Positivism

RESM6001

Positivism
An empiricist approach to social
science concerned with uncovering
general laws and hence explaining
patterned reguarities through
experimental or statistical methods.

From Descriptive to Inferential

Statistics
Descriptive statistics measurements
of a feature of a population (e.g., birth
rates).
Inferential statistics the use of
statistics to develop explanations of a
feature of a population.

Example: Durkheim on
Suicide
Two starting points from descriptive statistics:
1) Suicide rates vary widely by country
2) Suicide rates are remarkably stable within
countries
On the basis of this, combined with a
statistically based rejection of psychic
constitution and physical climate accounts,
Durkheim argues that suicide must be seen as
a social fact.

Durkheim on Suicide cont.

The next step is to try to explain these
two patterns (cross-country variance &
intra-country stability).
Looking at the countrys Durkheim notes
that suicide appears to co-vary with
religion (Catholic or Protestant) and uses
statistics to show that Catholic countries
(or regions) have low suicide rates and
Protestant countries high suicide rates.

Durkheim on Suicide cont.

Both Christian denominations condemn
suicide but they are differently organised.
Protestantism is more individualistic and
Catholicism more social in structure. So
Durkheims hypothesis is that the Catholic
Church offers a greater source of social
integration and social solidarity than the
Protestant Church. He then needs to try
and test this by looking at other sites of
contrasting degrees of social solidarity.

Durkheim on suicide cont.

So one test is whether suicide rates of unmarried
people are higher than of married people Durkheim
shows they are.
This gives a prima facie explanation of suicide but it
cant be a complete account.
First, why do you have suicide in highly socially
integrated/solidaristic communities such a traditional
primitive societies.
Second, although the suicide rates with countries is
generally relatively stable, it does change during crises
(downturns) but also prosperities (upturns).

Durkheim on suicide cont.

Three Types of Suicide
a) Egoistic lack of social integration
b) Altruistic too much social
integration
c) Anomic breakdown in social
regulation of norms

Problems
There are a range of problems specific
to Durkheims rules of sociological
method, for a good summary of his
study of suicide and its relation to these
problems, see:
http://durkheim.uchicago.edu/Summaries
/suicide.html
But we can focus on one problem: The
social construction of suicide.