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.
1. Sociology in India has grown through an encounter with the Western philosophical and scientific traditions.
2. Sociology in our country has also been deeply influenced by the numerous internal processes, which signify the passage of India, from a colony of the British to the status of an independent Democratic Republic.
3. As in Europe, the pioneers (or founder fathers) of Indian Sociology were also practitioners of other academic specialities.
4. The teaching of sociology started in the Department of Political Economy and Political Philosophy of the Calcutta University in 1908 when two papers in that subject were offered.
5. A full - fledged department of sociology was established in Calcutta University only in 1976. During the beginning years sociology courses were taught in the departments of economics, political science, human geography and anthropology in Calcutta University.
6. The pioneers of sociology in Calcutta (Now Kolkata) were philosopher - cum - administrator. Brajendra Nath Seal (1864-1938) economic historian Benoy Kumar Sarkar (1885-1949) anthropologist K.P Chattopadhyay (1893-1963) and human geographer Nirmal Kumar Bose (1901-1972).
7. The first department of sociology and civics was, however, established in the Bombay (now Mumbai) University, as part of the Bombay school of Economics in 1919, although a course in sociology was introduced in 1914 for the post graduate students of economics.
8. The separate department began functioning from 1919 in Bombay University which was headed by a New Zealander Patrick Geddes. He was a town planner and human geographer. He was later joined by G.S. Ghurye who started as an Indologist but later worked for his Ph. D. in Social Anthropology at Cambridg University.
9. However, some new information regarding growth of Sociology in India has also come to light. It is said that before Patric Geddes there was a freedom fighter named Shyamji Krishna Verma, who was a political revolutioary. As a freedom fighter he had a great interest in understanding and analysing Indian society, but was soon forced by the British authority to leave India.
10. During his exile in Europe, Shyamji Krishna Verma happened to meet Auguste Comte, the founder of sociology. Later he also had a chance to meet Herbert Spencer another founder of sociology in Europe. In consultation with Auguste Comte and Herbert Spencer, Shyamji Krishna Verma brought out a Journal, but it did not continue for long.
11. When in 1922, Professor Radha Kamal Mukherjee moved from Calcutta to Lucknow University to teach Economics, he introduced Sociology as one of the courses. He even hired Dr. D.N. Majumdar, a trained anthropologist, as lecturer in Primitive Economics. In this way, the Department of Economics in Lucknow University intorduced teachnig of both Sociology and social anthropology, and some important work also done by D. P. Mukherjee and A.K. Saran in this department.
12. As time passed Lucknow University created separate departments of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work. It is from these three centres - Culcutta, Bombay and Lucknow - that the first generation of sociologists were produced who then contributed both through teaching and research to the growth of Indian Sociology.
13. The most eminent names in the field of Sociology are those of M.N. Srinivas, K.M. Kapadia, Irawati Karve, D.N. Majumdar, S.C. Dube, A.R. Desai, etc.
(i) First of Auguste Comte (1798-1857) gave the discipline its name, calling it sociology or the science of human association.
(ii) Hobhouse explained how sociology studied the interaction of human minds.
(iii) Park and Burgess said sociology is the science of collective behaviour.
(iv) Emile Durkheim said that sociology is the study of collective representation. All our thinking, feeling and doing constitute social facts. Social fact, according to Emile Durkheim, is exterior to human mind and it put constraints or human behaviour. He says that all that which is a social fact constitutes the suggest matter of the study of sociology.
(v) Max weber : He has defined sociology differently. He said that human activities are oriented towards some action, which fulfils some objectives. Individuals in the society engage in actions for realization of given goals/interests.
Actions, according to Max Weber, constitute the subject matter of sociology. Since every social action is directed at some other person, sociology studies the interaction systems, which shape social institutions, like polity, the hospital and bureaucracy.
II. Scientific Nature of Sociology:
(i) Sociology is a scientific discipline. It is a science in the sense that involves objective and systematic methods of investigation and evaluation of social reality in the light of empirical evidence and interpretation.
