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THE SOCIOLOGY
A Study of Society
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THE SOCIOLOGY
A Study of Society
Irshad Ahmad Wani
EDUCREATION PUBLISHING (Since 2011)
www.educreation.in
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Dedicated to
OUR PARENTS
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CONTENTS
S.No. Title Page
1. Introduction to Sociology 1
Meaning, Sociology & Common sense, Nature,
Subject-Matter & Scope
Emergence of Sociology: French revolution, Industrial
Revolution and Enlightenment Period.
Relationship of Sociology with History, Anthropology,
Economics, Philosophy and Psychology.
2. Research Methodology 19
Nature and Significance of research, Types of research,
Ethical Issues in research
Scientific method: Concept & features,
Research design: Formulation & types. Hypothesis &
its types.
Sampling Method, Sampling terms, Sampling Design,
Purpose and types
Data collection: Types, importance & Sources.
Interview: Meaning & types. Observation: Meaning &
types. Social survey Method: Meaning, types &
Procedure. Case study Method: Meaning, advantages &
Disadvantages, Questionnaire, Report Writing
Positivism and its critique & empirical approach.
3. Sociological Thought 72
August Comte: Law of three Stages, Positivism, Social
Statics & Social Dynamics and Hierarchy of Sciences.
Emile Durkheim: Division of Labour, Social facts,
Religion & Society and Suicide.
Karl Marx: Class and Class Conflict, Dialectical
Materialism, Historical materialism and Alienation.
Max Weber: Social Action, Power & authority,
Religion & economy and bureaucracy.
Elite theory by Vilfredo Pareto.
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Interactionism: C.H Cooley, Evolutionary Theory:
Herbert Spencer. Functional Analysis: R.K Merton.
Schools of Thought: Formalistic & Synthetic.
Perspectives of Sociology: Positivism, Functionalism,
Marxism, Interactionism, Ethnomethodology,
Phenomenology, Dramaturgy.
4. Basic Concepts 143
Society, Community, Association, Social Groups:
Primary, Secondary and reference group.
Culture: Meaning, Types, elements & its aspects.
Socialisation: Meaning, elements, Process, stages,
theories of sociolisation, agents of sociolisation.
Role and status, Norms and values.
5. Social Institutions 199
Family, Marriage, Kinship, Religion, Secularisation.
6. Social Stratification 286
Concept, features, forms and its theories.
Stratification & Gender.
Caste System, Class system, Social Mobility.
7. Indian Society 336
British Cultural policies in India, Indian Social
thinkers, Composition of Indian Society, unity in
diversity. Rural society. Urban Society, Tribal Society.
Scheduled Castes & constitutional Remedies.
Scheduled tribes & Constitutional remedies.
Local Government: Urban & rural, composition,
Panchayat Raj, Jajmani System.
8. Social Change 391
Meaning, Characteristics, Terms associated with social
change, factors, theories, approaches of social change
in India.
Education as an instrument of Social Change. Process
of social change in India: Sanskritization,
Westernization, Modernization.
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9. Social Processes 435
Meaning & its types: cooperation, accommodation,
assimilation, competition & conflict.
10. Social Problems 448
Social deviance, Crime, truancy, vagrancy, Juvenile
Delinquency, Alcoholism and Drug Addiction.
11. Social Control 464
Development, Meaning, Need & Purpose.
Means of Social Control (Formal & Informal).
Agencies of Social Control.
12. Social Movement 472
Meaning, Causes, types, theories.
Peasant movements in India, Nationalist Movements in
India.
Different Acts of Indian Constitution.
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PREFACE
Flether (1970) writes, „I am a person first, A sociologist second, I am a
sociologist because I find the subject, among other subjects, necessary to
me as a person. My concern about sociology is a necessary part of a
much wider philosophical concern to understand man and the world he
lives, and to know, as best as I can, how to improve man‟s situation‟.
Berger‟s statement is more interesting: „if one asks undergraduates why
they are taking sociology as a main subject, one often gets the same
reply, “because I like to work with people”. Thus, sociology and man are
the kindred phenomena. They are the dual aspects of the same process.
