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Antipositivism is the view in sociology that academics must necessarily reject empiricism and the scientific method in the conduct of social theory and research. In practice, non-positivist (or 'qualitative') research is often coupled with positivist (or 'quantitative') techniques.

[edit] The concept

In the 19th century the prospect of empirical social analysis was questioned by various intellectuals, including the Hegelians, and later by Wilhelm Dilthey and Heinrich Rickert, who argued that the social realm, with its abstract meanings and symbolisms, is inconsistent with scientific analysis. Karl Marx died before the major contributions of Durkheim but nonetheless fiercely rejected Comtean sociological positivism (despite establishing his own historical materialist 'science of society'), whilst Edmund Husserl negated positivism through the rubric of phenomenology.

At the turn of the 20th century, the first wave of German sociologists formally introduced methodological antipositivism, proposing that research should concentrate on human cultural norms, values, symbols, and social processes viewed from a subjective perspective. Max Weber argued that sociology may be loosely described as a 'science' as it is able to identify causal relationships—especially among ideal types, or hypothetical simplifications of complex social phenomena.^[1] As a nonpositivist, however, one seeks relationships that are not as "ahistorical, invariant, or generalizable"^[2] as those pursued by natural scientists.

Ferdinand Tönnies presented Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft (lit. community and society) as the two normal types of human association. For the antipositivists, reality cannot be explained without concepts. Tönnies drew a sharp line between the realm of conceptuality and the reality of social action: the first must be treated axiomatically and in a deductive way ('pure' sociology), whereas the second empirically and in an inductive way ('applied' sociology). Both Weber and Georg Simmel pioneered the Verstehen (or 'interpretative') approach toward social science; a systematic process in which an outside observer attempts to relate to a particular cultural group, or indigenous people, on their own terms and from their own point-of-view.

[Sociology is ] ... the science whose object is to interpret the meaning of social action and thereby give a causal explanation of the way in which the action proceeds and the effects which it produces. By 'action' in this definition is meant the human behaviour when and to the extent that the agent or agents see it as subjectively meaningful ... the meaning to which we refer may be either (a) the meaning actually intended either by an individual agent on a particular historical occasion or by a number of agents on an approximate average in a given set of cases, or (b) the meaning attributed to the agent or agents, as types, in a pure type constructed in the abstract. In neither case is the 'meaning' to be thought of as somehow objectively 'correct' or 'true' by some metaphysical criterion. This is the difference between the empirical sciences of action, such as sociology and history, and any kind of priori discipline, such as jurisprudence, logic, ethics, or aesthetics whose aim is to extract from their subject-matter 'correct' or 'valid' meaning.

– Max Weber The Nature of Social Action 1922, ^[3]

Through the work of Simmel, in particular, sociology acquired a possible character beyond positivist data-collection or grand, deterministic systems of structural law. Relatively isolated from the sociological academy throughout his lifetime, Simmel presented idiosyncratic analyses of modernity more reminiscent of the phenomenological and existential writers than of Comte or Durkheim, paying particular concern to the forms of, and possibilities for, social individuality.^[4] His sociology engaged in a neo-Kantian critique of the limits of human perception.^[5] It may be said that Kantian scepticism would be taken to its extreme over half a century later in Michel Foucault's critiques of the human sciences.

Antipositivism thus holds there is no methodological unity of the sciences: the three goals of positivism - description, control, and prediction - are incomplete, since they lack any understanding. Some argue that, even if positivism were correct, it would be dangerous. Science aims at understanding causality so that control can be exerted. If this succeeded in sociology, those with knowledge would be able to control the ignorant and this could lead to social engineering. The perspective, however, has led to controversy over how one can draw the line between subjective and objective research, much less draw an artificial line between environment and human organization (see environmental sociology), and influenced the study of hermeneutics. The base concepts of antipositivism have expanded beyond the scope of social science, in fact, phenomenology has the same basic principles at its core.

Quantitative research nevertheless remains ubiquitous and produces data of some workable validity and reliability for social and market researchers, businesses, governments, and so forth; a national census being a good example.

[edit] See also

• Positivism
• Sociological positivism
• Postpositivism
• Poststructuralism
• Critical realism
• Social action
• Verstehen
• Symbolic interactionism
• Critical theory
• Philosophy of social science

[edit] References

1. ^ Ashley D, Orenstein DM (2005). Sociological theory: Classical statements (6th ed.). Boston, MA, USA: Pearson Education. pp. 239-240. 
2. ^ Ashley D, Orenstein DM (2005). Sociological theory: Classical statements (6th ed.). Boston, MA, USA: Pearson Education. p. 241. 
3. ^ Weber, Max The Nature of Social Action in Runciman, W.G. 'Weber: Selections in Translation' Cambridge University Press, 1991. p7.
4. ^ Levine, Donald (ed) 'Simmel: On individuality and social forms' Chicago University Press, 1971. pxix.
5. ^ Levine, Donald (ed) 'Simmel: On individuality and social forms' Chicago University Press, 1971. p6.