Sociology & the Scientific Method: Crash Course Sociology #3

What puts the “science” in social science? Today we’ll explore positivist sociology and how sociologists use empirical evidence to explore questions about the social world. We’ll also introduce two alternatives: interpretative sociology and critical sociology.

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[roelbalaraw]

"In science, when human behavior enters the equation, things go nonlinear. That's why Physics is easy and Sociology is hard."
- Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson

[alijaehgo]

'Parents apparently want to raise their own spawn' 😂😂😂 top-notch delivery

[iread]

And we're off to the comments section, let's see what the experts in philosophy of social science think

[ArturoStojanoff]

I understand that sociology has less reliable and straightforward results than harder sciences like biology and physics. But how else do people expect society to be studied scientifically?? It's just a harder subject to pin down, it's not people being lazy about it, it's people trying to explain it as consistently as possible! Otherwise you would just give up on trying to explain and understand society in a scientific manner altogether and that would just be stupid.

[JasminAliPage]

i don't really get why people are so negative about sociology it's quite an interesting subject to look at different theories on how society works 🤔

[omgersker]

Ironically, the social science that most ignores the complexity of its subject matter, economics, is widely seen as the most scientific field.

[Draconicrose]

I wouldn't blame Crash Course if they just disabled comments for these videos.

[amanjotkaur]

I cannot believe how beautifully you have explained such big concepts in such a short span of time!💛 Much appreciation for you!

[Davao]

the intro music, and the way it varies depending on the crash course series, really gets me every time. i get teary eyed with some goosebumps

[dsgant]

I would love a graphic (infographic of sorts) that visually recaps the lesson and that I could either save or print out. These videos are incredible and filled with great information, and I actually love the pace that you're speaking. However without having to rewatch these it's hard to recall specific info. I personally try not to use my smart devices so much these days, and an old fashioned flash card would be just perfect.
Hell, doing flashcards that can be purchased via link at the end of each lesson would be a great potential way to help fund your business model.
I'm very excited about starting my Sociology career and these videos are really stoking that flame of excitement. Thank you!

[okayso]

I hope Nicole uses the comments section as a social experiment based on controlled variables like intentionally using the keywords like 'Science 'and 'Sociology' in the same video.

[NickHuntingtonKlein]

A fun challenge for anyone dismissing sociology as science out of hand: Think of a reasonable definition for the scientific method that excludes all social science without also excluding some things pretty universally acknowledged as science. Are you sure your definition doesn't exclude astronomy, medicine & epidemiology, climatology, or ecology?

You could certainly argue that execution in some particular case is poor, but there's nothing about the epistemology of science that excludes the study of society.

[PhazonMS]

I thoroughly enjoyed this video. I will continue to ignore the comments on this series. :)

[FrankieSmileShow]

Great video! Embarrassing comments as usual tho. But to all the reasonable people in attendance, just keep in mind that hostile edgelords are more likely to post comments than everyone else, so that kind of skews the comment section. Most people watching this really dont see anything this video says as controversial.

[btdtpro]

"status quo warriors", "social justice warriors", many are a lot better at coming up with pejoratives for people they disagree with, than they are at arguing their views.
I argue, this is counterproductive.

Could we drop the name calling and ad hominems?
Arguing a point can generally be done without tearing down.
If you feel you have a good point to add, just make your point, and let it speak for itself, without adding "and anyone who disagrees is an idiot!" at the end.

[dduuddeechil]

"Parents apparantly want to raise their own spawn." New favorite crash course host

[saumyasingh]

"parents apparently want to raise their own spawn" IM YELLING LMAO

[GentrifiedPotato]

The major problem I have with interpretive and value sociology is that asking individuals about their own interpretations of why they do things only gets you what they believe is the real reason - which can sometimes be vastly removed from the reality of why they do the things they do.

[dstinnettmusic]

Sociology is very enlightening. I literal think that a lot of social conflict comes down to a matter of positivism vs subjective sociological groupings.

[RyanHey]

Sociology, like Psychology, is as scientific as it can get right now. Like trying to cure diseases before Germ Theory. We can't wait for perfect understanding of the brain before trying to put together an explanation of why we do what we do.