laws -nomothetic; Essentialist, Verification-

oriented, Reductionist, Deterministic, Inferential and Hypothetico-deductive, predictive

INTERPRETIVISM• Maintains that the world is constructed, interpreted and experienced

by people in their interactions within their environment- reality is socially constructed by people- constructionist view point;

• Emphasizes voluntary, free choice of humans- voluntarism; human agency

• Relies on subjective meanings/ perceptions of people, contexts, beliefs –idiographic i.e. limited abstraction and particularistic

• Understanding human behaviour from the actor’s own frame of reference

• SS needs to be relativistic regarding value positions (i.e. no single value position is better than others; all are equally valid)

• Grounded, discovery-oriented, exploratory, expansionist, descriptive, and inductive; exploratory research

Sociological theory is a bit like political parties. There are a range of sociologists who have differing opinions about how the world operates.

Examples of some of these groups are:

Functionalists Marxists Interactionists

Feminists Post-Modernists

These groups then fall into one of two categories and will either be known as:

Positivists Interpretivists

So, who controls who?

Does Society control us? (Positivism)

Do we control society? (Interpretivism)

Positivism vs Interpretivism Positivists believe we are influenced by

social systems, that society controls who we are

Interpretivists believe in social action, that we as individuals

control society

Positivists use large samples of people

Interpretivists use small samples/individuals

MACRO MICRO

Positivism vs Interpretivism

• Also known as top-down/macro/social systems or structural theory

• Believe that it is important to look at society as a whole when studying it

• Believes sociologists should use more scientific approaches to society

• Use methods such as Statistics and questionnaires

• Examples are Functionalists, Marxists and Feminists

• Also known as bottom up/micro or social action theory

• Believe that it is important to analyse society by studying individuals

• Believes sociologists should use more in-depth approaches to society

• Use methods such as observations and in-depth interviews

• Examples are Interactionists and Post-modernists