Sociology is a positivist science of social facts, a philosophy in embryo

Evidence

In fact the question arises of what is “sociology”. Is not sociology an attempt to produce a so-called exact (i.e. positivist) science of social facts, that is of politics and history—in other words a philosophy in embryo? Has not sociology tried to do something similar to the philosophy of praxis? — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1523

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines sociology as an attempted positivist science of social facts — philosophy in embryo.
• XREF: Connects to the Frankfurt School’s account of positivism and the empiricist sociology debate; also frames how ‘sociology’ as a reductive label gets deployed against Marxist theory. — connects to: Positivist sociology borrows natural-science criteria and lacks the dialectical principle — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 1524