Positivism in Sociological Practice: 1967–1990*
*An earlier version of this paper was presented at the panel on Philosophical Foundations of Sociological Knowledge and Applied Sociology of the 31st Congress of the International Institute of Sociology, Paris, France, June 21–25, 1993. Special thanks to the students of Sociology 302 (Sociological Explanations) at the University of Victoria and to the students of Sociology 615 (Quantitative Research Methods) at the University of Alberta for their assistance and inspiration over the course of this research, and to Lori Kmech and Karli Burch for research assistance. Alan Hedley and Ray Morrow generously commented on an earlier draft, while Dieter Haselbach, Bill McCarthy, Peter Manicas, Charles Tolman, Rennie Warburton, and two anonymous reviewers offered helpful comments and suggestions. The research was supported in part by research grants from the University of Victoria. The manuscript of this article was submitted in August 1994 and accepted in June 1995.
Abstract
Le positivisme n'est jamais à l'abri de la controverse, surtout en sociologie, où sa viabilité a fait l'objet de longs débate parmi les théoriciens de divers acabits. Mais il reste à savoir jusquà quel point les pratidens de la sociologie considèrent encore le positivisme comme une théorie satisfaisante. Les auteurs examinent cette question par une analyse de contenu de 176 articles choisis au hasard dans les revues des associations de sociologie américaines, canadiennes, scandinaves et britanniques datant de la fin des années 1960 et la fin des années 1980. L'utilisation d'une grille d'analyse construite à partir de sept éléments du positivisme caractéristiques du mouvement de la theory construction révèle des éléments de persistance aussi bien que de changement. Les résultats amènent les auteurs à questionner la relation qui existe entre la théorie et la pratique en sociologie et à se demander si l'épistémologie de la sociologie reflète la réalité de sa pratique. En conclusion, Ton suggère quelques pistes de recherche ultérieure sur le sujet.
Positivism is no stranger to controversy, least of all in sociology, where its viability has been the subject of a long-running debate among theorists of different stripes. Yet the question remains to what degree sociological practitioners continue to find positivism to be persuasive. This question is approached through a content analysis of 176 randomly selected articles published in the late 1960s and the late 1980s in the official journals of the American, Canadian, Scandinavian and British sociological associations. Using an index based on seven elements of positivism that were characteristic of the “theory construction” movement of the late 1960s, the authors found both persistence and change. The results raise questions about the relationship between the realms of theory and practice in sociology and whether sociologists' philosophies of science reflect what practitioners actually do in their sociological work. The authors conclude with suggestions for further research on this topic.
