Verschijningsvormen van de sociologie en het speelveld der sociale wetenschappen

Samenvatting

A sci is not only a body of knowledge; it has a soc & cultural form, including scholars & their personal characteristics, their profession, their Sch's, the structures of sci'fic educ & res, & a wealth of cultural factors, esp language. This should be recognized when the chances of multidisciplinary integration are studied. Every sci tries to reach the highest possible degree of internat'l integration in all respects, ideal & real. It is proposed to call this intergration the 'hardness' of a sci. The hardness of a sci refers to the: (1) consensus about its object matter & its method, (2) org'al unity of its scholars, (3) coherence of its res work, (4) systematization of production, publication & documentation, (5) harmonization of its central issues with important societal values, (6) soc usefulness of its results & of its scholars, (7) harmonization of the desire for a professional language & the wish for more general accessibility, (8) confluence of sci'fic interests & societal needs, & (9) capacity to present a comprehensive coherent view of the world. In the field of the soc sci's there are several nuclei of 'hardness': (1) theological, (2) medical, (3) juridical, (4) econ, & (5) technical. Sociol, then, seems to be a rather 'soft' sci. With no agreement on a central soc value, always equivocating, debunking, unmasking. Sociol shows a strong tendency to give provisional solutions, always has trouble with the purity of its contents, & has, as yet, no clear professional structure. However, this may be an advantage for the usefulness of sociol as a medium of intergration in the field of soc sci. Some conclusions are drawn re the future interdisciplinary integration of theory & res in the soc sci's. AA.