Chapter 5: Ethics and sociology

This chapter explores the complex relationship between sociology and ethics. First, we discuss the narrow and technical issues raised by the idea that social research should be carried out with a regard for ethical practice. A checklist of questions is then provided, which will be useful when doing research. Second, we turn to some larger issues, like the silence of sociology in the face of evil. We argue via a case study that conventional sociology has failed to address some central problems raised by radical evil. Moreover, the preoccupation with structural explanations has the effect of rendering sociologists unable to explore processes of moral deliberation which amounts to a refusal of the moral.

Further reading

Remaking the Body
by Wendy Seymour
(Click on the title for more information)
Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1998, pp. 20-30.
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Families, Labour and Love
by Maureen Baker
(Click on the title for more information)
Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2001, pp. 6-12.
Download excerpt (PDF)

Useful links

Ethics in research involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people http://www.research.murdoch.edu.au/ethics/hrec/absethics.html

The International Sociological Association Code of Ethics
http://www.ucm.es/info/isa/about/isa_code_of_ethics.htm