Sociology as a form of consciousness needs to be focused on the students
and this may help them to make a better and brighter tomorrow. It is
therefore important to study man in society and the society in man.
This book „The Sociology‟ is specially written for the students
(Under Graduate & Post Graduate) while keeping in view their demands
& expectations. This book has been written in a simple, clear and lucid
manner while keeping in view the understanding value of the students.
This book has twelve units like Introduction to Sociology,
Relationship of Sociology with other Social Sciences, Research
Methodology, Sociological Thought, Basic Concepts I (Society,
Community, and Association, Culture & Socialization), Basic Concepts
II (Primary Groups, Norms & Values, and Status & Role) Social
Institutions (Family, Marriage, Kinship & Religion), Social Stratification
(Caste & Class), Social Mobility, Indian Society (British Policies, Indian
thinkers, Composition Of Indian Society, Unity in diversity, Rural
,Urban & Tribal Society, Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes,
Panchayat Raj, Jajmani System), Social Change & Processes of Social
Change in India, Social Deviance, Social Control and Social Movements.
The topics incorporated in each unit mentioned above include origin,
development and basic concepts, or meaning and definition of the sub-
topics.
The present work is thus, a kind of friendly venture. However, I am
alone responsible for the criticism and shortcomings. I look forward to
receive comments from my readers to enable me to further improve this
manuscript.
I hope that this book will be useful for the candidates preparing for
different exams throughout the India.
Authors
Irshad Ahmad Wani (Sociology)
Mukhtar Ahmad Shah (Education)
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Irshad Ahmad Wani
I am deeply indebted to my Teacher, Guide & H.O.D Prof. (Dr) Aneesa
Shafi (Department of Sociology, University of Kashmir) and to my
Research Supervise Dr. Salima Jan (Director EMMRC, University of
Kashmir) who have always been a source of inspiration and
encouragement from the very inception of my career.
I am also really grateful to my mother, my brothers and my Friends
especially to Mr. Waheed Ahmad Ganaie, Mr. Sofi Jeelani, and Mr.
Umer Rashid Dar and to Dr. Ab. Qayoom Mir.
I also wish to record my deep sense of thanks to Roohiya Mohi-uddin-
Shah and Heemu g for their support in this venture.
Finally, I thank Educreation - the publisher – for publishing this volume
in an attractive form.
Mukhtar Ahmad Shah
I am really grateful to my parents, my colleagues, my friends especially
Mr. Irshad Ahmad Wani, Ms. Sumaya Din Malik and Ms. Iqra Majid
Khan for their wishes and their support in the making of this series.
Authors
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A STUDY OF SOCIETY
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1
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
In the beginning of 19th century a French thinker August Comte felt the
need of a separate science which could adequately study social
phenomena on the basis of positive principles & could find out
underlying laws. The French Philosopher August Comte (1798-1857)
often called the Father of sociology-first used the term „Social Physics‟
for this new science and he later changed this to „Sociology‟ in 1839 (in
his book „Course de Philosophy‟) to refer to the scientific study of
society completely believed/argued that society need scientific
knowledge based on facts & evidence to solve its problems, (particularly
the ills created by French Revolution and the Enlightenment) not
speculation & superstition. He tried to create a new science that would
not only explain the past of mankind but also predict its future course.
Like all sciences, Comte believed that this new science of society should
be based on observation and reasoning, should be used to create a better
society.
The word Sociology is composed of two words; the Latin word
„Socius‟ means „Society‟ and Greek word „Logos/Logy‟ means to
„study/Science‟. Thus, the etymological meaning of sociology is the
scientific study of society
.
Definition
Sociology has been defined in a number of ways by different
sociologists.
Lester Frank Ward and William Graham Sumner defined it simply as
“the science of society,” and Franklin Henry Giddings as “the science
of social phenomena.” Sociology has also been defined as “the science of
institutions” (Durkheim) and as “the science of social organization and
social change” (Kovalevsky). Others have conceived of sociology as the
science that studies human relationships (Simmel), as the study of “social
action” (Weber) or of “social processes” (Small), or as “the science of
collective behavior” (Park).
