Definition, nature, and scope of Sociology (Reference-C.N.

Shankar Rao- Sociology: Principles

of Sociology with An Introduction to Social Thought)

What is Sociology and why do we study Sociology?

 Sociology is the science of society. Just as Economics studies man as a wealth-earner and
wealth-disposer, inquires into the relations of wealth and welfare. History deals with the
human past in accordance with the time order. Cultural Anthropology studies man,
particularly the primitive man, and it concentrates more on the primitive communities
and their cultures. Psychology studies the man as a behaving individual. Social
psychology is concerned with the ways in which an individual reacts to his social
conditions, Political science studies man as a citizen, as a ruler, and as being subject.
Religion deals with man as a spiritual being and inquires into his faith in supernatural
powers.
 Sociology alone studies social relationships, and society itself. Thus, the focus of no
other social science is identical to that of sociology. Indeed, it is the focus of interest that
distinguishes one social science from another.
 Sociology is interested in social relationships not because they are economic, political
religious legal, or educational but because they are at the same time, social. In sociology,
we do not study everything that happens in society, or under social conditions, instead,
we study, social relationships, their specific forms, varieties, and patterns. We study how
the relations combine, how they build up smaller, or greater systems, and how they
respond to changes and changing demands or needs. Hence, our study of society is
essentially analytical.
 ‘Sociology’ which had once been treated as social philosophy, or the philosophy of
history emerged as an independent social science in the 19th century. August Comte, a
Frenchman, is traditionally considered to be the father of Sociology. Comte is accredited
with the coining of the term Sociology in 1839. The etymological meaning of the
Sociology is the science of society.

Nature of Sociology?
1. Sociology is 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 methods.
2. Sociology is a science of society: sociology belongs to the family of social sciences and not to
the family of physical sciences.
3. Sociology is categorical but not a normative discipline: Sociology confines itself to
statements about what is, not what should be or ought to be, it does not make any value
judgments and is ethically neutral. By this, what it basically means is that as a discipline it
can not deal with problems of good and evil, right and wrong, moral and immoral.
4. Sociology is a pure science and not an applied science: Sociology is a pure science, because
the immediate aim of Sociology is the acquisition of knowledge about human society, but it
never determines questions of public policy and does not recommend to legislators what
 laws should be passed or repealed. However, the knowledge acquired by a sociologist is of
great help to the administrator, the legislator, the diplomat, the teacher, the social worker,
and the citizens.
5. Sociology is a relatively abstract science and not a concrete science: Sociology is more
concerned with the forms of human events and their patterns, For example, Sociology is not
concerned with particular wars and revolutions but with war and revolution in general, as
social phenomena, as types of social conflict. Sociology does not confine itself to the study of
any particular society or social organization marriage religion or group and so on. In this
simple notion, we can say that sociology is an abstract science, not a concrete one.
6. Sociology is a collective science: Sociology tries to find out about human interactions and
associations, about the nature, form, content, and structure of human groups and societies.
It tries to make generalizations on the basis of the study of some selected events. So, the
area of inquiry of sociology is general and not specific. It studies human activities in general
ways.
7. Sociology is both a rational and an empirical science: There are two broad ways of
approaching scientific knowledge. One, known as empiricism, is the approach that
emphasizes experience and the facts that result from observation and experimentation. The
other known as rationalism, stresses reason and the theories that result from logical
inference. The empiricist collects facts, and the rationalists coordinate and arrange them.
Theories and facts are required in the construction of knowledge. A theory unsubstantiated
by hard, solid facts is nothing more than an opinion. Facts, by themselves, in their isolated
character, are meaningless and useless. As Immanuel Kant said, ‘Theories without facts are
empty and facts without theories are blind.” All modern sciences, avail themselves of both
empirical and rational resources. Sociology is no exception.

Scope of Sociology
Every science has its own areas of study or fields of inquiry. But, here the question arises, how
can we determine the scope of Sociology? However, since Sociology is so broad that has no clear
demarcation from where it starts and where it ends, it has a nature of elasticity. Say, for example,
it is difficult to determine where sociology becomes social psychology, where psychology
becomes sociology, or where economic theory becomes sociological doctrine or biological
theory becomes sociological theories, it's quite impossible to decide.

