Etica e ricerca sociologica: neutralità o impegno verso i valori? Analisi di un caso esemplificativo: l'european values study

Is there a relationship between ethics and sociology? What kind of relationship? Is it possible to highlight a mutual dependency from the logical point of view between descriptive and prescriptive sentences? This paper tries to give an answer to these questions by focusing on a very peculiar and interesting Research Programme: the European Values Study. After a brief review of some problematic aspects related to the conceptualization and operationalization of values – investigated by the European Values Study – authors discuss specific, distinctive features, value and deficit of this Research Programme and then demonstrate, through examples, the non-neutrality in the relationship between ethics and sociological research.