Revision summary
Scientific method is necessary for sociology as public, comparative knowledge. Durkheim: social facts as things, suicide rates, concomitant variation. That illustration founds a science of society. It is not sufficient as a physics costume. Weber’s meaning and official coding remain scientific issues.
Model answer
Copper italics in this answer — like this — are the key facts. Each one is unpacked in the Facts & figures rail.
Introduction
A scientific method of public evidence and comparison is necessary for sociology to be a science. It is not sufficient if the object is wrongly reduced. Durkheim’s suicide study is the illustration of both the gain and the remaining debate.
Body
Durkheim’s method as science
- Treat social facts as things: external, constraining, and measurable as rates.
- Comparative concomitant variation across religion, family, and country.
- Reject introspection as the main path. Auguste Comte’s positive programme is here made operational.
What this achieves
- A pattern of suicide that private motives cannot explain.
- Repeatable tables, later extendable to NCRB-type files.
Why method is not a full baptism
- Max Weber still required meaning. Official coding is itself a social practice.
- Karl Popper would ask whether types are at risk of failure.
- If “scientific method” means only physics-like laws, Durkheim already stretched the copy.
Answer
- Method makes sociology scientific in the sense of disciplined, comparative knowledge.
- The object remains society, not particles.
Flow diagram
flowchart TD SM[Scientific method] --> D[Durkheim rates comparison] D --> SCI[Sociology as science of facts] W[Weber meaning] --> QUAL[Still science of society] SCI[SCI] --> QUAL[QUAL]
Conclusion
Durkheim shows that a scientific method of rates and comparison can found sociology as a science of social facts. It does not freeze the discipline as a lesser physics. Meaning and coding remain later scientific problems, not a return to guesswork.
Quick related
Students also ask
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Examine ethnomethodological and phenomenological perspective as critique of positivism
Next question on this syllabus topic (2017 · Q1(b)). View answer →
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If we use interviews, is sociology unscientific?
Not if claims are evidenced and comparable. Durkheim’s path is one scientific path.
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Did Durkheim copy physics?
He copied the demand for external facts and comparison, not the laboratory.
Same topic · past papers
UPSC has asked this before
These previous-year questions sit on the same topic. Open one to practise the earlier ask.
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2018 · Q2(a) · Sociology GS 1 · 20 marks
Is non-positivist methodology scientific? Illustrate. -
2023 · Q3(a) · Sociology GS 1 · 20 marks
What are the characteristics of scientific method? Do you think that scientific method in conducting sociological research is foolproof? Elaborate -
2016 · Q3(b) · Sociology GS 1 · 15 marks
Describe the basic postulates of scientific method. How far are these followed in sociological research? -
2020 · Q1(c) · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
Methodology is a system of rules, principles and procedures, which forms. scientific investigation. Comment. -
2017 · Q1(a) · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks
Explain how sociology has emerged as a distinct discipline based on rationality and scientific tamper
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Q2(c) · UPSC Mains 2025 · Sociology GS 1 · 10 marks · Solution
What do you mean by reliability? Discuss the importance of reliability in social science research.
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