fact

There is no generalized opposition between the everyday and sociological uses of the term fact. Both suggest that any statement which is true can be described as a fact. For example, it is a fact that British law prohibits murder, that Russia possesses nuclear weapons, and that wealth in America is distributed unequally. However, there is a considerable social science literature on the relationship between facts and theories , or interpretations based on facts. It is for this reason that social science generalizations are often contested. Most sociologists would also accept that many of the most interesting social facts are theory impregnated; that is, they imply certain assumptions about what is significant in society, and how best to conceptualize this. Facts are also considered to be provisional-considered true until shown otherwise. The boundary between fact and assertion is also hard to draw-although many would argue that falsifiability provides a useful criterion for the social sciences.