ABSTRACT
A fairly systematic search of works making considerable use of 'positivism' as a category reveals remarkable variation on this. The concrete historical question of the significance of 'positivism' in British sociology in the period 1950-80 has been addressed by attempting to look systematically at research, teaching and general books. As Merton has pointed out, sociologists are prone to confuse the history and systematics of sociological theory. When considering the division of writers into schools, a distinction needs to be made which depends upon the purpose of the exercise. For philosophical or analytical purposes, the connections between ideas making up the intellectual positions distinguished should be of logical necessity, so that each 'school' has a logically coherent position. For historical purposes, however, it must be recognised that groups working together, or having much in common, do not necessarily possess a logically coherent position, or at any rate may share ideas and practices whose connections are empirically contingent rather than logically necessary.
