Het sociologisch geweten

Samenvatting

It was M. Weber who emphasized that value-free science is also value-related. Every sociologist is a part of the society which he studies; sponsors of social research are often governmental institutions or large corporations. J. Horton ("Order and conflict theories of social problems, in radical perspectives on social problems", F. Lindenfeld, ed, New York, NY: 1968) has placed the question of the sociologist's conscience into the framework of differing approaches to the field: order theorists in his view, tend to accept the existing state of affairs, whereas conflict theorists by the nature of the theory, take a more critical, questioning stance. It is certainly not true that, as Horton suggests, all conflict theorists tend to question the existing values, or that order theorists support them blindly. The fallacy lies in equating a degree of order with maintenance of the status quo. The methodology of both types of sociology is value-free, but in practice, outside influence in some form can hardly be avoided. The concepts of anomie and alienation can also be related to this issue, man being beleaguered and in need of order in the former, and free to fight the established institutions in the latter. In reality, both concepts have validity in specific situations. 1 figure. P. Tiersma