| Sociology is the study of the social lives of humans, groups and societies. It is a relatively new academic discipline which has evolved in the early 19th century. It concerns itself with the social rules and processes that bind and separate people not only
as individuals, but as members of associations, groups, and institutions. Sociology is interested in our behavior as social beings; thus the
sociological field of interest ranges from the analysis of short contacts between
anonymous individuals on the street to the study of global social processes.
History
Sociology is a relatively new academic discipline among other social
sciences including economics, political science, anthropology, and psychology. The ideas behind it, however, have a long history and can trace their
origins to a mixture of common human knowledge, works of art and philosophy.
Sociology as a scientific discipline emerged in the early 19th century
as an academic response to the challenge of modernity: as the world is becoming
smaller and more integrated, people's experience of the world is 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 term was coined by Auguste Comte in 1838 from Latin socius (companion, associate) and
Greek logia (study of, speech). 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 and that, if one could grasp this progress, one could prescribe the remedies for social ills.
The first books with term 'sociology' in their title were written in mid-19th century by the English philosopher Herbert Spencer. In the United States, the discipline was taught by its 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) and the first full fledged university department of sociology in the United States was established in 1892 at
the University of Chicago by Albion W. Small, who in 1895 founded
the American Journal of Sociology. The first European department of sociology was founded in 1895
at the University
of Bordeaux by Emile Durkheim, founder of L'Année Sociologique (1896). 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. The first sociology departments in the United Kingdom were founded after the Second World
War.
International cooperation in sociology began in 1893 when Rene Worms founded the small Institut International de Sociologie, eclipsed by much larger International Sociologist Association from 1949. In 1905 the American
Sociological Association, the world's largest association of professional
sociologists, was founded.
Other "classical" theorists of sociology from the late 19th and early 20th centuries include Karl Marx, Ferdinand Toennies, Emile Durkheim, Vilfredo Pareto, and Max Weber. In a manner similar to
Comte, none thought of themselves as purely "sociologists". In particular, their works address religion, education, economics, psychology, ethics, philosophy, and theology. With the exception of Marx, their most enduring influence has been on sociology, and it is in this field
that their theories are still considered most applicable.
Early sociology studies have considered it to be similar to natural
sciences like physics or biology.
Therefore many researchers argued that methods and methodology used in those
sciences are perfectly suited to be used in the study of sociology without any changes. The positive effects of this attitude,
like the use of scientific method and stress on empiricism, allowed sociology to be distinguished from theology and metaphysics and be recognized as a true science.
Those early views, supported by August Comte, led to methodologies known as positivism and based on the view of sociological naturalism.
Even in the 19th century positivism and naturalism have been questioned by scientists like Wilhelm Dilthey and Heinrich Rickert,
who argued that the world of nature is not the same as the world of society, as human society have unique aspects like meanings, symbols, rules, norms, values - all that can be
described as the culture. This view was further developed by Max Weber, who
introduced the antipositivism (humanistic sociology). According to this view, closely related to antinaturalism, sociology research must concentrate on humans and their cultural values. This has lead
to some controversion on how one can draw the line between subjective and
objective research, and influenced the hermeneutics studies.
The science of sociology
Although the discipline 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 social sciences. Instead, it came to be another of them,
with its own particular emphases, subject matter, and methods. Today, sociology studies humankind's organizations and social institutions, largely by a comparative method. It has concentrated particularly on the organization of complex industrial societies.
Recent sociologists, taking cues from anthropolgists, have noted this "Western
emphasis". In response, many sociology departments around the world are encouraging multi-cultural and multi-national study.
Today sociologists research macro-structures that organize
society, such as race or ethnicity,
social class and gender
role, 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 and how people will
respond to it. 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. An
appropriate middle ground is that both approaches are complementary, that results from each approach can fill in results from the
other approaches. For example, the quantitative methods can describe the large or general patterns, while the qualitative approaches can help to understand how individuals understand or respond to those
changes.
Social theory
Main article: social theory
The term social theory is sometimes applied to all work produced without the use of the scientific method. The distinction between sociology and social theory has always been more
reflective of classifier than the theory described as belonging to one or the other.
Sociology and the Internet
The Internet is of interest for sociologists in three views at least: as a tool
for research, for example by 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).
Sociology and other social sciences
In the early 20th century, sociologists and psychologists who conducted research in non-industrial societies contributed to
the development of anthropology. It should be noted, however, that
anthropologists also conducted research in industrial societies. Today sociology and anthropology are better contrasted according
to different theoretical concerns and methods rather than objects of study.
Sociobiology is a relatively new field to branch from both the sociology
and biology disciplines. Although the field is rapidly gaining acceptance, it is
highly controversial as it attempts to find ways in which human behavior can be explained by evolutionary and biological
processes. Sociobiologists are often criticized by sociologists for depending too greatly on the effects of genes in defining
behavior. Sociobiologists often respond, however, by citing a complex relationship between nature and nature. In this regard,
sociobiology is closely related to anthropology, zoology, and evolutionary psychology.
Some sociobiologists, such as Richard Machalek, call for the field of sociology to encompass the study of non-human societies along with
human beings.
Sociology has some links with social psychology, but the
former is more interested in social structures and the latter in social behaviors.
A distinction should be made between these and forensic studies within these
disciplines, particularly where anatomy is involved. These latter studies might be
better named as Forensic psychology.
As shown by the work of Marx and others, economics is often influenced by
sociological theories.
External links
References
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