Read the text: What is sociology?

The focus of sociology is on the influences from society which mould the behaviour of people, their experiences, and their interpretations of the world around them. To learn sociology is to learn about how human societies are constructed, and where our beliefs and daily routines come from; it is to in a new light many of the taken-for-granted assumptions which we hold, and which influence the way we think about ourselves and others. Sociology is above all about developing a critical understanding of society. In developing this, sociology can itself contribute to the changes in society, for example by highlighting and explaining social problems like divorce, crime and poverty. The study of sociology can provide the essential tools for a better understanding of the world we live in, and therefore the means for improving it.

Sociology is the systematic study of human groups and social life in modern societies. It is concerned with the study of social institutions. These are various organized social arrangements which are found in all societies.

For example, the family is an institution which is concerned with arrangements for marriage, such as at what age people can many, whom they can marry and how many partners they can have, and the upbringing of children. The education system establishes ways of passing on attitudes, knowledge, and skills from one generation to the next. Work and the economic system organize the way the production of goods will be carried out, and religious institutions are concerned with people’s relations with the supernatural.

Sociology tries to understand how these various social institutions operate, and how they relate to one another, such as the ence the family might have on how well children perform in the education system.

Sociology is concerned with a wide range of issues in social life; the interests and concerns of sociologists are not that different from those of most people in the society. However, what makes the views of sociologists different from those likely to be aired in the canteen, at work, or in any other daily situations where views get exchanged is that sociologists try to provide evidence to back up what they say. The evidence is collected from a variety' of sources and through the use of a number of research methods.

In trying to explain human social life, sociologists have built up a body of concepts (or key ideas) and terms (a specialized vocabulary). Central to the study of sociology are concepts such as culture, subculture, values, norms, status, roles and socialization.

Culture. The term ‘culture’ refers to the whole way of life in a particular society. It includes the values, norms, customs, beliefs, knowledge, skills and language of a society. This culture is socially transmitted (passed on through socialization) one generation to the next. Sociologists recognize that culture is not fixed and uniform around the world but varies according to time and place. This can be illustrated with reference to food and diet: meat such as roast lamb is eaten without a second thought by many people in Britain, but roast horse or dog are not. Whole roasted guinea pig is enjoyed as a traditional delicacy in Ecuador, while guinea pigs are often kept as family pets in Britain.

Subculture. Sociologists appreciate that within any one society there may be a variety of subcultures or social groups which differ from the dominant culture in terms of language, dress, norms and values.

General notion of Sociology

Sociology is the study of human societies. It is a branch of social science (with wich it is often synonymous) that uses varios methods of empirical investigation and critical anaysis to develop and refin a body of knowlege about human social structure and activity. It has the goal of aplying such knowledge to the pursuit of social welfare.Its subject matter ranges from the micro level of face-to-face interaction to the macro level of societies at large.

Sociology is a broad discipline in terms of both methodology and subject matter.Its traditional focuses include social stratification (or 'class') social relations, social interaction, religion, culture and devianse, and its opproaches include boht qualitative and quantitative reserch techniques.As much of what humans do fits under the categoru of social activity.Sociology gradually expands its focus to further subjects, such as the study of the media, health disparities, the internet, and even the role of social activity in the creation of scientific knowledge. The range of social scientific methods also broadly expands. The linguistic and cultural turns of the mid-20th century bring hermeneutic and interpretative approaches to the study of society. Conversely, recent decades see the rise of new mathematically rigorous approaches, such as social network.

I.     Answer the questions:

1)    What is sociology?

2)    How do these various social institutions operate?

3)    What did sociologists do in trying to explain human social life?

4)    What is the term ‘culture’ connected with?

5)    How does sociology study the human society?

II. Name the key-words that help you to catch the main idea of the text.

Lesson 8

Read the text: Sociology

Sociology is the scientific study of society. It is a social science a term with which it is sometimes synonymous which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity. For many sociologists the goal is to conduct research which may be applied directly to social policy and welfare, while others focus primarily on refining the theoretical understanding of social processes. Subject matter ranges from the micro level of individual agency and interaction to the macro level of systems and the social structure.

The traditional focuses of sociology have included social stratification, social class, culture, social mobility, religion, secularisation, law, and deviance. As all spheres of human activity are affected by the interplay between social structure and individual agency, sociology has gradually expanded its focus to further subjects, such as health, medical, military and penal institutions, the Internet, and the role of social activity in the development of scientific knowledge.

The range of social scientific methods has also expanded. Social researchers draw upon a variety of qualitative and quantitative techniques. The linguistic and cultural turns of the mid-twentieth century led to increasingly interpretative, hermeneutic, and philosophic approaches to the analysis of society. Conversely, recent decades have seen the rise of new analytically, mathematically and computationally rigorous techniques, such as agent-based modelling and social network analysis. Sociology should not be confused with various general social studies courses which bear little relation to sociological theory or social science research methodology. Contents.

