Abstract

The history of borrowing from natural sciences is a long one in social sciences. Today, paradigms dealing with information and communication are very often "used" as a source of inspiration for sociological theories. This contribution is focused on the French-speaking authors belonging to this trend. The reasons, the validity and the benefit for social sciences of this practice are investigated. The reasons are manifold. The importation is not intrinsically non valid. Any hypothesis can be laid down. The validation depends on the verdict of the confrontation with the reality. The heuristic value of the theories surveyed proves to be generally low. Several characteristics of the problems studied by natural and social sciences remain quite different. There is still ground to support a specific methodology in sociology. © 1988.