As sociology is considered a very popular and fast growing science came into existence (only after 1839 AD)

is vast and broad

discipline. It has lots of specialists so that we can divide it into various sub-divisions on the basis of its contents.
The main branches of sociology are as follows:
1.

Theoretical Sociologist
It includes micro theory or small/middle/large theory. The theories of Karl Marx, August Cimte, Max Wever, Emmile
Durkhaim, Sorokin, etc are studied under the theories of sociology.
Eg. The theories of Economic determinism and the theory of Class Struggle of Karl Marx.
Eg. Theory of Sucide by Emmile Durkhaim.

2.

Historical Sociology
It is the study of social facts and social groups. It studies the background of any social events. How and when different social
groups or organizations originated ?
Eg. The history of Hindu, Roman, Greek, etc. and other major civilizations were studied by P.A. Sorkin.

3.

Sociology of Knowledge
The newly emerged branch of sociology indicates that our knowledge is the product of social phenomena. This means our
knowledge is always influenced by society. The economic religious political and other intrests save the human belief and
idea.

4.

Criminology
This branch of sociology studies the criminal behavior of individuals or groups. Origin of crime its types nature, causes as
well as law, punishment, police, etc. come under this study, The efforts for the improvement is also studied.
Different organizations establish to control the crime as well as their role also come under its study.

5.

Sociology of Religion
This branch studies the structure of the religion in social system as no society is free from the influence of it. It analyses the
social behavior of human beings. It also studies the religious constitutions and their role in the society.
Augste Comte, Emmile Durkheim, Herbet Spencer did the study of elementary forms of religious life.

6.

Sociology of Economy
This branch of sociology studies production, distribution, consumption and exchange of goods and services.
This branch also studies the economic activities of the society in which the focus is given about the socio-cultural factors.
The access in production, the mode of distribution, the real consumers, the role of culture in such activities are studied
under it.
Eg.. Why Hindus dont eat Cow?

7.

Rural Sociology
This branch of sociology studies the way of life of rural people as the rural population is higher than the urban. The patterns
of life such as behavior, belief, culture, tradition norms, values, etc. are totally different than of urban people. So, it studies
the rural society in scientific way. It also studies rural life, social institutions, social structure, social processes, etc. of the
rural society.

8.

Urban Sociology
This branch of sociology studies the way of life of urban people. It gives information about the social organizations and
instution of urban society as well as social structure and social interaction. It also studies the social pathology of urban

society such as discrimination) crime, corruption, robbery, beggary, loot, theft, unemployment, prostitution, environmental
pollution, etc.
9.

Political Sociology
This branch of sociology studies different political moments of the society. It includes the study of different political ideology
(view), their origin, development and functions. In this study, different political parties are considered as social institutions.
Various activities and behavior of political parties are studied in this branch. As they are the part of social system.

10.

Sociology of Demography
Demography of scientific mathematical and statically study of population. It studies about size, situation, composition,
density, distribution, and measurement etc. of the population.
In this branch of sociology, we study the distribution of human population with the analysis of population change in
sociological perspectives. It also finds out the determining factors of population change and its trend.

11.

Sociology of Law
Sociology of law and legal system are considered as the part of society, as social institution. Law is one of the very
important means of social control. Law is related with other different social sub systems. Such as economy, nature of
distribution, authority, structure of family kinship relationships, etc. So, this branch of sociology is related to moral order for
the society as formulation and implementation of rules and regulations, law and order come under this.

12.

Industrial Sociology
This branch of sociology is concerned with the industrial relationship of the human beings. It studies the different industrial
organizations and institutions. As well as their interrelationship and links with other various institutions of society. It also
studies the inter relationships of industrial institutions with various aspects of human life such as culture, beliefs, customs,
religion or the way of life.

Besides the above mentioned various branches of sociology, other different branches are also emerging day by day as sociology is a very broad
social science. Some of their names are listed below:

Sociology of Family

Sociology of Race

Sociology of Occupation

Sociology of Art

Sociology of literature

Sociology of Peace

Sociology of Development

Sociology of Military

Sociology of Culture

Sociology of Planning

Sociology of Moment

Sociology of Psychology

Sociology of Differentiation

Sociology of Stratification, etc.

1.

The Contribution of Auguste Comte to Sociology!

