HSS UFC Lesson 1

UNIVERSITY OF CONTINUOUS TRAINING
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
HUMAN AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
DR. IRBIR LATIFA
LESSON ONE
Sociology
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
• Define the term sociology;
• Understand how sociology emerged and developed;
INTRODUCTION:
Sociology is a discipline that belongs to what conventionally is called the social
science. The discipline plays a leading role in the social sciences. The term sociology
literally means the science of society; for the term itself in its direct sense denotes that.
Sociology as an academic discipline arose in the first half of 19 th century (in 1837, to
mention the exact year) as a special science dedicated to unravel the fundamental laws
governing the societal phenomena and human social relationship with primary interest
in analyzing the problems and societies of the modern world.
The origin of the discipline.
DEFINITION OF SOCIOLOGY
Before attempting to define what sociology is, les us look at what the popular
conceptions of the discipline seem. As may be the case with other sciences, sociology
is often misconceived among the populace. Though many may rightly and grossly
surmise that sociology is about people, some think that it is all about “helping the
unfortunate and doing welfare work, while others think that sociology is the same as
socialism and is a means of bringing revolution to our schools and colleges” (Nobbs,
Hine and Flemming, 1978:1).
The first social scientist to use the term sociology was a Frenchman by the
name of Auguste Comte who lived from 1798-1857. As coined by Comte, the term
sociology is a combination of two words. The first part of the term is a Latin, socius-
that may variously mean society, association, togetherness or companionship. The
other word, logos, is of Greek origin. It literally means to speak about or word.
However, the term is generally understood as study or science (Indrani, 1998). Thus,
the etymological, literal definition of sociology is that it is the word or speaking about
society. A simple definition here is that it is the study of society and culture.
Before going any further, let us note that the concepts “society” and “culture” are
central in sociology. While each concept shall be dealt with later in some detail, it
appears to be appropriate here to differentiate between these two important concepts.
Society generally refers to the social world with all its structures, institutions,
organizations, etc. around us, and specifically to a group of people who live within
some type of bounded territory and who share a common way of life. This common
way of life shared by a group of people is termed as culture (Stockard, 1997).
SCHOLARLY DEFINITIONS:
Now, turning to the definitional issues, it is important that in addition to this
etymological definition of the term, we need to have other substantive definitions.
Thus, sociology may be generally defined as a social science that studies such kinds of
phenomena as:
 The structure and function of society as a system.
 The nature, complexity and contents of human social behaviour.
 The fundamentals of human social life.
 Interaction of human beings with their external environment.
 The indispensability of social interactions for human development.
 How the social world affects us, etc.
A more formal definition of sociology may be that it is a social science which
studies the processes and patterns of human individual and group interaction, the
forms of organization of social groups, the relationship among them, and group
influences on individual behaviour, and vice versa, and the interaction between one
social group and the other (Team of Experts, 2000).
Sociology is the scientific study of society, which is interested in the study of
social relationship between people in group context. Sociology is interested in how we
as human beings interact with each other (the pattern of social interaction); the laws
and principles that govern social relationship and interactions; the/influence of the
social world on the individuals, and vice versa (Ibid.). It deals with a factually
observable subject matter, depends upon empirical research, and involves attempts to
formulate theories and generalizations that will make sense of facts (Giddens, 1982).
Regarding the detective and expository nature the science, Soroka (1992:34)
states that “Sociology is a debunking science; that is, it looks for levels of reality other
than those presented in official interpretations of society and people’s common sense
explanations of the social world. Sociologists are interested in understanding what is
and do not make value judgments.”
BRIEF HISTORICAL OVERVIEW:
Sociology and other social sciences emerged from a common tradition of
reflection of social phenomena; interest in the nature of human social behaviour and
society has probably always existed; however, most people in most past societies saw
their culture as a fixed and God-given entity. This view gradually was replaced by
more rational explanations beginning from the 17th century especially in Western
Europe (Rosenberg, 1987). The sociological issues, questions and problems had been
raised and discussed by the forerunners starting from the ancient Greek and Roman
philosophers' and Hebrew prophets' times.
Sociology as an academic science was thus born in 19th century (its formal
establishment year being 1837) in Great Britain and Western Europe, especially in
France and Germany, and it greatly advanced throughout 19th and 20th centuries.
The major conditions, societal changes, upheavals and social ferments that gave
rise to the emergence and development of sociology as an academic science include
the Industrial Revolution which began in Great Britain, the French Political Revolution
of 1789, the Enlightenment and advances in natural sciences technology. These
revolutions had brought about significant societal changes and disorders in the way
society lived in the aforementioned countries. Since sociology was born amidst the
great socio-political and economic and technological changes of the western world, it
is said to be the science of modern society.
The pioneering sociologists were very much concerned about the great changes
that were taking place and they felt that the exciting sciences could not help
understand, explain, analyse and interpret the fundamental laws that govern the social
phenomena. Thus, sociology was born out of these revolutionary contexts.
CONCLUSION: Sociology is the study of social life, social change, and the social
causes and consequences of human behaviour. Sociologists investigate the structure of
groups, organizations, and societies, and how people interact within these contexts.

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