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IRSHAD AHMAD WANI
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The Above Definition Given by Different Authors Shows
the Following Views
1. Sociology is the study of society.
2. Sociology is a science of social relationships.
3. Sociology is the study of social life.
4. Sociology is the study of human behavior in groups.
5. Sociology is the study of social action.
6. Sociology is the study of social groups and social systems.
Sociology, therefore, is the study of social life as a whole. It has a wide
range of concerns and interests. It seeks to provide classifications and
forms of social relationships, institutions and associations, relating to
economic, political, moral, religious and social aspects of human life.
Sociology and Common Sense
To many people, sociology appears to be a laborious study of the
obvious, an expensive way to discover what everybody already knows.
To these people, sociology is merely common sense. But sociology is
more than common sense because it is based largely on scientific
evidence. Often ideas or beliefs derived from common sense turn out to
be false, contradicted by facts from sociological research.
Sociological findings such as those that contradict commonly held
myths may surprise you. Of course, not every finding in sociology is
surprising. In fact, some confirm what you have known all along. You
should not be surprised, therefore, to learn from sociology that there is
more joblessness among Blacks than among Whites or that there are
more poor people than rich people in prison. But many other common
sense ideas have turned out to be false. By systematically checking
common sense ideas against reliable facts, sociology can tell us which
popular beliefs are myths and which are realities. For thousands of years,
people‟s common sense told them that the earth was flat, that big objects
fell faster than small ones, and that character was revealed in facial
features; yet today we know none of these is true. Today, science is
replacing common sense as a source of dependable knowledge.
When we do not know where our ideas come from or that they are
based on, we sometimes call them “common sense”. If we call them
common sense, we do not have to prove they are true, for then others will
join us in the collective self-deception of assuming they have already
been proved. If one presses for proof, one is told that the idea has been
proved by experience. The term “common sense” puts a respectable front
on all sorts of ideas for which there is no systematic body of evidence
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that can be cited. What often passes for common sense consists of a
group‟s accumulation of collective guesses, hunches, and haphazard
trial-and-error learning‟s. Many common sense propositions are sound,
earthy, useful bits of knowledge. “A soft answer turneth away wrath”,
and “birds of a feather flock together”, are practical observations on
social life. But many common-sense conclusions are based on ignorance,
prejudice, and mistaken interpretation. When medieval Europeans
noticed that feverish patients were free of lice while most healthy people
were lousy, they made the common sense conclusion that lice would cure
fever and therefore sprinkled lice over feverish patients. You may have
heard the encouraging message that “Absence makes the heart grow
fonder,” but you may still remember the discouraging warning “Out of
sight, out of mind”. When facing such conflicting common sense ideas,
how can we tell which are correct and which are false? We can get the
answer from sociological research. It has shown, for example, that the
effect of one person‟s absence on another depends on the strength of the
initial relationship. If two people have loved each other deeply, like
Romeo and Juliet, absence will make their hearts grow fonder, but a high
school romance tends to disintegrate because such relationships are
usually not deep or serious enough to begin with. Common sense thus
preserves both folk wisdom and folk non-sense, and to sort out one from
the other is a task for science.
Only within the past two or three hundred years has the scientific
method become a common way of seeking answers about the natural
world. Science has become a source of knowledge about our social world
even more recently; yet in the brief period since we began to use the
scientific method; we have learned more about our world than had been
learned in the preceding ten thousand years. The spectacular explosion of
knowledge in the modern world parallels our use of the scientific
method. You will learn more about scientific method in the section
„Science, scientific method and critique.‟
In sum, it is not true that sociology is only common sense. If it were,
we wouldn‟t bother to study sociology. Why would we spend our time
learning something we already know? Common sense requires only a
willingness to believe what it tells us. It cannot tell us whether those
beliefs have any basis in fact. But sociology can. This is one of the
reasons that sociology is exciting. It enables us to see that what has long
been familiar - or just common sense - may turn out to be unfamiliar or
uncommon. While common sense gives us familiar and untested ideas,
sociology offers factually supported ideas as well as the excitement of
discovering something new about ourselves.
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IRSHAD AHMAD WANI
[4]
Nature of Sociology
Sociology is a scientific discipline. It is a science in the sense that it
involves objective and systematic methods of investigation and
evaluation of social reality in the light of empirical evidence and
interpretation. But, it cannot be directly modeled on the patterns of
natural sciences, because human behavior is different from the world of
nature. Among other differences, the subject matter of sociology is
flexible and dynamic.
