Category Foundations

Four Ways of Knowing in Sociology: Positivism, Interpretivism, Critical Realism and Pragmatism

Illustration divided into four panels around a central compass and globe, showing four ways of seeing the social world: quantitative measurement, shared meaning and ideas, hidden structures beneath the surface, and practical tools for building solutions.

Sociology is not just about what we study, but how we think we can know anything about the social world. This explainer introduces four major epistemological approaches – positivism, interpretivism, critical realism and pragmatism – and shows how each one answers basic questions about reality, knowledge and methods. Aimed at undergraduate sociology students, it offers a clear map of the terrain and helps you understand why different writers disagree about what counts as good evidence or explanation.

Is Durkheim Still Relevant? Social Facts, Solidarity and Culture Wars

Durkheim Explainer

Durkheim never saw a social media pile-on, but he worried about what holds societies together and how they draw moral boundaries. This article introduces his ideas on social facts, solidarity, crime and anomie, and uses them to analyse contemporary “culture wars” over statues, values and offence – and to show where his framework now needs updating.

Trading Places and the Myth of Meritocracy: A Sociological Analysis of Class, Race, and Capital

Trading Places Meritocracy

Watching Trading Places as a Christmas comfort film, it is hard not to see a ready-made sociological case study. The Dukes’ “experiment” looks like a simple nature-versus-nurture wager, but the life swap really turns on class, race and access to capital. This article uses Bourdieu’s framework to show how the film exposes—and then neatly smooths over—the myth of meritocracy.