SOCIOLOGY: The Study of Society and Social Behavior

SOCIOLOGY

A dictionary defines?Sociology?as the systematic study of society and social interaction.

??The word “sociology” is derived from the Latin word?socius?(companion) and the Greek word

Logos (speech or reason), which together mean “Reasoned speech about companionship”.

Sociology is the scientific study of human society & social behavior.

??????? It focuses primarily on the influence of social relationships upon people’s attitudes and behavior and on how societies are established and change.

??????? The ultimate aim of sociology as summed up by Samuel Koenig is

“to improve man’s adjustment to life by developing objective knowledge concerning social phenomena which can be used to deal effectively with social problems.”

??????? As Socio means Society and Logos means Study so Sociology also means

“Study of a Society”(study of a group of people living together)

??????? It tells us how something happen, why something happen and what can happen next.

ELEMENTS OF SOCIOLOGY:

Sociology is indeed the scientific study of society, including patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and culture.

1.???? ORGANIZATION, FUNCTIONING, AND CLASSIFICATION OF HUMAN SOCIETIES:

• Structure: This involves looking at how societies are organized, whether through social institutions like family, education, religion, or through other structural components.
• Functioning: Examining how different parts of a society work together to maintain stability and meet the needs of its members. This includes understanding roles, norms, and patterns of behavior.
• Classification: Societies can be classified based on various criteria, such as size (small-scale vs. large-scale), complexity (simple vs. complex), and cultural characteristics (e.g., individualistic vs. collectivist cultures).

2.???? SOCIAL RELATIONS:

• Social Roles: The expected behaviors and responsibilities associated with a particular position in society.
• Group Dynamics: Studying how individuals interact in groups, including aspects like leadership, communication patterns, and decision-making processes.
• Interpersonal Relationships: Exploring the various types of relationships individuals form, such as friendships, romantic relationships, and familial ties.

?3.???? BELIEFS, VALUES, ETC., OF SOCIETAL GROUPS:

• Beliefs: Examining the shared ideas or convictions within a society, which often guide behavior.
• Values: The cultural standards that define what is considered desirable or undesirable, right or wrong.
• Norms: Unwritten rules and expectations governing behavior within a society.

4.???? PROCESSES OF GOVERNING:

• Social Control: How societies maintain order and regulate behavior through informal mechanisms (e.g., norms and values) and formal mechanisms (e.g., laws and institutions).
• Governance: Studying the structures and processes through which societies are organized and ruled, including political systems, legal frameworks, and forms of authority.

5.???? SOCIAL PHENOMENA:

• Trends and Patterns: Observing and analyzing recurring behaviors or events within a society over time.
• Social Change: Investigating how societies evolve and adapt to internal and external factors.
• Cultural Phenomena: Exploring aspects of culture that shape social life, including language, art, and rituals.

LEVELS OF ANALYSIS:

MICRO SOCIOLOGY & MACRO SOCIOLOGY:

Macrosociology?is an approach to sociology which emphasizes the?analysis?of social systems and populations on a large scale, at the?level?of social structure, and often at a necessarily high?level?of theoretical abstraction.?

Microsociology, by contrast, focuses on the individual social agency.

In the field of sociology, the study of individuals is called?microsociology, and the study of larger organizations, communities and societies that individuals live in, is called?macrosociology.

Examples

-> Micro-level: Individual thought, action, and interaction, often coinciding with social-psychological theories and models.

-> Macro-level: social structures and those forces that organize as well as divide individuals into political, social or religious organizations, ethnic populations, communities, and nation-states and all subcultures and influential forces.

SOCIOLOGICAL IMAGINATION: SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Pioneer sociologist C. Wright Mills called the?sociological imagination, referred to as the “sociological lens” or “sociological perspective.”

In a sense, this was Mills’ way of addressing the dilemmas of the macro/micro divide in sociology. Mills defined sociological imagination as how individuals understand their own and others’ pasts in relation to history and social structure (1959). It is the capacity to see an individual’s private troubles in the context of the broader social processes that structure them. This enables the sociologist to examine what Mills called “personal troubles of milieu” as “public issues of social structure,” and vice versa.

1.???? The sociological perspective means view of the world, understanding human behavior of an individual, we learn about new world. Sociological perspective is made up of two words:

Biography: is whatever going on in your present life.

History: is whatever has happened in your life.

It gives us different view of society, world and country we live in.

