Sociology- The Discipline

Answer : The word "ideology" was first used by the French cavalry leader and philosopher Destutt de Tracy (1755-1836) by which he intended a science of ideas, their truth or errors. In Marxism, "ideology" is the term given to any form of thought which has been included by the vested interest of ruling class or aspiring intention of subordinate classes. Karl Mannheim, in his ‘Ideology and Utopia’ has pointed out that ideology is all thought distorted by the desire to conserve the present social order. It is the manifestation of vested interest or the programme of action. The ideology of the contemporary social thinkers; August Comte, Herbert Spencer, Emile Durkheim, Karl Marx, Max Weber etc. played very significant roles in the emergence of Sociology as the modern scientific discipline.

August Comte, the founding father of Sociology stressed the adoption of scientific method of analysing society so that we might improve society through understanding of it. His famous phrase "To know, to predict, to control" is ideological and scientific in nature. This early emphasises on the scientific analysis of social life was to have considerable implication for the subsequent development of the discipline. Emile Durkheim in France, Karl Marx and Max Weber in Germany enriched sociological thinking with their scientific and rational-logical ideology. Herbert Spencer's "Organic analogy" made Sociology more scientific. The scientific and ideological views of all these thinkers were the consequences of philosophy of Enlightenment, the French Revolution (1789) and the Industrial Revolution of the mid-eighteenth century Europe.

Answer : Role of value in sociology enquiry: The role of value in sociological enquiry is debatable. As sociologists observe social reality of their own society, implicitly or explicitly the social research is value laden.

Beginning from August Comte a positivist advocated for value free sociology and studied social structure. Likewise Durkheim and Karl Marx studied social structure without giving importance to value.

Max Weber in his work, ‘The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism’ gave importance to social action determined by value system which in turn leads to social consequence and social structure.

Talcott Parson in his ‘Social System and Pattern Variable’ gave importance to value system which are responsible for socialization consequently leading to different social roles and social institutions. However, as David J. Gray in his paper ‘Value Free Sociology:

A Doctrine of Hypocrisy and Irresponsibility argues Durkheim’s classic work, ‘Suicide’ did not shy away from the value question. Durkheim discussed at some length the means by which the evil (suicide) could be overcome.

Gray also says value orientation in Comte’s advocacy of a sociocracy, Tonnies bias for Gemeinschaft as opposed to Gesellschaft, Cooley’s fascination for primary groups, Veblen’s condemnation of conspicuous leisure, all testify to value commitments on their part. As sociology is neither philosophy nor biology, but is partly science.

Answer : Society was studied earlier by religious and political philosophers. But, sociology emerged as a distinct science in 19th century Europe.

Europe was then passing through a period of immense changes which had set in with the French and the Industrial Revolutions. Indeed, sociology can be considered above all a science of the new industrial society.

Certain developments in Europe paved the way for the emergence of this discipline. The historicity of the process of modernization of Europe began with the Commercial Revolution and the Scientific Revolution at a time when the beams of the ‘Renaissance’ revived the life of people in the field of art, literature, music, sculpture, science and so on.

Commercial Revolution: It refers to the expansion of trade and commerce that took place from the 15^th century onwards. It was of such a large scale and organized manner that it is called a ‘Revolution’. This expansion was the result of the initiative taken by some European countries like Portugal, Spain, Holland and England.

The Commercial Revolution led to overseas discoveries and conquests, for example, Christopher Columbus of Italy sailed to India but landed on the shores of North America. Such discoveries of new societies led to emergence of cross-cultural study of societies which in turn led to the science of sociology.

The Commercial Revolution resulted in money and market economy and diluted the subsistence economy like Jajamani system of Indian society. This altered the agrarian structure of societies and gave impetus to the rise of sociology as a distinct discipline.

The market economy in turn led to rise of middle class consisting of educated people and merchants who played a decisive role in the French and the Industrial Revolutions. The rise of middle class led to study of stratification of society as an important aspect of sociology.

The Commercial Revolution resulted in the Europeanisation of the World. Europeanisation means transplanting European manners and culture in other societies. This led to study of different cultures and religions of different societies giving rise to sociology as a discipline.

Scientific Revolution: The highly educated intellectuals like Martin Luther questioned the corrupt practices of the Church. They propagated scientific education in place of the logical education.

