The subject matter of sociology. What is the scope of Sociology? 2019-02-09
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What do you mean by subject matter of sociology?
As sociologists, we are interested in social relationships not because they are economic, political, or religious, but because they are social. The term 'Sociology' was coined by Auguste Comte, a French philosopher in 1839. Suppose, for example, that a policy of decreasing the birth-rate is considered desirable: the best means for achieving this goal cannot be determined in exclusively economic terms because matters of family organization, customs and traditional values must be taken into account and these require a sociological type of analysis. It does not possess the instruments like the microscope and the thermometer to measure the human behaviour. In other words, universal validity of conclusions and a complete accuracy of prediction are not the criteria of science, what determines the scientific character of a discipline, is its methodology. But, all social sciences view it differently and try to solve it in their own way. The development of capitalism and class conflict.
Accordingly, the princes of the sixteenth century in France, Germany, Scotland and the Netherlands often encountered serious opposition when they allowed government to be exercised by learned substitutes or administrative bodies. This is true, for example, in the case of a member of a business house. The sociologists represent a protest against this situation. The followers of this school of thought are Comte, Durkheim, Sorokin, Hobhouse, Ginsberg etc. It has explained the origin of the word and then thrown light on its historical moorings. The million dollar question facing the world today is what will be the use of all the technological developments and scientific progress if men continue to be blood thirsty of each other. Where there is interaction, the participants are said to be in social relationship.
Tools of Data Generation: Data in the field are generated through the administration of a wide variety of tools. Sociology as the study of social groups. Sociology is the scientific study of social life and the fundamental condition of social stability and social change. Sociological Analysis: Study of human culture and society. While the outcome in Germany was that the central power became hollow, being changed into a mere form, the 178 French crown founded upon the same system its power to organize and control throughout the entire realm.
But n the social field the world has been left behind by the revolutionary progress of the science. For Comte, sociology is the study of the fundamental laws of social phenomena in accordance with the methods of the positive sciences. Deconstruction brings out what the texts exclude by showing what it includes. Our general field of study is man as he is related to other men and to the creation of other men which surround him. It is a special science in the sense that its holistic, synthesising or generalising view of looking at the society is quite different from all other social sciences. Although, or rather because the individuals participating in a vote are supposed to be equals, the majority have the physical power to coerce the minority. Many of these processes have long been studied in detail, but study of them in their correlations is, as in the case of chemical and vital processes, the work of a distinct order of science, with a peculiar object of attention.
The study of the common and current properties, relationship and uniformities of socio-cultural phenomenon involves as much specialization as does a study of the unique or segmentary traits and relationships. Similarly, without the investigation carried on by Sociology, no real effective social planning would be possible. Jacques Derrida 1930- : French philosopher and post-modernist, who himself decried to be called as sociologist, but who has definitely made imprint on the modem sociology is Jacques Derrida. Sociology should isolate and test the empirical aspect of social behaviour without going into the value laden question of whether the empirical propositions are true or false. There can be no convincing science of human life till these processes are known, from least to greatest, in the relation of each to each and to all. In political science, for example, authority, Government etc.
The subject matter and Importance of Studying Sociology
From such a very special example it may be evident that only the most accurate analysis of the forms of the relations which occur among men may gradually lead at last to an actual understanding of the complicated structure of human society. The result of this process often continues itself in the acts of the individual, by which he exerts an 185 influence on the group. Social Pathology: This includes the study of various social problems like poverty, unemployment, crime, prostitution, social disorganisation etc. Recognition of its legitimacy and its necessity is merely a question of time. To answer this question in a precise way on which there can be unanimity is very difficult even for a professional sociologist. Thus Sociology traces cause-effect relationship in social disorganisation. However the explanation of a social fact also involves an analysis of its function in society, of its contribution to the general needs of social organism of its function in the establishment of social order.
As a matter of fact, fieldwork is very demanding, much time-consuming, in terms of professional expertise and human relationships. As in the case of the historians, the subject-matter may be so defined as to merge the economic interest at last completely with that of the sociologist. Otherwise more or less interesting information about capriciously distinguished sorts of matter could never attain the dignity of a science of chemistry. Micro-level theories, such as symbolic interactionism, focus on interactions between individuals. Hi thanks for asking for me. Man has unique forms of group life, pursues customs, develops institutions, and creates values. Social Physiology: Study of social processes.
Georg Simmel: Superiority and Subordination as Subject
Suppose others had studied salts, others acids, etc. Finally asking for passwords forservers and admin accounts on websites is considered an attempt athacking which is a federal offense. It should not study their contents because they are studied by other social sciences. Among the social processes, cooperation is basic in social life. By comparative study of societies and groups other than his existence which would otherwise escape his notice, his life becomes richer and fuller than it would otherwise be. Sociology has a distinct position among other social sciences.
Thus, sociology may claim to have a broader perspective of social problems or society than all other social sciences. Generally, it is the supplementary data generated through case studies to provide insight to the main study. Thus sociology has seemed to workers in other sciences either a pseudo-science, attempting to get prestige in their own fields by exploiting quack methods, or a mere collector of the waste thrown aside by the more important sciences. It is only through the study of sociology that the study of institutions and individuals can be made. To construct a building we collect materials like cement, bricks, lime, iron, steel, sand, wood etc.
Weber analysed authority, which has stimulated a great deal of empirical research, particularly in the field of bureaucracy. This includes a study of law, morals, religion, convention and various other forms of social control. To make the point more precise, we may distinguish the work of sociology in turn from that of ethnology, of history, and of economics. Instead, he calls for a constructivist approach to sociology, transcending both essentialism and all ideas taken for granted in everyday life. We can hardly know the people of other areas intimately. What happened with him is that in the beginning of his visit to the village he stayed with a Brahmin family. Instructors are permitted to reproduce this material for educational use by their students.
