INTRODUCTION

TO THE
STUDY OF
SOCIOLOGY
The first social scientist to use the term sociology
was a Frenchman by the name of Auguste Comte
who lived from 1798-1857. As coined by Comte,
the term sociology is a combination of two words.
The first part of the term is a Latin, socius- that
may variously mean society, association,
togetherness or companionship. The other word,
logos, is of Greek origin. It literally means to speak
about or word.
However, the term is generally
understood as study or science (Indrani,
1998). Thus, the etymological, literal
definition of sociology is that it is the word
or speaking about society. A simple
definition here is that it is the study of
society and culture.
 FOUNDERS
OR THE
PIONEERING
SOCIOLOGISTS
August
Comte
 The first social philosopher  He defined sociology as the
to coin and use the term scientific study of social
sociology (Nobbs, Hine and dynamics and social static. He
Flemming, 1978). He was argued that sociology can and
also the first to regard should study society and social
himself as a sociologist. phenomena following the
pattern and procedures of the
natural science.
 Comte believed that a  Comte defined sociology as
theoretical science of the study of social dynamic
society and the systematic and social static, the former
investigation of human signifying the changing,
behavior were needed to progressing and
improve society. He argued developmental dimensions of
that the new science of society, while the latter refers
society could and should to the social order and those
make a critical contribution elements of society and social
towards a new and phenomena which tend to
improved human society. persist and relatively
permanent, defying change.
Karl
Marx
 Karl Marx was a world-renowned social philosopher,
sociologist and economic historian. He made remarkable
contributions to the development of various social sciences
including sociology. He contributed greatly to sociological
ideas. He introduced key concepts in sociology like social
class, social class conflict, social oppression, alienation,
 etc.
Marx, like Comte, argued that people should make active
efforts to bring about societal reforms. According to Marx,
economic forces are the keys to underestimating society
and social change. He believed that the history of human
society has been that of class conflict.
 He dreamed of, and worked hard towards realizing, a
classless society, one in which there will be no
exploitation and oppression of one class by another, and
wherein all individuals will work according to their
abilities and receive according to their needs. Marx
introduced one of the major perspectives in sociology,
called social conflict theory (Macionis, 1997).
 Emile
Durkhei
m
 The most influential scholar in the academic and
theoretical development of sociology. He laid
down some of the fundamental principles,
methods, concepts and theories of sociology; he
defined sociology as the study of social facts.

 According to him, there are social facts, which are

distinct from biological and psychological facts.
By social facts, he meant the patterns of behavior
that characterize a social group in a given society.
They should be studied objectively.
 The job of a sociologist, therefore, is to uncover
social facts and then to explain them using other
social facts. Some regard Durkheim as the first
sociologist to apply statistical methods to the
study of social phenomena (Macionis, 1997;
Clahoun, et al, 1994).
 Max
Weber
 According to him, sociology  It is concerned with the
is the scientific study of interpretive
human social action. Social understanding of human
action refers to any “action social action and the
oriented to influence or meaning people attach to
influenced by another their own actions and
person or persons. It is not behaviors and those of
necessary for more than others. Weber was a
one person tobe physically renowned scholar who
present for action to be like Marx, wrote in
regarded as social several academic fields.
action….”
He agreed(Team
withof Experts,
much Marxian theses but did not accept his
2000).
idea that economic forces are central to social change.
Weber argues that we cannot understand human behavior
by just looking at statistics. Every activity and behavior of
people needs to be interpreted. He argued that a
sociologist must aim at what are called subjective
meanings, the ways in which people interpret their own
behavior or the meanings people attach their own behavior
(Henslin and Nelson, 1995; Rosneberg, 1987).
Herbert
Spencer
 Herbert Spencer was a  Spencer's ideas of the
prominent social evolution of human
philosopher of the 19th society from the
century. He was lowest ("barbarism")
famous for the organic to highest form
analogy of human ("civilized") according
society. He viewed to fixed laws were
society as an organic famous. It was called
system, having its own "Social Darwinism",
structure and which is analogous to
functioning in ways the biological
analogous to the evolutionary model.
 Social
biological system.Darwinism is the attempt to
apply by analogy the evolutionary
theories of plant and animal
development to the explanation of
human society and social phenomena
(Team of Experts, 2000).
 Harriet
Martinea
u
  At a time when women were
greatly stereotyped and
denied access to influential
socio-political and academic
arena, it is interesting to ha
a female academic to be
numbered among the
pioneering sociologists.
 Harriet was interested  She was an active
in social issues and advocate of the abolition
studied both in the of slavery and she wrote
United States and on many crosscutting
England. She came issues such as racial and
across with the gender relations, and
writings of Comte and she traveled widely.
read them.  She helped popularize the
ideas and writings of Comte
by translating them into
English (Henslin and Nelson,
1995).
FIELDS / BRANCHES
OF
SOCIOLOGY
 1.Theoretical Sociology
Macro deals with a larger aspect of life whereas
micro deals with minute aspects of life. They are
complementary to each other.

