INTRODUCTION

TO
SOCIOLOGY
Lecture 1

THE ORIGINS
OF
SOCIOLOGY
 Definition:
• Sociology derived from two words:
• Socius – Latin word for society.
• Logos – Greek word for knowledge.
• Knowledge at a high level – scientific knowledge.
• Sociology is the scientific study of human social
life, groups, and societies.
• Science includes: empirical + logical
• It is a rigorous study. Not just common sense. It
is a systematic study
•
No sociology as a distinct
discipline before the
advent of 19 century.
th
3 factors led to the dev of sociology

• The first was the industrial revolution.

Urbanization.
• The second factor that stimulated the
development of sociology was imperialism
• The third impetus for the development of
sociology was the success of the natural
sciences
 First Factor
• By the mid 19th century Europe was
changing from agriculture to factory
production. Emergence of new occupations
as well as new avenues of employment
away from the land
• Masses of people migrated to cities in search
of jobs. Pull and push factors
• People in these industrial cities developed new
ideas about democracy and political rights
• Ideas about nation states
Second Factor
• Europeans successfully conquered many
parts of the world. Exposure to radically
different cultures.
• Startled by these contrasting ways of life,
they began to ask why cultures differed
Third Factor
• People moved to question fundamental
aspects of their social world.
• They started using the scientific method
(systematic observation, objectivity) to
the study of human behavior.
 Auguste Comte
• The idea of applying the scientific
method to the social world, known as
positivism, was apparently first proposed
by Auguste Comte(1798-1857).
• Auguste Comte happened to be a French
Mathematician.
Comte became interested in
the two interrelated issues:
• Social statics. Order, stability
• Social dynamics. change
 Social statics
• What holds the society together
(Why is there a social order)?
 Social dynamics

• What causes it to change?

Comte concluded:

• The right way to answer such questions was

to apply the scientific method to social life.
• There must be laws that underlie the
society.
• Discover these principles by applying
scientific method to social world.
• Apply these principles for social reform
Science of Sociology
• This will be a new science and
Comte named it as Sociology
(1838) – the study of society.
• Comte is credited with being the
founder of sociology
Other early pioneers in sociology
• Herbert Spenser (1820-1903) 
Englishman.
• Karl Marx (1818-1883)
German.
• Emile Durkheim (1858-1917)
 French
• Max Weber (1864-1920)
 German.
Subject Matter
of
Sociology
The Fields of Sociology 

Big diversity in fields of

interest.
Biosociology
Collective Behaviour/Social Movements
Community
Comparative Sociology//Macrosociology
Criminal Justice
Criminology/Delinquency
Cultural Sociology
Demography
Development/Modernization
Deviant Behaviour/Social Disorganization
Economy and Society
Education
Environmental Sociology
Ethnomethodology
History of Sociology/ Social Thought
Human Ecology
Industrial Sociology
International development/Third World
Law and Society
Leisure/Sports/Recreation
Marriage and the Family
Mass Communication/Public Opinion
Mathematical sociology
Medical Sociology
Methodology: Qualitative Approaches
Methodology: Quantitative Approaches
Microcomputing/Computer Applications
Military Sociology
Occupations/Professions
Penology/Corrections
Political Sociology
Race/Ethnic/Minority Relations
Religion
Rural Sociology
Small Groups
Social Change
Social Control
Social Networks
Social Organizations/formal/complex
Social Psychology
Socialization
Sociological Practice/Social Policy
Sociology of Aging/Social Gerontology
Sociology of Art/Literature
Sociology of Knowledge
Sociology of Language/Social Linguistics
Sociology of Markets
Sociology of Mental Health
Sociology of Science
Sociology of Sex and Gender
Sociology of Work
Sociology of World Conflict
Stratification/Mobility
Theory
Urban Sociology
Visual Sociology

Source: American Sociological association Guide to Graduate

departments, 1992 : 290-308.
Thank You
Lecture 2

THE SOCIOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVE
Perspective means:
• A view, or
• An outlook, or
• An approach, or
• An imagination.
Sociological Perspective:

An approach to understanding
human behavior by placing it
within its broader social
context.
 Human lives seem to follow
certain predictable pattern

    Our lives do not unfold

according to sheer chance.
    Nor do we decide for ourselves
how to live, acting on what is
called ‘free will’.
For human beings the existence
of society is essential:
• For the survival of human
child – Nature
• For social experience –
Nurture
Cases of isolated children:

• Anna [discovered at age 5]

• Isabelle [discovered at age 6]
• Genie [discovered at age 13]
Focus on:

• Seeing the general in the particular

• Identifying general patterns in the
behavior of particular people.
Look 
• Society acts differently on various
categories of people (children
compared to adults; women
compared to men)
• General categories to which we
belong shape our experiences.
Age is social
construction .
Societies define the
stages of life differently
Gender is also a social
construction
Society affects what we do.

Suicide – a personal matter.

Individuality in social context.
Look at the social forces that are
at work.
Society determines
who we are
Conclusion
• General categories to which we
belong shape our experiences.
• This is called sociological
imagination.
(C. Wright Mills).
Think sociologically –
cultivating sociological
imagination.
Thank You