Introduction to Sociology
Three different branches of knowledge
1. The Physical Sciences deal with matter and their subject matter is onedimensional. Ex.: Physics, Chemistry
2. The Life Sciences deals with entities which are not only matter but which also
have life and their subject matter is bi-dimensional. Ex.: Zoology, Botany
3. The Social Sciences – deal with matter and life and culture –and their subject
matter is tri-dimensional. Ex.: Sociology, Psychology
Culture means a) ability to innovate and b) ability to symbolize
Sociology is a hybrid term composed of a Latin word socious meaning a companion or
associate and a Greek word logos meaning science. Sociologically etymologically means
the science which is concerned with associations of human beings.
Definitions
We can classify the important definitions into following five groupings
1. Sociology as a study of society
Sociology attempts to study society scientifically - Horton and Hunt
2. Sociology as a study of social groups
Sociology deals with the behavior of man in groups – K Young
3. Sociology as the study of social actions, interactions or social relationships
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Sociology is the science which attempts the interpretative understanding of social
action – Max Weber
4. Sociology as the study of social institutions
Sociology is the science of institutions – Durkheim
5. Sociology as the study of social life, bonds, processes, system, structure,
phenomenon and so on
Sociology is concerned with the study of the social life of man – Ogburn and Nimkoff
Sociology is a young science addressed to an ancient question
Sociology is the scientific study of human society - or to be more modest and detailed –
it is the attempt to study as scientifically as possible all known forms of human
associations, their nature, functions, interconnections and patterns of change in various
types of society.
Emergence of Sociology
Sociology the subject that we study today emerged first in Europe. Four major
movements that prevailed in Europe before the emergence of Sociology.
1 Cultural Movement – Renaissance – 14 to 17th Century
2. Philosophic Movement – Enlightenment – 18th Century
3. Political Movement- French Revolution – 18th Century
4. Economic Movement – Industrial Revolution – late 18 and early 19th century
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Major concerns of Sociology
1. How and why societies emerge?
2. How and why societies persist?
3. How and why societies change?
Scope of Sociology
a) Formal School (George Simmel and Von Wiese)
They insist that sociologists should delimit the study of the forms of social relationships
(competition, cooperation, conflict etc). The contents of relationships should be left to be
studied by other social sciences.
b) Synthetic School (August Comte and Emile Durkheim)
The synthetic school wants to study both the forms and contents of relationships.
Hence what is the scope of Sociology?
Macro Themes of sociology - Sociologist attempts to answer questions which concern
human societies as a whole or specific societies as totalities
Meso Themes – Sociology also deals with specific aspects of a society such as social
institutions, social structures, processes, movements etc. These may be referred to as
meso themes in sociology in that they concentrate on middle or intermediate level units
Micro Themes - Finally sociology is also concerned with the analysis of specific
concrete situations of human social actions and events in every day life. These may be
called micro themes of sociology. By their very nature micro studies confine their
attention to small scale situations.
Needless to say the study of totality inevitably entails the study of part and parts can be
adequately understood only if they are situated in relation to the whole.
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Sociological Perspectives
Human society is a complex network and there are three ways to study it.
1. Structural Functional Theory - Society as a Unity - Society as a consensual
system - It views society as a complex but inter connected system where each part
works together as a functional whole.
2. Social conflict theory - society as a multiplicity – Society as a Coercive system It views system of groups that are not equal and constantly generate conflict and
change
3. Symbolic Interactionism -Society as a process -They imply that society is really
about smaller groups within it and the symbols small groups use to communicate.
Sociology as a Science
Sociology is a) general science; b) abstract science and c) empirical science
Critique
1. Problem of experimentation – limitation are both practical and ethical
2. Problem of quantification-
some parts of sociological phenomena can be
quantified using statistical methods but a large part of it is essentially qualitative
in nature and is not amenable to quantitative techniques
3. Problem of generalisation – Sociologists have not been successful in arriving at
law like generalizations. At best they can establish statistical correlations.
4. Problem of objectivity
Branches of Sociology
1. Historical Sociology
2. Sociology of Knowledge
3. Sociology of Law
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4. Social Ecology
5. Sociology of education
6. Political sociology
7. Economic Sociology
8. Sociology of Religion
9. Criminology
10. Rural Sociology
11. Urban Sociology
12. Industrial sociology
Application of Sociology to life
1. Public Policy
2. Social Change
3. Personal Growth
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Dr. Sam J. Abraham, LL.M. Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Amity Law School – Center II
Amity University, UP
Mob: 09413706290 / 09910462247
E-mail: samjabraham@gmail.com
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