• Sociology is the youngest of the social sciences and is known as the “Science of Society” because its major concern is society.
• To understand sociology, it is essential to know the meaning of Science and the classification of sciences into physicaland social.
• Science refers to knowledge, specifically systematically arranged knowledge.
• The purpose of science is knowledge, and the system is the method followed for acquiring this knowledge.
• Acquiring knowledge is a challenge and intellectual delight for a scientist. The more knowledge a scientist gains, the more there is to learn.
• Physical sciences deal with natural inanimate objects, such as mathematics, physics, chemistry, geology, geography, and astronomy. These sciences are precise, exact, and less dubious.
• Physical scientists use the scientific method to acquire knowledge. They conduct experiments to verify facts, leading to theories and laws of universal validity.
• Theories and laws in physical sciences are easier to establish and more accurate, with clear cause-and-effect relationships, making prediction easy and accurate.
• Social sciences focus on the study of human relationships and the forms of organization needed for people to live together in societies.
• Social science refers to knowledge compiled through scientific methods to study human interactions. It includes history, political science, economics, sociology, anthropology, and psychology.
• Social refers to interaction and participation in group life. All humans are social beings who interact to survive within societies.
• Social scientists study human society and try to predict how people will interact in different circumstances.
• Social sciences are less exact and precise compared to physical sciences due to the complexity and variability of human behavior.
• Controlled experiments are almost impossible in social science because society itself is the laboratory for social scientists.
• Social science research faces challenges such as complexity of data, interdependence of cause and effect, and problems of objectivity and prediction.
• The necessity for social sciences arose from global anxieties after the two world wars and the increasing imbalance caused by the Industrial Revolution.
• Scientific advancements, like the atomic bomb and hydrogen bomb, highlighted the need for comparable competence in social sciences to prevent global destruction.
• Social sciences are essential to understand and control human interactions, ensuring peace and preventing violence and friction in human relations.
• There is a growing recognition that advancement in physical sciences alone cannot bring happiness. Social sciences are important for promoting human welfare and understanding social interactions.
• Organizations like UNESCO, WHO, and UNO use sociological knowledge to address global problems.
• Just as a medical doctor focuses on preventing disease and saving lives, the social scientist focuses on preventing friction and violence and establishing peaceful, self-respecting relationships.
• Sociology is part of the social sciences family and is distinct due to its focus on human society, its origin, development, structure, and functions.
• Sociology studies the nature and character of group life and examines the bonds of social unity.
• It determines the relationship between different elements of social life, including moral, religious, economic, political, intellectual, philosophical, artistic, aesthetic, scientific, and technological factors.
• Sociology also analyzes the influence of biological and geographic factors on humans and identifies the conditions for social stability and social change.
• It highlights various social problems such as poverty, beggary, over-population, crime, and unemployment.

EMERGENCE OF SOCIAL SCIENCES: A BRIEF HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

• The beginning of the tradition of social sciences was a major development of the 19th century.
• Economics, political science, and history had a long history but were officially recognized as social sciences only in the 19th century.
• Thinkers like Herodotus (known as the “Father of History”), Aristotle (often called the “Father of Political Science”), Manu (the great lawgiver), and Kautilya (an authority on Arthashastra) wrote important treatises on various social science areas more than 2000 years ago.
• The political and social atmosphere of ancient Greece, Rome, and India encouraged intellectual exercises in the field of social sciences.
• Due to historical reasons, these regions could not maintain the same intellectual pace during the Middle Ages (500 A.D. to 1550 A.D.).
• The 17th and 18th centuries saw the processes of Renaissance and Enlightenment, which gave a significant boost to the continuation of the tradition of reasoning.
• This change in the intellectual atmosphere favored the development of what came to be called the social sciences.