Isidore Auguste Marie Francois Xavier Comte was born in Montellier of Southern France in January 1, 1798 and died in 1857. He was the first thinker
who realized the need for a distinct science of human society. He is regarded as the father of sociology. He is regarded as the father not because of his
significant contributions to the subject but because of creating sociology as a science of society or science of human behaviour. Comte first gave the
name Social Physics to the science invented by him but later he coined the word Sociology a hybrid term compounded of Latin and Greek words to
describe the new science.

The period during which Comte took his birth in France, was very critical. Because there was chaos in France as the French World of thought was
divided into two parts. One part was dominated by the revolutionary thinkers while the other part was dominated by the religious thinkers. But Comte
opposed both these ways of thinking and gave emphasis to scientific outlook and scientific analysis. He organised and classified the social thought
prevailing before his times. Comte has many important works to his credit.

An important work of Comte A Programme of Scientific Work required for the Reorganization of Society was published in 1822 which contains an
outline of his thoughts. He also wrote many books.

1. Positive Philosophy (1830-42)

2. System of Positive Polity (1851 -54)

3. Religion of Humanity (1856)

Comte gave birth not only to a specific methodology of studying knowledge but also analysed the evolution of human thinking and its various stages. He
had developed a unilinear theory of evolution. According to Comte individual mind and human society pass through successive stages of historical
evolution leading to some final stage of perfection. The principle developed by Comte in the study of human thinking presumes gradual evolution and
development in human thinking and is known as the law of three stages of thinking.

The Law of Three Stages:

According to Comte it is the universal law of intellectual development. According to him Each branch of our knowledge passes through three different
theoretical conditions; the theological or fictitious; the metaphysical or abstract; and the scientific or positive. This is known as the law of three stages
because, according to it, human thinking has undergone three separate stages in its evolution and development.

He opines, The evolution of the human mind has paralleled the evolution of the individual mind. He focussed mainly on stages in the development and
progress of human mind and stressed that these stages co-related with parallel stages in the development of social order, social units, social
organisation and material conditions of human life.

Comtes evolutionary theory or the law of three stages represents that there are three intellectual stages through which the world has gone throughout its
history. According to him, not only does the world go through this process but groups, societies, sciences, individuals and even minds go through the
same three stages. As there has been an evolution in the human thinking so that each succeeding stage is superior to and more evolved than the
preceding stage. However, these three stages are as follows:-

(a) Theological or Fictitious Stage.

(b) Metaphysical or Abstract Stage.

(c) Positive or Scientific Stage.

(a) Theological or Fictitious Stage:

This stage was the first stage of law of three stages. It characterized the world prior to 1300 A.D. According to Comte in this stage All theoretical
conceptions whether general or special bear a super natural impress. It was believed that all the activities of men were guided and governed by
supernatural power. In this stage the social and the physical world was produced by God. At this stage mans thinking was guided by theological
dogmas. It was marked by lack of logical and orderly thinking. Theological thinking is characterized by unscientific outlook.

A natural event was the main subject matter of theological thinking. The usual natural events tend man towards theological interpretation of the events.
Unable to find the natural causes of different happenings the theological man attributes them to imaginary or divine forces. This kind of explanation of
natural events in divine or imaginary conditions is known as theological thinking. Excess or absence of rain was believed to be due to godly pleasure or
displeasure. Magic and totemism were given emphasis.

This stage was dominated by priests. It implied belief in another world wherein reside the divine forces which influenced and controlled all the events in
this world. In other words at this theological stage all phenomena are attributed to some super natural power. The concept of super natural power itself
passes through four sub-stages. In other words Comte had divided the theological stage into the following four stages.

(i) Fetishism

(ii) Anthropomorphism

(iii) Polytheism

(iv) Monotheism

(i) Fetishism:
It is the first and primary sub-stage in theological thinking stage. In this stage men thought that in every object or thing God resided. Fetishism is a kind
of belief that there exists some living spirit in the non-living objects.

(ii) Anthropomorphism:
It is the second sub-stage of theological stage. With the gradual development in human thinking there occurred a change or improvement in the human
thinking which resulted in the development of this stage.

(iii) Polytheism:

With the passage of time human mind develops and there occurred a change in the form of thinking. A more evolved and developed stage than fetishism
and anthropomorphism appeared which is known as Polytheism. As there were many things or many objects, the number of Gods multiplied. So men
were found to be engaged in the worship of a number of Gods. He believed that each and every God had some definite function and his area of action
or operation was determined. At this stage man had classified Gods or natural forces.

