Social Research: On Participation and Critical Detachment

Abstract

This chapter is a reflection on the essence of the sociological, theoretical, and research investigation that is essential-at such a crucial stage as the current one-for the definition of a reference paradigm. A peculiarity of sociological research, setting it apart from the natural sciences method, is the systematic collection and methodical elaboration of data. It is a social operation that goes beyond naturalistic scientific research, and is now finally ready for realization beyond what it has been learned from nineteenth-century physics and natural science. The sociologist’s personal identity-involving his or her own social being, specific existential experience, cultural background, political behavior, family ties, prevailing mental attitudes and stereotypes, as well as values-is seen as being relevant, because the most indispensable and irreplaceable instrument of research is his or her own experience as a social being, as someone who is totally involved with the reality being investigated. This scientific dimension, which will enable the sociologist to grasp-at a single glance-a full view of the human sciences and to compare results, will facilitate a more appropriate paradigm for the observation and interpretation of contemporary societies.