Origin of Sociology

Auguste Comte, a French philosopher, coined the word ‘Sociology’ in 1838 for the branch of science which studied human behavior.

In fact, he created a hierarchy of sciences in which he put sociology at the top.

He argued that sciences dealing with simple phenomena were the first to arrive. Since sociology deals with the most complex phenomena of social behavior, it is a recent addition to the sciences.

Sociology is derived from two Latin root-words socius meaning companion or association, and logos meaning science.

There is a general agreement that sociology is the science of human society and of social relations, social groups, and social change.

It is one of the several social sciences-others being social anthropology, economics, political sciences, psychology, human geography public administration, mass communication, etc.

Like the other social science disciplines, sociology has also contributed to the growth of applied social sciences such as business administration and management.

While there is no dearth of writings on the nature of society and even descriptions of actual societies in previous centuries, the era of the scientific study of society and social groups began only in the nineteenth century.

Those writings are philosophical or literary and they are sociologically relevant, but they are not sociological, as they are not based on scientific research.

In his book An Invitation to Sociology: A Humanistic Perspective, Peter Berger describes a sociologist as ‘someone concerned with the understanding of the society in a disciplined way.

The nature of this discipline is scientific.

This means that what the sociologist finds and says about the social phenomena, occurs within a certain rather strictly defined frame of reference.

As a scientist, the sociologist tries to be objective, to control his personal preferences and prejudices, and to perceive clearly rather than to judge normatively’.

Sociology is, thus, different from literature or journalism.

Poets and novelists also described society, but they can take liberties with facts.

What makes their writings attractive are the flights of their fancy.

Similarly, journalists do report on events occurring in society but the demand for meeting deadlines leaves them with little time to double-check their findings; they do not feel obliged to use scientific methods of data collection.

The same subject matter can be seen from a variety of perspectives.

That is why there is a difference in the way an economist, a political scientist, a social worker, and a sociologist looks at social phenomena.

It is the approach that distinguishes sociology from other sciences-natural and social.

Sociologists approach human society as a system of interactions between individuals, between individuals and groups, and between different groups.

A sociologist is generally concerned about questions such as:

What binds people together?

What are the processes that keep people as social entities?

How does society survive?

How does it change?

What causes the death of social groups within society?

When do societies cease to exist?

Origins of Sociology

As said earlier the science of sociology was born in the nineteenth century in Europe.

Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution, and French Revolution initiated a process of thinking about society, particularly the consequences of revolutionary happenings.

The Industrial Revolution accelerated the process of urbanization. Urbanization, in its turn, created problems with housing and slum dwellings.

The creation of industries resulted in conflicts between owners and factory workers. French Revolution led to rethinking the form of government and practice of democracy. Thus, changes were all around in the economy, polity, and community living.

Thus industrialization, urbanization, capitalism, and the attendant consequences began transforming the societies of Europe.

Sociology took birth in such a climate. Its sister discipline, Anthropology, was also took birth simultaneously.

As a result of the Industrial Revolution societies of Europe came in contact with non-European cultures in Asia, Africa, the Americas, and in the island countries in the Pacific and the Caribbean.

While sociologists began studying their own societies, anthropologists went to far-off places to study the primitive tribal communities as societies distinct from Western societies.

Anthropology defined as the scientific study of human beings became the study of other cultures.

Thus, both sociology and social anthropology study human society. What separated them initially was the type of society being studied: sociologists studying their own society and anthropologists studying others, mainly tribal societies. Thus a distinction is now being disregarded.

Those who dealt with these problems are considered the founding fathers of sociology because they were seriously concerned with these problems in a systematic way.

Most notable among these thinkers have been Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, and Max Weber. All these pioneers came from others disciplines.

Comte was a philosopher.

Herbert Spencer had a background in natural history and was influenced by Charles Darwin’s Theory of Evolution.

Durkheim was a rabbi (Jewish priest).

Weber was trained in legal and economic history.

Karl Marks had a dual interest in abstract philosophy and in the concrete reality of his times but did not pursue an academic career and never claimed to be a sociologist, in fact, his influence spread to various branches of knowledge and many became followers of his ideology.

What is Sociology

Auguste Comte

As said earlier, Auguste Comte gave the discipline its name, calling it sociology or the ‘science of human association’.

Leonard Hobhouse

Leonard Hobhouse explained how sociology studied the ‘interaction of human minds.

Park and Burgess

Park and Burgess said that ‘sociology is the science of collective behavior’.

Emile Durkheim

However, Emile Durkheim was more precise; he said that ‘sociology is a study of collective representation’. All our thinking, fleeing and doing constitute social facts.

Social facts, according to Durkheim, are exterior to the human mind and put constraints on human behavior.

For instance, when we go to the bank, without any thinking we stand in a queue in front of the counter. Standing in the queue is not an action of our mind. It is the way of transacting business in the bank, without much thought and deliberate effort.

However, we know that if we did not stand in the queue and rush to the counter, others in the queue would object to our non-adherence to the norm.

Thus, the practice of standing in the queue exercises a constraint on us; and demands conformity from us.

Durkheim says all that which is a social fact constitutes the subject matter of the study of sociology.

Max Weber

Max Weber defined sociology differently. He said that all human activities are oriented towards some action. He said that all human activities are oriented toward some action, which fulfills some objectives.

Individuals in society engage in actions for the realization of given goals/interests. Social action according to Max Weber, constitutes the subject matter of sociology.

Since every social action is directed at some other person, sociology studies the interaction systems, which shape social institutions, like the economy, polity, religion, etc.

Reference-Nagla, Bhupendra K. and Sheobahal Singh (2009). ‘Introducing Sociology’, Rawat Publication, pp-39-44.