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Intro soc - Summary

Introduction To Sociology I (University of Delhi)

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Introduction:
The term ‘sociology’ was coined by a French social scientist,
August Comte in 1838. The term is derived from a combination of
two Latin words- ‘socius’ meaning ‘society’ and ‘logos’ meaning
‘study of.’ In simpler words, sociology can be defined as the
scientific study of society.

Sociology is a comparatively new entrant in the family of social

sciences. However, since the study of social interactions, relations,
and problems has become increasingly important, there has been a
rise in its significance and status. As a discipline, sociology has
now developed a clearly defined methodology, scope, and
approach.

SOCIOLOGY AS A SOCIAL SCIENCE

as a social science, sociology studies the structure of the society
and its functioning as a part of a system the nature, contents, and
complexity of human social behaviour. Fundamentals of human
social life & interaction between humans and their external
environments.Like all other social sciences, sociology also is
concerned with the life and activities of man. It studies the nature
and examines the bonds of social unity, character of human
society, and also its origin, and development, structure and
functions. It analyses the group life of man. Sociology tries to
determine the relationship and inter-dependence between different
elements of social life: between the moral and the religious, the
economic and political, the intellectual and the philosophical and
the artistic and the aesthetic, the scientific and the technological,
and non-material and so on. Sociology also discovers the
fundamental conditions of social stability and social change. It
analyses the influence of economic, political, technological, cultural
and other forces and factors on man and his life.
It throws more light on various social problems like poverty,
beggary, over-population, crime, unemployment, etc.
Sociology is a comparatively new entrant in the family of social
sciences. However, since the study of social interactions, relations,
and problems has become increasingly important, there has been a
rise in its significance and status. As a discipline, sociology has
now developed a clearly defined methodology, scope, and
approach.

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Social & Intellectual Forces Contribution In The Development

of Sociological Theory
Political Revolutions
The long series of political revolutions ushered in by the French
Revolution in 1789 and carrying over through the nineteenth
century was the most immediate factor in the rise of sociological
theorizing. The impact of these revolutions on many societies was
enormous, and many positive changes resulted. However, what
attracted the attention of many early theorists (especially
Tocqueville) was not the positive consequences, but the
negative effects of such changes. These writers were particularly
disturbed by the resulting chaos and disorder, especially in France.
They were united in a desire to restore order to society. Some of
the more extreme thinkers of this period literally wanted a return to
the peaceful and relatively orderly days of the Middle Ages. The
more sophisticated thinkers recognized that social change had
made such a return impossible. Thus, they sought instead to find
new bases of order in societies that had been overturned by
the political revolutions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
This interest in the issue of social order was one of the major
concerns of classical sociological theorists, especially Comte,
Durkheim, and Parsons.

The Industrial Revolution and the Rise of Capitalism

At least as important as political revolution in the shaping of
sociological theory was the
Industrial Revolution, which swept through many Western
societies, mainly in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
The Industrial Revolution was not a single event but many
interrelated developments that culminated in the transformation of
the Western world from a largely agricultural system to an
overwhelmingly industrial one. Large numbers of people left farms
and agricultural work for the industrial occupations offered in the
burgeoning factories. The factories themselves were transformed
by a long series of technological improvements. Large economic
bureaucracies arose to provide the many services needed by
industry and the emerging capitalist economic system. In this
economy, the ideal was a free marketplace where the many
products of an industrial system could be exchanged. Within this

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system, a few profited greatly while the majority worked long hours
for low wages. A reaction against the industrial system
and against capitalism in general followed and led to the labor
movement as well as to various radical movements aimed at
overthrowing the capitalist system.
The Industrial Revolution, capitalism, and the reaction against them
all involved an enormous upheaval in Western society, an upheaval
that affected sociologists greatly. Five major figures in the early
history of sociological theory--Karl Marx, Max Weber,
Emile Durkheim, Georg Simmel, and Thorstein Veblen--were
preoccupied, as were many lesser thinkers, with these changes
and the problems they created for society as a
whole. They spent their lives studying these problems, and in many
cases they endeavored to develop programs that would help solve
them.

