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Week 1 Lecture - 1

Sociology is the scientific study of human social life, groups, and society, emerging as a distinct discipline in the 19th century due to the Industrial Revolution, imperialism, and the success of natural sciences. It focuses on understanding the forces that shape individual behaviors and social events, employing the sociological imagination to connect personal experiences with broader societal influences. Unlike common sense, sociology relies on systematic investigation and scientific methods to gain knowledge about human interactions.

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Hadiba Kanwal
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25 views15 pages

Week 1 Lecture - 1

Sociology is the scientific study of human social life, groups, and society, emerging as a distinct discipline in the 19th century due to the Industrial Revolution, imperialism, and the success of natural sciences. It focuses on understanding the forces that shape individual behaviors and social events, employing the sociological imagination to connect personal experiences with broader societal influences. Unlike common sense, sociology relies on systematic investigation and scientific methods to gain knowledge about human interactions.

Uploaded by

Hadiba Kanwal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CHAPTER#1

SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Instructor: Hadiba kanwal


Sociology

 Sociology is the scientific study of human social life,


groups and society.
Origin
 No Sociology is a distinct discipline before the advent
of 19th century.

 Three Factors lead to the development of sociology


 Industrial Revolution
 Imperialism
 Success of Natural Sciences
Industrial revolution
Imperialism
Success of Natural Sciences
Sociology As A Point of View

Sociology is the scientific study of human society and


social interactions. The main focus of sociology is the
group, not the individual.

Sociologists attempt to understand the forces that


operate throughout society—forces that mold individuals,
shape their behavior, and, thus, determine social events.

We have personalized approach to view ourselves and


society

Example:
Domestic violence.
A sociologist examining the issue might be interested in the age,
socioeconomic level, and ethnic characteristics of the victims of
domestic violence. A sociologist might compare these
characteristics with the characteristics of victims of other types of
violence: “Are there differences?” they ask. “If so, what kinds and
why?”

Unique perceptions of reality produce varying lifestyles, which in


turn produce different perceptions of reality. To understand other
people, we must stop looking at the world from a perspective
based solely on our own individual experiences.
The Sociological Imagination

Although most people interpret social events on the basis of their


individual experiences, sociologists step back and view society more
as an outsider than as a personally involved and possibly biased
participant.
C. Wright Mills (1959) described the different levels on which social
events can be perceived and interpreted.

He used the term the sociological imagination to refer to this


relationship between individual experiences and forces in the larger
society that shape our actions.

The sociological imagination is the process of looking at all types of


human behavior patterns and finding previously unseen connections
among them. The sociological imagination focuses on every aspect
of society and every relationship among individuals.
Is Sociology Common Sense?

 Common sense is what people develop through everyday


life experiences. It is the set of expectations about
society and people’s behavior that guides our own
behavior. These expectations are not always reliable or
accurate because without further investigation, we tend
to believe what we want to believe, to see what we want
to see, and to accept as fact whatever appears to be
logical..
sociology as a science attempts to be specific, to qualify its
statements, and to prove its assertions.

Upon closer inspection, we find that the proverbial words of


wisdom rooted in common sense are often illogical. Why, for
example, “he who hesitates is lost”? when “out of sight, out of
mind”?

Sociology as a science is oriented toward gaining knowledge about


why and under what conditions events take place to understand
human interactions better.
Sociology and Science

 Sociology is commonly described as one of the


social sciences. Science refers to a body of
systematically arranged knowledge that shows
the operation of general laws. Sociology also
employs the same general methods of
investigation that are used in the natural
sciences.
Like the natural scientists, sociologists use the scientific method, a process by
which a body of scientific knowledge is built through observation, experimentation,
generalization, and verification.

Sociology as a Social Science

The social sciences consist of all those disciplines that apply scientific methods to
the study of human behavior. Although there is some overlap, each of the social
sciences has its own area of investigation. It is helpful to understand each social
science and examine sociology’s relationship to them.

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