(iv) Monotheism:
With the passage of time human mind further develops and there occurred a change and development in the form of thinking. A more evolved and
developed stage occurred which was known as Monotheism. This is the last sub-stage of theological stage. This stage replaced the earlier belief in
many Gods by the belief in one God. Mono means one. It implied that one God was supreme who was responsible for the maintenance of system in the
world. This type of monotheistic thinking marked the victory of human intellect over irrational thinking.

(b) Metaphysical or Abstract Stage:

This is the second stage which occurred roughly between 1300 and 1800 A.D. This is an improved form of theological stage. Under this stage it was
believed that an abstract power or force guided and determined all the events of the world. It was against the belief in concrete God. There was
development of reason in human thinking. By this man ceased to think that it was the supernatural being that controlled and guided all the activities.

So it was the mere modification of the first one which discarded belief in concrete God. According to Comte, In the metaphysical state, which is only a
modification of the first, the mind supposes instead of supernatural beings, abstract forces, veritable entities (that is personified abstraction) inherent in
all beings and capable of producing all phenomena. At this stage the position of supernatural power of the first stage is taken over by the abstract
principles.

(c) Positive Stage:

The last and the final stage of human thinking or human mind was the positive stage or the scientific stage which entered into the world in 1800. This
stage was characterized by belief in Science. People now tended to give up the search for absolute causes (God or Nature) and concentrated instead
on observation of the social and physical world in the search for the laws governing them.

According to Comte observation and classification of facts were the beginning of the scientific knowledge. It was governed by industrial administrators
and scientific moral guides. So at this stage the priests or the theologians were replaced by scientists. The warriors were replaced by industrialists.
Observation predominates over imagination. All theoretical concepts become positive or scientific.

So it may be concluded that in the first stage the mind explains phenomena by ascribing them to supernatural power or God. The second, metaphysical
stage, is a mere modification of the first; in it the mind suppresses that abstract forces produce all phenomena rather than supernatural beings. In the
final stage man observes nature and humanity objectively in order to establish laws.

Corresponding to the three stages of intellectual development there are two major types of society (i) Theological military type of society; (ii) Industrial
Society.

Criticism:
The theory of law of three stages of Comte is not free from criticisms.

According to Prof. Bogardus, Comte has failed to postulate a fourth thinking stage namely the specialized thinking stage which would not merely
emphasize the use of natural forces.

Karl Marx's contributions to sociology include the concepts of dialectical materialism and alienation. Along with
Emile Durkheim and Max Weber, Marx is seen as one of the three founders of the social sciences. Marx's
theories, which have come to be grouped under the term Marxism, centered on the intersection of society,
economics and politics.

Marx perceived societal progress in human history through the idea of class struggle. The notion of
dialectical materialism focuses, in some sense, on the societal struggle between the ruling economic
class and the subjugated working class. Marx saw this system as untenable and predicted that the
economic apparatus of capitalism would eventually collapse on itself, leading to socialism.
Marx was among the first thinkers to recognize the sociological impact of economics and class
stratification. He investigated the effects of the capitalist system on the lives of workers as well the
deep relationship between class inequality and culture.
Marx wrote extensively about the problem of alienation, in which laborers essentially give up their
labor to the market, seeing little in return small profits and no sense of accomplishment at having
actually made something. Marx argued that this alienation from labor, as well as the alienation of
being trapped in a social class with little control over economic circumstances, amounted to a
fundamental disconnection between humans and their humanity.

Herbert Spencer was a theorist whose valuable insights have often been drowned in a sea of irrelevance and
spacious reasoning. He is popularly known as the British Aristotle and often called the second founding father of
sociology. Spencer's ideas have left an indelible impression on the succeeding writers. Spencer's name was