Impact of the Twin Revolutions: The French Revolution and The Industrial Revolution

• Social sciences in the 19th century are often seen as responses to the problem of order created in people’s minds due to the weakening of the old social order after the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution.
• European society was deeply affected by these two revolutions.
• The old social order, based on kinship, land, social class, religion, local community, and monarchy, became unstable and weakened.
• Thinkers were focused on finding ways to reconsolidate these elements of social order.
• The history of 19th-century politics, industry, and trade is largely about practical efforts to reconsolidate these elements.
• The history of 19th-century social thought involves theoretical efforts to reconsolidate these elements and give them new meanings and contents.
• In terms of the immediacy and sheer magnitude of impact, the French and Industrial Revolutions are hard to match in human history.
• Political, social, and cultural changes that began in France and England at the end of the 18th century spread across Europe, the Americas in the 19th century, and later to Asia, Africa, and Oceania in the 20th century.
• The two revolutions, one predominantly democratic (French) and the other industrial capitalist (Industrial Revolution), helped undermine or destroy institutions that had existed for centuries or even millennia, including systems of authority, status, belief, and community.

Development of Different Social Sciences

Two contrasting yet powerful tendencies dominated the development of social sciences:
(i) Drive towards unification:

• Some thinkers advocated for a single, master social science.
• They believed that having one unified science of society would be better than having multiple social sciences.
• Auguste Comte in the 1820s called for a new science to study man as a social animal.
• Thinkers like Comte, Spencer, Marx, and Bentham viewed the study of society as a unified enterprise.
• They believed society is indivisible, so its study must also be unified.

(ii) Tendency towards specialization:

• The opposite tendency of specialization or differentiation eventually prevailed.
• By the end of the 19th century, there were several distinct and competitive social sciences instead of one.
• The development of colleges and universities in Europe and America strongly supported this process.
• These educational institutions marked the beginning of the “age of specialization“.
• Specialization began in Germany and spread to England, America, France, and other countries.
• The philosophy of specialization became so appealing that no major field of study could resist it.

Different Social Sciences: A Glimpse

• Social sciences refer to a related group of disciplines that study various aspects of human behavior.
• The main social sciences are sociology, economics, political science, anthropology, psychology, and history.
• Human behavior doesn’t fit into neat compartments, and the boundaries between the social sciences are vague and shifting.
• Each social science has different historical origins and tries to preserve its distinctness.
• Despite specialization, the social sciences are interrelated and interdependent.
• Social scientists acknowledge that their sciences overlap, leading to the development of the “interdisciplinary approach”.
• This approach emphasizes the relationship and dependence between social sciences and allows for crossing into each other’s areas when useful.

1. Economics

   • Studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services.
   • Wealth is the central focus of economics.
   • Economics views man as a wealth-getter and wealth-disposer.
   • It is one of the most advanced social sciences, with measurable subject matter.
   • Economic processes depend on society; the sociology of economics studies the social aspects of economic life.

2. Political Science

   • Studies the state and government.
   • Focuses on political philosophy and forms of government.
   • Has close links with sociology, especially political sociology, which analyzes political behavior and social interactions in government processes.
   • The interests of political scientists and political sociologists have increasingly overlapped.

3. Anthropology

   • A science of man and his works.
   • Sociology and anthropology are “twin sisters,” mutually supportive.
   • Anthropology has two branches:
     • Physical anthropology: studies human evolution and physical characteristics.
     • Cultural anthropology: focuses on cultural evolution and studies the ways of life of different communities, especially primitive ones.
   • Anthropology focuses on small-scale, primitive societies, while sociology focuses on group processeswithin modern, complex societies.

4. Psychology

   • A science of human behavior.
   • Focuses primarily on the individual.
   • Shares a major field of interest with sociology: social psychology, which studies how personality and behavior are influenced by social context.

5. History

   • Often considered more a humanity than a social science, but practically treated as one.
   • History is a systematic record of human past, the “story of the experience of mankind”.
   • Provides useful information and facts to social sciences, including sociology.
   • Sociology offers a social background for the study of history.