Sociology is a subject with important practical implications. It can contribute to social criticism
and practical social reforms in several ways. To begin with, an improved understanding of a given
set of social circumstances often gives us all a better chance of controlling them. At the same
time, sociology provides the means of increasing our cultural sensitivities, allowing policies to be
based on an awareness of divergent cultural values. In practical terms, we can investigate the
consequences of the adoption of particular policy programs, finally and most importantly,
sociology provides self-enlightenment, offering groups and individuals an increased opportunity
to alter the conditions of their own lives.
The sociological perspective

A sociologist is someone who is able to break free from the immediacy of personal
circumstances and put things into a wider context. Cite the example of drinking coffee from
Gidden’s book. Sociology also looks at social structure and agency. The concept of social
structure is an important one. It refers to the fact that the social contexts of our lives do not
consist of just random assortments of events or actions, instead, they are structured and
patterned. There are regularities in how we behave and our relationships with others. But, social
structure is not like a physical structure, such as a building, which exists independently of human
actions. Human societies are always in the process of structuration. They are reconstructed at
every moment by the very ‘building block’ that compose it- human beings like you and me. The
theory of structuration is a social theory of the creation and reproduction of social systems that
is based on the analysis of both structure and agents without giving primacy to either. The
theory was proposed by sociologist Anthony Giddens, most significantly in The Constitution of
Society, it is the pillar of contemporary sociological theory.

Theories and theoretical approaches

Theoretical thinking must respond to general problems posed by the study of human social life,
including philosophical issues. Deciding the extent to which sociology should be modeled on the
natural sciences and how we should best conceptualize human consciousness, action, and
institutions are problems that take work.

Early Theorists

 We human beings have always been curious about the sources of our own behavior but
for thousands of years, our attempts to understand ourselves relied on ways of thinking
passed down from generation to generation, often expressed in religious terms. For
example, before the rise of modern science, many people believed that gods or spirits
were the cause of natural events such as earthquakes. The systematic study of society is
a relatively recent development, whose beginnings date back to the late 1700s and early
1800s.
 The background to the origins of sociology was the series of sweeping changes ushered
in the French Revolution of 1789 and the emergence of the Industrial Revolution in
Europe.
 The shattering of traditional ways of life wrought by these changes resulted in the
attempts of thinkers to develop a new understanding of both the social and natural
worlds.
 A key development was the use of science instead of religion to understand the world.
The types of questions these nineteenth-century thinkers sought to answer- what is
human nature? Why is society structured in this way? How and why do societies change?
 Our modern world is radically different from that of the past, it is sociology’s task to help
us understand the world and what the future is likely to hold.
 August Comte

 The prominence as the founder of sociology is given to French author August Comte
(1798-1857). Comte’s thinking reflected the turbulent events of his age. The French
Revolution had introduced significant changes in society and the growth of
industrialization was altering the traditional lives of the French population.
 Comte sought to create a science of society that could explain the laws of the social
world just as natural science explained the functioning of the physical world.
 Although Comte recognized that each scientific discipline has its own subject matter, he
believed that they all share a common logic and scientific method aimed at revealing
universal laws.
 Just as the discovery of laws in the natural world allows us to control and predict events
around us, uncovering the laws that govern human society could help us shape our
destiny and improve the welfare of humanity.
 Comte argued that society conforms to invariable laws in much the same way that the
physical world does. His vision was that of a positive science. He believed that sociology
should apply the same rigorous rules and scientific methods to the study of society that
physics or chemistry use to study the physical world.
 Positivism holds that science should be concerned with observable entities that are
known directly to experience. On the basis of careful sensory observations, one can
infer laws that explain the relationship between the observed phenomena.
 A positivist approach to sociology believes in the production of knowledge about society
based on empirical evidence drawn from observation, comparison, and
experimentation.
 Comte’s law of three stages claims that human efforts to understand the world have
passed through theological, metaphysical, and positive stages. In the theological stage,
thoughts were guided by religious ideas and the belief that society was an expression of
God’s will. In the metaphysical change, which came to the forefront around the
Renaissance, society came to be seen in natural not supernatural terms. The positive
stage was ushered in by the discoveries and achievements of Copernicus, and Galileo.
And, Newton, encouraged the application of scientific techniques to the social world.

