LECTURE 1: INTRODUCTION

(CONCEPT, RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER

SOCIAL
SCIENCES, DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGY)
PROFESSOR FERDOUS ZAREEN
 CONCEPT
• SOCIOLOGY = SOCIUS +LOGIA
• “SOCIOLOGY IS THE SYSTEMATIC STUDY OF HUMAN BEHAVIOR IN SOCIAL
CONTEXT” (BRYM AND LIE, 2013: 2).
• “SOCIOLOGY IS THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF HUMAN LIFE, SOCIAL GROUPS,
WHOLE SOCIETIES AND THE HUMAN WORLD AS SUCH. IT IS A DAZZLING AND
COMPELLING ENTERPRISE, AS ITS SUBJECT-MATTER IS OUR OWN BEHAVIOR AS
SOCIAL BEINGS. THE SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY IS EXTREMELY WIDE, RANGING
FROM THE ANALYSIS OF PASSING ENCOUNTERS BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS ON
THE STREET TO THE INVESTIGATION OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS AND
GLOBAL FORMS OF TERRORISM” (GIDDENS AND SUTTON, 2012: 6).
 FOUNDERS OF SOCIOLOGY
AUGUSTE COMTE (1798-1857)

• Comte's law of three stages claims that human efforts to understand the world have
passed through theological, metaphysical and positive stages.
EMILE DURKHEIM (1858-1917)

• Durkheim saw sociology as a new science that could be used to elucidate

traditional philosophical questions by examining them in an empirical manner.
Durkheim argued that we must study social life with the same objectivity as
scientists study the natural world.
KARL MARX (1818-83)

• The ideas of karl marx (1818- 83) contrast sharply with those of both comte and durkheim,
but, like them, he sought to explain the changes that were taking place in society during the
time of the industrial revolution. Most of his work concentrated on economic issues, but since
he was always concerned to collect economic problems to social institutions, his work was, and
remains rich in sociological insights.
 FOUNDERS OF SOCIOLOGY
HERBERT SPENCER (1820–1903)

• Spencer believed that he had discovered scientific laws governing the operation of
society. Strongly influenced by charles darwin’s theory of evolution, he thought
societies were composed of interdependent parts, just like biological organisms.
These interdependent parts include families, governments, and the economy.
MAXWEBER (1864-1920)

• Much of his work was also concerned with the development of modern
capitalism and the ways in which modern society was different from
earlier forms of social organization. He saw that people were moving
away from traditional beliefs grounded in superstition, religion, custom
and long-standing habit. Instead, individuals were increasingly engaging
in rational, instrumental calculations that took into account efficiency and
the future consequences of their actions.
 SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
FUNCTIONALISM (DURKHEIM)

• Durkheim’s theory of suicide is an early example of what sociologists now

call functionalism. Functionalist theories incorporate four features:
1. Human behavior is governed by stable patterns of social relations, or social
structures.
2. It shows how social structures maintain or undermine social stability. That is
why functionalists are sometimes called “structural functionalists”; they
analyze how the parts of society (structures) fit together and how each part
contributes to the stability of the whole (its function).
3. It emphasizes that social structures are based mainly on shared values.
4. It suggests that reestablishing equilibrium can best solve most social
problems.
 SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
• CONFLICT THEORY (MARX)

• The centrality of conflict in social life.

• It generally focuses on large, macro-level structures, such as “class relations” or
patterns of domination, submission, and struggle between people of high and low
standing.
• It shows how major patterns of inequality in society produce social stability in some
circumstances and social change in others.
• It stresses how members of privileged groups try to maintain their advantages while
subordinate groups struggle to increase theirs.
• It typically leads to the suggestion that eliminating privilege will lower the level of
conflict and increase total human welfare.
 SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
• SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONISM (WEBER)

• A focus on interpersonal communication in micro-level social settings.

• An emphasis on social life as possible only because people attach meanings
to things. It follows that an adequate explanation of social behavior requires
understanding the subjective meanings people associate with their social
circumstances.
• Stress on the notion that people help to create their social circumstances and
do not merely react to them. A person’s age, gender, race, and other
characteristics may help shape his or her actions, but there is much room for
individual creativity as well.
• Validation of unpopular and nonofficial viewpoints by focusing on the
subjective meanings people create in small social settings. This focus increases
our understanding and tolerance of people who may be different from us.
 SOCIOLOGICAL THEORIES
• FEMINIST THEORY
• Feminist theory focuses on various aspects of patriarchy, the system of male domination in
society. Patriarchy, feminists contend, is as important as class inequality, if not more so, in
determining a person’s opportunities in life.
• Feminist theory holds that male domination and female subordination are determined not
by biological necessity but by structures of power and social convention. From their point of
view, women are subordinate to men only because men enjoy more legal, economic,
political, and cultural rights.
• Feminist theory examines the operation of patriarchy in both micro- and macro-level
settings.
• Feminist theory contends that existing patterns of gender inequality can and should be
changed for the benefit of all members of society. The main sources of gender inequality
include differences in the way boys and girls are reared, barriers to equal opportunity in
education, paid work, and politics, and the unequal division of domestic responsibilities
between women and men.
 RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER SOCIAL SCIENCES
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

• “… Administration exists in a social setting and the pattern of administration

is determined by society; but through sensitive administrative leadership,
society itself may be changed. That the administrator is not merely an
executive; he is also a social engineer, helping society to fulfil itself”
(nptel.Ac.In, 2020).
ECONOMICS

• Sociology not only points out that economic formulas must be modified by
consideration of concrete conditions - the economists all assert that - but
sociology adds what the economists overlook, that the modifying conditions
must be as scientifically determined as the economic formulas themselves.
 DEVELOPMENT OF THE DISCIPLINE
• The first book with the term sociology in its title was written in the mid-19th
century by the english philosopher herbert spencer.
• In the united states, the first sociology course was taught at the university of
kansas, lawrence in 1890 under the title elements of sociology (the oldest
continuing sociology course in america).
• The first full-fledged university department of sociology in the united states was
established in 1892 at the university of chicago by albion w. Small, who in 1895
founded the american journal of sociology.
• The first european department of sociology was founded in 1895 at the university
of bordeaux by emile durkheim (1896).
• In 1919 a sociology department was established in germany at the ludwig
maximilians university of munich by max weber and in 1920 in poland by florian
znaniecki.
TRAJECTORY OF SOCIETIES
TRAJECTORY OF SOCIETIES
 REFERENCES
• Brym, R. And lie, J. (2013). Sociology. 3rd ed. Australia: wadsworth
cengage learning, pp.1-40.
• Giddens, a. And sutton, P. (2012). Sociology. 6th ed. Cambridge: polity,
pp.3-31.
• Nptel.Ac.In. (2020). [Online] available at:
https://nptel.Ac.In/content/storage2/courses/109103023/download/l
ecture%201.Pdf [accessed 13 jan. 2020].
• Small, a. (1995). The relation of sociology to economics. Publications of
the american economic association, [online] 10(3), pp.106-117. Available
at: https://www.Jstor.Org/stable/2485650 [accessed 13 jan. 2020].