ABSTRACT
Sociology is the scientific study of social life. Science describes and explains observable reality, so it’s different from morality and other efforts to evaluate reality—efforts to say what’s good or bad or otherwise desirable or undesirable. If we’re trying to make the world a better place, though, we can’t avoid making value judgments. And since sociology doesn’t give us any insight into right and wrong, there are limits to how much sociology can help with our social justice efforts. We need to recognize those limits if we’re going to draw from sociology to help us think more clearly about social justice. We need to distinguish between facts and values.
