Pure and Applied Sociology

Sociologists should show the relationships between values. In short, sociologists may say, “If this is what you want, here is what you must do to get it”. If stable, enduring marriages are more important than happiness in marriage, then divorce should be made more difficult if happy marriages represent the more important value, then fairly easy divorce should permit the unhappily married to separate and try again. If we wish to arrest urban blight and suburban sprawl, some private property rights will have to be sacrificed. If we wish to clean up polluted rivers, we must be prepared to spend a lot of tax money in doing so Sociologists may clarify what value sacrifices must be made if we wish to«attain certain other values.

A sociologist as an individual may properly make value judgments, support causes, and join reform movements, like any other citizen. As a scientist, the sociologists may not know whether television violence is harmful to children, and therefore might

Not make public recommendations, but as a parent will make a decision according to his or her personal beliefs and values. As a scientist, the sociologist may not be able to say whether gambling or marijuana should be forbidden, but as a citizen he or she is free to express opinions and support personal value judgments. Beyond this there is not complete agreement among sociologists concerning what role they should assume. Most sociologists have some firm opinions on what policies society should follow and are in considerable agreement with one another upon many of these polices. Possibly the time will come when the social policies which seem best to most sociologists will also seem best to the rest of the society? As persons who cannot and would not divorce themselves from the society in which they live, most sociologists hope so.