Introduction

• Men have always lived in societies, from primitive Polynesian to modern American societies, and all exhibit common elements and constant features.
• These elements give society its form, shape, and structure, comprising the social order.
• General sociology aims to discover these constants, describe them concisely, and explain their inter-relations.
• Sociology is the science of society and uniquely studies society in its entirety, unlike other sciences.
• Economics focuses on man as a wealth-getter and wealth-disposer and studies relations of wealth and welfare.
• History deals with the human past in a time order.
• Cultural Anthropology studies primitive man and his culture, particularly in primitive communities.
• Psychology studies the individual as a behaving individual.
• Social Psychology explores how the individual reacts to social conditions.
• Political Science studies man as a citizen, ruler, or ruled.
• Religion deals with man as a spiritual being and his faith in the supernatural.
• Sociology alone studies social relationships and society itself.
• Sociology’s focus distinguishes it from other social sciences.
• Sociology studies social relationships because they are social, not due to their economic, political, religious, legal, or educational nature.
• Society is the intricate, ever-changing pattern of the totality of these relationships.
• Sociology does not study everything in society but focuses on how elements like culture, religion, art, and inventions shed light on social relationships.
• Sociology studies how relations combine, build systems, and respond to changes, making it an analytical study.

Definition of Sociology

• Sociology emerged as an independent social science in the 19th century, previously treated as social philosophy or the philosophy of history.
• Auguste Comte, a Frenchman, is considered the father of sociology and coined the term sociology in 1839.
• The word "sociology" is derived from socius (companion/associate) and logos (science/study), meaning the science of society.
• John Stuart Mill proposed the term ethology for the new science, but Herbert Spencer popularized the term sociology.
• Despite various contributions, sociology became the permanent name for the new science.
• The question "What is sociology?" pertains to the definition of sociology, which is difficult to define comprehensively and briefly.
• There is no single satisfactory definition of sociology, with many definitions proposed by different sociologists.
• Some notable definitions:
  1. Auguste Comte: Sociology is the science of social phenomena subject to natural and invariable laws.
  2. Kingsley Davis: Sociology is a general science of society.
  3. Harry M. Johnson: Sociology is the science that deals with social groups.
  4. Emile Durkheim: Sociology is the science of social institutions.
  5. Park: Sociology is the science of collective behaviour.
  6. Small: Sociology is the science of social relations.
  7. Marshal Jones: Sociology is the study of man-in-relationship-to-men.
  8. Ogburn and Nimkoff: Sociology is the scientific study of social life.
  9. Franklin Henry Giddings: Sociology is the science of social phenomena.
  10. Henry Fairchild: Sociology is the study of man and his human environment in their relations.
  11. Max Weber: Sociology is the science of interpretative understanding of social action to explain its course and effects.
  12. Alex Inkeles: Sociology is the study of systems of social action and their inter-relations.
  13. Kimball Young and Raymond W. Mack: Sociology is the scientific study of the social aspects of human life.
  14. Morris Ginsberg: Sociology is the study of human interactions and inter-relations, their conditions and consequences.
• Divergence in the definitions shows different approaches to sociology.
• Despite variations, all definitions share the common focus on man, social relations, and society.

Nature of Sociology

• Sociology is an independent science, distinct from other sciences like philosophy, political philosophy, or history, with its own field of study, boundary, and method.
• Sociology is a social science, not a physical science, focusing on man, social behaviour, social activities, and social life.
• It is related to other social sciences like history, political science, economics, psychology, anthropology, etc., but it studies the social universe as opposed to physical sciences like astronomy, physics, chemistry, and mathematics.
• Sociology is a categorical science, not a normative discipline. It does not make value judgments or provide recommendations on moral issues or social policies.
• Sociology is a pure science, not an applied science. Its main goal is the acquisition of knowledge about human society, not its direct application.
• The knowledge from sociology is useful for administrators, legislators, diplomats, social workers, but sociologists themselves do not apply it directly in practice.
• Sociology is a relatively abstract science, focusing on the forms and patterns of human events rather than specific occurrences like wars or revolutions.
• It studies general phenomena, like types of social conflict, rather than specific events or individual cases.
• Sociology is a generalising science, aiming to find general laws or principles about human interaction and social structures. It makes generalisations based on selected events.
• Sociology studies human activities in general, unlike specialised social sciences like political science, economics, or history, which focus on specific aspects of human activity.
• Sociology is both a rational and empirical science, requiring both theories and facts. Theories without facts are empty, and facts without theories are blind.
• Sociology combines both empirical (fact-based) and rational (theory-based) approaches to construct knowledge.
• Sociology is an independent, social, categorical, pure, abstract, generalising, rational, and empirical social science.