Define Sociology. Discuss its origin and development.
Answers
What is Sociology?
Sociology is the scientific study of society, including patterns of social relationships, social interaction, and culture. The term sociology was first used by Frenchman Auguste Compte in the 1830s when he proposed a synthetic science uniting all knowledge about human activity.[1] In the academic world, sociology is considered one of the social sciences.
What Do Sociologists Study?
Sociologists study all things human, from the interactions between two people to the complex relationships between nations or multinational corporations. While sociology assumes that human actions are patterned, individuals still have room for choices. Becoming aware of the social processes that influence the way humans think, feel, and behave plus having the will to act can help individuals to shape the social forces they face.
The Origins of Sociology
Sociologists believe that our social surroundings influence thought and action. For example, the rise of the social sciences developed in response to social changes. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Europeans were exploring the world and voyagers returned from Asia, the Americas, Africa, and the South Seas with amazing stories of other societies and civilizations. Widely different social practices challenged the view that European life reflected the natural order of God.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Western Europe was rocked by technical, economic, and social changes that forever changed the social order. Science and technology were developing rapidly. James Watt invented the steam engine in 1769, and in 1865 Joseph Lister discovered that an antiseptic barrier could be placed between a wound and germs in the atmosphere to inhibit infection. These and other scientific developments spurred social changes and offered hope that scientific methods might help explain the social as well as the natural world. This trend was part of a more general growth in rationalism.
The industrial revolution began in Britain in the late eighteenth century. By the late nineteenth century, the old order was collapsing “under the twin blows of industrialism and revolutionary democracy” (Nisbet, 1966: 21). Mechanical industry was growing, and thousants of people were migrating to cities to work in the new factories. People once rooted in the land and social communities where they farmed found themselves crowded into cities. The traditional authority of the church, the village, and the family were being undermined by impersonal factory and city life.
Capitalism also grew in Western Europe in the nineteenth century. This meant that relatively few people owned the means of production—such as factories—while many others had to sell their labor to those owners. At the same time, relatively impersonal financial markets began to expand. The modern epoch was also marked by the development of administrative state power, which involved increasing concentrations of information and armed power (Giddens, 1987: 27).
Finally, there was enormous population growth worldwide in this period, due to longer life expectancy and major decreases in child death rates. These massive social changes lent new urgency to the deveopment of the social sciences, as early sociological thinkers struggled with the vast implications of economic, social and political revolutions. All the major figures in the early years of sociology thought about the “great transformation” from simple, preliterate societies to massive, complex, industrial societies.
Answer:
Define Sociology. Discuss its origin and development.
Explanation:
- Definition of sociology- Sociology is the study of society. In other words we can state that sociology is study of human social relationships. Sociology is study of social facts of collective behavior.
- Every field has its type so do sociology. Sociology can further be classified into other forms as- symbolic interaction, social conflict theory, structure- function theory and feminist theory.
- Origin of Sociology- Auguste Comte is considered as the father of Sociology. He was born on Jan 19, 1798 in France. He was French philosopher known as the founder of sociology and positivism. Sociology was originated in 19th century. The origin of sociology is considered in three forms- the development of modern science, the emergence of democratic forms of government and the industrial revolution.
- Development of Sociology- Sociology is the youngest branch of the social studies. Comte believed that science of sociology should be based on the systematic observation and classification.
Hence, learning and studying of sociology is important to understand society as a whole.