Prejudice and prestige: the obstacles of research in the social sciences.

Analysis of sociological problems as a complementary contribution to Forensic Social Work.

Abstract

The essay reflects on the obstacles to research in social sciences such as sociology and forensic social work. It raises the complexity of the object of study in the social sciences while exploring the significance of community value judgements, such as prejudice and prestige, in the work of the social researcher. This article describes the challenges that the social sciences have faced since their origins under the predominance of a positivist perspective and highlights the need to develop alternative approaches to social reality in order to deepen our understanding of community thought and behavior as part of a complex process of intellectual and scientific evolution. It analyzes the sociological dilemmas raised by Giddens within the framework of contemporary scientific debates about how societies are interpreted and studied. The article underscores the issues of context extrapolation and the loss of critical insight in scientific interpretations of social evaluations, which can lead to the esteem or devaluation of individuals. Finally, it reflects on Morin’s concept of “blind intelligence” and the dangers of ideological bias in social research, while also questioning how the contemporary interpretation of postmodern uncertainty implies a reductionist new order of sociocultural diversity.