Emile Durkheim

 The writings of Emile Durkheim had a more lasting impact than that of Comte’s
writings. He believed that we must study social life with the same objectivity as
scientists study the natural world. His famous first principle was ‘Study social facts
as things’, by this he meant that social life could be analyzed as rigorously as objects
or events in nature.
 For Durkheim, the main intellectual concern of sociology is the study of social facts.
Social facts are the aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals, such
as the state of the economy or the influence of religion.
 According to Durkheim, social facts are ways of acting, thinking, or feeling that are
external to individuals, and have their own reality outside the lives and perceptions
of individuals. Another attribute of social facts is that they exercise a coercive power
over individuals.
 The social fact can constrain human action in a variety of ways, ranging from
outright punishment to social rejection for unacceptable behavior. Social facts are
invisible and intangible, and can not be observed directly. Instead, their properties
must be revealed indirectly by analyzing their effects.
 Durkheim stressed the importance of abandoning prejudice and ideology. A
scientific attitude demands a mind that is open to the evidence of senses and free
of preconceived ideas that come from outside.
 He held that scientific concepts could only be generated through scientific practices.
He challenged sociologists to study things as they really are and to construct new
concepts that reflect the true nature of social things.
 Durkheim was more concerned about what holds society together and keeps it from
descending into chaos. Solidarity is maintained when individuals are successfully
integrated into social groups and are regulated by a set of shared values and
customs.
 In his groundbreaking work, The Division of Labour Durkheim contrasted two types
of solidarities- 1. Mechanical Solidarity 2. Organic Solidarity
 According to Durkheim, traditional cultures with a low division of labor are
characterized by mechanical solidarity, as most members of the societies are
involved in similar occupations, they are bound together by common experience
and shared beliefs. The strength of these shared beliefs is repressive- the
community swiftly punishes anyone who disobeys the conventional ways of living,
so there is little space for individualistic dissent. Mechanical solidarity is therefore
grounded in consensus and similarity of beliefs.
 Now, the forces of industrialization and urbanization, however, led to a growing
division of labor that contributed to the breakdown of this form of solidarity.
Durkheim argued that the specialization of tasks and the increasing social
differentiation in advanced societies would lead to a new order featuring organic
solidarity.
 Societies characterized by organic solidarity are held together by economic
interdependence and their recognition of the importance of other’s contributions.
As the division of labor expands, people become increasingly dependent on one
another, because each person needs goods and services that those in other
occupations supply. Relationships of economic reciprocity and mutual dependency
come to replace shared beliefs in creating social consensus.
 Anomie- Processes of social change in the modern world are so rapid and intense
that they give rise to major social difficulties. They can have disruptive effects on
traditional lifestyles, morals, religious beliefs, and everyday patterns without
providing clear values. Durkheim linked these unsettling conditions to anomie, a
feeling of aimlessness or despair provoked by modern social life.
 Traditional moral controls and standards, which used to be supplied by religion, are
largely broken down by modern social development, and this leaves many
individuals in modern societies feeling that their daily lives lack meaning.
 One of Durkheim’s most famous studies was concerned with the analysis of suicide,
suicide seems to be a purely personal act, the outcome of extreme personal
 unhappiness, but Durkheim showed, the social factors exert a fundamental
influence on suicidal behaviour anomie being one of these influences. Suicide rates
show regular patterns from year to year and these paptterns must be studied
sociologically.
Karl Marx
 The ideas of Karl Marx (1818-83) contrast sharply with those of Comte and
Durkheim, but like them, he sought to explain the changes that were taking place in
society during the time of industrial revolution. Most of his work concentrated on
economic issues, but since he was always concerned to connect economic problems
to social institutions, his work is rich in sociological insights.
 Though he wrote about various phases of history, Marx concentrated primarily on
change in modern times. For him, the most important changes were bound up with
the development of capitalism and class struggle. Capitalism is a system of
production that contrasts with the earlier ones.
 Marx identified two main elements within capitalist enterprises. The first is capital-
any assets, including money, machines, or even factory, which can be used or
invested to make future assets. The accumulation goes hand in hand with the
second element- wage labor. Wage labor refers to the pools of workers who do not
own the means of their livelihood but must find employment provided by the
owners of capital.
 Capitalists form a ruling class while the mass of the population make up a class of
waged workers, or a working class. As industrialization spread, large numbers of
peasants who used to support themselves by working the land moved to the
expanding cities and helped to form an urban-based industrial working class. This
working class is also referred to as the proletariat.
 According to Marx, capitalism is inherently a class system in which class relations are
characterized by conflict. Although owners of capital and workers are each
dependent on the other- the capitalists need labour and workers need wages-the
dependency is highly unbalanced.
 The relationship between classes is an exploitative one, since workers have little to
no control over their labour and employers are able to generate profit by
appropriating the product of worker’s labor. He believed that, class conflict over
economic resources would become more acute with the passing time.
 Social change: The materialist conception of history- Marx’s viewpoint was
grounded in what he called as historical materialism. According to this view- it is not
ideas or values which human beings hold that are the main sources of social change,
