WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY

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Keywords; what is sociology, history and background of sociology, the basic social institutions

WHAT IS SOCIOLOGY?

n  Sociology is about people

Sociology is all about helping unfortunate and doing welfare work

Sociology is the same as socialism. Sociology is about the problem of the people. Sociology is about the people and understanding some of the problems of the people is only the part of sociology

sociology

Latin word – socius which Mean – companion

Greek word – logos; Meaning – the study of, so the word sociology literally means the companionship or social relation

DEFINITIONS:

n  Oxford English dictionary –sociology is the study of history and nature of human society.

n  Marrian- Webster’s dictionary & thesaurus – The science of society social institution and social relationship.

n  Columbia concise Encyclopedia- Sociology is the scientific study of collective human behaviour.

Sociology is the systematic study of society. Sociology encompasses all the elements of society i.e. social relation, social stratification, social interaction, culture .Scope of sociology is wide and it ranges from the analysis of interaction of two anonymous persons to the global social interaction in global institution. Like UNESCO UN etc.

In the broadest sense

n  Sociology is the study of human interactions, conditions and consequences. Ideally it has for its field the whole life of man in society, all the activities where by men main maintain themselves in the struggle for existence, there rules and regulations which define their relations with each other, the system of knowledge and belief, art & morals, and any other capacity & habit acquired and developed in the course of their activities as member of the society. ()

Basic sociological questions

n  What hold society together?

n  What is the relationship between the individual and society?

n  Sociological perspective

n  Scientific study of the human society.

n  Seeing strange in the familiar

n  Seeing general in the particular

n  Putting people in the social context

HISTORY OF SOCIOLOGY

n  No Philosopher attempt  an analysis of  the real society

n  Sociology is one of the youngest discipline

n  Augueste comet introduced the word sociology to describe a new way of looking at the world (1798 – 1857). Augueste comet Born in montpillerin southern France and Grew up in the shadow of French revolution. He Divided sociology in to two parts-   Statics & dynamics

n  Herbert spencer (1820 –1903) Born during the period of British industrialism, known as one of the leading Social Darwinists of the 19th century. He Coined the phrase        " survival of the fittest"

n  Karl Marx (1818-1883) Born in a middle class German family, Karl Marx believed that social change is what was needed for a better society, and to get social change there must be class conflict. Marx's major concern of social change was economic change.

n  Max weber (1864-1920); Maximilian Carl Emil Weber influential thinkers of the twentieth century. Born in Germany. He believed that sociological explanation must be driven from understanding why people choose the action thy do

n  George Herbert Mead (1863 – 1931), an American philosopher sociologist & psychologist born in South Hadley, Massachusetts. He argued the anti-positivistic view that the individual is a product of society, the self-arising out of social experience as an object of socially symbolic gestures and interactions

Background of Sociology

n  The discipline of sociology sprang from revolutionary changes in society it self

   European societies buffeted by a number of great transformations during 17^th & 18^th centuries. As social ground trembled under their feet, people were understandably drawn to the study of society.

n  Factors

n  Technological advancement

n  Economic transformation

n  Growth of cities

n  Political changes

The basic social institutions

n  Family-Relatively permanent social group of two or more people related by blood, marriage, or adaptation, and who live together

n  Education- major social institution for transmitting knowledge & skills as well as cultural norms and values

n  Religion- Major social institution biased on distinguishing the sacred from profan. Religion expresses and the power of society over individual.

n  Politics-by which society distribute power and organizes decision making.

n  The economy and Work-, by which goods and services are produced, distributed & consumed.

n  Politics – politics is a major social institution by which a society distributes power and organizes decision making.