BACKGROUND OF SOCIOLOGY

ORIGIN / HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF SOCIOLOGY

Systematic study of Sociology started with Greeks, they considered men as a social

animal and the need of society. The modern sociology was coined by August Comte. He is

considered as the founder of modern sociology. He called it “Social Physics”.

MEANING OF SOCIOLOGY: The term has been derived from two words. The Latin “Socious” mean

companionship and the Greek “logos” mean study. So, the term literally means the study of

human companionship or association or society.

Conclusion: On the basis of above definitions, we can conclude that sociology is the

science of society, human behavior, human interaction and relationships.

The Founders of Sociology

Each field of academic study has its own cast of characters, and sociology is no

exception. Although countless individuals have contributed to sociology's development into

a social science, several individuals deserve special mention.

Auguste Comte

The French philosopher Auguste Comte (1798–1857)—often called the “father of

sociology”—first used the term “sociology” in 1838 to refer to the scientific study of

society. He believed that all societies develop and progress through the following stages:

religious, metaphysical, and scientific. Comte argued that society needs scientific

knowledge based on facts and evidence to solve its problems—not speculation and

superstition, which characterize the religious and metaphysical stages of social

development. Comte viewed the science of sociology as consisting of two branches:

dynamics, or the study of the processes by which societies change; and statics, or the

study of the processes by which societies endure. He also envisioned sociologists as

eventually developing a base of scientific social knowledge that would guide society into

positive directions.

Herbert Spencer

The 19th‐century Englishman Herbert Spencer (1820–1903) compared society to a living

organism with interdependent parts. Change in one part of society causes change in the

other parts, so that every part contributes to the stability and survival of society as a

whole. If one part of society malfunctions, the other parts must adjust to the crisis and

contribute even more to preserve society. Family, education, government, industry, and

religion comprise just a few of the parts of the “organism” of society.

 Spencer suggested that society will correct its own defects through the natural

process of “survival of the fittest.” The societal “organism” naturally leans toward

homeostasis, or balance and stability. Social problems work themselves out when the

government leaves society alone. The “fittest”—the rich, powerful, and successful—enjoy

their status because nature has “selected” them to do so. In contrast, nature has doomed

the “unfit”—the poor, weak, and unsuccessful—to failure. They must fend for themselves

without social assistance if society is to remain healthy and even progress to higher

levels. Governmental interference in the “natural” order of society weakens society by

wasting the efforts of its leadership in trying to defy the laws of nature.

Karl Marx

Not everyone has shared Spencer's vision of societal harmony and stability. Chief

among those who disagreed was the German political philosopher and economist Karl Marx

(1818–1883), who observed society's exploitation of the poor by the rich and powerful.

Marx argued that Spencer's healthy societal “organism” was a falsehood. Rather than

interdependence and stability, Marx claimed that social conflict, especially class

conflict, and competition mark all societies.

The class of capitalists that Marx called the bourgeoisie particularly enraged him.

Members of the bourgeoisie own the means of production and exploit the class of laborers,

called the proletariat, who do not own the means of production. Marx believed that the

very natures of the bourgeoisie and the proletariat inescapably lock the two classes in

conflict. But he then took his ideas of class conflict one step further: He predicted that

the laborers are not selectively “unfit,” but are destined to overthrow the capitalists.

Such a class revolution would establish a “class‐free” society in which all people work

according to their abilities and receive according to their needs.

Unlike Spencer, Marx believed that economics, not natural selection, determines the

differences between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. He further claimed that a

society's economic system decides peoples' norms, values, mores, and religious beliefs, as

well as the nature of the society's political, governmental, and educational systems. Also

unlike Spencer, Marx urged people to take an active role in changing society rather than

simply trusting it to evolve positively on its own.

Emile Durkheim

Despite their differences, Marx, Spencer, and Comte all acknowledged the importance

of using science to study society, although none actually used scientific methods. Not

until Emile Durkheim (1858–1917) did a person systematically apply scientific methods to

sociology as a discipline. A French philosopher and sociologist, Durkheim stressed the

importance of studying social facts, or patterns of behavior characteristic of a

particular group. The phenomenon of suicide especially interested Durkheim. But he did not

limit his ideas on the topic to mere speculation. Durkheim formulated his conclusions

about the causes of suicide based on the analysis of large amounts of statistical data

collected from various European countries.

Durkheim certainly advocated the use of systematic observation to study sociological

events, but he also recommended that sociologists avoid considering people's attitudes

when explaining society. Sociologists should only consider as objective “evidence” what

they themselves can directly observe. In other words, they must not concern themselves

with people's subjective experiences.

