Nathalie Dagmang Sociology 11

2010-24702 BS Community Nutrition June 16, 2010

Before defining the term “Sociology”, it is important to first define the

word “society” which is the main concern of this study. It is defined by
Anthony Giddens as “a cluster, or system, of institutionalized modes of
conduct.” By saying “institutionalized modes of conduct”, he is referring to
beliefs and behavior that are adapted by many generations or are “socially
reproduced”. In Sociology, we study the relationship of the society/social
institutions and its members, and how their actions affect one another.

The “sociological imagination” helps us see things in a different

perspective, and shows the importance of certain events to the whole
society, especially those that seem to concern only the individual. It helps us
see the existence of a social structure, or how the individual’s actions are
patterned and structured in accordance to the society that he/she belongs
to, and the occurrence of structuration of human society, caused by the
actions of each of its members that constantly reconstruct the whole society.

Because sociology deals with both the individual’s own and the
society’s collective behavior, the study has a very wide scope, thus making a
sociologist useful in many other fields like law, journalism, business or even
medicine. It is also said that “behavior that can be understood can be
predicted, and behavior that can be predicted can likely be controlled,”
therefore anyone who would want to “manipulate” humans or to be in
control, should study sociology where human behavior is studied and
develop a sociological thinking.

Before the development of sociology, people rely on religion in seeking

explanation for the society and human behavior. A systematic study of
society only developed during the late 1700s and early 1800s, mainly
because of the “two great revolutions” in Europe that greatly affected early
traditions and beliefs and shaped a new understanding of the society. One of
these is the French revolution of 1789 which stood out among other
rebellions because the people were guided by the ideas of universal liberty
and equality and not just by their will to remove certain individuals from their
position or to reduce prices and taxes. The second “great revolution”, the
Industrial revolution, on the other hand, caused widespread social changes
by urbanizing many parts of the world starting in Western Europe and the

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United States. Because of urbanization and industrialization of many
countries, traditional forms of society begin to fade and their beliefs start to
change. Also, the improvement of medicine, sanitation and hygiene brought
about by the Industrial revolution caused the world population to increase at
a much higher rate and the mortality rate to decrease.

Many writers had already discussed human behavior and society in

their works after these events, most of them having different views on the
subject. French author, Auguste Comte, in particular came up with the word
“sociology”. Before he formulated the word, “social physics” is a widely used
term for the study of society. But because this term is already used by his
rivals, he preferred to use “sociology” to create a distinction between his
own view and theirs. Apart from being the inventor of the term “sociology”,
he also claimed that all sciences, including sociology, studies the universal
law governing their fields that we can use to predict and control our own
destiny. From this logic, he formulated plans for the reconstruction of the
French society based on scientific knowledge.

Another French writer, Emile Durkheim, criticized Comte saying that

his works are too vague. He mentioned in his works that to study sociology
“scientifically”, one must also study social facts or the aspects of social life
that influence our actions as individuals like our religion, the economy and
our environment. He said that sociologists should study social facts as
things, similar to how scientists study the natural world. Like studying the
human body, a sociologist should study each part/component of the society
because if these parts/components are all in good condition and in harmony
with each other, the whole society can be expected to be in good condition
as well. He emphasized on the importance of “organic solidarity”, the social
cohesion or the cooperation of the institutions that make up the society. He
said that the division of labor during his time has replaced religion as the
source of social cohesion. As it develops, people become more dependent to
one another. He also pointed out that societies exert social constraint on
their members, meaning the society dictates and sets limits on what its
members can do.

Like Comte and Durkheim, Karl Marx also studied on the social
changes brought by the emergence of industrial revolution. But in contrast
with the first two sociologists mentioned, he studied the society in a new
perspective known as the materialist conception of history. With this
perspective, he believed that human ideas and values are not the major
factors of social change but the economic influences, which he suggested
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when he said, “All human history thus far is the history of class struggles.”
He said that the most important social changes are caused by the
development of capitalism, where those who own the capital, factories,
machines and large amounts of money rule over the mass of the population
formed by the wage workers. Conflicts usually arise when the interests of the
few capitalists exploit the large working class. He also said that in the future,
there will be no division between classes and the small class of the wealthy
will no longer monopolize economic and political power while the large mass
of the population benefit little from the product of their work.

Another writer from Germany, Max Weber, was influenced by and was
also a critic of Marx’s works. He rejected the materialist conception of history
and considered the conflict between classes less significant and human
values and ideas having the same impact on social change. He compared the
western society to other major civilizations, particularly the religion that
prevails in each society. From his study, he concluded that certain aspects of
Christian beliefs influenced the rise of capitalism and that cultural values
help shape the society and its members’ actions. In addition to that, he also
studied bureaucracy where the experts usually make the decision for the
whole society without consulting the members whose lives will be affected.
He also pointed out that studying the society “scientifically” is misleading
because unlike the physical world, humans are thinking and reasoning
beings and should be studied in a different way.

Sources:

Sociology: A Brief but Critical Introduction Second Edition by Anthony

Giddens

Introduction to Sociology by Anthony Giddens, Mitchell Duneier and Richard

P. Appelbaum

21st Century Sociology Volume 1: Traditional and Core Areas