As is the case with most “soft sciences” the application of scientific/mathematical methods is tentative at best, because the individual items enclosed in the term are not consistent in content (for example, paleontology and cosmology are “hard sciences” dealing with and obeying all rules of physics; cosmetology, the study of beauty enhancement, has personal and aesthetic elements as well as chemical elements). Sociology can incorporate mathematical elements, such as statistics, percentages, fractions, and probabilities, in...
As is the case with most “soft sciences” the application of scientific/mathematical methods is tentative at best, because the individual items enclosed in the term are not consistent in content (for example, paleontology and cosmology are “hard sciences” dealing with and obeying all rules of physics; cosmetology, the study of beauty enhancement, has personal and aesthetic elements as well as chemical elements). Sociology can incorporate mathematical elements, such as statistics, percentages, fractions, and probabilities, in such areas as social prediction, historical trends, cultural predilections, memory retention studies, heredity factors, income generation, etc.
Perhaps the best use of mathematics is in studies of historical population shifts, migration, exile distribution, and the like, since these studies can count physical bodies on the move. When Sociology deals with human behavior, however (the “why” of human action), mathematics goes by the wayside.
But none of these studies can claim the physical surety of say, an architectural study of stresses and weight distribution in a skyscraper. Perhaps the best use of mathematics is in studies of historical population shifts, migration, exile distribution, and the like, since these studies can count physical bodies on the move. When Sociology deals with human behavior, however (the “why” of human action), mathematics goes by the wayside.
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