INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY & SOCIAL STRUCTUREం
·
August
Comte from France is considered as Father of Sociology. He used the word 'Sociology' for the first
time in 1839.
·
The English word Sociology is a combination of the
Latin word 'Socious' and the Greek
word 'Logos'. Socious in Latin means
companion or associate and Logos in Greek means science or study. Hence,
sociology can be understood as the study
of society or the science of society.
·
John Stuart Mill used the term Ethnology instead of Sociology. But because many scientists use the
word Sociology, this term has become fixed.
·
Although Sociology fully developed from the 19th
century, the study of society appears earlier in the works of ancient
scientists.
· Plato's book 'Republic' describes the city life of man. Aristotlein his works
'Ethics' and 'Politics' gave a scientific description of society, state and law.
·
Also, Cicero's who belongs to Rome in his book 'de officiis' and Machiavelli's 'The Prince' book had mentioned about
the fundamentalsof sociology.
·
In the book 'Utopia'
written by Sir Thomas Moore, the daily social problems of human beings are
explained. Books like Adam Smith's 'Wealth
of the Nations', Candersell's ‘Historical Sketch of the Progress of the
Human Mind’, Campinella's ‘City of the
Sun’ dealt with the social problems of the time.
·
Italian 'Veco' in his book ‘The New Science’ said that human society depends on some common
principles.
·
In Ramayana Mahabharata, Puranas and Kautilya's
'Ardhashastra' and in Jain, Buddhist literature also there is sociological
features.
·
Ian Robertson in his book 'Sociology' mentioned that there are three main reasons for the
emergence of sociology in Europe in the 19th century. They are...
1.
Industrial, French Revolutions
2. Advances in the natural sciences and the inspiration derived from
them
3.
Cross-Cultural Combinations and Colonial Spread
·
The scientific and comprehensive study
of sociology or social life began with Auguste
Comte. This is due to the social changes that came in the 19th century such as
European revolutions and industrialization.
·
Auguste Comte had studied small and tiny societies and
wrote a book'Positive Philosophy'.
In this book, he said that society can also be studied scientifically just like
physical objects that are studied scientifically.
·
After them, due to the efforts of Herbert Spencer,
Karl Marx, Emile Durkheim and other scientists, sociology was established as a
complete Social Science.
·
GS Ghurye considered as the Father of Indian Sociology.
Definitions and Nature of
Sociology
Sociology can be understood in general terms as the study of society. Sociology is the study of society, social relations, social styles, people in groups, their behaviours, social actions, social institutions, various social processes and changes in them. Auguste Comte divided Sociology into Social Statics and Social Dynamics. The study of social system is social statics while social dynamics is the study of changes in society.
· Auguste Comte, “sociology is the science of social phenomena subject to natural and invariable laws, the discovery of which is the object of investigation”.
· Max-Weber, “sociology is the science which attempts an interpretative understanding
of social action”.
· 'Sociology is the study of social institutions and social interactions' Durkheim Emile.
· ‘Sociology is studying the concepts of how society was organized and how things
changing’ – Karl Marx.
· According to Harry M. Johnson “Sociology is the science that deals with social groups.”
· Gillin & Gillin defined ‘Sociology is the scientific subject of human relation.’
· J.F. Culler, “sociology may be defined as the body of scientific knowledge about
human relationships.
· Morris Ginsberg, “sociology is the science that deals with social groups, their internal forms or modes of organization, the processes that tend to maintain or change these forms of organization and relations between groups”.
· G.A. Lundberg, “sociology is a body of related generalizations about human social behaviour arrived at by scientific method”.
· R.E. Park and F.W. Burgess, “sociology is the science of collective behaviour”.
· P.A. Sorokin, “sociology is a generalizing science of socio-cultural phenomena viewed in their generic form, types and manifold interconnections”.
· Arnold Green, “sociology is the synthesizing and generalising science of men in all
his social relationships”.
· Kimball Young, “sociology deals with the behaviour of men in groups”.
· G.Duncan Mitchell, “sociology is a science for scientific social development”.
· H.P. Fairchild, “sociology is the study of the relationships between man and his
human environment”.
· Alex inkles, “Sociology is the study of systems of social action and their
interrelations”.
Social Structure
· The term social structure was first used by Herbert Spencer, and Emile Durkheimcalled the social structure as 'Social Physiology’. The various social institutions in the society, different roles, classes and different types of arrangements that regulate the mutual relations between human beings are the basis of the society.
· According to H.M Johnson in his book ‘Sociology’ said that, social structure is the way in which various parts of a social system are incorporated in different degrees of appropriateness.
· A scientist named 'Evan Pritchard' said that ‘social structure is the relationship between different groups’. According to Ogburn and Nimkoff ‘Social Structure is organisation of a group of persons in a Society’.
· According to Radcliffe-Brown, Social Structure is defined as an arrangement of persons in institutionally controlled or defined relationships.
Recap
· Auguste Comte was the first person to use
the term sociology.
·
Man is a social
being - Aristotle
·
Sociology is the study
of social life - Ogburn
Nimkoff
· Herbert Spencer was the first to use the term social structure
·
Social structure is called
as Social Physiology by Emily Durkheim
· Evan Pritchard who commented that the relationship between groups is a social structure.