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Should Sociology be Normative?

Hammersley, Martyn

The American sociologist, 2024-03, Vol.55 (1), p.24-37 [Periódico revisado por pares]

New York: Springer US

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  • Título:
    Should Sociology be Normative?
  • Autor: Hammersley, Martyn
  • Assuntos: Advocacy ; Norms ; Social Sciences ; Sociology
  • É parte de: The American sociologist, 2024-03, Vol.55 (1), p.24-37
  • Descrição: This article critically examines recent arguments by Andrew Abbott, Jensen Sass, and Tariq Modood proposing a normative sociology, one that not only adopts an evaluative stance towards the phenomena it investigates, but also makes explicit and seeks to justify the values on which its evaluations rely. I argue that, while these proposals are to be welcomed in some respects, they fail to address two key issues: On what reasonable basis can it be assumed that there are single correct answers to value questions?; and What distinctive intellectual authority can sociologists claim to be able to discover those answers? I also point out that these recent advocates for a normative sociology pay insufficient attention to the opposing position, a commitment to ‘value-neutrality’, as proposed most notably by Max Weber. I argue that, while this is frequently ignored or dismissed out of hand, it represents a much more coherent and cogent view, even if its advocates have rarely fully lived up to its demands.
  • Editor: New York: Springer US
  • Idioma: Inglês

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