SOCIOLOGY

DEFINITION

 Came from the Latin word socius that may variously

mean society, association, togetherness or
companionship, and the Greek word logos which
means to speak about or word. Thus, the
etymological, literal defi nition of sociology is that it is
the word or speaking about society . To defi ne it
simply, sociology is the study of society and culture.
 Sociology was fi rst coined by French essayist
Emmanuel – Joseph Sieyes. The term was
reintroduced by Auguste Comte (Father of Sociology)
 DEFINITION

 Sociology is the scientifi c and systematic study of

groups and group interactions, societies and social
interactions, from small and personal groups to very
large groups.
 A group of people who live in a defi ned geographic
area, who interacted with one another, and who share
a common culture is what sociologists called society.
 Culture refers to the group’s shared practices, values,
and beliefs. It is a so called way of life.
 DEFINITION

 Sociology may be generally defi ned 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
behavior;
 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 aff ects us, etc.
 DEFINITION

 Socialization – a process whereby individual persons learn

and are trained in the basic norms, values, beliefs, skills,
attitudes, way of doing and acting as appropriate to a
specifi c social group of society.
 Social Organization – refers to the pattern of individual
and group relations. Organization signifi es technical
arrangements of parts in a whole, and the term social
indicates the fact that individual and group relations are
the outcomes of social processes.
 Social group – defi ned as the collectively or set of people
who involve in more or less permanent or enduring social
interactions and relationships.
 Social Relationship – any routinized, enduring patterns of
social interactions between individuals in society under
the limits and infl uences of the social structure.
 DEFINITION

 Social Status – a position or rank of a person or a group of

persons occupied in the social system.
 Social Roles – expectations, duties, responsibilities,
obligations which are associated with a given social status.
 Social Institution – may be defi ned as practices based on
similar principles that display some degree of regularity.
More specifi cally, a social institution is an interrelated
system of social roles and social norms, organized around
the satisfaction of an important social need or social
function.
 Social Control– as all the mechanisms and processes
employed by a society to ensure conformity.
 Social Stratifi cation – the segmentation of society into
diff erent hierarchical arrangement of strata. It represents
the ranking of individuals or social positions and statuses in
the social structure.
 Social Mobility – implies a set of changes in
opportunities, incomes, lifestyles, personal
relationships, social status and ultimately class
membership.
 Social Change – may be defi ned as the alteration or
transformation at large scale level in the social
structure, social institutions, social organization and
patterns of social behavior in a given society or social
system.
 LEVELS OF
SOCIOLOGICAL
ANALYSIS AND
FIELDS OF
SPECIALIZATION
 LEVELS OF ANALYSIS

 Micro – sociology – interested in small scale level of

the structure and function of human social groups. It
focuses on social interaction. It analyzes
interpersonal relationships, and on what people do
and how they behave when they interact. This is
usually employed symbolic interactionist
perspective.
 Macro – sociology – studies the large – scale aspects
of society. It focuses on the broad features of society.
Its goal is to examine the large – scale phenomena
that determine how social groups are organized and
positioned within the social structure.
 Meso – level - analyzes human social phenomena in
between the micro and macro levels.
 FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY

 Social Organization and Theory of Social Order – focuses

on institutions and groups, their formation and change,
manner of functioning, relation to individuals and to each
other.
 Social Control – focuses on the ways in which members of
a society infl uence one another so as to maintain social
order.
 Social Change – focuses on the way society and
institutions change over time through technical
inventions, cultural diff usion and cultural confl ict, and
social movements, among others.
 Social Processes – focuses on the patter in which social
change takes place, and the modes of such processes.
 Social Groups – Focuses on how social groups are formed,
structured, and how they function.
 FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY

 Social Problems: Focuses on the social conditions

which cause diffi culties for a large number of persons
and which the society is seeking to eliminate. Some
of the problems may include: juvenile delinquency,
crime, chronic alcoholism, suicide, narcotics
addiction, racial prejudice, ethnic confl ict, war,
industrial confl ict, slum, areas, urban poverty,
prostitution, child abuse, problem of older persons,
marital confl icts, etc
MAJOR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

 Structural Functionalist Theory

 This is one of the dominant theories both in
anthropology and sociology. It is sometimes
called functionalism. The theory tries to
explain how the relationships among the
parts of society are created and how these
parts are functional (meaning having
beneficial consequences to the individual and
the society) and dysfunctional (meaning
having negative consequences). It focuses on
consensus, social order, structure and
function in society.
MAJOR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

 Structural Functionalist Theory

 The structural-functionalist theory sees society as a
complex system whose parts work together to
promote solidarity and stability; it states that our
social lives are guided by social structure, which are
relatively stable patterns of social behavior. Social
structure is understood in terms of social function,
which are consequences for the operations of society.
All social structure contributes to the operation of
society. The major terms and concepts developed by
anthropologists and sociologists in this theory include
(or the theory focuses on): order, structure, function
(manifest or direct functions and latent or hidden,
indirect functions), and equilibrium.
MAJOR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

 Structural Functionalist Theory

 These theory holds questions like:
 What holds our society?
 What keeps it steady?
MAJOR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