2.???? This perspective stresses the broader social context of behavior by looking at individuals’ social location, employment, income, education, gender, age, and race –and by considering external influences –people’s experiences –which are internalized and become part of a person’s thinking and motivations.

3.???? We are able to see the links between what people do and the social settings that shape their behavior. The sociological perspective enables us to analyze and understand both the forces that contribute to the emergence and growth of the global village and our unique experiences in our own smaller corners of this village.

EXAMPLES:? Individual problems versus social problems

Mills reasoned that personal/individual problems like being overweight, being unemployed, having marital difficulties, or feeling purposeless or depressed can be purely personal in nature. It is possible for them to be addressed and understood in terms of? personal, psychological, or moral attributes, either one’s own or those of the people in one’s immediate milieu.

In an individualistic society like our own, this is in fact the most likely way that people will regard the issues they confront: “I have an addictive personality” “I can’t get a break in the job market;” “My husband is unsupportive;” etc.

However, if private troubles are widely shared with others, they indicate that there is a common social problem that has its source in the way social life is structured.

SOCIOLOGY AS A SCIENCE

1.???? Sociological analysis: An analysis of human society and culture with a sociological perspective. Also to analyze the factors & forces underlying historical transformations of society.

2.???? Study of primary units of social life: It is concerned with social acts and social relationships, individual personality, groups, communities, associations, organizations and populations.

3.???? Development, structure & function of a wide variety of basic social institutions: Such as the family & kinship, religion & property, economic, political, legal, educational and scientific, recreational & welfare, aesthetic & expressive institutions.

4.???? Fundamental social processes: Such as cooperation & competition; accommodation & assimilation; social conflict including war & revolution; communication; social differentiation & stratification; socialization & programming; social control & deviance (crime, suicide); social integration & social change.

5.???? Emphasis on social research: Contemporary sociology has tended to become more and more rational & empirical rather than philosophical & idealistic.

RELATIONSHIP OF SOCIOLOGY WITH OTHER SOCIAL SCIENCES

???????? Sociology is similar to the other social sciences in some ways but it is distinct because it looks at all social institutions, focuses on industrialized societies, and looks at external factors which influence people.

???????? The goals of science are: a) to explain why something happens; b) to generalize, going beyond the individual cases and looking for patterns (recurring characteristics or events) and then making statements that apply to a broader group or situation; and c) to predict, specifying what will happen in the future in light of current knowledge.

Science can be divided into the Natural Sciences and the Social Sciences.

a)???? Natural Sciences: A branch of science which deals with the study of physical world. It attempt to comprehend, explain, and predict events in our natural environment.

E.g.: Physics, Chemistry, and Biology.

b)???? Social sciences: A branch of science which deals with the study of human society and social relationship. It attempt to objectively study the social world.

E.g.: Sociology, Psychology, Anthropology, and Economics.

Social sciences contains the following:

i.????????? Political science: A branch of science which deals with the study of politics and government.

E.g.: International relations, political theory, and comparative politics.

ii.????????? Economics: A branch of science which deals with the study of how resources are distributed in society. It analyzes the production, distribution, and allocation of the material goods and services of a society.

E.g.: Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and Econometrics.

iii.????????? Anthropology: attempts to understand culture (a people’s total way of life) by focusing primarily on preliterate people. The study of human beings.

iv.????????? Psychology: concentrates on processes that occur within the individual. The study of human mind and its function.

SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS IN SOCIOLOGY:

Sociologists study social events, interactions, and patterns. They then develop theories to explain why these occur and what can result from them.

Formulation of:

+? Concepts: are abstracted from concrete experience to represent a class of phenomena. Terms such as social stratification, differentiation, conformity, deviance etc. represent concepts.

+? Hypothesis: A clear specifics testable statement that predicts the outcome of a scientific experiment or investigation.

+? A Proposition: seeks to reflect a relationship between different categories of data or concepts, a statement that expresses judgment or opinion. For example, ‘lower class youths are more likely to commit crimes than middle class youths’. This proposition is debatable. It may prove to be false.

+? Theories: represent systematically related propositions that explain social phenomena. Sociological theories are mostly rooted in factual than philosophical. Or Theory: a way to explain different aspects of social interactions and create testable propositions about society (Allan 2006). For example, Durkheim’s proposition that differences in suicide rate can be explained by differences in the degree of social integration in different communities is a theory.

+? Scientific law: It is a concise and universal description of a specific phenomenon that has been observed consistently and is well-supported by empirical evidence and experimentation.