Sociology in times of pandemic: Metatheoretical considerations and the example of the Covid-19 crisis
Rationality in Social Science: Foundations, Norms, and Prosociality
; : 67-86, 2021.
Article
in English
| Scopus | ID: covidwho-2321972
ABSTRACT
The Covid-19 crisis initiated debates among sociologists concerning metatheoretical principles of sociology and how sociological analyses should be done in times of pandemic. We discuss the methodological basis of the explanatory sociology approach and demonstrate its relevance in times of pandemic. We start with the paradigm of realism and then proceed to the guiding principles of causality and methodological individualism. It is argued that this is the appropriate and reasonable epistemological basis for sociology and enables explanation of social phenomena as well as prediction of unintended consequences of social interventions associated with the Covid-19 crisis. We state that this sort of sociology now is disputed neither within the scientific community nor outside in the media and the general society, although this had been the case constantly before the pandemic. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, part of Springer Nature 2021.
Full text:
Available
Collection:
Databases of international organizations
Database:
Scopus
Type of study:
Prognostic study
Language:
English
Journal:
Rationality in Social Science: Foundations, Norms, and Prosociality
Year:
2021
Document Type:
Article
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