 Social Confl ict Theory

 This theory is also called Marxism; to indicate that the
main impetus to the theory derives from the writings
of Karl Marx This theory sees society in a framework
of class conflicts and focuses on the struggle for
scarce resources by diff erent groups in a given
society. It asks such questions as what pulls society
apart. How does society change? The theory holds
that the most important aspect of social order is the
domination of some group by others, that actual or
potential confl icts are always present in society. The
writings of Karl Marx are generally in the spirit of
conflict theory, and Marxism influences most of
conflict theorists in modern sociology.
MAJOR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

 Social Confl ict Theory

 The theory is useful in explaining how the dominant
groups use their power to exploit the less powerful
groups in society. Key concepts developed in this
perspective include: confl ict, complementation,
struggle, power, inequality, and exploitation.
MAJOR THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES

 Symbolic interactionism
 This perspective views symbols as the basis of
social life. Symbols are things to which we attach
meanings. The theory stresses the analysis of how
our behaviors depend on how we define others
and ourselves. It concentrates on process, rather
than structure, and keeps the individual actor at
the center. According to symbolic interactionism,
the essence of social life and social reality is the
active human being trying to make sense of social
situations. In short, this theory calls attention to
the detailed, person-oriented processes that take
place within the larger units of social life
 CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL
THEORIES
Feminism
 This theory takes as its central theme the place
and facts of women’s underprivileged status and
their exploitation in a patriarchally dominated
society. Feminist sociology focuses on the
particular disadvantages, including oppression
and exploitation faced by women in society. This
theory ranges from liberal feminism, which
recognizes inequalities but believes that reform
can take place without a fundamental
restructuring of the social system, to radical
feminism, which advocates the fundamental need
for societal change
 CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL
THEORIES
Social Exchange Theory
 This theory focuses on “the costs and benefits
which people obtain in social interaction,
including money, goods, and status. It is
based on the principle that people always act
to maximize benefit. However, to receive
benefits, there must always be an exchange
process with others”
 CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL
THEORIES
Public Choice Theory
 This theory states that collective
organizations such as political parties act
rationally to maximize their own benefits. It
argues that individual differences are best
resolved by collective involvement within
organizations. The role of the state is
important in arbitrating between large-scale
interests
 CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL
THEORIES
Rational Choice Theory
 This theory assumes that individuals will
operate in rational way and will seek to
benefit themselves in the life choices they
make.
 CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL
THEORIES
Structuralism
 This theory denies any basis for humans being
active, since human consciousness is no longer
seen as the basis of meaning in language.
Structuralism diff ers from the mainstream
traditional theories in that it rejects objective
social facts and a concept of society as an
objective, external entity. It defines social reality
in terms of the relations between events, not in
terms of things and social facts. Its basic
principle is that the observable is meaningful
only in so far as it can be related to an
underlying structure or order.
 CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL
THEORIES
Structuralism
 This theory denies any basis for humans being
active, since human consciousness is no longer
seen as the basis of meaning in language.
Structuralism diff ers from the mainstream
traditional theories in that it rejects objective
social facts and a concept of society as an
objective, external entity. It defines social reality
in terms of the relations between events, not in
terms of things and social facts. Its basic
principle is that the observable is meaningful
only in so far as it can be related to an
underlying structure or order.
 CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL
THEORIES
Post – Structuralism
 focuses on the power of language in constructing
knowledge and identity. The writers in this field
have emphasized the role of language in human life,
how language dictates the thoughts we have, and
how it constructs meanings for us. Poststructuralists
argue that humans cannot arrive anything they can
confidently call the (universal) truth. There is no
link between the words (language) ideas, and the
real world. It denies the sociological idea that our
concepts have some relationship to the real world.
It is not possible to arrive at a sociological truth,
and such attempts are dangerous
 CONTEMPORARY SOCIOLOGICAL
THEORIES
Post – Modernism
 The basis of post-modernism was post-structuralism.
Post-modernism is defined as a cultural and aesthetic
phenomenon which mainly rejects order and
progress, objective and universal truth; and supports
the need for recognizing and tolerating diff erent
forms of reality. It tends to celebrate chaos and
disorder, diversity and fragmentation in the modern
global society rather than wanting to achieve order.
This theory maintains that there is no ultimate
reason in human life and existence . Postmodernists
argue, “Power has become decentralized and
fragmented in contemporary societies“
 SIGNIFICANCE OF LEARNING
SOCIOLOGY
 Social Imagination – Sociological imagination is a particular
way of looking at the world around us through sociological
lenses. It is a way of looking at our experiences in light of
what is going on in the social world around us. This helps us
to appreciate the social and non-biological forces that aff ect,
infl uence and shape our lives as individuals, groups, and
communities
 Learning sociology helps us understand how social forces
infl uence our goals, attitudes, behavior, and personality. We
become more sensitive towards the social issues.
Furthermore, learning sociology helps to cast aside our own
biased assumptions, stereotypes and ethno -centric thinking
and practices to become more critical, broad- minded and
respectful in our interpersonal and inter- group relationships.
By learning sociology, we can be more humane and people –
centered; we give high value to human dignity.