What is Science?
Science refers to the application of objective methods of investigation,
reasoning & logic to develop a body of knowledge about given
phenomena. There are three goals of science. The first is to explain why
something happens. The second is to make generalizations, that is, to go
beyond the individual cases and make statements that apply to a
collectively. The third is to predict, to specify, what will happen in
future, in the light of the available stock of knowledge.
The idea of scientific research is to acquire objective knowledge,
free of bias and prejudice. This is why insistence in sociology is to
achieve natural sciences. The proper method of science is to have
constant test of explanatory propositions by matching them against facts
– whether obtained experimentally or empirically. In this context,
sociology is a science because it fulfills the basic requirements of
objective and rational knowledge of social reality and applies scientific
method. Johnson viewed that sociology to some extent has the following
characteristics of science;
a) It is an Independent Science - sociology has now emerged into
an independent science. It is not treated and studied as a branch
of any other science. As an independent science it has its own
field of study, boundary and method.
b) It is Theoretical - it attempts to summarize complex
observations in abstract logically related propositions, which
purport (intend) to explain causal relationships in the subject
matter. Its main aim is to interpret and to inter-relate sociological
data in order to explain the nature of social phenomena and to
produce hypotheses whose final validity can be checked by
further empirical research.
c) It is Empirical - it is based on observation and reasoning, not on
supernatural/speculative revelations, and its results are not
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speculative. All aspects of sociological knowledge are subject to
evaluation made about social behavior or can be put to test for
empirical evidence.
d) It is Cumulative: - sociological theories are built upon one
another, extending & refining the older ones and producing the
new ones. S such theoretical integration becomes a goal in the
construction of sociological formulations. Thus, sociology is
cumulative.
e) It is Non-Ethical: - sociologists do not ask whether particular
social actions are good or bad; they seek merely to explain them.
It addresses issues. Study of human relations is the prime
consideration in sociology. In this context, Morris Ginsberg,
observes that ethical problems should be dealt with neutrality,
objectivity & rationality based on a thorough knowledge of a
situation alone can ensure scientific status to the discipline of
sociology.
The other Features of Sociology are
1. Sociology is a social science and not a physical science.
2. Sociology is a categorical and not a normative discipline.
3. Sociology is a pure science and not an applied science.
4. Sociology is relatively an abstract science and not a concrete science.
5. Sociology is a general science and not a particular science.
6. Sociology is both a rational and empirical science.
In all these respects, sociology is far from having reached
perfection; but is being steadily made.
Subject-Matter of Sociology
Sociology is not only a science with its own subject matter but the
mother of all social sciences.
It has been said by some critics that sociology does not have a
subject-matter of its own and that it is a Hotchpotch of different social
sciences. It is argued that sociology is a mere collection of the
observation and hypotheses which are to be found in the work of the
specialists (like Political Science, History, Economics etc.) in these
fields. It may be stated that this view is totally incorrect and today
sociology is not only a separate science with subject-matter of its own
but it has also acquired that high status which entitles it to be called the
„Mother of All Social Sciences‟.
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[6]
Sociology is the scientific study of human life, social groups, whole
societies and the human world as such. It is dazzling and compelling
enterprise, as its subject matter is our own behaviour as social beings.
while discussing its subject matter of sociologist, Sorokin said that,
“It seems to be a study, first of the relationship and correlation between
various classes of social phenomena” (correlation between economic and
religious, family and moral, judicial and economic, mobility and political
phenomena and so on); second that between social and non-social
(geographical, biological) phenomena; third the study of general
characteristics common to all classes of phenomena. Thus, according to
his view point sociology studies social events, relationships between
social and non-social phenomena and generalized study of facts common
to all aspects of social life.
In his book „Society, Culture and Personality‟ he has said that
sociology is more or less concerned with the working of human beings.
In this study he covers the study of human behaviour, social
organizations, social phenomena and social values. He is thus altogether
opposed to formal school of thought.
