sociology & society
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What is sociology & its task
Sociology is a systematic study of society. It studies
human society as an interconnected whole and how society and the individual
interact with each other.
Its tasks are
- One of the tasks of sociology is to unravel the connection between a personal problem and a public issue.
- It tries to understand that the individual in modern times belongs to more than one society and how societies are unequal.
- It is distinct from philosophical and religious reflections, as well as our everyday common sense observation about society.
Explain social imagination
·
C. Wright Mills (1959) rests his vision of the sociological imagination
precisely in the unravelling of how the personal and public are related. The sociological imagination enables us to grasp history and biography and the
relations between the two within society.
·
The most fruitful distinction with which the sociological imagination
works are between ‘the personal troubles of the milieu’ and ‘the public issues
of social structure’.
·
Troubles occur within the character of the individual and within the
range of his immediate relations with others; they have to do with his-self and
with those limited areas of the social life of which he is directly and personally
aware.
·
The facts of contemporary history are also facts about success and
the failure of individual men and women.
For example: When a society is industrialised, a peasant becomes a worker; a feudal
lord is liquidated or becomes a businessman. Neither the life of an individual
nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both.
How sociology differs from philosophical & religious thinkers
- The philosophical and religious thinking is concerned with the moral and immoral aspects of human behaviour. These thinking are based on the norms and values as they ought to be in society. It is about modelling a good society and differentiating it from a bad society.
- Sociology also studies human society and aspects of human behaviour but it is not about the norms and values as they ought to be. As a discipline, it is concerned with the way the norms and values function in actual societies based on observations and findings collected.
- When sociologists are studying society they must be willing to observe and collect findings whether it is to their likings or not. Sociological thinking is bound by scientific procedures.
- The statements that sociologists arrive at should be through observations of certain rules of evidence that allow others to check or repeat to develop the findings further.
Sociological
knowledge and common sense knowledge
- The common sense knowledge that we have are based on our ‘naturalistic’ and/or individualistic explanation. Common sense is not reflective and doesn’t question its own origin.
- It is acquired from a particular viewpoint, the viewpoint of the social group and the social environment that we are socialised into. This knowledge is gained from our own experience of society..
- Sociology on the other hand, breaks away from common sense observations and ideas. It works on meaningful explanation and unsuspected connections of our actions with our behaviour.
- Sociological thinking is based on the systematic and questioning approach of sociology is derived from a broader tradition of scientific investigation.
Intellectual
ideas into the making of sociology
- Sociologists and social anthropologists sought to categorise societies into types and to distinguish stages in social development. These features reappear in the 19th century in works of early sociologists, Auguste Comte, Karl Marx and Herbert Spencer.
- Efforts were therefore made to classify different types of societies on that basis, for instance: Types of pre-modern societies such as hunters and gatherers, pastoral and agrarian, agrarian and non- industrial civilisations. Types of modern societies such as the industrialised societies.
- Darwin’s ideas about organic evolution were a dominant influence on early sociological thought. Society was often compared with living organisms and efforts were made to trace its growth through stages comparable to those of organic life.
- The Enlightenment, an European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries emphasised reason and individualism. There was also great advancement of scientific knowledge and a growing conviction that the methods of the natural sciences should and could be extended to the study of human affairs. For example, poverty, so far seen as a ‘natural phenomenon’, began to be seen as a ‘social problem’ caused by human ignorance or exploitation.
The
material issues into the making of sociology
- The Industrial Revolution was based upon a new, dynamic form of economic activity and capitalism. This system of capitalism became the driving force behind the growth of industrial manufacturing.
- Capitalism involved new attitudes and institutions. Entrepreneurs now engaged in the sustained, systematic pursuit of profit. The markets acted as the key instrument of productive life.
- The industrialisation changed the structure of the pre-industrial society, there is massive urbanisation with a growing individualism. There was the degradation of labour, the wrenching of work from the protective contexts of guild, village, and family.
- The factory and its mechanical division of labour was often seen as a deliberate attempt to destroy the peasant, the artisan, as well as family and local community.
- Another indicator of the emergence of modern societies was the new significance of clock-time as a basis of social organisation, the clock injected a new urgency to work.
- Factory production implied the synchronisation of labour it began punctually, had a steady pace and took place for set hours and on particular days of the week.
Relevance
of studying the beginning and growth of sociology in Europe
- It is significant to study the growth of sociology as a discipline in Europe. This is due to the very fact that the subject matter of sociology deals with issues and concerns developed in the new world order.
- Capitalism and industrialisation which developed in Europe undermined the old settled order and gave rise to many issues like urbanisation or factory production which are pertinent to all modern societies in varied form.
