Sociology as a social science discipline

Sociology is one of the core disciplines of the social sciences, along with political
science, economics and anthropology. So one might imagine that it is a coherent,
unified, and comprehensive science with a well-defined subject matter and a clear
set of methods. But as most practitioners will agree, this is not the case. And that is
a good thing, because the social world is not a unified system that can be reduced
to a small number of theoretical premises.
Since its founding (or emergence?) in the nineteenth century, sociology has taken
on a somewhat meandering set of topics for study: classification of whole societies,
analysis of large social factors (race, crime, urbanization), study of the behavior of
groups, provision of tools for social policy design, and study of particular
institutions, social movements, globalization, and the organization of businesses. In
2007 the American Sociological Association includes 44 sections devoted to
particular topics and methods. The methods of inquiry and the models of
explanation are equally varied, including quantitative analysis of large data sets,
small-N comparisons, micro-sociological investigation, process-tracing, Marxism,
functionalism, structuralism, and feminism.
What does this diversity of topic, method, and theory imply about the discipline of
sociology today? Is it a unified discipline, or a patch-work mlange of many topics
and approaches, unified only by the fact that the subjects of investigation have to
do with social processes and social behavior? One possible interpretation is that the
vast range of potential research subjects for sociology is covered by this patchwork
structure. Another possibility is that the current range of sub-disciplines is itself the
product of many "random walks" down particular research approaches, with heavy
coverage of some areas of potential research, sporadic coverage of some problems
and no attention at all to other problems. The latter possibility suggests in turn that
there is ample room for future development of sociological research, in the
formulation of new empirical problems and new theoretical approaches. The
discipline of sociology can continue to evolve and grow -- possibly in ways that lead
to significant innovation in approach and explanatory strategy.
An earlier posting on "Racial Inequalities" illustrates this point well. There is no
single methodology or theory that is uniquely suited to attempting to understand
the racial outcomes that we observe in American society. Instead, we need to
combine the insights of many fields and approaches, in order to have a basis for
explaining the patterns of segregation and inequality that we observe.
The diversity and multi-dimensional aspects of contemporary sociology is in fact a
scientific advantage, in my view. This aspect of the discipline permits researchers to
seek innovative approaches and innovative explanations of the social phenomena
that they consider. In fact, it is the occasional impulse towards trying to make the

discipline "more scientific" by enforcing a paradigm of research and theory on junior

researchers that is most debilitating to the progress of knowledge -- whether it is
the rational choice paradigm in political science, Marxism in Chinese social science,
or the quantitative methods paradigm in sociology. Methodological and theoretical
pluralism is an intellectual advantage. Sociological researchers who are receptive to
analyzing the multiple aspects of a social problem from several different points of
view are more likely to arrive at truly illuminating analysis. Not all these approaches
will be equally fruitful; but a mixed "portfolio" of research strategies and theoretical
models is more likely to be adequate to the messy reality of a changing social world.

As a social science, sociology involves the application of scientific methods to the

study of the human aspects of the world. The social science disciplines also include
psychology, political science, and economics, among other fields. As a
generalization, psychology is the study of the human mind and micro-level (or
individual) behavior; sociology examines human society; psychology focuses on
mental and thought processes (internal), whereas sociology focuses on human
behavior (external). Political science studies the governing of groups and countries;
and economics concerns itself with the production and allocation of wealth in
society. The use of scientific methods differentiates the social sciences from the
humanities.

Source: Boundless. Sociology and the Social Sciences. Boundless Sociology.

Boundless, 10 Jun. 2015. Retrieved 18 Jun. 2015 from
https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociologytextbook/sociology-1/the-sociological-perspective-22/sociology-and-the-socialsciences-144-5240/