1. Sociologist seeks to provide an analysis of human society with a
sociological perspective
2. Sociology has been concerned with the study of fundamental bases
of social life such as social relationships, personality, culture, social
groups, institution, association community and social system
3. Sociology has given sufficient attention to the study of the origin,
development structure and functions of wide variety of social
institutions and organization both micro and macro level.
4. Sociology has given importance to the study of social interaction in
everyday life in different socio- cultural and historical perspective.
5. Sociology has placed high premium on the method of research.
Research in Sociology is becoming more and more rational and
empirical. Sociologists have sought the application of both
qualitative and quantitative scientific methods in sociological
research to go beyond surface level understanding of our social lives
in a better and new way.
6. Sociology is a fast growing discipline. It has several specialized
areas of enquiry. Each of which may employ its own approach,
method and techniques. Sociology of education, Sociology of
Gender, Sociology of Media, Sociology of work and Leisure,
Sociology of Consumption etc is the few among them.
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Thus, the subject matter of sociology is social life as a whole and
deals with more general principles underlying all social phenomena.
Scope
The scope of sociology is extremely wide, ranging from the analysis of
passing encounters between individuals on the street to the investigation
of international relations and global forms of terrorism.
There are two main schools of thought regarding the scope of
sociology.
1. The specialist or formalistic school of thought
2. The synthetic school of thought
Specialist or Formalistic School of Thought
George Simmel, Vierkandt, Max Weber, Small, Von wise and Tonnies
are the main scholars of this School. According to Simmel and others
“Sociology is a pure science and independent science.
Sociology as a specific social science describes, classifies and
analyses the form of social relationships. Small and Tonnies opine that
sociology has only limited field.
The Synthetic School of Thought Emile Durkheim, Morris Ginsberg, Hobhouse and Sorokin are the main
advocates of this school. The synthetic school of thought conceives of
sociology as a synthesis of the social science. Synthetic school says that
sociology is a general science not a pure science or special social
science. According to the views of the scholars “All parts of social life
are intimately interrelated. Hence sociology should study social life as a
whole.
Durkheim says that sociology has three main fields of inquiry such
as social morphology, Social physiology and general sociology.
Ginsberg categorized the scope of sociology into four major
branches such as social morphology, Social control, social process and
social pathology.
Criticism
The views of the formalistic schools are widely criticized. A few of the
criticisms are follows:
1. Sociology is a general science. It should study both the general form
of social relationships along with their concrete contents.
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IRSHAD AHMAD WANI
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2. Sociology should not make any distraction between the form of
social relation and their contents. Both are interrelated. Social forms
are kept on changing when the contents change.
3. Though sociology is a pure science, It is a general subject. It also
concerned with human interaction and human life in general. Hence
it is related to other social sciences
Emergence of Sociology:
1. French Revolution
2. Industrial Revolution And
3. Enlightenment Period
Just how did sociology begin? In some ways it is difficult to answer
this question. By the time Jesus Christ was born, the Greeks and Romans
had already developed intricate systems of philosophy about human
behaviour. Even preliterate peoples tried to figure out social life. They,
too, asked questions about why there was war, why some people became
more powerful, or why some were richer. They often based their answers
on superstition, myths, or even the positions of the stars, however, and
did not test their assumptions.
Simple assumptions of truth - or observations mixed with magic or
superstition or the stars - are not adequate. All science requires the
development of theories that can be proved or disproved by systematic
research.
This standard simplifies the question of the origin of sociology.
Measured by this standard, sociology is clearly a recent discipline. It
emerged about the middle of the 19th century when European observers
began to use scientific methods to test their ideas.
The term sociology was first coined by August Comte a French
Philosopher, in 1839. The teaching of sociology as a separate discipline
started in 1876 in the United States, in 1889 in France, 1907 in Britain,
and after world war 1st in Poland & India.
The word sociology is derived from the Latin word „Socius‟ means
„Society‟ and the Greek word „Logos‟ means „Study/Science‟. Thus,
sociology means the scientific study of society.
Sociology grew at a time of new and creative social thought that
transformed and modernized all of the social sciences. New specialized
disciplines broke away from the long-established fields of history and
philosophy. Three factors combined to lead to the development of
sociology.
