Introduction to Sociology
INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY
Human is a social being and thus cannot thrive single. With this, several issues of relations and conduct show up that require special attention for smooth ride towards a dignified society. This led to the birth of an altogether new discipline termed as Sociology.
In a nutshell, Sociology basically studies human society as an interconnected whole. But here, it may be noted that an unauthentic study is not sociology, on the other hand, it is a science which demands certain rules in its observation and analysis. One of its tasks is to unravel the connection between a personal problem and a public issue.
RELATION BETWEEN PERSONAL PROBLEM AND THE PUBLIC ISSUE
It is not hard to notice how a poverty-stricken family as a whole contributes greatly to the assessment of the social structure. A homeless couple in a society has raised homelessness as a public issue which led to the operationalization of the Indira Awas Yojana from 1999-2000.
Thus, activities and troubles occurring within the character of the individual and within the range of his immediate relations with others may transcend the boundary of local environments and reach out to influence the society.
But it is interesting to note that how a society as well greatly determines the personal status of an individual. When a society is industrialized, a peasant becomes a worker; a feudal lord is liquidated or becomes a businessman. When economy goes down, people go broke and at times of war, common man is made to hold arms, a wife lives alone and a child grows up without a father.
PLURALITIES AND INEQUALITIES AMONG SOCIETIES
Society is a simple yet complex network of human life. In the course of development of civilization, we have created an intricate pattern of societies which makes a person belong to more than one society. For instance, in foreign countries, an individual is regarded as an associate of the Indian Society whereas the same person, when in India, is recognized by either linguistic or ethnic community or a religious or caste or tribal society. This diversity makes it difficult to understand which ‘society’ we are referring to.
In a country, some are rich and most are not, likewise some are well educated and others are illiterate, some have great opportunities for advancement in life and others lack them altogether. So, the differences in a society are further accentuated by inequalities.
SOCIOLOGY AND COMMON SENSE KNOWLEDGE
Common sense explanations are generally based on what may be called naturalistic and/or individualistic explanation. Common sense unlike sociology is indubitable. While common sense is basically an individualistic sense of perception, sociology has a far broader aspect. Sociology is both systematic and questionable.
IDEAS THAT WENT INTO THE MAKING OF SOCIOLOGY
Influenced by scientific theories of natural evolution and findings about pre-modern societies made by early travelers, colonial administrators, sociologists and anthropologists sought to categorize societies into types and to distinguish stages in social development.
Darwin’s observation of association of the living organisms reflected how sociology studies empirical reality. The Enlightenment, a European intellectual movement of the late 17th and 18th centuries, became another factor which pushed the need of sociology.
The French scholar Auguste Comte (1789-1857) considered to be founder of sociology and other sociologists like Karl Marx and Herbert Spencer played significant role in evolution of sociology.
Economic activities also contributed to the making of sociology and gave it an altogether new context. Capitalism, with markets as key instrument of productive life, totally changed the economic scenario of England. Hence, England was the centre of the Industrial Revolution. The after effects of this were change of occupations, migrations etc.
Undoubtedly, this economic revolution successfully brought about noticeable and constructive changes to the society as the living standards rose.
Situations took drastic turn between 17th and 19th century, when an estimated 24 million Africans were enslaved. In the 1800s, a large number of Indian labourers were transported to far-off places like Surinam in South America or in the West Indies or the Fiji Islands, for running commercial crop plantations.
Consequently, uneven transformations of societies were witnessed.
GROWTH OF SOCIOLOGY IN INDIA
Colonialism was an essential part of modern capitalism and industrialization. The writings of western sociologists held a view, different from the exact truth but still helped a lot in understanding the social transition in India.
In western world, sociology and sociology anthropology were considered separate disciplines. According to a standard western textbook, sociology is regarded as “the study of human groups and societies, giving particular emphasis to the analysis of the industrialized world”. On the other hand, social anthropology is interpreted as “the study of simple societies of non-western and therefore “other cultures”.
Clearly, this distinction would fail, when applied in India, as ours is a country with a vast diversity of religious, linguistic, regional, ethnic etc. and also rural and urban. So, sociology and social anthropology were merged for an easier and broader prospect.
THE SCOPE OF SOCIOLOGY AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER SOCIAL SCIENCE DISCIPLINES
The scope of sociological study is extremely wide ranging from downtrodden to the billionaires.
Sociology is a part of a group of social sciences, which also includes anthropology, economics, political science and history. These are inter-related to each other. For instance how would a political scientist or economist study gender roles and their implications for politics or the economy without sociology of the family or gender division of labour.
SOCIOLOGY AND ECONOMICS
Economics is basically the study of production and distribution of goods and services. The conventional economics focuses strictly on the exact terms, whereas socio-economic approach analyses on their interdependence and as well as each entity, separately. This consists of observation of economic behavior in the context of social norms, values, practices and interests.
For example, the large investment in the advertisement industry is aimed at reshaping lifestyles and consumption patterns.
Despite the inter-relation, sociology does not provide technical solutions unlike economics. In short, the former is figurative while the latter is literal.
SOCIOLOGY AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
The classical political science concentrates on two elements: political theory and government administration. The theory part mainly deals with the ideas about of government from Plato to Marx whiles administration provides the formal structure of government rather than its actual operation.
Political science is based on concrete facts of functioning of the organizations whereas sociology researches the areas of impact of it. Sociology assesses the inter-relations of the institutions in the country.
Nevertheless, recent Indian elections have seen the active indulgence of both. Studies have also been conducted in membership of political organizations, process of decision-making in organizations, sociological reasons for support of political parties, the role of gender in politics etc.
SOCIOLOGY AND HISTORY
History is a subject of facts occurred in the past. This is chiefly an anthology of the history of kings and war. Social history studies the evolution of society from very early times. It looks at social patterns, gender relations, and customs other than the acts of rulers, wars and monarchy.
SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGY
Social is often defined as the science of behavior. Social psychology, which serves as a bridge between psychology and sociology, maintains a primary interest in the individual but concerns itself with the way in which the individual behaves in social groups, collectively with other individuals.
SOCIAL AND SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
Sociology is deemed to be the study of modern, complex societies while social anthropology was deemed to be study of simple societies. The prominent differences have already been underscored in the previous paragraphs.
But it is being feared that with the decline of simple societies, social anthropology would lose its specificity and merge with sociology. However, there have been fruitful interchanges between the two disciplines and today often methods and techniques are drawn from both.
CONCLUSION
In today’s world, complex societies exist everywhere. To comprehend this, requires a systematic and analytical approach, there comes the role of sociology.
I am a 2nd year student of Electronics and communication Engineering in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. I am basically from Agartala, Tripura, which is situated in the North-eastern side of India.
