Sociology is a scientific discipline. It is a science in the sense that it invalues objectives and systematic methods of investigation and evalution of social reality in the light of empirical evidence and interpretation.

Sociology cannot be directly modelled on the patterns of natural sciences, because human behaviour is different from the world of nature.

Scope of Sociology:

(i) Sociology is a systematic and objective study of social life, which is created by a variety of interactions between individuals and groups. When similar behaviour is repeated in a given situation it becomes a norm or an institution.

(ii) People in different statues and performing different roles, interact with other people formally or informally. All these repetitive actons are part of the culture of a given group and define the social organisation. Sociologists study individual's actions in different social relationships such as between husband and wife, teacher and student, buyer and seller, they also study different social processes such as child rearing. Co-operation, competition, conflict, and migration etc. and they study different organisation and groups. For examples family, caste, associations and state, etc.

(iii) Sociologist, therefore, in 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 realating to social, economic, moral, religions and political aspects of human life.

(iv) Following are four main aspects of society that are the core subject matter of sociology :

(a) Culture : Culture is the totality of learned and socially transmitted behaviour from one generation to the next. It includes symbols, signs and language, besides religion, rituals, beliefs and artefacts.

(b) Social Organisation : The term 'social organisation' refers to interdependence of different aspects of society. This is an essential characteristic of all enduring social entities, such as groups, communities, and collectivities. Currently, social organisation is used to refer to the interdependence of parts of in-groups of all sizes, form a clique of workers in hospitals, and factories to large scale societies and organisations.

(c) Social Institutions : A social institution is a procedure, practice and an instrument, hence an ensemble of a variety of customs and habits accumulated over a period of time.

In every society, people form social institutions to meet their basic needs of survival.

Institutions are tools and instruments of human transactions. These are stable clusters of roles, values and norms.

(d) Social Structure : It is a pattern of inter-relations between individuals. Every society has a social structure, a complex of main groups, institutions and arrangements. Relating to status and power.

It is said by some scholars that the study of social structure is comparable to the study of human anatomy and that of social organisation to that of physiology. But that is only a partial and not a complete analogy.