associated with the birth of sociology in England. Herbert Spencer was born an April 27, 1820, in Derby in England.
He was a man of original and independent thinking. He has contributed to various fields of knowledge like
philosophy, biology, psychology, anthropology and sociology. Spencer wrote a number of books. They are as follows.
1) Social Statics (1850)
2) First Principles (1862).
3) The study of Sociology (1873)
4) The Principles of Sociology in three volumes (1876-96)
5) The Man verses the State (1884) Organic Analogy:
Spencer is popularly known for his treatment of evolution. The evolutionary doctrine was no doubt the foundation of
Spencer's sociological theory. He, however, presented the organic analogy, a secondary doctrine which also played a
vital role in his thought system. He identified society with a biological organism. But this comparison of the society
with the biological organism was not originally propounded by Herbert Spencer. Several other philosophers had
given the concept previously. He established the hypothesis that society is like a biological organism and then
proceeded to defend it against all objectives with great logical force. Indeed, he regarded the recognition of the
similarity between society and organism as the first step towards a general theory of evaluation. In his "Principles of
Sociology Spencer observed some similarities between biological and social organism:Society is thus viewed as being essentially analogous to an organism, with its interdependent parts or organs making
up the body of society.
Spencer observed some similarities between biological and social organism:1) Both society and organisms are distinguished from inorganic matter by visible growth, a child grows up to a man,
a small community becomes a great city, a small state an empire.
2) Both grow in size and this growth is accomplished by increasing complexity of structure,
3) In the organism and in society there is an interdependence of parts. The progressive differentiation of structure in
both is accompanied by progressive differentiation of functions.
In both, the differentiation of structure is followed by a similar differentiation of function. 5) The life of society, like
the life of an organism is far larger than the life of any of the units of parts.
Differences:Having out lined these similarities, Spencer points out the ways in which societies and organism differ from each
other. The differences are as follows,
1) The organism is a concrete, integrated whole whereas society is a whole composed of discrete and dispersed
elements.

2) In an organism consciousness is concentrated in a small part of the aggregate, while in society consciousness is
diffused.
3) Unlike organisms, societies have no specific external form, such as a physical body with limbs or face.
4) In an organism, the parts are fixed and bound together in close contact while, in a society parts are separated and
dispersed.
5) In an organism the parts exist for the benefit of the whole. In a society, the whole exists merely for the benefit of
the individual.
However, in spite of such elaborate description, Spencer points out that his analogy mainly serves the purpose of
scaffolding which is removed when the building is completed and that the scaffolding itself has no value. Spencer
has given much importance to the term organism that the scaffolding is usually mistaken for the real structure.
Criticisms:
Spencer's theory suffers from certain drawbacks. Spencer used his organic analogies in a ridiculous manner. For
example, he compared the king's council to the medulla oblongata, the House of Lords to the cerebellum, and the
House of commons to the cerebrum. The organic analogy was used by thinkers in their discussions even prior to
Spencer. If a society is an organism, it undergoes a cycle of birth, maturity and death. But the death of a society does
not come with organic inevitableness. A society need not die also. Timasheff is of the view that merely on the ground
of systematic similarity, society cannot be considered an organism.
But in spite of all these criticisms, his organism theory highly influenced the later sociologists like Paulvan, Ward,
Sumner and Giddings.

Emile Durkheims major contribution to society was his thinking about how society is
held together. Earlier thinkers had realized that there had to be something holding
society together, but Durkheim was the first to study this phenomenon carefully.
Durkheim argued that there were two different kinds of solidarity among people in a
society. The first type of solidarity appeared in more traditional societies. In these
societies, all of the people are of the same ethnic group, the same religion, and the
same culture. They are all similar to one another and that similarity holds them
together as a society. Durkheim called this mechanical solidarity. In more modern
societies, however, very different kinds of people are thrown together and expected
to live together. It is not at all clear what holds them together when they are so
different. Durkheim says that organic solidarity holds them together. By this, he
means that people need each other in an economic sense. They depend on one
another to keep their economy functioning. This binds them together even though
they do not hold all of their values in common. This idea was Durkheims main
contribution to sociology, but it was not his only one. He also pioneered the use of

statistics in sociology and he argued that society is a moral entity, not just a group of
human beings acting in their rational self-interest. All of these are important
contributions to sociology.
Max Weber is important for two major contributions to sociology. First, he is the
author of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. This is one of the most
important books in the history of sociology. In that book, Weber tried to understand
why some countries were more able than others to build strong, capitalist
economies. He theorized that religion was the key to this issue. He argued that
Protestantism was more compatible with capitalism and economic growth than other
religions. Scholars today do not necessarily agree with Weber, but his thesis was
extremely important in sociology for a long time. The idea that cultural aspects of a
society can affect its economy remains important today. Webers second contribution
is that his ideas have given rise symbolic interactionism, one of the three main
sociological perspectives that exist today. Interactionism argues that society is
created by the interactions between people in the society. It further argues that
these interactions are determined by the meanings that people give to events and
aspects of society. This perspective comes from Webers idea that society could only
be studied by looking at the way its members understood it.
Both Weber and Durkheim made other contributions to sociology, but the ones
mentioned here are the most important contributions they made.

Max Weber, one of the three main "fathers of sociology," contributed to our understanding of
the sociological perspective, to the nature of social change, and to the nature of social
inequality.
.