rather social change is prompted primarily by economic influences.
 Conflict between the classes provide the motivation for historical development-
they are the ‘motor of history’. As Marx wrote at the beginning of the Communist
Manifesto, “The history of all hither to existing society is the history of class
struggles’ (Marx & Engels, 1848)
 Although, Marx focused most of his attention on capitalism and modern society, he
also examined how societies had developed over the course of history. According to
 him, social systems make a transition from one mode of production to another-
sometimes gradually and sometimes through revolution- as a result of contradiction
in their economies.
 He outlined a progression of historical stages that begin with primitive communist
societies of hunters and gatherers and passed through ancient slave owning systems
and feudal systems based on the division between landowners and serfs. The
emergence of merchants and craftspeople marked the beginning of a commercial or
capitalist class that came to displace the landed mobility.
 In accordance to this view of history, Marx argued that just as the capitalists had
united to overthrow the feudal order, so too would the capitalists would be
supplanted by proletariats and would form a new social order- communism.
 Marx believed in the inevitability of a worker’s revolution which would overthrow
the capitalist system and usher in a new society in which there would be no classes-
no large scale divisions between rich and poor.
 Max Weber
 In common with other thinkers of his time, Weber sought to understand the nature
and causes of social change. He rejected historical materialism and saw other
factors such as ideas, cultural views and norms to be equally important as the class
struggles.
 In his much celebrated book, “Protestant ethics and capitalism’ (1976) proposes that
religious values-especially those associated with puritanism were of fundamental
importance in creating a capitalistic outlook.
 Weber believed that, sociology should focus on social action not structures. He
argued that human motivation and ideas were the forces behind changes-ideas,
values and beliefs, had the power to bring about transformations.
 According to Weber, individuals have the ability to act freely and to shape the
future. He did not believe that, structure existed independent of individuals.
 An important element in Weber’s sociological perspective is ideal type. Ideal types
are conceptual or analytical models that can be used to understand the world. In
any situation, the real world can be compared with the ideal types and
comprehended.
 Rationalization- In weber’s view, the emergence of modern society was
accompanied by important shifts in patterns of social action. He believed that
people were moving away from traditional beliefs grounded in superstitions,
religion, custom and long-standing habit. Instead, individuals were increasingly
engaging in rational, instrumental calculations that took into account efficiency and
future consequences.
 The development of science, modern technology and bureaucracy collectively were
described as rationalization by Weber- that is the organization of social and
economic life according to the principle of efficiency and technological knowledge.
Thus, modern society is marked by rationalization.
 In weber’s point of view, the industrial revolution and modern capitalism were proof
of a larger trend towards rationalization, capitalism is not dominated by class
conflicts as Marx believed, but by the rise of science & technology.
 Weber saw the scientific character of west as one of its most distinctive traits.
Bureaucracy which is the only way of organizing large numbers of people effectively,
expands with economic and political growth.
 Weber used the word disenchantment to describe the way in which scientific
thinking in the modern world had been swept away the forces of sentimental.
 Sociological Imagination
 The sociological imagination requires us to think ourselves away from the familiar
routine of our daily lives, in order to look at them anew. Consider the simple act of
drinking coffee. What could we say from a sociological point of view?>
 We could point out first that coffee is not just refreshment, it possesses symbolic
value as part of our daily lives. Sometimes, people use it as a ritual or daily practice.
Some people are interested dating and get to know each other well, so they intend
to meet up in the name of coffee. Drinking and eating in all societies in fact provide
occasions for social interaction.
 Second, coffee can be used as a drug, the caffein in it helps to lift up mood and
make energetic. Though, coffee addicts are not deemed as drug addicts as it is a
socially accepted drug.
 Now comes the sociological thinking from a sociological perspective. An individual
who drinks coffee is caught up in a complicated set of social and economic
relationships stretching across the world.
 Coffee is a product that links people in some of the wealthiest and most
impoverished parts of the planets. It is consumed in great quantities in wealthy
countries, but is grown primarily in poor ones. Next to oil, coffee is the most
valuable commodity in international trade.
 The production, transportation, and distribution of coffee require continuous
transactions between people thousands of miles away from the coffee drinker-
studying such global transaction is an important task of sociology since many
aspects of our lives are now affected by worldwide social influences and
communications.
 Fourth, the act of sipping a coffee presumes whole process of past social and
economic development. Although, the drink first originated in middle-east, but now
coffee comes South America and Africa, that were colonized by Europeans. This
colonial legacy has had an enormous impact on the development of the global
coffee trade.
 Finally, coffee is a product that stands at the heart of contemporary debates about
globalization, international trade, human rights and environmental destruction. As
coffee has grown in popularity it has become ‘branded’ and ‘politicized’.
 The decisions that consumers make about what kind of coffee to drink and where to
purchase it, have become lifestyle choices. Individuals may choose to drink only
organic coffee, or decaffeinated coffee.
 Coffee drinkers might decide to boycott coffee from certain countries with human
rights and environmental records. Sociologists are interested to understand how
globalization hightens people’s awareness of issues occurring in distant corners of
the planets and prompts them to act on new knowledge in their own lives.

