methodological pluralism
methodological pluralism During the 1970s sociologists were prone to argue that a long-standing positivistic hegemony in sociology had crumbled, and that the idea that there was one style of social research (underpinned by a unified philosophy of social science and methodology) had given way to the realization that there were many such styles. The positivist orthodoxy was usually associated with the names of Talcott Parsons (leading theorist of functionalism) and Paul Lazarsfeld (principal proponent of so-called abstracted empiricism). The new methodological pluralism was a consequence of the emergence of phenomenological and structuralist sociologies, the fragmentation of Marxism into sectarian neo-Marxisms, and the emergence of philosophical relativism. Some observers employed the alternative terms epistemological pluralism or epistemological anomie to describe the now seemingly normless situation in which many different theories of knowledge or paradigms competed for sociological primacy. One commentator, Paul Feyerabend (Against Method, 1975), argued that, even in the natural sciences, researchers often changed what they were doing and how they did things. They had no single method as such; indeed, successful science demanded that there be no slavish adherence to a single method, but required instead a state of epistemological anarchy. Feyerabend, therefore, declared himself to be against method and in favour of such anarchy.
In large part these various labels are interchangeable. Each implies a rejection of methodological exclusiveness, and each rests on a somewhat misleading contrast with a positivist orthodoxy which never actually existed, since neither functionalism nor abstracted empiricism ever held hegemonic sway over the theory and practice of sociology during the previous period. Marxism, idealism, and symbolic interactionism (to take only the most obvious examples) offered ever-present philosophical and methodological alternatives.
In large part these various labels are interchangeable. Each implies a rejection of methodological exclusiveness, and each rests on a somewhat misleading contrast with a positivist orthodoxy which never actually existed, since neither functionalism nor abstracted empiricism ever held hegemonic sway over the theory and practice of sociology during the previous period. Marxism, idealism, and symbolic interactionism (to take only the most obvious examples) offered ever-present philosophical and methodological alternatives.
More From encyclopedia.com
Florian Znaniecki , Znaniecki, Florian
Znaniecki, Florian
Florian Witold Znaniecki (1882-1958) was born in Swiatniki, Poland. He did his undergraduate work at the Univer… Sociology Of Knowledge , The study of the relation between products of the mind and existential conditions. The basic assumption of the study is that the development of thoug… Pitirim A. Sorokin , Pitirim Alexandrovich Sorokin was born in humble circumstances in the rural north of Russia in 1889. A prodigious zeal for work, combined with enormo… Stanislaw Ossowski , Ossowski, StanisLaw
Stanisiaw Ossowski (1897-1963), Polish sociologist, was a scholar of wide interests: his writings include studies of the theory o… Robert King Merton , Merton, Robert King
MERTON, ROBERT KING
sociology of science and knowledge, social theory.
Merton was the preeminent figure in the sociology of scien… Albion Woodbury Small , Albion WoodburySmall (1854-1926) did more than any other American sociologist toestablish the recognition of sociology as an academic subject, and he…
You Might Also Like
NEARBY TERMS
methodological pluralism