(ii) However, it is also a fact that sociology cannot be directly modelled on the patterns of natural sciences, because human behaviour is different from the world of nature.
(iii) Among other differences the subject matter of natural science is relatively static and unchanging whereas human behaviour, the subject matter of sociology, is flexible and dynamic.
(iv) The founder fathers of sociology were concerned with the study of social order and change. They also desired to model the science of society or sociology as exact a discipline as natural sciences.
(v) No doubt sociology is a science because it fulfils the basic requirements of objective and rational knowledge of social reality.
(i) Areas of Studies : (a) Political Science studies political institutions such as state, government, political parties, executive, legislative and judicial institutions. Political Science also studies the behaviour of the people in power. In this way, we can say that the concept of power is very significant.
(b) Political Science can be defined as a study of Power. Power is the ability of a person or group to control and influence the behaviour of others despte their resistance.
(c) 'Authority' refers to power vested in given persons through institutions such as office, rank, elections, etc.
(d) Sociology also studies power in terms of its social contexts. In other words, the process which enable a man or a group to wield power and exercise dominance in society represent or constitute power - are the focal point of study in sociology.
(e) In a way we can say that the stratification of society in terms of power by different groups, castes, classes and tribal groups becomes the basis of sociological analysis.
(ii) The interface of Political Science and Sociology can be termed as political sociology. Political sociology, in fact, acts as a bridge between political science and sociology.
(iii) Sociology is devoted to the study of social aspects of society, whereas political science restricts itself mainly to the study of power as embodied in formal organisations.
(iv) Sociology emphasizes upon the inter relations between institutions such as state, government, political parties, whereas political science focuses its attention of the governmental processes.
(v) Nevertheless, political sociology has for long shared with political science, many of the common interests and a very similar style.
(vi) If we look at the relationship between political science and sociology in India, Caste has been studied as a resource/infrastructure to have access to power at the time of elections. How caste becomes an interest group and an instrument of mobilization ? This has brought sociology close to Political Science in particular.
II. Major Characteristics of Society : Despite the variations in our understanding of society, the fact remains that it is central concept in sociology.
Characterization of society can be provided in terms of certain traits.
Harry M. Johnson enlists the following characteristics : (i) Definite territory, (ii) Progency, (iii) Culture and, (iv) Independence
A brief description of each trait is given below :
1. Definite Territory : (a) A society is a territorial group. Some nomadic societies move about within a much larger territory than they occupy at any one time, but they regard the whole range as 'their' country.
(b) There are of course, territorial groups within societies, for instance, claus, neighbourhoods, political outfits, cities, countries, etc.
2. Progency : (a) Members form every society. They are recruited in different ways also. But in a large number, the members of a society come by means of human reproduction within the group of people.
(b) Several societies also obtain members by adoption, enslavement, conquest or immigration. But reproduction within the group itself remains a fundamental source of new members, in fact progeny is the most important trait of society.
3. Culture : (a) A Society has a 'Comprehensive' culture in the sense that it is culturally self-sufficeint. For instance, a society can carry on trade with other societies, but the cultural patterns involved in the trade are a part of the culture of the society itself.
The means of payment and the forms of contracts are culturally patterned.
(b) A comprehensive culture can have sub-cultures as well. For example we can
take the case of our own country. The Indian people have a comprehensive culture which gives them an identity. We have a common culture, a family system, a set of religious communities, linguistic entities, village communities, and above all history of shared pains and pleasures. The sub-cultures are, for instance, Rajasthan culture, Punjabi culture, Assami culture, etc.
(c) Bear in mind each sub-culture is characterised by its respective characteristics. For good mutual relations and harmony we should not try to disturb any sub-culture.
4. Independence : The fourth and last trait of society is independence. It refers that a further characteristic of a society is that it is a sub-group of any other. We may define Society as such as permanent self contained and an integrated group.
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