What is sociology?

Question

1. What is sociology? What are the two root words of sociology?
2. What is the sociological perspective? Which are the levels at which sociologists operate?
3. Which were the three events that led to the founding of sociology as a discipline?
4. Who were the five European theorists who helped shape sociology as a discipline?
5. Who was Auguste Comte?

Answer 1

Sociology is an academic and applied discipline that studies society and human social interaction. Sociological research ranges from the analysis of short contacts between anonymous individuals on the street to the study of global social processes. The field focuses on how and why people are organized in society, either as individuals or as members of associations, groups, and institutions.

The word sociology comes from the suffix "-logy" which means "study of," derived from the Greek λόγος, lógos, and the stem "socio-" which is from the Latin word socius, meaning member, friend, or ally, thus referring to people in general. Someone working in the field of sociology is known as a sociologist.

As an academic discipline, sociology is typically considered a social science, rather than a component of the humanities. It is somewhat young compared to other social science disciplines, having evolved primarily during the early 19th century. However, there had been social studies carried out by scholars and philosophers at least as early as the time of Plato, providing the discipline with historical roots comparable to those of other social sciences.

One useful way to describe the discipline is as a cluster of subdisciplines (sometimes called fields) that examine different dimensions of society. For example, social stratification studies inequality and class structure; demography studies changes in a population size or type; criminology examines criminal behavior and deviance; political sociology studies government and laws; and the sociology of race and sociology of gender examine the social construction of race and gender as well as race and gender inequality. New sociological fields and sub-fields—such as network analysis and environmental sociology—continue to evolve, many of them are cross-disciplinary in nature.

Many sociologists perform research useful outside the academy. Their findings aid educators, lawmakers, administrators, developers, business leaders, and people interested in resolving social problems and formulating public policy.

History
Main Article: History of sociology
Sociology is a relatively new academic discipline among other social sciences including economics, political science, anthropology, history, and psychology. The ideas behind it, however, have a long history and can trace their origins to a mixture of common human knowledge and philosophy.

Sociology emerged as a scientific discipline in the early 19th century as an academic response to the challenge of modernity: as the world was becoming smaller and more integrated, people's experience of the world was increasingly atomized and dispersed. Sociologists hoped not only to understand what held social groups together, but also to develop an antidote to social disintegration.

The word sociology was coined by French thinker Auguste Comte in 1838 from Latin socius (companion, associate) and Greek λóγος, lógos (word). Comte hoped to unify all studies of humankind - including history, psychology and economics. His own sociological scheme was typical of the 19th century; he believed all human life had passed through the same distinct historical stages (theology, metaphysics, positive science) and that, if one could grasp this progress, one could prescribe the remedies for social ills. Sociology was to be the 'queen of positive sciences.'


Herbert SpencerThe first book with the term 'sociology' in its title was The Study of Sociology (1874) by the English philosopher Herbert Spencer.

In the United States, Lester Frank Ward, described by some as the father of American sociology, published Dynamic Sociology in 1883 and the discipline was taught by its own name for the first time at the University of Kansas, Lawrence in 1890 under the course title Elements of Sociology (the oldest continuing sociology course in America). The Department of History and Sociology at the University of Kansas was established in 1891 or 1893 [1],[2], and the first full fledged independent university department of sociology was established in 1892 at the University of Chicago by Albion W. Small, who in 1895 founded the American Journal of Sociology [3]. The first European department of sociology was founded in 1895 at the University of Bordeaux by Émile Durkheim, founder of L'Année Sociologique (1896). The first sociology department to be established in the United Kingdom was at the London School of Economics and Political Science (home of the British Journal of Sociology) [4] in 1904. In 1919 a sociology department was established in Germany at the Ludwig Maximilians University of Munich by Max Weber and in 1920 in Poland by Florian Znaniecki.

International cooperation in sociology began in 1893 when René Worms founded the small Institut International de Sociologie that was later on eclipsed by the much larger International Sociological Association [5] starting in 1949 (ISA). 1905, the American Sociological Association, the world's largest association of professional sociologists, was founded; 1909 as well der Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie (German Society for Sociology by Ferdinand Tönnies, Max Weber et al.


