1.3 Social Sciences and Systems of Power
Sociology of gender falls into the category of critical sociology. Critical sociology addresses power in sociological research, methods, and theory. Critical sociology proposes that society, and therefore, social sciences are embedded with systems of power. Systems of power are the interconnected ideas and practices that attach identity and social position to power and serve to produce and normalize arrangements of power in society. Sexism, racism, and capitalism are a few systems of power we will explore in this text. We will take a deeper dive into systems of power in Chapter Four.
Critical sociologists consider how these systems of power influence sociology as a field, society as a whole, and the individual and shared experiences of people. Critical sociology helps us understand how theories and methods can rationalize or challenge inequality. For example, researchers can have a great deal more power in terms of institutional authority and resources than the people they are researching. Research that does not acknowledge how power is distributed in the research relationship can reproduce existing systems of power.
Participatory research practices, in which the subjects of research become active partners in research, can redistribute power between researchers and the people they are researching. This redistribution of power can interrupt unequal systems of power. Throughout this book, we will share many examples of critical research practice related to the sociology of gender.
It is important to keep in mind that rigorous critique produces sound science. We begin this section by considering the value of systematic scientific research. We will also consider a historical critique of the European scientific tradition. We will meet an early founder of sociology whose significant contributions to sociology were excluded from the story of sociology for more than a century, and we will consider how reflexive methods can help make power more visible.
Sociology as an Evidence-Based Discipline
How have you learned about the society you belong to? Common knowledge of social reality can come from at least five sources: personal experience, common sense, media, expert authorities, such as teachers, parents, and government officials, and, tradition. These are all valuable sources of understanding how the world works, but they may not be interpreted the same by all people. How do we know that the conclusions we draw from our own experiences are true for someone else? What if another person’s experience leads them to a different understanding? What if experts disagree? What if experts have a financial or social stake in what people think is true? How can we ever really know if something is true?
There is a common misconception that studying people, culture, and society is based only on experiences and opinions. Sociology is a scientific and evidence-based discipline, meaning that sociologists gather and interpret data t