Max Weber

The German sociologist Max Weber (1864–1920) disagreed with the “objective evidence

only” position of Durkheim. He argued that sociologists must also consider people's

interpretations of events—not just the events themselves. Weber believed that individuals'

behaviors cannot exist apart from their interpretations of the meaning of their own

behaviors, and that people tend to act according to these interpretations. Because of the

ties between objective behavior and subjective interpretation, Weber believed that

sociologists must inquire into people's thoughts, feelings, and perceptions regarding

their own behaviors. Weber recommended that sociologists adopt his method of Verstehen

(vûrst e hen), or empathetic understanding. Verstehen allows sociologists to mentally put

themselves into “the other person's shoes” and thus obtain an “interpretive understanding”

of the meanings of individuals' behaviors.

MEANING OF SOCIETY

What is society according to Emile Durkheim?

Society is a social product created by the actions of individuals that then exerts a

coercive social force back on those individuals. Through their collective consciousness,

Durkheim argued, human beings become aware of one another as social beings, not just

animals.

Society is a concept used to describe the structured relations and institutions

among a large community of people which cannot be reduced to a simple collection or

aggregation of individuals.’

The following points highlight the three important types of societies. The types are: 1.

Tribal Society 2. Agrarian Society 3. Industrial Society 4. Post-Industrial Society.

Type # 1. Tribal Society:

The leaders of Indian tribes met at a conference in Shillong in 1962 and defined a tribe

as “an indigenous homogeneous unit speaking a common language, claiming a common descent,

living in a particular geographical area, backward in technology, pre-literate, loyally

observing social and political customs based on kinship”. This definition brings out

broadly the features of a tribe.

The economic and social structure of a tribal society may be briefly described thus:

Hunting and food-gathering constitute the main occupation of a typical tribal community.

There exists a simple division of labour based on age and sex. Private ownership of

property is virtually non-existent, so also is exchange and credit. The patterns of

economic activity are, thus, simple and undifferentiated which bear no comparison to the

complex economic structure of the present-day industrial society.

The social structure is highly integrated and unified; class division of an industrial

society is practically unknown. The interaction among the members of a tribal society

follows the pattern of interaction among the members of a primary group.

Secondary ties are non-existent. As such social control is exercised through folkways and

similar other informal ways. Religion of the tribal people is expressed in terms of

totemism, magic and fetishism.

Type # 2. Agrarian Society:

As the name suggests, the dominant occupation of the people in such a society is

agriculture. Naturally, the domestication of plants and animals constitutes an important

economic activity. There also exists, alongside agriculture, varied economic occupations,

such as those of artisans, weavers, potters, blacksmiths, etc.

A simple division of labour characterizes such a society. There is practically no scope

for complex division of labour which we find in an industrial society.

There are varying patterns of land ownership. There are, in the first place, absentee

landowners. They do not cultivate the land in their possession and let it out for

sharecropping. These share-croppers cultivate the land on a crop-sharing basis.

There are, secondly, supervisory farmers who own land but get their land cultivated by

hired labourers who do not generally own any land themselves. Thirdly, there are small

cultivator-owners who own and cultivate their small holdings.

The domestication of animals and the discovery of agriculture brought about a

revolutionary change in the patterns of living in man’s distant past. His food supply

became more abundant, more predictable. Men no longer had to live in small and wandering

groups, hunting, fishing, and gathering wild fruit in order to survive. Agriculture

enabled them to settle in larger and more stable communities.

There emerged, as a result, what is called village community. The social life of an

agrarian society is, therefore, village-oriented. Physical mobility being virtually non-

existent because of inadequate development of the means of transportation, primary group

relationships prevail in an agrarian society.

Social control is naturally exercised through informal means, such as folkways and mores.

Family is a very important institution in an agrarian society, catering to the myriad

needs of its members. The family serves practically as a miniature community.

The patterns of living being, more or less, unchanging and the production- relations also

being virtually stabilized, the social divisions into classes in such a society exhibit

the features of a closed social structure.

Agriculture is, to a large extent, affected by the elements of nature—flood and drought,

for instance— which are beyond the control of farmers. The people, therefore, become

fatalistic and superstitious and observe rituals and practices designed to influence the

elements of nature.

They turn to God either to persuade Him with their prayers or to compel Him to listen.

These two elements are inextricably mixed in religions of agrarian society.

Type # 3. Industrial Society:

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Pre-industrial society is dependent on raw labour power and the extraction of primary

resources from nature.

Industrial society, on the other hand, “is organised around the axis of production and

machinery for the fabrication of goods. In its rhythm of life and organisation of work,

industrial society is the defining feature of the social structure—i.e. the economy, the

occupational system, and the stratification system—of modern Western society”.

