sciences is the discipline of sociology. Categorically, sociology is the "scientific study of society, including pattern of social relationship, social interaction, and culture' (Cathoune 2002). The operative term SCIENTIFIC refers to the methodological and theoretical rigor that SOCIOLOGY applies in its study of society and human behavior. The term sociology was coined by Auguste Compee in 1940 to refer to a scientific inquiry that covers human social activities. In 1959, C. Wright Mills coined the phrases "sociological imagination" to refer to the ability of sociologist to understand society systematically. This ability involves the process of detaching oneself from the common understanding of society and creates an alternative approach that would situate a behavior or an event within a great social framework. The clamor for social understanding due to the rapid changes in social and economic structures brought upon by the French cemented the prominence of sociological perspective in the field of social sciences. BIG IDEA Sociology studies societies to promote social changes, create new theories, and document human behavior. Sociological Concepts Just like anthropology, sociology also has a discipline based concept that aid in the understanding of human behavior and groups. The basic concept that sociology interprets is that of society. SOCIETY
Society can be defined as a
product of human interaction as human subscribe to the rules of their culture. It is an organization that afters to a humans need for belongingness in a group. The following table present the varying understanding of society as prescribed by sociology. Comparison of Theories on Society SOCIOLOGIST PERSPECTIVE ON SOCIETY August Comte Society as a social organism possessing a harmony of structure and function.
Emile Durkheim Society as a reality in its own right.
Collective consciousness is of key importance to society, which society cannot survive without.
Talcoll Parsons Society is a total complex of human
relationship in so far as they grow out of the action in term of mean end relationship. George Herbert Mead Society is an exchange of gestures that involves the use of symbols.
Morna Gersberg Society as collection of individuals
unified by certain relations to made of behavior that marks individuals off from others who do not enter into these relationship or who differ from them in behavior.
George Douglas Cole Society as the complex of organized
association and institutions with a community.
Robert Macirer and Society as a system of usages and
procedures of authority and mutual Charles Page end of many groupings and divisions of controls of human behavior and societies.
Source, Shandra (2007)
The common terms that surfaced in these definition are: 1. Social 6. Relationship 2. Structure 7. Symbols 3. Function 8. Exchange 4. Complex 9. Behavior 5. Collective 10. Institutions; and 11. System Social Interaction
Within the framework of society is a
process called social interaction. This is a compilation of WAYS and MEANS by which human interact with cash rather a.... Interaction is more merely declined by an actual physical subtract , as it covers every human interchange that is within a mutually subjective (relientation). This implies that as long as the parties involved are aware of each other, interaction is possible. There are layers of social interaction transpiring simultaneously. Several points can be made about social interaction.
1.space is not an issue. The protesters who are
making a dialog with the Chinese government are separated from it by almost 3,000 kilometers. 2. There can be multiple and simultaneous interactions. Am interaction can be participated in by at least two parties or tens of thousands. Each party can be engaged in multiple interaction with other parties. 3. A dialog can have an active end and an inactive end. Note that the Chinese government did not respond to the demands and statement made by the other party. Nevertheless, despite the silence of the other party, such an encounter is still considered as a social interaction. 4. Subject positionality is prevent in any interaction. The responses (or the nonresponses) that individuals make in relation to an interaction is determined by their perception of their position in relation to the other party. 5. The meaning we ascribe to the actions of others are informed by the values and norms that are upheld in our society.
Social Organization
This concept refers to the interrelationships of
parts of society. As a society is an organization in itself, it is structurally divided into layers of contexts and positions that help perpetuate its existence. The positions created within a society constitute the category of status. Each status prescribes a set of accepted behavior that defined the individuals responses and inclinations. This set is called ROLES. The roles of government officials is to ensure that the people's needs are addressed through government projects and politics.
A GROUP is a basic unit of an organization. It
involves at least two individuals who are in constant interaction based on their statuses and roles. Your school typically consists of two groups; teachers, and students. Institution are established when roles, statuses, and groups are perpetuated within the context of society. Institutions are the building blocks of society, as it is through these that norms are produced from the consistent exchanges of individuals and groups. These institutions are also in constant recreation as human interactions are affected by external forces such as environmental shifts. Example of Institutions •family •marriage •education •religion •government Social Structure and Agency
This is the foundation of every society from
which emonates the possible roles, statutes, institutions, and organization. It can e said that social structure is the determining factor by which every other part of society gains its context. The common Analogy used to described social structure and the elements of society is that of a building. What provides the building with its design and body are the institutions, statuses, groups, and roles. The concept of culture can be equated to the concept of social a structure as it functions is the same capacity. This is to say that culture defines the norms, values, institutions, groups, and individuals behavior within a society. Note that this perspective renders individuals to be incapable of asserting themselves in a society, as they are bound by the rules of its structure on in the context, their culture. A divergent perspective to this accommodates the concept of agency. According to Inden (2000) agency is. This definition provides the argument that though structure in place define the conditions in which an individual interacts with others and institutions, the individuals ate capable of creating new systems and patterns of interaction. As such, agency should treated as an active word, it constitutes actions that are intended to instigate action from institution that would alter social structure. Moore (2007) argues this, saying the following; Agency is defined as individuals or groups reflecting, acting, modifying and giving significance to the teaching of science in purposeful ways, with the aim of empowering and transforming themselves and us the conditions of their lives.This agency is action oriented. Subdisciplines of Sociology
Within the field of sociology are specific
inquiries on human behavior in groups studies. That involves social structures such as institutions, social groups, social stratification, social mobility, and ethnic group fall within the scope of social organization. The study of the impact of group life to a persons nature and personality is the focus of social psychology. Social change and disorganization in the branch of sociology that inquiries on the shift in social and cultural interactions and the interruption of its process through delinquency, deviance and conflicts. Human ecology pursues studies that relate human behavior to existing social institutions. This is different from social psychology and social organization in that the social institutions in which human subjects belong to are treated in the context of an ecological environmental element that defines human behavior. Population or demography inquiries on the interrelationship between population characteristics and dynamics which that of a political, economic and social system.
