The term 'objectivity' is used in two distinct but related ways. Objectivity in Social Science refers to the actions of a social scientist: assuming a position of disinterestedness or impartiality, or being open-minded in the assessment of evidence. Objectivity is thought to be central to the procedures of the scientific method. Objectivity also refers to the nature of the statements people make: a statement can be objective as opposed to the scientist being objective. An objective statement is one which can be agreed upon by others regardless of their backgrounds or biases. Subjectivism accords primacy to subjective experience as fundamental of all measure and law.
Objectivity in Social
Science - Toward a Hermeneutical Evolutionary Theory
Ricardo Waizbort, Casa de Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Brazil.
Austin Harrington’s book, Hermeneutic Dialogue and Social Science: A critique of Gadamer and
Habermas, intends to present an account of debates on objectivity in the social sciences,
in stressing the political and epistemological
responsibility, in public spheres, to those who want to create a fairer understanding of
societies and history, without demonizing natural enterprises or leaving social studies
out of acute critical questioning.
The objectivity norm in
American journalism - Michael Schudson.
Why did the occupational norm of objectivity arise in American journalism? This question
has attracted the interest of many journalism historians but it has not previously been
examined as an instance of a more general social phenomenon, the emergence of new cultural
norms and ideals.
Alternative technological and
economic explanations of the emergence of objectivity are criticized and the difficulty of
understanding why objectivity as a norm emerged first and most fully in the United States
rather than in European journalism is discussed.