Page 26 - DSOC404_METHODOLOGY_OF_SOCIAL_RESEARCH_ENGLISH

Methodology of Social Research

note 3.3 social fact
it is said generally the ‘social fact’ is a very complex thought which has the qualities of exteriority,
constraint and appearance.

Did You Know? According to Durkhiem ,sociology does not study all the human activities.
Actually social fact is the only subject of study in sociology.

Durkhiem views the social facts as “things”. in his book, “the rules of sociological Methods” he has
used the word ‘things’ in four main references which are as follows:-
1. Social facts are the ‘things’ that have specific qualities and these qualities can be seen in the
outer appearance.
2. social facts are the things that can be known only through experiences.
3. social facts are those things whose identity depends on the society and not the humans.
4. social facts are those things that can be viewed in the outer or exterior level only.
According to Durkhiem social facts actually show the social awareness thus these facts are actual
representative of social incidences or situations. through the research and studies it is thus possible
to know and understand the specifications of these social situations and problems. Because these
social facts are termed as ‘things ’or ‘objects’, the objectivity of any research may be measured too,
thus the social facts may be accepted as ‘scientific facts ’. As told ,above the attainment of objectivity
is possible and leads to scientific nature of the facts. The acceptance of social facts in scientific form is
because they are not just imaginary or in the air. these social facts are based on solid social grounds
and this base gives the feeling of scientific consciousness.
Any social fact is a part of human behavior (that includes the power to think, feel, react and rationalize
things) which from the view of the researcher is an ‘object ’ to study and whose nature is constraint.
from this view point we can say that any behaviour , activity, thought , which could be inspected
and examined, is a social fact , e.g., ‘god’ is not a social fact as no one can examine, inspect and study
him.
While defining social fact Durkhiem has written that social fact is that any type of behavior that is
capable of laying pressure on the outer behaviour of the human.
He has further clarified that facts include those behaviour activities, for thinking or doing anything,
which are outward for humans but control his behaviour by pressurizing him.
Thus it is quiet clear that in each society there are some specific facts or ways and methods of thinking
working or feeling that lay a constraint effect on a person, these facts are not accepted as zoological
or psychological facts but it is more logical to accept them as social facts. in this reference Durkhiem
has clarified that these ‘facts ’ cannot be placed in the group of biological facts as they are affected
by individual’s activities also. they can neither be a part of physiological processes as it deals with
consciousness of one’s mind . so the best is to use the word “sociological facts ” for them as they are
the creator of a specific type of situations.
After the study of above definitions we can summarize the social facts with two specific characteristics,
that have been stressed by Durkhiem too :
1. exteriority—the social incidences and social activities originate from members of society
only but once a social fact is developed, it does not remain as one individual but works with
an independent exterior identity and experiences.

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