The Rise of Socialism

One set of changes aimed at coping with the excesses of the
industrial system and capitalism can be combined under the
heading "socialism" (Beilharz, 2005d). Although some
sociologists favored socialism as a solution to industrial problems,
most were personally and intellectually opposed to it. On the one
side, Karl Marx was an active supporter of the
overthrow of the capitalist system and its replacement by a
socialist system. Although Marx did not develop a theory of
socialism per se, he spent a great deal of time criticizing various
aspects of capitalist society. In addition, he engaged in a variety of
political activities that he hoped would help bring about the rise of
socialist societies.
However, Marx was atypical in the early years of sociological
theory. Most of the early theorists, such as Weber and Durkheim,
were opposed to socialism (at least as it was envisioned by Marx).
Although they recognized the problems within capitalist socially,
they sought social reform within capitalism rather than the social
revolution argued or by Marx. They feared socialism (as did
Tocqueville) more than they did capitalism. This fear played a far
greater role in shaping sociological theory than did Marx's support
of the socialist alternative to capitalism. In fact, as we will see, in
many cases sociological theory developed in reaction against
Marxian and, more generally, socialist theory.

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Feminism
In one sense there has always been a feminist perspective.
Whenever and wherever women are subordinated--and they have
been subordinated almost always and everywhere--they seem to
have recognized and protested that situation in some form
(Lerner, 1993). Although precursors can be traced to the 1630s,
high points of feminist activity and writing occurred in the
liberationist moments of modern Western history: a first flurry of
productivity in the 1780s and 1790s with the debates surrounding
the American and French revolutions; a far more organized,
focused effort in the 1850s as part of the mobilization against
slavery and for political rights for the middle class; and the
massive mobilization for women's suffrage and for industrial and
civic reform legislation in the early twentieth century, especially the
Progressive Era in the United States.
All of this had an impact on the development of sociology, in
particular on the work of a number of women in or associated with
the field-_-Harriet Martineau (Vetter, 2008), Charlotte Perkins
Gilman, Jane Addams, Florence Kelley, Anna Julia Cooper, Ida
Wells Barnett, Marianne Weber, and Beatrice Potter Webb, to name
just a few. But their creations were, over time, pushed to the
periphery of the profession, annexed or discounted or writ-
ten out of sociology's public record by the men who were
organising sociology as a professional power base. Feminist
concerns filtered into sociology only on the margins, in the
work of marginal male theorists or of the increasingly marginalized
female theorists. The men who assumed centrality in the
profession--from Spencer, through Weber and Durkheim-made
basically conservative responses to the feminist arguments going
on around them, making issues of gender an inconsequential topic
to which they responded conventionally rather than critically in
what they identified and publicly promoted as sociology. They
responded in this way even as women were writing a significant
body of sociological theory. The history of this gender politics in
the profession, which is also part of the history of male response to
feminist claims, is only now being written (for example, see
Deegan, 1988; Fitzpatrick, 1990; Gordon, 1994; Lengermann and
Niebrugge-Brantley, 1998; Rosenberg, 1982).

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Urbanisation
Partly as a result of the Industrial Revolution, large numbers of
people in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries were uprooted from their rural homes and
moved to urban settings.
This massive migration was caused, in large part, by the jobs
created by the industrial system in the urban areas. But it
presented many difficulties for those people who had to
adjust to urban life. In addition, the expansion of the cities
produced a seemingly endless
list of urban problems- overcrowding, pollution, noise, traffic, and
so forth. The nature of urban life and its problems attracted the
attention of many early sociologists, especiallv
Max Weber and Georg Simmel. In fact, the first major school of
American sociology, the Chicago school, was in large part defined
by its concern for the city and its interest in using
Chicago as a laboratory in which to study urbanization and its
problems.