• Sociology joined the family of social sciences in the 19th century.
• Before this, sociology had no independent existence.
• Sociology emerged as a separate discipline in the mid-19th century, taking around fifty years to assume the scientific character it has today.
• Before the mid-18th century, the study of society was dominated by social philosophers, who were more concerned with what society should be like, rather than what it actually was.
• Over time, the study of society became more scientific than philosophical.

THE BEGINNINGS OF SOCIOLOGY

Sociology before Auguste Comte?

• Sociology is one of the youngest and oldest social sciences.
• It is young because it was only recently established as a distinct branch of knowledge with its own concepts and methods of inquiry.
• It is old because society has been a subject of speculation and inquiry since the dawn of civilization, along with other phenomena.
• Even in ancient times, people were thinking about how society should be organized and had views on man, destiny, and the rise and fall of civilizations.
• Although these early thinkers were addressing sociological questions, they were often called philosophers, historians, thinkers, law-givers, or seers.
• Sociology has a fourfold origin:
  • Political philosophy
  • Philosophy of history
  • Biological theories of evolution
  • Movements for social and political reforms
• Social thought existed in ancient times, long before sociology was established as a discipline in the 19th century by Auguste Comte.
• For thousands of years, men reflected upon the societies in which they lived.
• Ancient thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, Manu, Kautilya, Confucius, and Cicero made major attempts to systematically deal with society, law, religion, and philosophy.
• Some important works of ancient social thought include:
  • Plato’s Republic
  • Aristotle’s Politics
  • Kautilya’s Arthashastra
  • Manu’s Smriti
  • Confucius’ Analects
  • Cicero’s “On Justice”
• During the Middle Ages and early modern times, the Church dominated intellectual thought, and much of human thinking remained metaphysical rather than scientific.
• Intellectual activity increased in the 16th century, with a new urge to understand human society, its nature, socio-political system, and problems.
• Some important works from this period include:
  • Machiavelli’s “The Prince”
  • Thomas Hobbes’ “Leviathan”
  • Rosseau’s “Social Contract”
  • Montesquieu’s “The Spirit of Laws”
  • Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations”
  • Condorcet’s “Historical Sketch of the Progress of the Human Mind”
• Thinkers like Sir Thomas More (in “Utopia”), Thomas Campanella (in “City of the Sun”), Francis Bacon (in “New Atlantis”), James Harrington (in “Common Wealth of Oceana”), and H.G. Wells (in “A Modern Utopia”) made attempts to imagine an ideal society free from shortcomings.
• It was only in the 19th century that systematic attempts were made to study society and establish a science of society called sociology.
• Auguste Comte, Spencer, Durkheim, Weber, and others were central to the development of sociology as a scientific discipline.

Characteristics of Early Sociology

• Sociology emerged as a distinct science in the second half of the 19th century and early 20th century.
• Early sociology was encyclopaedic in character, concerned with the whole social life of man and human history.
• Early sociology, influenced by the philosophy of history and biological theory of evolution, was largely evolutionaryin nature.
• Sociology was viewed as a positive science, similar to the natural sciences, modeled upon biology.
• The concept of society as an organisation and the formulation of general laws of social evolution reflected the biological model.
• Sociology was primarily recognised as a science of the new industrial society, focusing on the social problems arising from the political and economic revolutions of the 18th century.
• Sociology had both ideological and scientific aspects, incorporating both conservative and radical ideas, leading to conflicting theories and controversies.