The industrial society, which emerged in the wake of industrial revolution, is

distinguished by a new economic order. The entire production is shifted away from the

family and the household to the factory. Family is no longer a production unit, as in an

agrarian setting. Moreover, machine technology, which is the basis of the new economic

order, is the cause as well as the effect of a complex division of labor.

Another significant change in the economic field is the separation of ownership and

control in industrial enterprises. At present, the large companies which dominate the

major branches of industry are managed and directed by individuals who do not own them.

The owners (i.e., those who purchased the equity shares are the thousands of small and

medium share-holders who are primarily concerned with the profitability of the enterprise.

An industrial society is marked by disappearance of the neighborhood and predominance of

secondary relationships.
Both in size and spatial distribution, population records an increase. Social mobility

becomes easier and possible because of improved means of transportation. Social control is

possible only through formal means, such as law and order machinery of the political

authority.

Numerous associations grow in order to take care of varied needs of the people—health

care, education, recreation, etc. As a result, the family is divested of many of its

functions and is no longer a miniature community catering to the myriad needs of its,

members.

Moreover, physical mobility facilitates social mobility. No one seems destined as in an

agrarian society, to be tied down to the class to which one is born. Merit norm, rather

than ascription, becomes the dominant value.

One can, therefore, improve one’s social status by fulfilling the merit norms prescribed

by society. In other words, open class structure replaces the closed class structure of an

agrarian society. In addition, women are no longer tied down to their domestic chores from

sunrise till sunset.

Mechanical devices of various kinds free them from domestic drudgery and they can afford

enough time to qualify and compete for jobs which were previously considered to be the

exclusive domain of men.

In an industrial society men and women compete on an equal footing in all spheres of life.

Further, a far- reaching change in outlook is discernible. Fatalism and superstition of

old days are replaced by a pragmatic and rational outlook. Attitude towards religion also

undergoes a radical change.

People are increasingly becoming aware of the fact that science may be able to explain

eventually most human behaviour but can never tell them how they should behave. Science

also does not tell them what goals they should try to achieve. Science is concerned with

facts, not with the meaning of life.

People in an industrial society are, however, deeply concerned with the meaning of life.

Industrial society disturbs people economically, socially and even emotionally.

Like the primitive people, they also need, in no small measure, a re-assurance in a world

of neck to-neck competition and the co-existence of success and failure, of frustration

and fulfillment. They, therefore, turn to religion as an emotional support in a disturbing

environment, as an end in itself.

Type # 4. Post-Industrial society:

Daniel Bell coined the phrase post-industrial society some years ago to describe the new

social structures evolving in modern industrially advanced societies, particularly in the

U.S.A. since the second half of the twentieth century.

The singular feature of the post- industrial society, according to Professor Bell, is an

important new principle, the codification of theoretical knowledge, which now shapes

innovation in science, technology and social policy.

Post-industrial society is actually a “new knowledge society which is emerging out of the

older corporate capitalism”. Professor Bell says that the concept of the post-industrial

society is a large generalization.

Why Language & Culture Studies?

On a practical level, language has to do with sounds, symbols and gestures that a

community puts in order and associates so that they can communicate. On a deeper level,

language is an expression of who we are as individuals, communities, nations. Culture

refers to dynamic social systems and shared patterns of behavior, beliefs, knowledge,

attitudes and values. Culture provides the environment in which languages develop, even as

it influences how they are used and interpreted. For example, in many European cultures a

“good day” is a sunny day, while in many African cultures a “good day” is a rainy day.

Different culturally shared values provide the context for interpreting the term for

“good”.

What is language and culture?

On a deeper level, language is an expression of who we are as individuals, communities,

nations. Culture refers to dynamic social systems and shared patterns of behavior,

beliefs, knowledge, attitudes and values. ... Languages and cultures merit study and

celebration in their own right.

What is Sociolinguistics?

Sociolinguistics is the study of the connection between language and society and the way

people use language in different social situations. It asks the question, "How does

language affect the social nature of human beings, and how does social interaction shape

language?" It ranges greatly in depth and detail, from the study of dialects across a

given region to the analysis of the way men and women speak to each other in certain

situations.

The basic premise of sociolinguistics is that language is variable and ever-changing. As a

result, language is not uniform or constant. Rather, it is varied and inconsistent for

both the individual user and within and among groups of speakers who use the same

language.

People adjust the way they talk to their social situation. An individual, for instance,

will speak differently to a child than he or she will to their college professor. This

socio-situational variation is sometimes called register and depends no only on the

occasion and relationship between the participants, but also on the participants’ region,

ethnicity, socioeconomic status, age, and gender.

One way that sociolinguists study language is through dated written records. They examine

both hand-written and printed documents to identify how language and society have

interacted in the past. This is often referred to as historical sociolinguistics: the

study of the relationship between changes in society and changes in language over time.