They imbibed the spirit of science in European society which changed the attitude, beliefs and ideas of the people. They began to question the extravagant religious rituals developed by clergies and they also propagated new schooling system based on rational and scientific ideas.

These resulted in new discoveries and inventions and viewed human organism in terms of interrelated parts and interconnected systems- this had its impact on the social thoughts of Comte, Spencer, Durkheim and other sociologists.

Enlightenment: The philosophy of Enlightenment, which was a driving factor in the French Revolution, played a great role in the emergence of sociology. Before it, thinking about the whole of society and the action of ordinary people was not important; instead thinkers were interested mainly in the powerful kings, lords, popes and bishops.

But the Intellectual Movement or the Enlightenment that swept through Europe in the eighteenth century provoked thinkers to see society as something more than the upper class and powerful, and in a sense it discovered the society.

Describing the thoughts and actions of ordinary people became significant for understanding the general conditions of society.

This transition away from equating society with the state or the political order was significant in developing the kind of interest in society that led to the creation of sociology in the nineteenth century.

French Revolution: The French Revolution of 1789 was a turning point in the history of human struggle for freedom and equality. This revolution brought about far reaching changes in not only French society but societies throughout Europe.

Even countries like India were influenced by the ideas generated during this revolution like liberty, fraternity and equality.

Prior to this Revolution, there were three estates in French society with different status, privileges and restrictions. This Revolution dismantled this estate system and brought uniformity in social structure.

This Revolution also promoted the ideas of democracy, separation of powers, religious toleration and freedom of speech. The French Revolution altered social system prevailed under feudalism and religious clergies. This new political society led to the emergence of sociology as a separate subject of study.

Industrial Revolution: The Industrial Revolution led to massive production of goods and services. This replaced family as an institution of education with separate modern educational institution.

The Industrial Revolution resulted in Factory-system which in turn led to emergence of working class, who didn’t know each other personally, and finally of Bureaucracy.

The Industrial Revolution led to rural migration as well as urbanization and diluted the joint family system. The emergence of nuclear family, working class and new forms of marriages gave impetus to the emergence of sociology.

Even today, the modernization of Europe is influencing the study of societies in the forms of gay marriage, feminist’s movements, and environmental movement and so on. Therefore, the relationship between the modernisation of Europe and the emergence of sociology is symbiotic.

Answer : sociology is a discipline which studies social relationship or it is the network of social relationship which according to MacIver is called society. The entire social relationship, to a great extent developed by mankind during his struggle for achieving their livelihood and political upliftment. Thus, like a triangle, sociology is the base and economics and political science are two other dimensions of the man's life which are mutually correlated and have no independent existence. A. Lowie in his book "Economics and Sociology" has examined the list of pure economics and discovered two sociological principle which underline a classical law of the market: "the economic man" and competition or mobility of the factor of production. Morris Ginsberg remarked, "Historically, sociology has its main roots in politics and philosophy of history. Political science is considered as a branch of social science dealing with the principle of organisation and government of human society". The intermixing subject matter of sociology and political science are studied under the branch of sociology called "Political Sociology".

Sociology also differs with economics and political science in terms of approaches, methodology, scope and goals. The subject matter of these three discipline widely differs. According to Gilchrist "Sociology studies man as a social being and political organisation is a special kind of social organisation. The same is true in case of economics. The political science starts with the assumption that man is a political being while, sociology tries to explain how and why man became a political being. Like the concept of social and political man, the concept of "economic man" has also been propounded.

According to Marx the superstructure of the society is shaped by infrastructure, that is economics. During the economic production process relationship develops which are both social and political in nature. On the other hand, Talcott Parsons has argued that the economic behaviour can never be understood adequately if it is divorced from social milieu. Thus, sociology, economics and political science are three distinguished as well as correlated science.

Answer : The classification of primary group and secondary group was given by Charles Horton Cooley. A primary group is usually small, though all small groups are not primary groups. The members of primary groups have face to face contact, intimate and cooperative relationships, and strong loyalty towards each other. The members of primary group don’t have any ends or goals in view as the relationship between the members is end in itself. Members of this groups derive pleasure and enjoyment merely by associating with one another. Examples of primary group are mainly family, peer groups etc. Family was regarded by Cooley as main primary group.

