Nature & Scope of Sociology
I. What is Sociology?
Sociology
is the youngest of all the Social Sciences. The word Sociology is derived from
the Latin word ‘societies’ meaning ‘society’ and the Greek word ‘logos’ are
meaning ‘study or science’. The etymological meaning of ‘sociology’ is thus the
‘science of society’.
Prof.
Ginsberg accordingly defines it “as the study of society, which is of the web
or tissue of human inter-actions and inter-relations.” In other words,
Sociology is the study of man’s behaviour in groups or of the inter-action
among human beings, of social relationships and the processes by which human
group activity takes place.
Definition of Sociology:
1. ‘Sociology is the science of
society or of social phenomena -L.F. Ward
2. The subject-matter of sociology is
the inter-action of human minds’. -L.T. Hobhouse
3 ‘Sociology is the study of human
inter-action and interrelation their conditions and consequences’. -M.
Ginsberg
4. Sociology is the science that deals
with social groups; their internal forms or modes of organisation, the
processes that tend to maintain or change these forms of organisation and
relations between groups’. -H.M. Johnson
Nature of Sociology
Before discussing the nature of
Sociology, it is better to know about the nature of a subject. The nature of a
subject refers to its internal characteristics which help one to understand
what kind of science it is.
Every branch of knowledge has its own
nature. Thus, Sociology as a branch of knowledge had its own nature or characteristic
which distinguishes it from other social sciences and helps to understand what
kind of science it is.
The nature of Sociology is as follows:
(1) Sociology is an independent
science:
Sociology is
not treated and studied as a branch of any other science like philosophy,
history. Now it has emerged into an independent science. As an independent
science it has its own field of study.
(2) Sociology is a social
science and not a physical science:
All the sciences are divided into two
categories: natural sciences and social sciences. Natural sciences study
physical phenomena where as social sciences study social phenomena. Social
sciences include Economics, Political Science, and Anthropology etc. Sociology
belongs to the family of social sciences. As a social science it concentrates
its attention on man, his social behaviour, activities and social life. In
other words, it studies man as a social being.
(3) Sociology is a pure science and
not an applied science:
The aim of applied science is to apply
the acquired knowledge into life and to put it to use. But the aim of pure
sciences is the acquisition of knowledge and it is not bothered whether the
acquired knowledge is useful or can be put to use. Sociology is a pure science,
because it aims at the acquisition of knowledge about human society, hot the
utilisation of the knowledge.
(4) Sociology is an abstract
science and not a concrete science:
This doesn't mean that Sociology, is
an art and not a science. It only refers that Sociology is not interested in
concrete manifestations of human events. It is more concerned with the form of
human events and their patterns. Similarly, Sociology does not confine itself
to the study of this society or that particular society. It simply means that
Sociology is an abstract science, not a concrete science.
(5) Sociology is a categorical and
not a normative discipline:
Sociology "confines itself about
what is, not what should be or ought to be." As a science it is silent
about questions of value. It does not make any kind of value judgment. It only
means Sociology as a discipline cannot deal with problems of good and evil,
right and wrong.
(6) Sociology is a generalising
and not a particularising science:
Sociology does not study each and
every event that takes place in society. It makes generalization on the basis
of some selected events. For example, not by studying or examining all the
secondary groups but by observing a few secondary groups, a sociologist makes
generalization of secondary groups.
(7) Sociology is a general science
and not a special socialscience:
The area of
inquiry of Sociology is general and not specialised. Social sciences like
Political Science, History, Economics, etc. study human interaction but not all
about human interactions. But Sociology does not investigate special kind of
phenomena in relation to human life, and activities but it only studies human
activities in a general way.
(8) Sociology is both a
rational and empirical science:
Empiricism is the approach that
emphasizes experiences and the facts that result from observation and
experimentation. On the other hand, rationalism stresses reason and theories
that result from logical inference. The empiricist collects facts, the
rationalist co-ordinates and arranges them. In sociological theory both are
significant. Thus, Sociology is both a rational and empirical science.
Scope of Sociology
Scope means the subject matter or the
areas of study. Every science has its own field of inquiry. It becomes
difficult to study a science systematically unless its boundary or scope is
determined precisely. Sociology as a social science has its own scope or
boundaries. But there is no one opinion about the scope of Sociology. However,
there are two main schools of thought regarding the scope of Sociology: (1) The
Specialist or Formalistic school and (2) the Synthetic school. There is a good
deal of controversy about the scope of Sociology between the two schools. The
supporter of first school believe that Sociology is a specific science and the
scope should be limited whereas others believe that it is a general science and
its scope is very vast
(1) Specialistic school:
The supporters
of this school of thought are George Simmel, Vierkandt, Max Weber, Vonwise, and
F. Tonnies. The main views of the school regarding
the scope of Sociology are -
(i) Sociology is a specific, pure and
independent social science.
(ii) Sociology studies the various
forms of social relationships.
(iii) Scope of Sociology is very
narrow and limited.
(iv) Sociology deals with specific
form of human relationship.
(v) Sociology need not study all the
events connected with social science.
(vi) Simmel believes that it is a
specific social science and it should deal with social relationships from
different angles.
Criticism:
(i) Sociologist alone does not study
the forms of social relationships. Other social scientists also do that.
(ii) The distinction between the forms
of social relations and their contents is not practicable.
(iii) Thirdly, the formalistic school
has narrowed down the scope of Sociology.
(iv) Finally, the conception of pure
Sociology is imaginary.
(2) Synthetic school:
The supporters of synthetic school are
the sociologists like Ginsberg, Durkheim, Comte, Sorokin, Spencer, F. Ward, and
L.T. Hobhouse.
According to this school-
(i) Sociology is a general and
systematic social science.
(ii) Scope of Sociology is very vast.
(iii) Sociology needs help from other
social sciences.
(iv) It is a synthesis of social
science.
(v) Sociology is closely related with
other social sciences.
Conclusion:
From the above discussion, we come to
know that formalistic school believes in the study of the parts, which makes up
the society and synthetic school advocates the study of the whole society.
However, both the schools complement to each other. They are not opposed to
each other. Thus, Sociology is a general science of society and specialised
discipline. Sociology is a growing science. Therefore, it is neither possible
nor desirable to restrict its scope.