Sociological reasoning predates the foundation of the discipline. Social analysis has origins in the common stock of Western knowledge and philosophy, and has been carried out from at least as early as the time of Plato. The origin of the survey, i.e., the collection of information from a sample of individuals, can be traced back at least early as the Domesday Book while ancient philosophers such as Confucius wrote on the importance of social roles. There is evidence of early sociology in medieval Islam. Some consider Ibn Khaldun, a 14th century Arab Islamic scholar from North Africa, to have been the first sociologist; his Muqaddimah was perhaps the first work to advance social-scientific reasoning on social cohesion and social conflict.

The word sociology (or "sociologie") is derived from both Latin and Greek origins. The Latin word: socius, "companion"; -ology, "the study of", and in Greek Àôyoc;, logos, "word", "knowledge". It was first coined in 1780 by the French essayist Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès (1748-1836) in an unpublished manuscript. Sociology was later defined independently by the French philosopher of science, Auguste Comte (1798-1857), in 1838. Comte used this term to describe a new way of looking at society. Comte had earlier used the term "social physics", but that had subsequently been appropriated by others, most notably the Belgian statistician Adolphe Quetelet. Comte endeavored to unify history, psychology and economics through the scientific understanding of the social realm. Writing shortly after the malaise of the French Revolution, he proposed that social ills could be remedied through sociological positivism, an epistemological approach outlined in The Course in Positive Philosophy (1830-1842) and A General View of Positivism (1848). Comte believed a positivist stage would mark the final era, after conjectural theological and metaphysical phases, in the progression of human understanding. In observing the circular dependence of theory and observation in science, and having classified the sciences, Comte may be regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense of the term.

Research methodology Sociological research methods may be divided into two broad categories:

· Quantitative designs approach social phenomena through quantifiable evidence, and often rely on statistical analysis of many cases (or across intentionally designed treatments in an experiment) to create valid and reliable general claims

· Qualitative designs emphasize understanding of social phenomena through direct observation, communication with participants, or analysis of texts, and may stress contextual and subjective accuracy over generality

Sociologists are divided into camps of support for particular research techniques. These disputes relate to the epistemological debates at the historical core of social theory. While very different in many aspects, both qualitative and quantitative approaches involve a systematic interaction between theory and data. Quantitative methodologies hold the dominant position in sociology, especially in the United States. In the discipline's two most cited journals, quantitative articles have historically outnumbered qualitative ones by a factor of two. (Most articles published in the largest British journal, on the other hand, are qualitative.) Most textbooks on the methodology of social research are written from the quantitative perspective,[ and the very term "methodology" is often used synonymously with "statistics." Practically all sociology PhD program in the United States require training in statistical methods. The work produced by quantitative researchers is also deemed more 'trustworthy' and 'unbiased' by the greater public, though this judgment continues to be challenged by antipositivists.

The choice of method often depends largely on what the researcher intends to investigate. For example, a researcher concerned with drawing a statistical generalization across an entire population may administer a survey questionnaire to a representative sample population. By contrast, a researcher who seeks full contextual understanding of an individual's social actions may choose ethnographic participant observation or open-ended interviews. Studies will commonly combine, or 'triangulate', quantitative and qualitative methods as part of a 'multi-strategy' design. For instance, a quantitative study may be performed to gain statistical patterns or a target sample, and then combined with a qualitative interview to determine the play of agency.

Areas of sociology

Social organization is the study of the various institutions, social groups, social stratification, social mobility, bureaucracy, ethnic groups and relations, and other similar subjects like family, education, politics, religion, economy, and so on and so forth.

Social psychology is the study of human nature as an outcome of group life, social attitudes, collective behavior, and personality formation. It deals with group life and the individual's traits, attitudes, beliefs as influenced by group life, and it views man with reference to group life.

Social change and disorganization is the study of the change in culture and social relations and the disruption that may occur in society, and it deals with the study of such current problems in society such as juvenile delinquency, criminality, drug addiction, family conflicts, divorce, population problems, and other similar subjects.

Population or demography is the study of population number, composition, change, and quality as they influence the economic, political, and social system.

Sociological theory and method is concerned with the applicability and usefulness of the principles and theories of group life as bases for the regulation of man's environment, and includes theory building and testing as bases for the prediction and control of man's social environment.

Applied sociology utilizes the findings of pure sociological research in various fields such as criminology, social work, community development, education, industrial relations, marriage, ethnic relations, family counseling, and other aspects and problems of daily life.

I.     Answer the questions:

1) What is the goal for many sociologists to conduct research?

2)    What are the origins of a sociological analysis?

3)    When was the word sociology coined first?

4)    What categories can Sociological research methods be divided into?

5)    What are the areas of sociology?