The term reference group was used into the literature on small groups by Muzaffer Sheriff in book, ‘An outline of social psychology’ 1948 and by Herbert Hyman in ‘Archives of Psychology’ (1942). Reference group effects the behaviour of an individual as he aspires to be its member or keeps it as a model. It is the group against which an individual evaluates his or her own situation or conduct. Hyman and Sheriff both have distinguished between a membership group to which people actually belong, and a reference group; which is used as a basis for comparison. A reference may or not be a membership group. Reference group can be both positive and negative. Merton has also made contribution in developing the concept of reference group. According to Merton, “reference groups are those groups which are referring points of the individual towards which he is oriented and which influences his opinion, tendency and behaviour.” Robert Merton and Alice Kitt both have provided a systematic functionalist formulation of the concept of reference group. Merton has also distinguished between reference groups and interaction groups. The interactionist perspective of reference group is highlighted by George Herbert Mead’s idea of generalized others.

Answer : During the eighteenth century, the European economy shifted from a strictly agricultural one to an economy based more on production, manufacture, trading and money. Scholars sometimes call this shift, "The industrial Revolution". Merchants were gaining great amount of wealth, and the landed aristocracy was losing its importance, its wealth and its powers. Cities increasingly became the centre of power and new ideas, and the traditional institutions tied to the old agricultural society were increasingly suspect. The French Revolution was primarily an attempt by the new merchant class to overthrow what was left of the old agricultural society. It was the triumph of new economic order, and it ushered in an age of rapid industrial growth that transformed every aspect of European life.

The development of Sociology was a reaction to the industrial Revolution, as well as to the French Revolution. The early sociologists saw European society being transformed: tradition was being replaced by the demands for efficiency and large scale planning, religion and family were being changed by more modern values, and the cities were becoming the centres of society. The concern for order and stability in society that the French Revolution caused in some early conservative sociologists was reinforced by the Industrial Revolution. And the Industrial Revolution, because it telescoped the problems of inequality by locating large number of poor people in the urban centres, also encouraged the development of more radical tradition in Sociology.

Answer : A science is a body of organised and verified knowledge secured through scientific observation. The scientific method consists of observation, laboratory experimentation, objectivity and value neutrality and the variable conclusion. The subject matter of Sociology is such that the scientific method is both applicable in some areas whereas it is inapplicable in other fields of the discipline. Thus it will be exaggeration to say Sociology as a totally scientific subject. Some of the areas of Sociology where application of scientific methods such sociometry, schedule, questionnaire, interviews and case History may be applied are demography, tribal study etc. Secondly the observation and comparison method of Sociology are scientific in nature. Thirdly, in the study of social disorganisation, Sociology apply cause-effect relationship and how as well as why of social processes. Like science, sociology collects arranged and organised facts. It is interpretive and gives causal explanation of social phenomena. On the other hand laboratory experimentation, objectivity, value-neutrality and other features of science cannot be applied to get verified knowledge of social relationship and values. In sociology, in spite of availability of facts and finding, one cannot make exact prediction or reach an ultimate conclusion of the future happening of the political, economic, educational, religious etc. processes of the society. Robert Bierstedt has pointed out Sociology is social not natural , positive not normative, theoretical not applied, generalising not particularising, rational not empirical science of the society.

Answer : Max Weber (1864-1920) was the founder of "interpretive sociology" the basic premise of which is that the facts and data are fully amenable to sensory observation. According to him Sociology makes critical interpretation on social action. All the social behaviour is viewed as observable from without. Even, the internal meaning and motives underlying the behaviours of a person are supposed to be shaped by forces outside him, namely the society. According to Weber social reality is characterised by "geist" and "consciousness" Due to the presence of consciousness, people ascribe meaning to the situation around them which include other people too. The meaning influences the subsequent behaviour. Consequently any attempt to understand social reality must be taken into account for these meaning and motives. The meaning aspired by the people are partly determined by the cultural norms and partly shaped by the individual actors. Thus, an attempt to understand social behaviour should not stop simply as observation from without, instead it should involve interpretation of underlying meaning and motives. This requires the use of new methods through which the empathetic liaison can be established between the observer and the actor. Empathetic liaison means that the observer tries to place himself imaginatively in actor's position. Having established empathetic liaison, the sociologists should try to figure out meaning and motives given by the actor. In terms of these meaning and motives, he then tries to rationally explain the actor's behaviours. The various processes in Sociology such as socialisation, competition, conflict etc. and institutions such as political, religious, economic etc. are studied in this way. Thus, there is no exaggeration in saying Sociology as an interpretive discipline.