Early Thinkers
The basics of sociology today have been shaped by some of the
earliest thinkers and their ideas. Some of these thinkers are-
Auguste Comte
French Social Philosopher (1798-1857)
Comte had coined the term ‘sociology’ “to apply to the science of
human behaviours,” and he was the first to call himself a
sociologist. He was one of the most influential philosophers of the
1800s- a time wherein the French monarchy had been disposed of
and Napoleon had been unable to conquer Europe. During this
time, philosophers and intellectuals were devising ways of
improving society and its conditions.
According to Comte, in order to improve society, “the theoretical
science of society should be developed and a systematic
investigation of behaviour should be
carried.” Comte believed that a systematic study of social
behaviours would lead to increased rational interactions between
humans. He presented a hierarchy of sciences wherein he placed
sociology at the top, claiming that sociology was ‘the queen’ and
“its practitioners were scientist-priests.”

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Comte also used the terms ‘social dynamic’ and ‘social static’ to
define sociology. The former referring to the changing, developing,
and progressing dimensions of the society and the latter referring
to social order, and elements of social phenomena that persist and
are relatively permanent to change. . (Doda, 2005) (Foundation of
Sociology, n.d.)
Karl Marx
German Thinker (1818-1883)
Marx is a world-renowned economic historian, sociologist, and
social philosopher. He was a revolutionary and spent most of his
life in exile. His ideas were heavily influenced by Friedrich Engels.
In his analysis, Marx divided the entire society into two classes-
Bourgeoise (owners of the means of production) and Proletariats
(workers) In his work, he stated that the primary reason for conflict
in society was the opposing needs of these two classes and the
dominance of one over the other. He believed that the history of
human society has been that of class conflict. Marx believed that in
the capitalist society, labour undergoes four forms of alienation-
alienation from the product, from the process of production, from
oneself and others.
Marx’s idea of socialism aimed at bringing about a classless
society- one where there was no exploitation or oppression, where
individuals worked according to their abilities and received awards
accordingly.
Marx also argued that the economic forces in society are the keys
to bringing about social change. He stated that the economic
forces formed the base; and the culture, religion, tradition, and
other social factors formed the superstructure. A change in the
base would lead to a change in the superstructure.
Marx introduced one of the most important sociological theories-
social conflict theory.
Even today, a large number of individuals are influenced by Marx
and his writings.

Emile Durkheim
French Sociologist (1858- 1917)
Considered to be one of the founding fathers of sociology,
Durkheim made pioneering contributions to the discipline of
sociology. He was the son of a rabbi and received his education in

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France and Germany, after which he became one of the first

professors of sociology in France. (Doda, 2005)
He introduced the concept of ‘social facts’ that are “patterns of
behaviour that characterize a social group in a given society.” He
believed that all social facts should be studied objectively and the
main objective of a sociologist was to uncover these social facts
and then explain them. Durkheim was the first to apply statistical
methods for understanding social phenomena. (Foundation of
Sociology, n.d.)
His work on ‘Suicide’ stated that there were 4 types of suicide in
the society that were not based on individual acts instead they had
been shaped by the relationship between an actor and his society.
This included- Egoistic suicide (being cut off from the society),
altruistic suicide (being highly integrated into the society), anomic
suicide (under-regulation of society), and fatalistic suicide
(overregulation of society).
Durkheim also introduced concepts of solidarity and studied the
concept of religion in depth.

Max Weber
German Sociologist (1864-1920)
According to Weber, sociology was “the study of human social
action.” He believed that the subject matter of sociology was
based on the interpretation of “human social action and the
meanings people attach to those actions.” Therefore, he
emphasized the concept of subjective interpretations. One of his
most prominent works is, ‘The protestant ethic and the spirit of
capitalism.’ (Foundation of Sociology, n.d.)

Marx, Durkheim, and Weber are known as the founding fathers of

Sociology.

Therefore, the discipline of sociology plays an important role in

understanding how we as placed in the society and how we can,
with the help of sociological tools and knowledge, make sense of
the world we create and live in.

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