The development of Sociology as a discipline

Sociology may be defined as: the study of human social life, groups and societies. It is a dazzling and compelling enterprise having as its matter our own behaviour as social beings. (A.Giddens Sociology: A brief Introduction) Sociology is the scientific and the positivistic study of the society (D. Jary and J. Jary Collins Dictionary of Sociology). Sociology is the study of individuals in a social setting that includes groups, cultures and societies. Sociologists study the interrelationships between individuals, organizations, cultures and societies (Ritzer, 1979).

In order to understand the basis upon which the study of sociology is based on has to understand the basic units of study: society and culture.

Society is a type of social organization. Jary and Jary describe it as any self perpetuating human grouping occupying a relatively bounded territory, possessing its own more or less distinctive culture and institutions. Macionis further adds that it is a group of people who interact in a defined space and share culture (Macionis, pg66). It is therefore the commonality (common behaviour based on constant and consistent interaction) that allows us to become more like each other since this commonality is based on shared language and symbols which also allows us to overtime create cultural heritage, laws, institutions as well as common values-social relationships.

The Development of Sociology as a Discipline

There are a several factors which helped to shape sociologys development these can be grouped into social forces and intellectual forces. The social forces which shaped sociology include political revolutions as well as economic revolutions.

The impact of these revolutions on many societies was mammoth, resulting in many changes both positive and negative. These attracted the attention of many writers who were uneasy about the chaos and disorder and wished to have order restored. The base for the new world order had to be one which could not be easily overturned. The economic revolution (which was a series of many interrelated events which culminated with the transformation of modern society from the agrarian /agricultural system)(Ritzer pg 6), affected the intellectuals of the day and created one of the foundations upon which the analysis of class, poverty and the effect that it has on people could be studied. The effects of the industrial revolution had a philosophical effect on religion(to which a large portion of Weber work is dedicated), the creation of capitalism and off-shoot political systems which were better for all including socialism.

As sociological theory was being developed so was the emphasis on science in society at large and science was becoming more prestigious. This sparked writers such as Comte and Durkheim who preoccupied with the bug of the times wished to model the study of society after the scientific model which was applied to the study of the body and physical matter. Other events which had an impact on sociology include the enlightenment and the conservative reaction.

Auguste Comte was the first to use the term sociology. Greatly disturbed by the French revolution he sought to develop a scientific view society (positivism) in an attempt to combat what he considered the negative philosophy of the Enlightenment thinkers. He developed what he called social physics whish indicated that he wished to model sociology after the hard sciences. Sociology was to be concerned with existing social structures (social statics) and social change (social dynamics). Comte believed that society evolved through three main stages: the metaphysical, the theological and the positivist. In his theory the law of the three stages he proposed that not only does society go through these stage but the minds of individuals groups and science go through the same three stages.

The first stage is the theological stage where society was guided by the belief that supernatural powers and religious figures were the root of all things (everything was created by God). The second stage was the metaphysical stage which was characterized by the belief that abstract forces such as nature explained everything that happened in society. The third stage is the positivist stage where the belief system was based on scientific explanation. People concentrated on observation of the social and physical world in the search for the laws governing them. (Ritzer pg 14-15) Comtes ideas led to the creation of the positivist (scientific) sociology, a branch of sociology which seeks to explain social behaviour through the use of the systematic observation and empirical explanation.

The Relationship between Sociology and other Social Sciences The social sciences are the entirety of those disciplines concerned with the systematic study of social phenomena. Major institutions have been pre-empted by the more senior disciplines eg. The market by economics, the state by political science and language by linguistic analysis. In that case sociology has as its mandate the study of all other institutions such as organized crime and religion and of social processes. Sociology serves the cause of progress, social reform or other ethnical values by investigating the social nature of poverty or other phenomena that are taken to be social problems. Sociology is especially concerned with the problem of disorganization that is associated with urban existence.

1. Psychology: Sociology is greatly related to psychology. Both attempt to explain behaviour. Sociology attempts this study of groups and external sources of conduct while Psychology studies individuals and concentrates on internal sources of conduct.

2. Political Science: Political Science is often regarded as a sub-discipline of sociology. Political Science studies the distribution of power while sociology looks how the political system is part of the wider social systems.

3. Economics: the study of any behaviour in which there is a scarcity of means to achieve given ends. Like sociology albeit not to the same extent economics has remained divided by completing perspectives. Also it is recognized that the objective factors of supply and demand are determined by social forces.