Orientation of sociological theories

 There are basically three theoretical perspectives in Sociology or modes of
thinking. These are- Functionalism, Conflict perspective and Symbolic
interactionism.
 Functionalism holds that society is a complex system whose various parts work
together to produce stability and solidarity. According to this approach, the
discipline of sociology should investigate the relationship of parts of society to
each other and to society as whole.
 To study the functions of a social practice or institution is to analyse the
contribution that practice, or institution makes to the continuation of the
society.
 Functionalism emphasizes on the importance of moral consensus, in
maintaining order and stability in society. Moral consensus exists when most
people in the society share the same values. For instance, Durkheim believed
that religion reaffirms people’s adherence to core social values, thereby
contributing to the maintenance of social cohesion.
 Until 1960s functionalist thought was probably the leading theoretical tradition
in sociology, and the phenomenal theorists among them were Talcot Parsons
and Robert k Mmerton.
 Merton’s version of functionalism has been particularly influential, he
distinguished between manifest and latent functions. Manifest functions are
those that are intentional and purposive, latent functions are unintentional and
unknown. For example, you get admitted into MIST for earning a bachelors- this
is a manifest function but coming here, you got new friends- this is latent
function.
 Merton also distinguished between functions and dysfunctions. To look for the
dysfunctional aspects of social behaviour means focusing on features of social
life that challenges the existing order of things.
 For example, it is mistaken to suppose that religion is always functional-
sometimes it is dysfunction too when two groups collide and clashes for their
differences in opinions such as conflict between shia and sunni, protestant and
catholic etc.
 There is a sharp criticism on functionalism as it tend to minimize the conflicts
that arise from ethnic, racial discrimination and class struggles in the society, it
also discourages creative social actions that are manifested for problem solving.
 Conflict perspectives- Like functionalists, sociologist employing conflict
perspectives emphasizes on structure but unlike them they tend to look at the
divisions of the society rather than the consensus. They concentrate on the
issues of power, inequality and struggle.
 They tend to see society as composed of distinct groups pursuing their own
interests which implies there will be certain groups who will always benefit than
the others and there will be inequalities furthering more and more conflict in
the society.
 An influential approach in conflict theory is Marxism. Conflict perspective
implies that, in all societies, there is a division between those who hold
authority and those who are largely excluded from it, between rulers and ruled.
 Symbolic interactionism- The work of the American philosopher G.H Mead had
an impact on sociological thought, particularly a new perspective emerged
influenced by symbolic interactionism. Symbolic interactionism springs from a
concern with language and meaning.
 Mead claims that language allows us to become self-conscious beings-aware of
our own individuality, and able to see ourselves in the eyes of others. The key
element is the symbol here. Mead argues that humans rely on shared symbols
and understandings in their interactions with one another.
 As human beings live in a richly symbolic universe, virtually all interactions
between human individuals involve an exchange of symbols.
 A notable work in this paradigm is Hothchild’s concept of emotional labor- labor
that requires one to manage one’s feelings in order to create publicly
observable and acceptable facial and body displays. The companies we work for
not only claim our physical labor but demand the rigourousness of our
emotions. They own our smile when we are working, there are certain ethics,
and codes of conduct—your attire is also a part of it.
 Levels of analysis- The study of everyday behavior in situations of face to face
interactions is usually called microsocicology whereas, macrosociology is the
analysis of large scale social system like political systems, or the economic order.