a breif introduction to sociology

1. SOCIOLOG
Y

2. OBJECTIV
ES
• Define the term sociology;
• Describe the subject-matter, scope and basic concerns of sociology;
• Understand how sociology emerged and developed;
• Describe macro-sociology and micro-sociology;
• Appreciate the various views and concepts formulated by the founding
fathers of sociology;

3. WHAT IS SOCIETY
 A group of people who live within some type of bounded territory
and who share a common way of life
 The whole way of life of a group of people passed from one
generation to
the next.
 A group of people who have common interests and distinctive
culture
 An informal rule that guides our behavior in a particular situation.

4. WHAT IS CULTURE
 Culture is common way of life shared by a society or a group.
 "Culture encompasses religion, food, what we wear, how we wear it, our
language, marriage, music, what we believe is right or wrong, how we sit
at the table, how we greet visitors, how we behave with loved ones, and a
million other things”.
 Material culture consists of things that are created by
humans. Examples include cars, buildings, clothing, and
tools.
 Nonmaterial culture refers to the abstract ideas and ways of thinking
that make up a culture. Examples of nonmaterial culture include
traffic laws, words, and dress codes

5. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOCIETY AND CULTURE
Society
 Society is a group of
interdependent people who
have organized in such a way
as to share a common
culture and feeling of unity
Culture
 Culture consists of material
and non-material products
that people create

6. ORIGIN OFTHETERM ‘SOCIOLOGY’
 Auguste Comte (1978-1857) is the founder of the term ‘Sociology’
(1938)
 Comte presented the idea of applying POSITIVISM
 Positivism is the term used to describe an approach to the study of
society that relies specifically on scientific evidence, such as
experiments and statistics, to reveal a true nature of how society
operates
 Socious (Latin) means ‘Society’ + logos (Greek) means‘Speak
about’ = Sociology
 Literal definition of sociology is that it is the word or speaking about
society.

7. DEFINITION
 Sociology is the study of human social life.
 Sociology is the study of society and culture.
 Sociology is a social science which studies the processes and
patterns of human individual and group interaction, the forms of
organization of social groups, the relationship among them, and
group influences on individual behavior, and vice versa, and the
interaction between one social group and the other (Team of
Experts, 2000).

8. DEFINITION
Sociology may be generally defined as a social science that
studies such kinds of phenomena as:
 The structure and function of society as a system;
 The nature, complexity and contents of human social behavior;
 The fundamentals of human social life
 Interaction of human beings with their external environment;
 The indispensability of social interactions for human
development;
 How the social world affects us, etc.

9. WHY STUDY SOCIOLOGY
 Togain a better understanding of the social forces that shape your own life,
so that you will be better poised to deal with them.
 Toenhance your ability to be an active and informed citizen, able to influence
societal
choices and policies
 Toget 21st century skills that workers need: critical and analytical thinking,
writing ability, cultural competence,and self-awareness.
 Understanding of cultural diversity in work environment

10. PIONEERS OF SOCIOLOGY
Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) French Sociologist
 His primary goal was of getting sociology recognized as a
separate academic discipline.
 His systematic study comparing suicide rates among several
countries revealed an underlying social factor:
 People were more likely to commit suicide if their ties to
others in their communities were weak.
 He identified the key role of social integration in social life.

11. Max Weber (1864-1920) German Sociologist
 He focused on individuals and their perspective and interpretation of
their actions.
 His point of view is in between positivism and anti-positivism
(idealists).
 Weber argues that we cannot understand human behavior by just
looking at statistics. Every activity and behavior of people needs to
be interpreted.
 He argued that a sociologist must aim at what are called subjective
meanings, the ways in which people interpret their own behavior or
the meanings people attach their own behavior

12. Karl Marx (1818-1883) German historian, philosopher
 According to him the key to human history is Class Conflict.
 According to Marx, economic forces are the keys to underestimating
society and social change.
 He dreamed of, and worked hard towards realizing, a classless society,
one in which there will be no exploitation and oppression of one class
by another, and wherein all individuals will work according to their
abilities and receive according to their needs.
 He introduced one of the major perspectives in sociology – Conflict
Theory

13. LEVEL OF ANALYSIS: MICROSOCIOLOGY AND
MACROSOCIOLOGY
Macrosociology
 Analysis on large scale
 Grand views of society and history
 Comte, Marx, Durkheim worked on
Macrosociology
 Example:What is the role of sports in society?
Microsociology
 Everyday human interactions into small scale
 Face to face
 Weber worked on Microsociology
 Example:What is the role of sports in an
individual's life?

14. FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY
 Anthropology – Deals with origins, physical and cultural development,beliefs, social
customs of human kinds
 Archeology – Studies human cultures through recovery,documentation,and analysis of
material remains
 Behavioral Science – al disciplines that explores activities of all organisms in naturalworld
 Communication studies – deals with process of communication
 Cultural studies – studies political dynamics of contemporary culture and its historical
foundations

15. FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY
 Development Studies – addresses issues of concern to developing countries
 Economics – analyze production, distribution and consumption of goods andservices
 Education – process of imparting knowledge
 Environmental studies – integrate social, humanistic and natural science perspective between
humans and
natural environment
 Gender studies – study to analyze race, ethnicity, sexuality and location
 Geography – study of land, its features, inhabitants and phenomenon of Earth
 Information Science – Concerned with collection, classification,storage, retrieval and
dissemination of
information

16. FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY
 Journalism – Craft of conveying news among media
 Law – System of rules and guidelines enforced through social institutions
 Library Science – Application of processes and tools f management in library
areas.
 Linguistics – Scientific study of human languages
 Management – All business and human organization activities to achieve set
goals

17. FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY
 Political science – study of the state, government andpolitics
 International Studies – studies major political, economic, social an cultural issues that dominate
international agenda
 International Relations – deals with preparation of people to actively engage in interconnected worlds
 Public Administration – Implementation of government policy and prepares civil servants for their
work
 Psychology – study of mind and behavior

18. FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY
 Social Work – Professional and academic discipline seeking improvement of life
andwell being
 Sociology – Scientific study of society using various methods of investigation and
critical
analysis
 Criminology – Study of nature, extent,causes and control of criminal behaviors in
individual and society
 Demography – Statistical study of all populations