Dichotomy and Two-Component Polytomy in Contemporary Sociology

Dichotomy and Two-Component Polytomy in Contemporary Sociology


Pasovets Yu.M.

Cand. Sci. (Sociol.), Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Kursk State University, Kursk, Russia yulia_pasovets@mail.ru

ID of the Article:

Rubric: Methodology and methods of sociological studies

For citation:

Pasovets Yu.M. Dichotomy and Two-Component Polytomy in Contemporary Sociology. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2023. No 5. P. 47-58


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Abstract

The article analyzes specifics of dichotomy and two-component polytomy as methodical tools of research and the practice of their application to attract attention of contemporary authors to the importance of adequate choice, compliance with the principles and correct designation of methodical techniques in research, important for the competent construction of the language in sociological research. The paper reveals the features of dichotomy and two-component polytomy as techniques to analytically divide the considered object into two parts, the result of which is reflected in the constructed binary pair of concepts/themes. It determines their significant differences from each other, due to the principles of division, which reflect the completeness of the division, the nature of the relationship between the parts. The article analyzes the experience of applying the techniques of twocomponent object division in foreign and Russian sociological and social studies in recent years. It reveals the prevalence of the practices of using two-component polytomy and antithesis for the construction of binary pairs, which are often incorrectly designated as dichotomies, and rare cases of the use of strict dichotomous division, when the formed binary pairs can really be called dichotomies. The author opens up significant heuristic possibilities of two-component polytomy and dichotomy for conceptualization, analysis and interpretation of the increasingly complex and dynamic contemporary social reality, as well as systematization of the data obtained. These techniques allow to reveal dualism and opposite sides of the research objects, while emphasizing the independence and interconnectedness of extremes, to identify differences, to carry out their comparative analysis and interpretation, to organize and generalize the obtained data based on the principle of two-component division of the object, to develop alternative models of explanation.


Keywords
classification; dichotomy; two-component polytomy; binary pair; language of sociological research; methodology of science

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Content No 5, 2023