Non- Positivist Methodologies | Sociology Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Introduction

• At the beginning of the 19th century, the positivist view to study society was questioned by many scientists like Dilthey and Rickert. They argued that the natural world is different from the social world due to some unique factors of human society like meanings, symbols, values, norms, etc. Max Weber criticized this view with his novel theory of non-positivism.
• According to this thought, the sociological investigation must emphasize human social values. Non-positivism reflects that scientific approaches are insufficient on their own for accumulating, examining, and clarifying data.
•  It considers the scientific method as completely inappropriate for investigating human behavior.

What do non-positivist methodologies mean?

• Non-positivist considers that man with an independent thought process can influence society whereas positivists view society as completely based upon the uniqueness of human culture in terms of meaning, symbols, and motives.
• They oppose the view that the social world is objective and can be studied using the same methods as the natural sciences.
• These methods are often more time-consuming and may produce less generalizable results, but they offer a deeper understanding of human experiences.
• Non-positivists prioritize qualitative methods over the scientific methods used in the natural sciences.
• Further, non-positivism  can be learned by mentioning three schools of thought that are symbolic interactionism, phenomenology, and ethnomethodology. Each of these schools focuses on the social interactions with the daily life processes of human beings. 
• Apart from Max weber, some other sociologists to consider non-positivism were G H Mead, Herbert Blumer, Alfred Schutz, Harold Garfinkel, etc.

Fundamentals In Non-Positivist Methodologies

• Instead of using scientific methods (like those in natural sciences), Non-positivists rely upon using qualitative procedures for social investigation.
• Non-positivism theory commends the understanding of social truth rather than predicting events.
• It majorly adopts an interaction, individual-centric approach.
• Non-positivism has a micro perspective rather than a macro one.
• Non-positivism does prefer qualitative techniques of research. For example, descriptive or ethnographical studies.
• Their main focus is to describe processes.
• Non-positivists learn the central methods characterized by feelings, purposes, goals, and the individual’s analysis of social truth.
• Non-positivism highlights the impossibility of complete objectivity in the study.
• Non-positivists were not in favor of formulating generalized universal ideas.

Non-positivists’ Methods/schools of thought

PHENOMENOLOGY

• Phenomenology means the ‘study of the phenomenon in society.
• It studies the phenomenon on daily basis happening in our social lives
• It arose as a substitute for positivism and Max weber had a big contribution to the development of this stream.
• Phenomenologists contend that the study of natural sciences and social sciences are different. For instance, a human being has a conscious mind but material things do not. Thereby, the approaches of natural science can not be implemented in social sciences.
• They reject generalization, formulation, and any causal explanation of the theory.

ETHNOMETHODOLOGY

• Ethnomethodology means the nonprofessional methods that are used by people daily to achieve their normal lives.
• It was proposed by Harold Garfinkel in the 1940s.
• According to this school of thought, individuals are seen as sensible but they use practical thinking in excelling their everyday lives rather than formal logic.
• It studies common sense knowledge and methods through ordinary members of society.

SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM

• The term ‘Symbolic interactionism’ was coined in 1937 by Herbert Blumer.
• This theory of Symbolic interactionism rejects both social and biological determinism.
• Symbolic interactionism mentions that a person on his own creates a social truth with help of meanings developed by interactions.
• Some other sociologists to believe in this concept includes John Dewey, Cooley, and William Thomas.
• Focuses more on languages and symbols as an important feature of all human interactions.

INTERPRETATIVIST SOCIOLOGY

•   It refers to various streams such as Phenomenology, Ethnomethodology, and Symbolic Interactionism and so on. 
• This approach was first introduced by  Max Weber  in his work Methods of SocialScience. Weber was influenced by idealists like  Rickert  and  Dilthey.
• Interpretativist Sociology emphasizes understanding the meanings individuals attach to their actions, aiming to explain cause and effect through these interpretations.
• The central premise is that individuals possess voluntary will and cannot be understood merely through external influences. Human consciousness is unpredictable, making this approach also known as the  voluntarist approach .
•  Weber proposed  scientific methods for interpretative sociology, including:
  1. Verstehen (understanding the subjective meaning)
  2. Ideal type (an analytical tool for comparison)
  3.  Comparative methods  (comparing societies or systems).
• Weber's ideas later inspired the development of non-positivist approaches like Phenomenology and  Ethnomethodology .
• Georg Simmel, another early German sociologist, also contributed to this approach.
• In the U.S., the  Chicago School  of sociology, led by figures such as  Louis Firth ,  Robert Park, and  George Herbert Mead , further developed this tradition.