Value Neutrality - Research Paper Example

The debate concerning value neutrality has been long, with the majority of critics favoring attribution of value with the argument that the existence of unbiased objectivity is unrealistic (Clawson, 2007). This paper analyzes the debate from both sides to explain the concept of value neutrality and its importance in sociology. Social scientists and philosophers argue that the ideal social researcher maintains value neutrality in the prediction, explanation, and description of social events. According to them, a social event is an objective task where judgment of values is purely subjective, thus the subject should be regarded in a purely objective manner (Dolgoff, Loewenburg & Harrington, 2009).

On the other hand, critical social researchers argue that one cannot deal with social events in a value neutral manner, stating that social scientists must look beyond the social facts and analyze the value framework of the society. According to philosophers defending value neutrality, scientific objectivity of sociology relies on the adherence to the concept of value neutrality that strengthens the power of social scientists. Stating that sociology must relate to values is similar to questioning the objectivity of sociology. . In addition to their argument, the right wing sociologists site Weber and his argument on the issue.

According to Weber, judgment based on values follows a subjective expression or preference of will, or emotivism. It follows that empirical social sciences may thus not be able to protect an individual’s value judgment from bias (Clawson, 2007). If we were to take utility or desirability as a measure of strength in the evaluation of attitudes towards others, it is only fair that we assign a zero value to the desirability of the neutral attitudes, and assume that this is a representation of the zero point in the desirability scale.

Accordingly, attitudes of value neutrality are easy to identify, and it would be best if sociologists would define these attitudes in terms of preference thus avoiding definition of the idea in a primitive context. The other group of sociologists argues that social science is a subject that concerns human behavior in the society. As such, all social behaviors have values, thus the concept of value neutrality is inapplicable in the field of sociology. The idea that social behaviors follow the guideline of certain principles means that the study of these behaviors cannot be value free, that is, if freedom means the complete absence of values (Sociology Guide).

This is because the values under consideration form a solid factual part of sociology. In addition, the sociologists state that sociology research is a form of social behavior, following the guiding value principles of searching for the true and correct knowledge. Their interpretation of Weber’s value free concept is that sociologist must confine to value relevance in their social researches