- Sociology emerged as a subject after the French Revolution of 1789. It brought about a tremendous socio-political change in society, leading to disruption of social life and other social relations.
- In case of India, the transformation of Indian society is linked to the history of British capitalism.
- Thus, the work of the western sociologist on capitalism and other aspects of modern society are important. It is relevant for understanding the social change in India.
The
growth of sociology in India
- During the British rule, the British officials realised that for smooth administration, it was important that they acquire knowledge of Indian society and culture. This prompted the origin of Sociology in India.
- Western sociological writings about Indian society were sometimes misleading. Many Indian scholars thus, took to sociological studies to close such gaps.
- The diversified nature of the Indian society in terms of region, language, religion, ethnicity, caste, etc. also led to the growth of sociology in India in connection with the discipline of social anthropology.
- However, in the western countries where both disciplines i.e. sociology and social anthropology have been kept distinct from each other.
- Indian sociologist realised that the transformation process of contemporary Indian society is different from that of western society.
- For instance, Modernity as understood in the western European society is the outcome of the scientific process and democratic ideas. Whereas as the same process of modernity was introduced in Indian society under the colonial regime
Scope
of sociology
- The scope of sociology is extremely wide and it focuses its analysis on several aspects of the society and can be about mere individual interactions to larger social issues.
- The scope of sociology and its focus of analysis can be broadly classified into three categories:
·
At the level of human interactions, the scope of study might
focus its analysis on interactions between two individuals at different social
environment, such as between a shopkeeper and customers or between friends and
family members.
·
National issues might include its focus of analysis
for instance on social phenomena such as unemployment, caste conflicts, rural
indebtedness, effects of forest policies on tribal rights, etc.
·
Global social processes are those which
are impacting the larger human population. While studying such phenomena, the focus of analysis for sociologists might include; the impact of flexible labour
regulations, globalisation of culture, entry of foreign universities on the education system of the country, etc
Sociology and History.
History
|
Sociology
|
History, as a rule, studies mostly
the past.
|
Sociologists are more interested in
contemporary or recent past
|
It is a systematic record of the story of mankind. It presents a chronological account of past events of human society.
|
Sociology on the other hand seeks
to establish a causal relationship between events
|
It studies concrete details of
events
|
It is more likely to derive
abstract from concrete reality, to categorise and generalise
|
it is less glamorous about changes in
relations of gender, land within the family or society etc. but more
interested in wars, monarchy, colony etc.
|
It looks at the social patterns,
gender relations other than the acts of kings and monarchs.
|
Sociology
and Political Science
Pol. SC
|
Sociology
|
political science focused on
political theory and government administration.
|
Sociology on the other hand studies
the actual operation of the government
|
It restricted itself to the study
of power embodied for formal organisation.
|
It studies all aspects of society
including government and stresses the interrelationships between different
institutions
|
It pays attention to the formal structure and processes within the
government.
|
It focuses on the actual study
of political behaviour such as the process of decision making, the role of gender in
politics, etc.
|
Sociology
and Economics
Economics
|
Sociology
|
economics dealt with interrelations
of pure economic variables such as price, demand, supply, etc.
|
Sociology looks at economic
behaviour in a broader context of social norms, values, practices and
interests
|
it was focussed on the understanding of
economic activity such as the allocation of scarce goods and services in a
society and activity in terms of ownership of land and relation to means of
production.
|
It provides questioning and
critical perspectives on basic assumptions of economic behaviour. It
facilitates the need for a socially desirable goal
|
The dominant trend in economic analysis is about how to formulate laws
of the economic behaviour of a society.
|
Sociology however, provides an understanding based on factual
knowledge.
|
Sociology and Psychology
Psychology
|
Sociology
|
It the study of human’s mental life and behaviour
|
Sociology attempts to understand behaviour as it is organised
in society, how personality is shaped by different aspects of society.
|
it studies individual and his/her intelligence, learning process,
motivation, personality, etc
|
. It studies man’s social relationships.
|
Sociology and Anthropology
Social
anthropology
|
Sociology
|
Anthropology studies all
aspects of life in “simple societies” as a whole in a neutral scientific
fashion
|
Sociology on the other hand
studies complex societies in a systematic way
|
Anthropology is often
characterised by a tradition of long fieldwork, living in a community
|
It focuses on part of societies like religion,
bureaucracy or social processes such as social mobility.
|
Anthropology uses ethnographic research methods.
|
Sociology often relies on survey method and quantitative data
using statistics and questionnaire mode.
|
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