For example, historical sociolinguists have studied the use and frequency of the pronoun

thou in dated documents and found that its replacement with the word you is correlated

with changes in class structure in 16th and 17th century England.

Sociolinguists also commonly study dialect, which is the regional, social, or ethnic

variation of a language. For example, the primary language in the United States is

English. People who live in the South, however, often vary in the way they speak and the

words they use compared to people who live in the Northwest, even though it is all the

same language. There are different dialects of English, depending on what region of the

country you are in.

Language Is Important To Culture And Society

Language is a vital part of human connection. Although all species have their ways of

communicating, humans are the only ones that have mastered cognitive language

communication. Language allows us to share our ideas, thoughts, and feelings with others.

It has the power to build societies, but also tear them down. It may seem obvious, but if

you’re asking yourself, why is language important? You’ll have to break it down to truly

understand why.

Why Is Language Important? Language Matters

Language is what makes us human. It is how people communicate. By learning a language, it

means you have mastered a complex system of words, structure, and grammar to effectively

communicate with others.

To most people, language comes naturally. We learn how to communicate even before we can

talk and as we grow older, we find ways to manipulate language to truly convey what we

want to say with words and complex sentences. Of course, not all communication is through

language, but mastering a language certainly helps speed up the process. This is one of

the many reasons why language is important.

Language Is Important To Culture And Society

Language helps us express our feelings and thoughts — this is unique to our species

because it is a way to express unique ideas and customs within different cultures and

societies.

By learning a foreign language, you can understand ideas and thoughts that may be

different from your own culture. You can learn customs and how people interact in a given

society. Language helps preserve cultures, but it also allows us to learn about others and

spread ideas quickly.

Language Is Important To Business

The importance of language in business is unmatched. Without language here, we can’t share

ideas and grow them into something more. Whether this means learning a foreign language so

you can share ideas with people who come from a different country, or simply learning how

to use language to master an interview, demand presence in a room, or network with others,

language is vital.

Language Is Important For Individuals And Development

Humans all learn to talk at slightly different times, and observing when a child starts to

use language can be indicative of how well they are developing. But this does not just

apply to babies. It also applies to young children learning a second language in school

that’s different than the language they speak at home, adults learning a second language,

or even those who may have lost language due to some type of accident, and are working on

regaining it.

Language Is Important For Personal Communication

Though much of human communication is non-verbal (we can demonstrate our thoughts,

feelings and ideas by our gestures, expressions, tones, and emotions) language is

important for personal communication. Whether it’s being able to talk to your friends,

your partner, or your family, having a shared language is necessary for these types of

interactions.

How does language reflect society?

Language reflects a society's culture and its perception of the world; as it relays

information, it demonstrates how a certain society takes in, processes, evaluates, and

conveys that information.

Language is the most important tool humanity possesses. Through it, we are able to convey

ideas and relay information, allowing us to share our thoughts while building upon and

refining past ideas. Without language, without this tool to relay and record concepts, we

would be unable to construct the plethora of elements which compose our civilization. It

is therefore no surprise that language has been developed by the various societies and

civilizations across the world. While the study of language itself is a deeply fascinating

endeavor, equal consideration should be given to the study of language as it pertains to

individual societies and the process of development and evolution that language

undertakes. Language reflects a society’s culture and its perception of the world; as it

relays information, it demonstrates how a certain society takes in, processes, evaluates,

and conveys that information. The development of a specific language over time shows how

the society or societies using it develop over time as well, as changes in cultural

perspective, social composition, and political circumstances deeply impact the

characteristics of a language.

As mentioned, language is a conveyer of ideas and concepts. The character of the language

a certain society uses, then, reflects the way they chose to convey those ideas and

concepts. One way in which this is evident is the words of which the language is composed.

As it is commonly noted, for example, Eskimo languages have a plethora of words for snow

and associated snow-related concepts. Because snow is such an important part of the Eskimo

way of life and a common element in their environment, they devised a language which

incorporated heavily the concept of snow. Other languages, such as the one this post is

being written in, does not share that diversity in words about snow. As such, I will be

unable to convey an equal amount of information about snow through this language, or at

least not be able to do so with the ease the Eskimo language allows.

Again, this demonstrates the relative importance of a certain idea in one society

against its importance in another society, as reflected by the language those societies

use.

Another way in which the character of a language reflects on the society using it is

through the syntax of that language. Words are not the only way of conveying ideas and

concepts; the way those concepts and ideas are arraigned in a thought and relayed is

equally important in demonstrating their importance to a specific society.

Language Is A Connector Between Man and Society, they Are Inseparable Beings, it Convey

Ideas and Concepts Therefore, language Reflects Social Status and Culture of Man, it

Shapes His Thoughts