Factors Contributing to the Emergence of Sociology

• Sociology was established as an independent social science in the middle of the 19th century.
• Three factors hastened its emergence, as mentioned by Ian Robertson in his book Sociology.
• The Industrial Revolution in the 18th century, beginning in England, brought massive changes across Europe, transforming society.
• The factory system, mechanisation, and industrialisation led to turmoil, replacing rural life with urbanisation and mass production.
• Industrialisation caused social problems in cities, where people moved from rural areas to work as industrial labourersunder poor conditions.
• Urbanisation led to the rapid growth of cities, providing an anonymous environment, and challenging traditional customs, beliefs, and ideals.
• Social problems became prevalent, and aristocracies and monarchies declined while religion lost its moral authority.
• For the first time in history, rapid social change became the norm, and the stability of society seemed threatened.
• Sociological thinkers like Comte, Spencer, and others emphasized the need for a separate science of society to understand these transformations and find solutions.
• The growth of natural sciences in the 19th century inspired social thinkers to apply the scientific methods of natural sciences to the social world.
• Thinkers such as Comte, Spencer, Durkheim, and Weber demonstrated that these methods could be used to study social phenomena.
• The exposure of colonial powers to diverse societies and cultures in colonial empires provided an intellectual challenge.
• This exposure raised new questions about why some societies were more advanced than others and why the rate of social change differed.
• The need to understand and compare these diverse societies led to the emergence of sociology as a science to provide answers.

ESTABLISHMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AS A SCIENCE: CONTRIBUTIONS OF COMTE AND SPENCER

Auguste Comte [1798-1857] – The Founding Father of Sociology

• Comte and Spencer are credited with establishing sociology as an independent science and securing its position among the social sciences.
• Other thinkers such as Durkheim, Marx, and Weber also played key roles in the development of sociology.
• Comte is considered the Father of Sociology and was the first to distinguish sociology from other sciences.
• He coined the term “sociology” in his work Positive Philosophy around 1839, combining the Latin word socius(companion) and the Greek word logos (study/science).
• Sociology was defined by Comte as the science of social phenomena governed by natural and invariable laws.
• Comte aimed to classify all knowledge and analyze the methods for achieving it, focusing on the nature of human society and the laws of its growth and development.
• He believed that all sciences progress through three stages: theological, metaphysical, and positive (scientific).
• The positive stage emphasizes objective observation over speculation and applies scientific methods to the study of social phenomena.
• Social statics and social dynamics are the two main areas Comte proposed for the study of sociology.
• Social statics examines major institutions of society (family, economy, polity) and their interrelations.
• Social dynamics studies how societies develop and change over time, with a focus on societies as wholes.
• Comte believed societies progressed through fixed stages of development toward increasing perfection.
• Contributions of Comte:
  1. Coined the term sociology and established its foundation as an independent science.
  2. Promoted a positive approach, objectivity, and a scientific attitude in social sciences.
  3. Established the link between intellectual evolution and social progress through his Law of Three Stages.
  4. His classification of sciences emphasized the interdependence of sociology with other sciences, aligning with modern interdisciplinary approaches.
  5. Criticized armchair social philosophers and stressed the importance of the scientific method.
  6. Divided sociology into social statics and social dynamics, concepts retained in modern sociology as social structure and function and social change.
  7. Argued that sociology should not only be a “pure” science but also an applied science, contributing to the solution of societal problems.
  8. His ideas contributed to the development of applied fields like social work and social welfare.
  9. Moral order was central to Comte’s vision of society, influencing later writers like Arnold Toynbee and Pitirim A. Sorokin.
  10. Comte’s key works, Positive Philosophy and Positive Polity, were significant contributions to sociological literature.

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903]

• Herbert Spencer, an English scholar, was one of the most brilliant intellects and contributed significantly to the establishment of sociology as a systematic discipline.
• His work Principles of Sociology (1877) was the first systematic study primarily focused on sociological analysis.
• Spencer was more precise than Comte in specifying the topics or fields of sociology.
• According to Spencer, key fields of sociology include: family, politics, religion, social control, and industry or work.
• Spencer also emphasized the study of associations, communities, division of labor, social differentiation, stratification, sociology of knowledge, science, and arts and aesthetics.
• Spencer stressed the importance of studying the inter-relations between different elements of society and how the parts influence the whole.
• He argued that sociology should take the whole society as its unit of analysis and that the parts of society are systematically related, making society a meaningful subject for scientific inquiry.
• Spencer’s organic analogy compared society to a human organism, influenced by Darwin’s theory of organic evolution.
• The organic analogy was influential for thinkers like L.F. Ward, Sumner, and Giddings.
• Contributions of Spencer:
  1. Strongly supported Comte’s view on establishing sociology as a separate science.
  2. Emphasized the interdependence of different parts of society, such as the state and economy, to ensure stability and survival.
  3. Through the organic analogy, Spencer contributed to the tradition of comparative studies in sociology.
  4. Advocated the laws of evolution, which were more philosophical contributions than scientific.
  5. Spencer’s theories had special appeal because they unified knowledge and promoted the principle of free enterprise or laissez-faire, supporting individualism.
  6. Spencer’s works, including Social Statics, First Principles, The Study of Sociology, Principles of Ethics, Principles of Sociology, and The Man Versus The State, enriched sociological literature.