Karl MarxOther "classical" theorists of sociology from the late 19th and early 20th centuries include Karl Marx, Ferdinand Tönnies, Émile Durkheim, Vilfredo Pareto, and Max Weber. Like Comte, these figures did not consider themselves only "sociologists". Their works addressed religion, education, economics, law, psychology, ethics, philosophy, and theology, and their theories have been applied in a variety of academic disciplines. Their most enduring influence, however, has been on sociology, (with the exception of Marx, who is a central figure in the field of economics as well) and it is in this field that their theories are still considered most applicable.


Max WeberOne shift in the discipline away from scientific explanation had philosophical roots. Early theorists' approach to sociology, led by Comte, was to treat it in much the same manner as natural science, applying the same methods and methodology used in the natural sciences to study social phenomena. The emphasis on empiricism and the scientific method sought to provide an incontestable foundation for any sociological claims or findings, and to distinguish sociology from less empirical fields such as philosophy. This methodological approach, called positivism, became a source of contention between sociologists and other scientists, and eventually a point of divergence within the field itself. Thus, while most sciences evolved from deterministic, Newtonian models to probabilistic models which accept and even incorporate uncertainty, sociology began to cleave into those who believed in a deterministic approach (attributing variation to structure, interactions, or other forces) and those who rejected the very possibility of explanation and prediction.

A second push away from a scientific explanation was cultural, even sociological, itself. As early as the 19th century, positivist and naturalist approaches to studying social life were questioned by scientists like Wilhelm Dilthey and Heinrich Rickert, who argued that the natural world differs from the social world because of unique aspects of human society such as meanings, symbols, rules, norms, and values. These elements of society both result in and generate human cultures. This view was further developed by Max Weber, who introduced antipositivism (humanistic sociology). According to this view, which is closely related to antinaturalism, sociological research must concentrate on humans' cultural values (see also: French pragmatism. This has led to some controversy on how one can draw the line between subjective and objective research and has also influenced hermeneutical studies. Similar disputes, especially in the era of the Internet, have led to variations in sociology such as public sociology, which emphasizes the usefulness of sociological expertise to abstracted audiences.


[edit] Focus of Sociology
Sociologists study society and social behavior by examining the groups and social institutions people form, as well as various social, religious, political, and business organizations. They also study the behaviour of, and social interaction among, groups, trace their origin and growth, and analyze the influence of group activities on individual members. Sociologists are concerned with the characteristics of social groups, organizations, and institutions; the ways individuals are affected by each other and by the groups to which they belong; and the effect of social traits such as sex, age, or race on a person’s daily life. The results of sociological research aid educators, lawmakers, administrators, and others interested in resolving social problems and formulating public policy. Most sociologists work in one or more specialties, such as social organization, social stratification, and social mobility; racial and ethnic relations; education; family; social psychology; urban, rural, political, and comparative sociology; sex roles and relationships; demography; gerontology; criminology; and sociological practice. In short it's the study of common sense.

Although sociology emerged in large part from Comte's conviction that sociology eventually would subsume all other areas of scientific inquiry, in the end, sociology did not replace the other sciences. Instead, sociology came to be identified with the other social sciences (psychology, economics, etc.). Today, sociology studies humankind's organizations, social institutions and their social interactions. The discipline has concentrated particularly on the organization of complex industrial societies. Recent sociologists, taking cues from anthropologists, have noted the "Western emphasis" of the field. In response, many sociology departments around the world are encouraging multi-cultural and multi-national studies.

Today, sociologists research macro-structures that organize society, such as race or ethnicity, social class, gender roles, and institutions such as the family; social processes that represent deviation from, or the breakdown of, these structures, including crime and divorce; and micro-processes such as interpersonal interactions and the socialization of individuals.

Sociologists often rely on quantitative methods of social research to describe large patterns in social relationships and in order to develop models that can help predict social change. Other branches of sociology believe that qualitative methods - such as focused interviews, group discussions and ethnographic methods - allow for a better understanding of social processes. Some sociologists argue for a middle ground that sees quantitative and qualitative approaches as complementary. Results from one approach can fill gaps in the other approach. For example, quantitative methods could describe large or general patterns while qualitative approaches could help to understand how individuals understand those patterns.


[edit] Sociological research
Main article: social research
The basic goal of sociological research is to understand the social world in its many forms. Its main way to do this is by testing to verify a hypothesis. Merton describes social research as initiating, reformulating, reflecting and classifying theory. This involves having a scientific and theoretical perspective about the aspect of the social world the sociologists is studying.

There are several methods that sociologists can use to gather empirical evidence, including questionnaires or survey research, interviews, participant observation, statistical research, evaluation research, and assessment. These are often known as methods of sociological inquiry.

