Definition and History of Sociology

Definition

Simply put, sociology is the scientific study of society. Sociologists use the tools and methods of science to understand how and why humans behave the way they do when interacting in groups. Although social groups, or societies, are made up of individual people, sociology is the study of the group rather than the individual. When it comes to understanding how the individual human mind works, sociologists largely leave it up to psychologists.

Most people who call themselves “sociologists” work in universities and colleges, where they teach sociology and conduct sociological research. They ask a variety of questions about society, sometimes wanting answers just out of curiosity; however, their findings are often used to inform the decisions of policymakers, executives, and others. Many people who study sociology continue to conduct sociological research outside of academia, working for government agencies, think tanks, or private corporations. The accurate and systematic study of society is in one way or another useful to almost everyone.

Studying sociology, whether or not you call yourself a “sociologist,” means having a particular view of the world—a view that sociologist C. Wright Mills called “the sociological imagination.” You have to be willing to let go of your ideas about how the social world should work in order to see how it really works. That is not to say that sociologists do not have personal values ​​and opinions about the social world; They believe that to change the world, you must first understand it.

History

Sociology is considered one of the social sciences, along with economics, psychology, anthropology, geography, and political science (among others). The social sciences were born in the 18th and 19th centuries, when people began to apply the scientific method to human life and behavior. The world was changing dramatically and rapidly as industrial production replaced agriculture, democratic republics replaced monarchies, and city life replaced country life. Realizing how much insight science had provided regarding the natural world, people decided to try using the same method to understand the social world.

Among the social sciences, sociology has always been unique in its ambition to understand the social world as a whole, considering all its aspects in combination and not in isolation. It’s a daunting task, and sociologists still wrestle with it today.

The major early sociologists had clear ideas about how to study and understand society; these ideas still form the basis of much sociological research and discussion today. Karl Marx emphasized the importance of physical resources and the material world; he believed that conflict over resources is at the heart of social life. Emile Durkheim emphasized cooperation rather than conflict: he was interested in the shared norms and values ​​that make cooperative social life possible. Max Weber drew ideas from both Marx and Durkheim and argued that both conflict and cooperation, both material resources and cultural values, are essential to social life.

Over the past century, sociologists have continued to debate the ideas of early sociologists and apply them to specific societies around the world. Thanks in large part to the influence of the “Chicago School” of early 20th century sociologists, today’s sociologists pay close attention to small group and person-to-person interaction, as well as the broad breadth of social history. . Today, sociologists appreciate that the big questions and the small questions about society are interrelated, and that you cannot understand the macro (the big) without also understanding the micro (the small).