ABSTRACT
This chapter compares sociological explanation with a variety of other academic disciplines so as to clarify how sociological understanding of the world is unique. Sociological explanations are assessed against those of other specialised disciplines in academe such as Politics, Economics, Geography, Psychology, History and others. Sociological explanation is characterised here through the emphasis on social structure, contradiction, and the relationship between the individual and society. The chapter considers how and in what ways the sociological perspective is scientific, drawing on positivist and naturalistic approaches, with an emphasis on the importance of empirical evidence. This chapter also presents a discussion on how the sociological perspective uses specific language to communicate knowledge of the social world and in particular how language is used to communicate specialised concepts in contrast to disciplines such as journalism.