The problem with all of these approaches is that they are all based on what theoretical position the researcher adopts to explain and understand the society the researcher sees in front of themselves. If one is a functionalist like Émile Durkheim, one is likely to interpret everything in terms of large-scale social structures. A symbolic interactionist is likely to concentrate on the way people understand one another. A researcher who is a Marxist or a neo-Marxist is likely to interpret everything through the grid of class struggle and economics. Phenomenologists tend to think that there is only the way in which people construct their meanings of reality, and nothing else. One of the real problems is that many sociologists argue that only one theoretical approach is the "right" one, and it is theirs. In practice, sociologists often tend to mix and match different approaches and methods, since each method produces particular types of data.

The Internet is of interest for sociologists in three ways: as a tool for research, for example, in using online questionnaires instead of paper ones, as a discussion platform, and as a research topic. Sociology of the Internet in the last sense includes analysis of online communities (e.g. as found in newsgroups), virtual communities and virtual worlds, organisational change catalysed through new media like the Internet, and societal change at-large in the transformation from industrial to informational society (or to information society).


[edit] Methods of sociological inquiry
Observation- This is the main foundation of 'primary' social research, as opposed to 'secondary' research, which involves existent studies, papers, theory, etc.. One makes use of the various senses in studying a social phenomenon or social behavior. Qualitative research relies heavily on observation, although it is in a highly disciplined form. See qualitative research.
Participant Observation- As the name implies, the researcher goes to the field (usually a community), lives with the people for some months, and participates in their activities in order to know and feel their culture.
Life History- This the study of the personal life of a person. Through a series of interviews, the researcher can probe into the decisive moments in their life or the various influences on their life. Participant research usually must be designed prior to the excursion to insure bias is reduced and the results can be meaningfully adduced.
Longitudinal study- Extensive examination of a specific group over a long period of time is carried out in the case study method.
Case study- A specific set of circumstances or group (the 'case') is analyzed according to a specific goal of study, or theory. Generally case studies are used to characterize a trend or development; they have weak generalizability. A long term case study is typically longitudinal in design.
Interview Method- the researcher also obtains data by interviewing people. If the interview is non-structured, the researcher leaves it to the interviewee (also referred to as the respondent or the informant) to guide the conversation.
Historical Method- This involves a continuous and systematic search for the information and knowledge about past events related to the life of a person, a group, society, or the world.
Comparative Method- is a method used to detect genetic relationships between languages and to establish a consistent relationship hypothesis by reconstructing.
Archival method- this is used to research recorded facts or factual evidences to help us be more knowledgeable.
Content Analysis- this involves the analysis of how people communicate and the messages people talk or write about. This is usually used to study the contents of books and mass media and how they transmit messages.

[edit] Sociology and other social sciences
Sociology shares deep ties with a wide array of other disciplines that also deal with the study of society. The fields of economics, psychology, and anthropology have influenced and educated a great number of sociologists and the fields share a great amount of history

klmklp,,. Today sociology and the other sciences are better contrasted according to methodology rather than objects of study. Additonally, unlike sociology, psychology and anthropology have forensic components within these disciplines that deal with anatomy and other types of labratory research.

Sociobiology is the study of how social behavior and organization has been influenced by evolution and other biological processes. The field blends sociology with a number other sciences, such as anthropology, biology, zoology, and others. Although the field once rapidly gained acceptance, it has remained highly controversial within the sociological academy. [1]. Sociologists often criticize the study for depending too greatly on the effects of genes in defining behavior. Sociobiologists often respond by citing a complex relationship between nature and nurture.


[edit] Social theory
Main article: social theory and social philosophy
Social theory refers to the use of abstract and often complex theoretical frameworks to explain and analyze social patterns and macro social structures in social life, typically not explaining patterns of social life. Social theory always had an uneasy relationship to the more classic academic disciplines; many of its key thinkers never held a university position. While social theory is sometimes considered a branch of sociology, it is inherently interdisciplinary, as it deals with multiple fields including anthropology, economics, theology, history, philosophy, and many others. First social theories developed almost simultaneously with the birth of the sociology science itself. Auguste Comte, known as 'father of sociology', also laid the groundwork for one of the first social theories - social evolutionism. In the 19th century three great, classical theories of social and historical change were created: the social evolutionism theory (of which social Darwinism is a part), the social cycle theory and the Marxist historical materialism theory. Although the majority of 19th century social theories are now considered obsolete they have spawned new, modern social theories. Modern social theories represent some advanced version of the classical theories, like Multilineal theories of evolution (neoevolutionism, sociobiology, theory of modernisation, theory of post-industrial society) or the general historical sociology and the theory of subjectivity and creation of the society.

