SOCIOLOGY AND THE STUDY OF SOCIETY

THE SOCIOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

The basic insight of sociology is that human behavior is shaped by the groups to which people
belong and by the social interaction that takes place within those groups. We are who we are
and we behave the way we do because we happen to live in a particular society at a particular
point in space and time.

People tend to accept their social world unquestioningly, as something "natural." But the
sociological perspective enables us to see society as a temporary social product, created by
human beings and capable of being changed by them as well.

The sociological perspective invites us to look at our familiar surroundings in a fresh way. It
encourages us to take a new look at the world we have always taken for granted, to examine
our social environment with the same curiosity that we might bring to an exotic foreign culture.

The study of sociology leads us into areas of society that we might otherwise have ignored or
misunderstood. Since our world view is shaped by our personal experience and since people
with different social experiences have different definitions of social reality, sociology helps us to
appreciate viewpoints other than our own and to understand how these viewpoints came into
being.

Sociology also helps us understand ourselves better. Without the sociological perspective
(which has been called the "sociological imagination"), people see the world through their
limited experience of a small orbit of family, friends, co-workers.

The sociological imagination allows us to stand apart mentally from our limited experience and
see the link between private concerns and social issues. It permits us to trace the connection
between the patterns and events of our own and the patterns and events of our society.

SOCIOLOGICAL CONCEPTS
Society is a term that describes a group of individuals marked by a common culture, a certain
folklore and shared criteria that determine their customs and lifestyle and that are related to
each other within the framework of a community.

Social interaction is a process of reciprocal stimulation or response between 2 people. It

develops competition, interaction, influences social roles and status and people for social
relationships.

A social organization is an ordered set of individuals who share ideas or visions regarding the
subject that groups them and whose goal is to achieve a common goal , whatever it may be,
both for private benefit and for society in general.

Social Structure and Agency

Structure and agency are elements that influence human behavior. Individuals’ ability to act
autonomously and make their own free decisions is agency. The structure is the recurring
pattern that influences or restricts the available options and possibilities. In deciding whether a
person behaves as a free agent or per social structure, the structure vs. agency argument may
be seen as a conflict between socialization and autonomy.
SUBDISCIPLINES OF SOCIOLOGY
Social organization- studies that involve social structures such as institutions, social groups,
social stratification, social mobility, and ethnic groups.
Social psychology-the study of the impact of group life to a person’s nature and personality.

Social change and disorganization-inquires on the shift in social and cultural interactions and
the interruption of its process through delinquency, deviance, and conflicts.
Human ecology-pursues studies that relate human behavior to existing social institutions

Population and demography-inquires on the interrelationships between population

characteristics and dynamics with that of a political, economic, and social system.
Applied sociology-uses sociological research and methods to solve contemporary problems. It
often uses as an interdisciplinary approach to better address social problems.

Comparative Method
One of the methods of sociology is the comparative method. The comparative method is where
the researcher collects data about different social groups or societies and then compares one
group with another to show why they are similar or different in certain respects.

Historical Method
The historical method is that approach of study that draws our attention towards details of the
past. The classical sociologists did not have modern transport and communication system to
visit various places and naturally they had to rely more on written records than our actual
observation of the social phenomena.

Statistical method refers to the method that is used to measure social phenomena
mathematically. Statistics include a collection of numerical facts relating to any field of inquiry
in a systematic matter and their analysis and interpretation.

A case study is a form of qualitative analysis. It involves a very careful and complete observation
of a person, situation, or institution. The idea behind this method is that any case that is being
studied is representative of many similar cases and thus it makes generalization possible.

The functional method is based on an assumption that the total social system of the society is
made up of parts, which are interrelated and interdependent. It is believed that each function
and part has a specialized function any one part of the social system can be understood only in
its relationships with other parts as well as with the whole system.

The scientific method is the way of an investigation by which scientific and systematic
knowledge is acquired. It yields conclusions, which have far greater reliability than the counsels
of common sense do. The primary task of the scientific method is to discover causal relations in
the diverse facts under it and to predict about future with the help of the causal relations.

VALUE OF SOCIOLOGY FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

If there is a society where people interact, then there is a relevancy for sociology. By
standardized definition, Sociology is the study of the development, structure, and functioning of
human society. We have many diverse societies in the 21st century global existence. If one
cares to try to understand the dynamics of these societal relationships/interactions and why
some work and others do not, then one needs sociology to understand them.