Positivism
Philosophical approach to sociology asserting that society operates by discoverable laws (like natural sciences), that social reality is objective and measurable, and that research should be value-free and produce testable knowledge.
Real World
Émile Durkheim's 1897 study of suicide used official government statistics to argue that suicide rates varied systematically by religion and social integration — treating a deeply personal act as a social fact measurable by scientific methods.
Exam Focus
Always name a positivist sociologist (e.g. Durkheim, Comte) and link their method to the claim that sociology can produce law-like generalisations.
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