CONTRIBUTIONS OF MARX, DURKHEIM AND WEBER

Karl Marx (1818-1883)

• Karl Marx (1818-1883) was one of the most important thinkers of the 19th century, contributing extensively to philosophy, political science, economics, and history.
• Marx never identified himself as a sociologist, but his work is rich in sociological insights, earning him recognition as one of the most profound sociological thinkers.
• Marx’s influence has been vast, with millions of people worldwide accepting his theories with great passion.
• Marx believed the task of the social scientist was not just to describe the world but to change it.
• While thinkers like Spencer saw social harmony and progress, Marx focused on social conflict and the inevitability of revolution.
• The key to history, according to Marx, is class conflict, the struggle between capitalists (those who own the means of production) and labourers (those who do not).
• Marx believed the historic struggle would end with the overthrow of the ruling exploiters and the establishment of a free, harmonious, classless society.
• Marx placed heavy emphasis on the economic base of society, asserting it influences all other aspects of culture and social structure such as law, religion, education, and government.
• Modern sociologists generally reject many of Marx’s ideas, but they do recognize the fundamental influence of the economy on other areas of society.
• The conflict approach to the study of social phenomena developed by Marx remains relevant in modern sociology.
• Many later sociologists and social thinkers continue to be influenced by Marxian ideas and theories.

Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)

• Prof. Durkheim, the French thinker, considered societies as the important units of sociological analysis, similar to Spencer.
• He stressed the importance of comparative sociology, asserting that “Comparative Sociology is not a particular branch of sociology; it is sociology itself.”
• In Durkheim’s theory, the ultimate social reality is the group, not the individual.
• Social life should be analyzed in terms of social facts, which are collective ways of thinking, feeling, and acting.
• Social facts come from the individual but are external to him, exerting external constraint or pressure on him.
• Durkheim argued that social facts are the proper study of sociology, and all social phenomena should be reduced to them.
• Each social fact must be related to a particular social milieu and a definite type of society.
• Durkheim mentioned various fields of sociological inquiry including: General Sociology, Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Law and Morals, Sociology of Crime, Economic Sociology, Demography, and Sociology of Aesthetics.
• His major works include: The Division of Labour in Society, The Rules of Sociological Method, Suicide, and The Elementary Forms of the Republic Life.

Max Weber (1864-1920)

• Max Weber’s approach is almost contrary to Durkheim’s.
• For Weber, the individual is the basic unit of society.
• He believed that finding sociological laws is a means to understand man.
• In his system, sociological laws are “empirically established probabilities or statistical generalizations of the course of social behavior, interpreted in terms of typical motives and intentions.”
• Sociological method is a combination of inductive or statistical generalization with Verstehen (understanding) interpretation using an ideal type of behavior, assumed to be rational or purposefully determined.
• Weber devoted much effort to explaining the method of understanding (Verstehen) for studying social phenomena.
• He emphasized maintaining objectivity and neutrality in value-judgments in social sciences.
• Weber’s topics of study included religion, economic life, money, division of labor, political parties, bureaucracy, class, caste, the city, and music.
• His influence on contemporary sociologists, especially those of the analytic school, is rapidly increasing.
• Major works: Economics and Society, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, The City, Bureaucracy, and other books and essays.

