sociology

The literal meaning of sociology means the study of the development, structure, and
functioning of human society or the study of social problems. The word originated from 19th
midcentury France. From the word sociologie. People often confuse sociology and social
psychology. There are some similarities in the questions they ask, while they use different
research methods. Sociology looks at subjects on a group level.
Sociology is the youngest of all social sciences. It is popularly known as the science
of society. Since the formation of society & group. Men have started to think about society
and groups. For the thousands of the years men have observed and reflected upon society and
groups they live in yet sociology is a modern science barely a century old.
Sociology is the science of society, no other science endeavors to study History deals
with human party in accordance with time order, economics deals with wealth, psychology
studies the man as behavior, religion deals with mans spiritual beliefs, pol science studies
man as a citizen, ruler and as being ruled. But sociology alone studied the social relations,
society itself no other social science focuses on society as sociology does. Sociology has a
past but only a short history, sociology which is known as the science of society, is the
youngest. It is one of the youngest sciences because it was only recently come to be
established. It came to be established as a distinct branch of knowledge with its own distinct
concepts and it's methods of enquiry.
Sociology is also one of the oldest sciences, the dawn of civilization, society has a
subject for speculation and inquiry along with other phenomena which have agitated the
restless and inquisitive mind of man. Even centuries ago men were thinking about society and
how it should be organized and held views on man and his destiny. The rise and fall of people
and civilization. Though they were think in sociology terms, they were called philosophers,
historians, law giving and seers.
Sociology discovers the fundamental conditions of social stability and change. It
analyses the effect on economic, political and technological, cultural forces and factors on
man and his life.

Definitions:
1. Auguste Comete, the founding father of sociology, defines sociology as the science of social
phenomena "subject to natural and invariable laws, the discovery of which is the object of
investigation".
2. Park regards sociology as "the science of collective behavior".
3. Small defines sociology as "the science of social relationships".
4. Marshal Jones defines sociology as "the study of man-in-relationship-to-men".
5. Ogburn and Nimkoff : "Sociology is the scientific study of social life".
6. Max Weber defines sociology as " the science which attempts the interpretative understanding
of social action in order thereby to arrive at a casual explanation of its course and effects".
The period is divided into 3 parts
Ancient period: From the beginning Men have reflected on society and their ideals were
sociological for thousands of years men have reflected upon society in which they live. In the
writing of philosophers, thinkers and law givers of various countries of various epochs. We
find many ideas that are sociological

The middle age: the church has dominated the human mind and hence the most part of
human thinking remained as metaphysical speculation far away a from the scientific inquiry,
intellectuals become more active. Therefore 16th century onwards. Their quest for an
understanding human and its nature, social-political system and its problems now revived
new impetus. Adam smith, thomas hubbles, Francis bacon are examples of such ideas

Social physics 1830 ; 1842: Sociology has once been treated as social Philosophy, emerged
as an indie social science in the 19th century. It was August compte who named the new
science, sociology at about 1839 in his famous work positive philosophy. The world
sociology is a hybrid offspring of Latin (socious) and Greek (logus) study of science. Mono
logically the term means the science of society. Sociology is concerned with human relations.
It deals with the individual as a social being, man in relation to his fellows.
The importance of sociology

There are some critics who assert sociology is hardly of any value because it does not deal
with realities of life and it is concerned with ideas only which devoid of scientific discoveries
are of great importance in social life

1. sociology makes for the scientific study of society : Prior to the emergence of sociology
the study of society was carried in a unscientific manner and society had never been the
central concern of any science

2. Sociology studies role of the institution in the development of an individual: it is through

sociology the scientific study of the social institution and the relation of the individual to each
is being made. It is through the institution like family, state, religion, education through
which the society functions. They are the conditioners of the society.