Max Weber (1864-1920) helped us to understand the nature of society.

.

He disagreed with the approach of Marx, but in different ways than Durkheim did.
.

Rather than deny the importance of material factors, as with Marx, and rather than deny the
notion of social facts external to individuals, as with Durkheim, he added that we should look at
ideas, especially the meanings we put onto things, and the role of changes of ideas that
contribute to society and to social changes.
.

In his interest in the meanings people put to things, Weber used the German word,
"verstehen," to discuss our deeper understanding of those meanings.
.

Since culture is based on symbols, and symbols must have meanings in order to be symbols,
then our understanding of them is an essential element of understanding society.
.

In English, in sociology, today we continue to use his word, "verstehen," to analyse this
important element of culture and society.
.

To oppose the approach of Marx in the understanding of the industrial revolution, Weber
suggested that first came a radical change of ideas.
.

This was manifested in the Protestant Reformation, and the preaching of protestant leaders,
especially John Calvin, in opposition to the prevailing thoughts and practices of the Catholic
church at the time.
.

Among the various values advocated by the protestants, were ideas of self sufficiency, frugality
and independent relations with God instead of through a priest.
.

Frugality was an essential attitude needed to encourage saving and investment, an important
element of capitalism and the industrial revolution.
.

They said, furthermore, that they did not need a large, corrupt and decadent organisation to tell
them how to think, and that independence of thinking contributed to people starting their own
businesses, and contributing to the growth of the capital owning class.
.

The Protestant Reformation, according to Weber, was the main cause of the Industrial
Revolution and the rise of Capitalism, a very different approach from that of Marx.
.

A third contribution of Weber was about the social nature of inequality.

.

Marx had emphasised relations to production.

.

Without denying the importance of wealth, Weber added prestige, the value judgements people
make about each other, and which contribute to their social class.
.

Again, Webers main concern was with ideas.

.

Karl Marx saw class as related to the means of production.. He saw a shift from a feudal
society based on agriculture, where the land owning class was differentiated from the peasant
class, through the industrial revolution, which saw the capital owning class, factory owners,
differentiated from the factory workers, paid labour..
.

Other persons, such as scribes, information dealers, intelligencia and civil servants, did not
contribute to production in the economy, were therefore useless (non productive), and did not
constitute classes.
.

Max Weber, writing a half century later, in contrast, saw class based upon three factors, power,
wealth and prestige.
.

In today's sociology, we tend to see the same three factors, although Marxist sociologists still
emphasise the relations to the means of production, including now the production of ideas and

information.
.

Weber saw society as having several layers, not only two, and that factors other than the
material were important.
.

Between the three of them, Marx, Durkheim and Weber, we now see social inequality as
having three major elements, wealth, power and prestige.
.

Labour conflicts now tend to be between workers and the managers, the latter being paid to
take the side of owners, who are now mainly the holders of stocks and bonds.
.

Webers writings contributed to the Symbolic Interactionist Perspective, one of the three
classical perspectives in Sociology.
.

As with the other two classical perspectives, Weber did not coin the term, nor did he found or
describe the perspective per se; Blumer did.
.

He contributed much to our thinking, and those who went on to develop the symbolic
interactionist perspective Blumer, Mead, Thomas, Park drew deeply from Webers
writings.
.

Weber also contributed to the sociological observation and analysis of organisations.

.

Among his many works, he studied the nature of bureaucracies to investigate the reasons why
they held so much power.
.

He looked at how bureaucracies grew and become stronger along with the industrial revolution.
.

He identified five elements of bureaucracies which gave them strength. hierarchy of authority;
division of labour; written rules; written communications; and impersonality.
.

Two of these are problematical if we ask can they be used to strengthen communities.
.

A "hierarchy of authority," especially if it is rigid, harsh and dictatorial, and "impersonality,"

especially if it alienates community members, are both elements which reduce
the gemeinschaft of a community, thus reducing the essential characteristic of that community.
.

Weber wrote in response to Marx, with the intention of contradicting or reducing the materialist
approach.
.

He saw that the major change was the rise of Protestantism, with values and beliefs which
contributed to the industrial revolution.
.

He argued that the new values of Protestantism, frugality, independent thinking and self
reliance, were values and attitudes necessary to the creation and growth of capitalist thinking
and for actions necessary for the industrial revolution.
.

From our vantage point a century later, we can see that these different approaches were not

necessarily mutually exclusive, but could be complementary explanations.

Filipino Sociology