• Commonalities among the four pioneers (Comte, Spencer, Durkheim, Weber):

  1. All urged sociologists to study a wide range of institutions, from family to state.
  2. They agreed that a unique subject-matter for sociology lies in the interrelations among different institutions.
  3. They agreed that society as a whole is a distinctive unit of sociological analysis, aiming to explain similarities and differences between societies.
  4. They insisted that sociology should focus on social acts or social relationships, regardless of their institutional setting. This view was most clearly expressed by Weber.

Development of Sociology in the 20th Century

• In the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, many sociologists and social thinkers contributed significantly to the development of sociology.
• Notable figures include Karl Marx (1818-1883), Lester F. Ward (1841-1913), George Simmel (1858-1918), Alfred Vierkandt (1867-1953), Gabriel Tarde (1843-1904), Small (1854-1926), Giddings (1855-1931), C.H. Cooley (1864-1929), James Ward (1843-1925), Lloyd Morgan (1852-1932), L.T. Hobhouse (1864-1929), E.A. Westermarck (1862-1939), Pareto (1848-1923), Charles A. Elwood (1873-1946), Benjamin Kidd (1858-1916), E.B. Tylor (1832-1917), J.G. Frazer (1854-1941), B. Malinowski (1884-1942), and many others.
• Sociology experienced rapid development in the 20th century, especially in France, Germany, the United States, and England.
• Prominent sociologists of the 20th century include P.A. Sorokin, Talcott Parsons, R.K. Merton, R.M. MacIver, M. Ginsberg, Kingsley Davis, W.F. Ogburn, A.W. Green, Kimball Young, P.G. Murdock, W.I.H. Sprott, E.A. Ross, Wilbert Moore, Karl Mannheim, M.N. Srinivas, G.S. Ghurye, and others.
• These thinkers enriched the subject through their social investigations and writings.
• Sociology is now firmly established as a discipline.
• The developments in the 20th century greatly stimulated the study of social sciences, particularly sociology.
• Major universities around the world now offer instruction in sociology.
• Even in the U.S.S.R., sociology is now a legitimate discipline.
• Robert Bierstedt notes that sociology is still not a fully mature science and may have more divergent points of view and less systematic agreement than sciences like physics, astronomy, and biology.

Sociology in India

• Sociology was introduced to India as an academic discipline only after World War I.
• Sociology in India has been closely allied with anthropology and has been advancing since then.
• The sociological movement gained momentum in Bombay with the Sociological Bulletin and in Agra with the Journal of Social Sciences.
• Prominent Indian sociologists include G.S. Ghurye, R.K. Mukherjee, D.P. Mukherjee, Humayun Kabir, K.M. Kapadia, R.N. Saxena, Mrs. Iravati Karve, Benoy K. Sarkar, A. Aiyappan, D.N. Majumdar, M.N. Srinivas, M.S. Gore, S.C. Dube, P.N. Prabhu, A.R. Desai, and others.
• India, with its diverse cultural peculiarities, provides excellent opportunities for sociological research and studies.
• Sociology is now taught in many universities as a major discipline and is becoming increasingly popular among students.
• Compared to English-speaking countries, the sociological movement has not flourished in India to the extent it should have.

The Ultimate Goals of Sociology

• The immediate goal of sociology is to acquire knowledge about society, like all sciences.
• However, sociology has a more remote and ultimate purpose beyond just descriptions and analysis.
• Robert Bierstedt emphasizes that sociology addresses questions about the nature of human experience and the succession of societies over time.
• Sociology investigates factors responsible for the disintegration of one social structure (e.g., medieval world) and the emergence of another.
• Questions addressed by sociology include: Do human societies, like individuals, grow old, weary, and eventually disappear? Is there an ebb and flow in the affairs of men, a systole and diastole of human history?
• Sociology’s ultimate aim is to understand these complex dynamics of society and contribute to their resolution.
• Samuel Koenig states that the ultimate aim of sociology is to improve man’s adjustment to life by developing objective knowledge about social phenomena, which can help in dealing effectively with social problems.