Functional: This perspective accounts for maximum

harmony among the people so that our society does
not lie in chaos.

Interaction: Is a way of social communication

through ideas, perceptions, dressing etc. Through
social interaction, a society is a frame in groups.
People go with their intuition regarding another
person behavior which solely depends on their
interaction.

Conflict: Whenever more than one person’s

perception is involved, the conflict will take place.
Human beings cannot agree with another person
 2. Historical
Sociology
This branch of sociology studies about
every historical aspect of any event. A
new civilization or any war has some
effects on human beings and society. It
is the study of ancient, medieval and
modern historical aspects related to
3. Knowledge
Sociology.
Sociology

A person’s knowledge is shaped and

affected by the environment, thus the
society plays an important role in
mending ideologies of a person. A
person is under the influence of
culture, social and political norms.
 4. Criminology
Sociology

A crime can be stopped if someone knows

how a criminal’s mind works. There is a
basic trait in every criminal which is
studied under this branch of sociology.

It accounts for the government, polices,

crime branches, criminal records, and their
punishments. What kind of crime, how that
crime and why that crime occurred are
fundamental things which we need to
study under this branch.
 5. Religion Sociology

Sections or subgroups of society follow a

particular religion which imparts an effect
on them.

For example, a Hindu person does not touch

non-veg during DurgaPooja but a Muslim
person celebrates Bakrid by meat cutting.
Society is governed by the religion they
follow.
6. Economy Sociology

Every person has a different economic

status in society. Due to the different
economy, consumption of any product
differs.

This studies the rate of production of

any product or growth rate of any
product. Many factors are there to
affect the Economy of a society like the
need of a product among communities.
 7. Rural Sociology
Rural setup is more prominent than urban.
It is obtained from researchers that the
population of rural areas is more than
urban areas.

Their way of living, ideologies, beliefs, way

of tackling problems is studied under this
branch.

8. Urban Sociology
Just like Rural Sociology, Urban Sociology is
also studied as a branch. It is equally
important to learn urban people lifestyle,
values, and habits. There are many things
which are occurring in urban areas at a
rapid rate like robbery, corruption,
unemployment.
 9. Political Sociology

The political scenario of any place determines

growth at present and in the coming years.

A country’s situation can be changed according

to the ruling party motives and work (either
productive or destructive).

This branch deals with political party summits,

new rules, and their effect on society.
10. Demography Sociology

Sociology is a study of society and society is

made up of a population. Demography
determines the population rate.

It deals with every aspect related to the

population like the number of people residing in
a particular area, increment or decrement of the
population in past years.
11. Industrial Sociology

People’s employment is directly related to

industries. Thus it becomes important to have
information about industries relation with
employees, industrial output, the interaction
between employees and managers.
 12. Family Sociology

Families are the basic structure of society. Different

families offer different values and upbringing to
their child.

In this branch, we study different methods of

parenting found in families. How different families
can bring different changes in a child is studied
under this branch.

13. Education Sociology

Education brings out the best in a human being.