Unlike disciplines within the natural sciences -- such as physics or chemistry -- social theorists may be less committed to use the scientific method to vindicate their theories. Instead, they tackle very large-scale social trends and structures using hypotheses that cannot be easily proved, except by historical and psychological interpretation, which is often the basis of criticism from opponents of social theories. Extremely critical theorists, such as deconstructionists or postmodernists, may argue that any systematic type of research or method is inherently flawed. Many times, however, "social theory" is defined without reference to science because the social reality it describes is so overarching as to be unprovable. The social theories of modernity or anarchy might be two examples of this.

However, social theories are a major part of the science of sociology. Objective science-based research can often provide support for explanations given by social theorists. Statistical research grounded in the scientific method, for instance, that finds a severe income disparity between women and men performing the same occupation can complement the underlying premise of the complex social theories of feminism or patriarchy. In general, and particularly among adherents to pure sociology, social theory has an appeal because it takes the focus away from the individual (which is how most humans look at the world) and focuses it on the society itself and the social forces which control our lives. This sociological insight (or sociological imagination) has through the years appealed to students and others dissatisfied with the status quo because it carries the assumption that societal structures and patterns are either random, arbitrary or controlled by specific powerful groups -- thus implying the possibility of change. This has a particular appeal to champions of the underdog, the dispossessed, and/or those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder because it implies that their position in society is undeserved and/or the result of oppression.

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Answer for # 5

Auguste Comte (full name: Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte; January 17, 1798 - September 5, 1857) was a French thinker who coined the term "sociology." He is remembered for being the first to apply the scientific method to the social world.

Comte was born at Montpellier, in southwestern France. After attending school there, he was admitted to the École Polytechnique in Paris. The École Polytechnique was notable for its adherence to French ideals of republicanism and progress. In 1816 the École closed for reorganization. Thus Comte had to leave the École, and continued his studies at the medical school at Montpellier. When the École Polytechnique reopened, he did not request readmission...

Soon he saw unbridgeable differences with his Catholic and Monarchist family and left again for Paris, earning money by small jobs. Then in August of 1817 he became a student and secretary for Claude Henri de Rouvroy, Comte de Saint-Simon, who brought Comte into intellectual society. In 1824, Comte left Saint-Simon, again because of unbridgeable differences.

Comte now knew what he wanted to do: work out the philosophy of positivism. This plan he published as Plan de travaux scientifiques nécessaires pour réorganiser la société (1822) (Plan of scientific studies necessary for the reorganization of society). But he failed to get an academic position. His day-to-day life depended on sponsors and financial help from friends.

He married Caroline Massin, but divorced in 1842. In 1826 he was brought into a mental health hospital, but left it without being cured -- only stabilized by Massin -- so that he could work again on his plan. In the time between this and their divorce, he published the six volumes of his Cours.

From 1844, Comte was involved with Clotilde de Vaux, a relationship that remained platonic. After her death in 1846 this love became quasi-religious, and Comte saw himself as founder and prophet of a new "religion of humanity". He published four volumes of Système de politique positive (1851 - 1854).

He died in Paris on September 5th, 1857 and is buried at the famous Cimetière du Père Lachaise.

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Answer 2

Sociology is an academic and applied discipline that studies society and human social interaction. Sociological research ranges from the analysis of short contacts between anonymous individuals on the street to the study of global social processes. The field focuses on how and why people are organized in society, either as individuals or as members of associations, groups, and institutions.

The word sociology comes from the suffix "-logy" which means "study of," derived from the Greek λόγος, lógos, and the stem "socio-" which is from the Latin word socius, meaning member, friend, or ally, thus referring to people in general. Someone working in the field of sociology is known as a sociologist.

All answers may be found at the following link:

Answer 3

The study of human social behavior, especially the study of the origins, organization, institutions, and development of human society.
Analysis of a social institution or societal segment as a self-contained entity or in relation to society as a whole.

Persepctive: providing different ways of looking at life provides understanding of why people are the way they are.
4. Auguste Comte
Herbert Spencer
Karl Marx
Emile Durkheim
Max Weber
Auguste Comte.

Answer 4

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