SOCIOLOGY

By Datin Sitti Haishah Abd Rahman, Curriculum Unit, Teacher Education Division

Topic 2: Origins of Sociology

1. Development of sociology took place in Europe during 18 and 19 centuries as a result of:
• a new industrial economy
• the growth of cities
• the political change
• a new awareness of society

2. The term sociology was coined by a French social thinker Auguste Comte (1798-1857)
to describe a new way of looking at society. It is the youngest academic disciplines than
physics, history, economics, etc.

Comte’s contribution to sociology came in applying the scientific approach called

‘positivism’, i.e. a way of understanding based on science. He believed that the society
operates according to its owns laws, similar to the physical world operates according to
gravity and other laws of nature.

3. Sociological theory
A theory is a statement of how and why specific facts are related. A sociological theory
explains social behavior in the real world. (e.g. Durkheim’s theory that explained why
people with low social integration are at higher risk of suicide).

In building the theory, what issues should be studied and how the facts should be
connected? To answer this sociologists look into several approaches. The approaches
are:

(i) The structural-functional approach: i.e. it sees the society as a complex system
whose parts works together to promote solidarity and stability. It explains about
social structure (any stable pattern of social behavior) and social functions
(consequences of social pattern).

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 Comte (pointed out the need to keep the society unified at times when many
traditions were breaking down) and Durkheim’s work was based on this approach.

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) compared the society to human body (just as the
structural parts of human body function to keep the entire organism survive, the
social structures work together to preserve society)

Robert K. Merton (1910-2003) expanded the social function concept. He

distinguished manifest functions (recognized, intended, openly stated functions)
and latent function (unrecognized, unintended, hidden functions). Also acknowledge
social dysfunction.

(ii) The social-conflict approach: i.e. it sees society as an arena of inequality that
generates conflict and change.

Sociologists investigate how factors such as class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual
orientation, and age are linked to society’s unequal distribution of money, power,
education, and social prestige.

Also look at ongoing conflict between dominant and disadvantaged categories of

people (e.g. the rich and the poor, white and people of colors, men and women),
particularly people on the top try to protect their privileges while the disadvantaged
try to gain more for themselves.

Types of social-conflict approaches are feminism and the gender-conflict

approach and race-conflict approach.

The gender-conflict approach focuses on inequality and conflict between women and
men, while feminism focuses support on social equality for women and men. Harriet
Martineau (1802-1876) and Jane Addams (1860-1935) were two sociologists that
took these approaches.

The race-conflict approach focuses on inequality and conflict between racial and
ethnic categories. Sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois (1868-1963) studied the black
community in the U.S. applying this approach.

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 (iii) The symbolic-interaction approach: i.e. it sees society as a product of everyday
interaction. Rooted in the thinking of Max Weber (1864-1920), a German sociologist
who emphasized the need to understand a setting from a point of view of the people
in it.

The structural-functional and social-conflict approaches use a macro-level

orientation, the symbolic-interaction uses micro-level orientation, e.g. exploring the
urban life that occurs at street level like how pedestrians respond to homeless people
they pass on the street. George Herbert Mead (1863-1931) explored how our
personalities develop as a result of social experience.

4. Sociological Investigation (Research)

Sociological investigation starts with: (i) applying the sociological perspective, (ii) be
curious and ask questions. But where to look for answer or forms of truth? The answer
lies in:
(i) belief or faith
(ii) expert testimony
(iii) simple agreement
(iv) science – a logical system that bases knowledge on direct, systematic
observation.

Scientific knowledge depends on empirical evidence (i.e. information we can verify with
our senses). Three ways to do research in sociology are:
• scientific sociology

• interpretive sociology

• critical sociology

(i) Scientific sociology – the study of society based on systematic observation of

social behavior.

Terminologies in scientific research:

• Concept is a mental construct that represents some part of the world in a
simplified form e.g. society, the family, the economy etc.
• Variable is a concept whose value changes from case to case. Independent
variable and dependent variable. e.g. price.

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 • Measurement is assigning a value to a variable. e.g. measure a person’s social
class through income, occupation or education.
• Reliability is consistency in measurement. e.g. repeated measurements give the
same result time after time.
• Validity means measuring exactly what you intent to measure.

• Relationship among variables: To see how variables are related. Types of

relationship are: i. cause and effect (change in one variable causes change in
another. e.g. the independent variable is how much you study and dependent
variable is what grade you get), ii. Correlation (two or more variables change
together).
• Objectivity is personal neutrality in conducting research (being value-free).

• Replication is repetition of research by other investigators (i.e. one way to limit

distortion caused by personal value.

Limitation of scientific sociology are:

i. human behavior is too complex to predict individual’s action.
ii. presence of a researcher may affect the behavior being studied.
iii. social pattern change
iv. being value free is difficult for sociologists.

(ii) Interpretive sociology – the study of sociology that focuses on the meanings people
attach to their social world. Favor qualitative data, research in natural setting. Weber
believed the key to interpretative sociology is to apply verstehen (understanding).

(iii) Critical sociology – study of society that focuses on the need for social change
(seeks not just to understand the world but also to improve it).

6. Methods of sociological research

A research method is a systematic plan for doing research. Commonly used methods
are: experiments, surveys, participant observation, and the use of existing data.

(i) Experiment is a research method for investigating cause and effect under highly
controlled conditions. Researchers devise an experiment to test hypothesis, i.e. a
statement of possible relationship between two or more variables. In experiment
research, subjects can be divided into experimental group and control group. The

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 Hawthorne effect is change in a subject’s behavior caused simply by awareness of
being studied.

(ii) Survey is research in which subjects respond to a series of statements or questions

in a questionnaire or interview.
• Population is the people who are the focus of the research.

• Sample is a part of the population that represents the whole. (random sampling,
stratified sampling).
• Questionnaire is a series of written questions a researcher presents to subjects
(closed-ended questions and open-ended questions).
• Interview a series of questions a researcher asks respondents in person.

(iii) Participant observation is a method in which investigators systematically observe

people while joining them in their routine activities. Another approach to this field
research is the ethnography, i.e. a detailed study of the life and group of people by
researches who may live with that group over a period of years. Most field research is
exploratory and descriptive.

References
Macionis, John J. 2007. Sociology. 11th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Norsham b. Firdaus. 2008. Sociology. UiTM.

Schaefer, Richard T. 2005. Sociology. 9th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.