This branch studies different educational
institutions in various places. It studies how
education changes a person’s perspective towards
his/ her life. Also, it studies how much employment
rate is increased after educational activities.
 SOCIOLOGICAL
RESEARCH METHODS
 Quantitative
Methods

 Methods that focus on measuring quantity of

information: terms such as prevalence,
scope, percentage, frequency, magnitude,
etc are very important.
 Qualitative
methods

 Methods that focus on depth and quality of

information. The complex, detailed and
sensitive aspects; belief, attitudinal and
knowledge dimensions etc. are usually
studied by qualitative methods.
 Primary
data

 are first hand and original information; the

researcher firsthand collects them. They are
collected by the sociology themselves during
their own research using research tools such
as experiment, survey, questionnaire,
interviews and observation (Chapman, 2000).
 Secondary data

 are those which are already collected by

some one else found in various sources as
documents or archives. They include: official
statistical documents, mass media sources
(such as electronic media – radio, television,
films, etc; and print media such as
newspapers, magazines, journals, posters,
brochures, leaflets, sign broads, etc.)
 Inductive method

 is a method by which the scientist first makes

observation and collects data, on the basis of
which he or she formulates hypothesis and
theories. In deductive approach, the
researcher attempts to derive specific
assertions and claims from a general
theoretical principle.
Some of the methods
of data collection in
sociology include:
 Surveys

 This involves sampling, impersonal data collections, and

sophisticated statistical analysis. There are three types of survey
research: Cross sectional survey, which aims to find out what
opinions research participants across sections of society have
about a certain phenomena at a given point of time his survey
represents fixed reflections of one moment in time. Longitudinal
survey is conducted on the same type of people over long period
of time, as long as sometimes 20 to 30 years. This type provides us
with a moving picture of the changes over time in a given area.
The third type is called panel surveys, which are alternative
versions of longitudinal surveys. It usually lasts shorter period of
 Experimentation

 This quantitative method is sometimes used in sociology.

Sociologists conduct experimental studies, following the
procedures and principles of experimentation.

 This is done usually to explore cause and effect

relationship between one and the other social
phenomena. What causes what? What is the effect of one
social phenomenon on the other?
 Key Informant
Interview

 This is a qualitative method in which a

knowledgeable person in study site or
community is contacted and
interviewed by the researcher or data
collector.
 Focus Group
Discussion

 This is a form of qualitative data

collection method in which intends to
make use of the explicit interaction
dynamic among group members which
may yield important information on
certain topic.
 Case Study

 This method involves investigating a

certain issue as a case taking longer
time and investigating the phenomenon
in depth
 Observation

 This qualitative method involves collecting data on social

phenomena by carefully observing the social processes,
events, activities, behaviors, actions, etc., they take place.

 One of the key procedures in these techniques is called

participant observation, the active involvement in
community life while studying it. A variant of this method is
non-participant observation – collecting data without
participating in what the informants or the subjects do.
Chapter Summary
The term sociology is a combination of two
words, socius and logos, which mean
respectively society and study. Thus, a
simple etymological definition of sociology
is that it is the science of society.

Sociology is a social or behavioral science

that originated in the 19th century in
Western Europe; its main concern is
discovering the basic laws and principles
that govern human social life, the social
world, the working and development of
society and its institutions.

It grew out of the great revolutionary

contexts, with great concern to address
the social changes, disorders and
Micro-sociology studies the micro aspects
of human society, that is the social
processes and phenomena taking place at
small scale levels; macro-sociology studies
the macro aspects, that is, the overall
structure, functioning, change,
development and processes of social
phenomena at large-scale levels.

The six major filed of study in sociology

are social organization and social theory,
social change, social problems, social
processes, social groups, and social
control.
Learning sociology provides us with
sociological imagination, an illuminating way
of understanding the forces and factors that
affect our lives as individuals, groups,
communities and nations.

Sociology provides us with much practical

benefit and it contributes greatly to the
solutions for contemporary societal
problems.

Research is very important in sociology.

Although some challenge its scientific status,
it uses the scientific method to produce,
store and disseminate scientific knowledge
on society and social phenomena. A typical
sociological research may involve seven
Sociology is not an island; it is
interdependent with other sciences; and as
to its subject matter it is more or less similar
with the other social or behavioral sciences
such as anthropology, social psychology,
political science, economics, and human
geography.

However, as to its methods, focus, unit of

analysis, and approaches, it is different. The
closest discipline to sociology is social
anthropology; they share similar historical
development, concepts, theories, and
approaches; although the former focuses on
modern societies and quantitative research
and the latter focuses on traditional