3. The study of sociology is indispensable for understanding and planning of society: society
is a complex phenomena with a multitude of intricacies. It is impossible to understand and
solve its various problems without the study of society. Without the investigation carried on
by sociology, no real effective social planning would be possible

4. Sociology is a great importance in the solution of social problem: the present world is
suffering from many problems which can fbe solved only through scientific research and find
out solutions for them

5. Sociology has made great contributions to enrich human culture: It has made removed so
many cobwebs from our minds from our minds and social phenomenon is now understood in
the light of scientific knowledge and enquiry. Sociology has given us training to have rational
approach to questions concerning oneself and one's religion, customs, morals, and institution.
It has thought us to be objective critical and dispassionate.
Scope of sociology
Sociology is so elastic a science its so difficult to determine where its boundaries begins &
ends. Where sociology becomes social pry and where pry becomes sociology or where
relative economics theory transcends into doctrines of evolutionary biology becomes truly
sociology, which makes it impossible to decide.

There are two main schools of thought:

These schools of thought consider sociology as a pure and independent science. The first
school is led by the German sociologist, George Simmel, Max Weber and others, where as the
second is inspired by the French sociologist, Emile Durkheim, the English sociologist, Hobhouse,
P. Sorokin are their followers.

1. Formalistic / specialist
2. Synthetic

1. Formalistic or Specialist School

The sociologists who belong to the formalistic of specialists school believe that sociology deals
with various forms of human or social relations. They regard sociology as a pure and independent
branch of knowledge distinct from all social sciences.

George Simmel

George Simmel, a leading German sociologist considers social science. He feels that it should
describe, classify, analyse and explain the several forms of social relationship. It should not be
concerned with their contents which are dealt with by other social sciences. He makes a
distinction between the forms of social relationships and their contents and subject matter. In his
view sociology should confine itself to the study of formal behaviour and avoid the examination
of actual behaviour. It means that the different forms of social relationship and not the
relationships between themselves, should be the subject of sociology. This view-point turns
sociology into a science dealing with the same topics as other social sciences, but the topics are
judged from a different angle namely, the angle of different forms of social relationships. George
Simmel has referred to the several forms of -social relationships such as competition,
domination, subordination, division of labour etc. They have an important role to play in
different spheres of social life. The spheres-being economic, political, religious and the like. It is
an important function of sociology to separate these relationships from one another and study
them in abstraction.

Max Weber:

Max Weber an eminent German sociologist expresses his own view-point on the scope of
sociology. He says that the scope of sociology consists in interpreting or understanding social
behaviour. For him social behaviour does not refer to entire field of human relation. He means by
social behaviour what we call social activity or social action. It is related to the behaviour of
others and is determined by them. For instance, a bicycle accident is merely a natural
phenomenon, the way in which the bicyclists behave with each other after the accident in the
form of avoiding or using the language reflects their true social behaviour. Sociology is thus
concerned with fundamental types of social behaviour. In other words, sociology should aim at
analysing and classifying the various types of social behaviour or social relationships.
Small:

Small says that sociology should study all activities of society. It should study the genetic forms of
social relationship, behaviour, activities etc.

Criticisms of the formalistic school:

Attempts have been made by sociologists to define the scope of sociology. These attempts are
really praise worthy. All the same the formalistic school is subject to criticism on the following
grounds.

(i) The formalistic school has extremely narrowed down the scope of sociology. It states that
sociology should study the forms of social relationships. In fact sociology should study not only
the forms but also the contents of social life.

(ii) Abstract forms cannot be studied in isolation forms of concrete relations. They should be
studied together but the formalistic school makes a distinction between the abstract forms and
concrete contents. It states that sociology should not go beyond the study of abstract forms.

It should always be bore in mind that abstract forms and concrete relations must be studied
together. In reality, social forms cannot be isolated at all from the content, because social forms
keep on changing like the contents. No social form can exist independent of content.

P. Sorokin says that it is impossible to think of a social institution whose form remains
unchanged when its content has already changed. In other words he emphasised on the points
that the forms and the contents change at the same time.

We cannot say anything without knowing their concrete contents. For instance the study of
competition will be of little profit, if competition is not thoroughly examined in concrete form in
relation to economic life.

(iii) The conception of sociology as a pure and independent social science is to say the least not
practicable at all. No sociologist has so far succeeded in contracting sociology as a pure and
independent social science.

It is not difficult to see that no social science is completely independent of other social sciences.
All social sciences are interdependent and inter-related. Therefore, the conception of pure and
independent sociology is not practicable.

(iv) All social sciences study the forms of social relationship, but the formalistic school contents
that it is sociology which alone studies the forms of social relationships. This contention is wrong.