Applied sociology uses sociological
research and methods to solve contemporary problems. It often uses an interdisciplinary approach to better address social problems. Methods in Sociology There are two primary methodological perspective in Sociology; Positivist and the Anti Positivist.
Positivist orientation- perceives society as a
quantifiable subject from which objective conclusions can be made.
• Uses methods employed by the natural
sciences to understand social phenomenon. • Auguste Compte who introduced this perspective taking into consideration that society is like an organism that could be measured through logic and mathematics. • This orientation is predisposed to statistical analysis, quantitative methods such as survey are employed by Sociologists to map a social phenomenon. • This type of orientation allows for a macro level analysis of society Example of a work that uses positivism by Durkheim (1951) he identified four types of suicide that are triggered by the type of society that one is having in. Norm Many Rules Fatalistic
Left Integration Right Weak Ties Strong Ties Egoistic Altruistic
No Rules Anomic
Durkheim schema on suicide
According to Durkheim (1951) individuals who fall into the extreme of their society are bound to commit suicide. For example a person who lives in a society that promotes strong ties among its members is prone to commit altruistic suicide as an act of preserving it. Being part of societies that do not faster strong ties among its members can trigger an individual to commit Egoistic suicide wherein the individual feels isolated having no sense of a community. Third type of suicide is Anomic l, which results from living in a society with na rules. This context propels an individuals to commit suicide as he or she experiences moral and existential crisis based on the unavailability of guiding principles through which life can be lived. Finally, there is Fatalistic suicide.... This type of suicide is due to overregulation in society. Under the overregulation of a society, when a servant or slave commits suicide, when a barren woman commits suicide, it is the example of fatalistic suicide. Coming from a Positivist orientation. Durkheim argues that suicide can be prevented, as it is not a matter of personal choice but it actually a product of social realities which can be altered to counter its effect. This schema or suicide can be applied in understanding all kinds of society, hence the macro level theorizing that positivism can only provide. Alternately, the Anti Positivism orientation promotes a subjective approach wherein social phenomena are understood through individual experiences. • It counters the positivist assumption that general laws can made to understand human behavior. • Requires quantitative methods in gathering data such as interviews, participant observations, and other tools of ethnography. The work on suicide by Pearson and Lui (2011) presents the suicide of a village woman in China named Ling. Using ethnographic process. Pearson and Lui concluded that the typical western orientation toward suicide, which focuses on depression and other mental health related factors, are not in the same operation among rural Chinese women, as their suicide act is triggered by social and economic structural conditions. Unlike the work of Durkheim that has a potential for general application in understanding suicide phenomena across geographic regions, the work of Pearson and Lui remains to be applicable to the case within the micro level of analysis. Value of Sociology for the 21st Century
Sociology was established as time
when society was changing drastically due to technological and political developments.
Contemporary society is constantly
facing reality altering development as fraught about by climate change. Sociology finds its value in providing a conceptual tool in understanding the plight of human as they adapt to their varying environment and social conditions.
Through scientific analyses of social
phenomena, sociology provides policy makers with concrete bases fr decision that affect human population and alter their social landscape. BIG IDEA Society is in a constant process of change One of the pressing sociological issues in the Philippine is the case of unemployment youth who are in the process of waithhood. These youth are called Tambay.
Clarence Batan, a sociologist studying
the youth, conducted a sociological study of Tambay in a marginalized town of Talien in the province of Rizal. • He found out that most of the youth have employment aspiration, due to their marginalized. • Ge further argued that such experiences perpetuate a web of crises that promote intergenerational poverty and marginalization. Quiz 1. It is the scientific study of society, including pattern of social relationship, social interaction, and culture. 2. He was the one to coined the term sociology in 1940 to refer to a scientific inquiry that covers human social activities. 3. He coined the phrases "sociological imagination" to refer to the ability of sociologist to understand society systematically. 4. It can be defined as a product of human interaction as human subscribe to the rules of their culture. 5. It is more merely declined by an actual physical subtract , as it covers every human interchange that 6. A basic unit of an organization. It involves at least two individuals who are in constant interaction based on their statuses and roles. 7. Are the building blocks of society, as it is through these that norms are produced from the consistent exchanges of individuals and groups. 8. This is the foundation of every society from which emonates the possible roles, statutes, institutions, and organization. 9. Perceives society as a quantifiable subject from which objective conclusions can be made. 10. promotes a subjective approach wherein social phenomena are understood through individual experiences. Identification 11.-15. Examples of institution 16.-17. Methods in Sociology 18.-20. Subdisciplines of Sociology