The first was the Industrial revolution. By the middle of the 19th
century, Europe was changing from Agriculture to Factory production.
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This brought social upheaval, violently changing people‟s lives. Masses
of people were forced off the land. They moved to cities in search of
work where they met with anonymity, crowding, filth, and poverty. Their
ties to the land, to the generations that had lived there before them and to
their way of life were abruptly broken. The city greeted them with
horrible working conditions: low pay; long, exhausting hours; dangerous
work; foul smoke; and much noise. To survive, families had to permit
their children to work in these same conditions, some of them even
chained to factory machines to make certain they did not run away.
With the success of American and French revolutions, in which the
idea that individuals possess inalienable rights caught fire, the political
systems in western countries slowly began to give way to more
democratic forms. As the traditional order was challenged, religion lost
much of its force as the unfailing source of answers to life‟s perplexing
questions. Each fundamental social change further undermined
traditional explanations of human existence. The French Revolution,
which began in 1789, symbolized this dramatic break with political and
social tradition. French social analyst Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1895)
declared that the changes in society brought about by the French
revolution amounted to „nothing short of the regeneration of the whole
human race‟.
When tradition reigns supreme, it provides a ready answer: „we do
this because it has always been done this way.‟ Such societies always
discourage original thinking. Since the answers are always provided,
why for such explanations? Sweeping change, however, does the
opposite: by upsetting the existing order, it encourages questioning and
demands answers.
The second factor that stimulated the development of sociology was
Imperialism. The European had been successful in conquering many
parts of the world. Their new colonial empires, stretching from Asia
through Africa to North America, exposed them to radically different
cultures. Started by these contrasting ways of life, they begin to ask why
cultures differed.
The 3rd impetus for the development of sociology was the success
of the natural sciences. Just at the time when industrial revolution and
Imperialism moved people to question fundamental aspects of their
social world, the Scientific method – objective, systematic observations
to test theories – used n chemistry and physics had begun to transform
the world. Given these successes, it seemed logical to apply this method
to the questions now being raised about the social world.
For many social thinkers the radical transformation of society
produced born hope and anxiety. Political democracy and using
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IRSHAD AHMAD WANI
[10]
standards of living were sources of hope. Yet there also emerged a deep
anxiety over the future.
Scholars recognized that an old order was gone, replaced by a new
order of unfamiliar and uncertain features .Among a varied group of
intellectuals in nineteenth century Europe, there developed a new
consciousness about society, a recognition of how revolutionary has been
the change in human society, how uncertain had the future become. From
such concerns as those, Sociology was born. Sociology has attempted to
provide answers to questions generated about the old and new forms of
society. The origin of Sociology, then, is rooted equally in two different
though related tasks.
Auguste Comte (1798-1857), who is known as the father of
sociology, recognized the absence of a general science that deals with
society as a whole. Comte combined two terms „Socius‟, Latin for
society , and „logos‟ , Greek for studying and coined „ sociology „ which
literally means “study of society” Comte defined sociology as the
abstract and theoretical science of social phenomena “subject to natural
and invariable laws, the discovery of which is the object of
investigation‟.
Comte was startled by the destructive effect of the French
revolution which, he believed, undermined the moral fabric of the
community. He wanted to establish a new social order based on what he
perceived to be the moral community. The task of recreating a new social
order required a new scientific discipline with objective laws. Thus was
born sociology as a science of society.
Relationship of Sociology with other Social Sciences
Just as humans today have an intense desire to unravel the mysteries
around them, people in ancient times also attempted to understand their
world. Their explanations, however, were not based only on
observations, but were mixed with magic and superstition.
To satisfy their curiosities about the around them, humans gradually
developed science, systematic methods used to study the social & natural
world, as well as the knowledge obtained by those methods. Sociology,
the scientific study of society and human behaviour, is one of the
sciences that modern civilization has developed.
In order to understand sociology and it‟s relation with other social
sciences let us contrast sociology with five men and women; all
blindfolded, were led to an elephant to touch him and asked to explain
What they „Saw‟. The first a „psychologist feeling the top of the head,
said, this is the only thing that counts. All feeling and thinking take place
inside here. To understand this beast, we need study only this.‟
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