*‘’WHY SOCIOLOGY IS A

SCIENCE?’’
 *
• GROUPNAME: ‘’THE ACHIEVRS’’

• GROUP NO: ‘’2’’

• PRESENTED TO:

• ‘’PROF.DR.TARIQ MEHMOOD BHUTTA’’

*
ALVINA SHABBIR
FATIMA-TU-ZAHRA
IQRA IRFAN
SHAZMA AKHTAR
SHAFIQ AHMED
SYED MUSTAFA KAMAL
NIAZ AHMED
 *

Define sociology:
‘’Sociology is a social science concerned with the
study of society , human behavior and relationship.’’

 Sociology is the study of:

1. Social Life
2. Social change
3. Social causes
*
To Answer the question if sociology is a
science or not, first we need to know what is
science.
Science:
‘’It is the process of testing ideas against
observations.’’
 *
• Has a specified study subject-society.
• Research involved to understand subject
matter.
• Causes affect in social behavior.
• Has methods like clinical sciences.
• Based on principles and theories.
• Based on social facts.
 *

 “Sociology is a Science because it adopts and

applies the Scientific method. Sociology does
make use of scientific methods in the study
of its subject matter. Hence sociology is a
science’’

• Sociology can also be defined as the general
science of society.
Sociology is a pure Science:
• Sociology is a Pure Science, because the
immediate aim of Sociology is the acquisition
of knowledge.
Sociology is an Abstract Science:
• Sociology is an abstract science, because it
studies the design and norms of the society.
Sociology makes Generalization:
• Sociology became able to drew generalization
which is universally applicable

•Sociology, like natural sciences also accurately
measures social phenomena or relationships. Hence
sociology is science.
Sociology makes accurate prediction:
• Sociology does frame laws and and attempts to
predict more accurately.
Objectivity is possible in sociology:
•Like natural sciences sociology makes objective
study.
Sociology describes cause effect relation:
• sociology also traces the cause and find the
answers.
‘’IS
SOCIOLOGY
A
SCIENCE?’’
*
DURKHEIM:
Although Durkheim believes sociology
is a science, he thought that Comte
had failed to establish sociology as a
science.
Durkheim thought instead that
sociology should study SOCIAL FACTS as
things to observe and measure.
He said that sociologists should use
objective methods like experiments,
questionaries' and statistics as these
are mathematical precise and not
based on thoughts and feelings.
*
Comte looked at SOCIAL FACTS and
said we can change/shape peoples
behavior through discovering the laws.
Comte said that science isn’t there
to tell us why something came into
being.
But that the main task of sociology is
to discover general laws of social
development.
 *
o Sociology is a type of science, a logical system
that bases knowledge on direct, systematic
observation.
o Scientific sociology is the study of society
based on systematic observation of social
behavior.
o Scientific knowledge is based on empirical
evidence, information we can verify with our
data, not common sense
 *

Difference between Society and Natural world?

Social action theorists argue the social world is
socially constructed
You cannot understand the world, or human action
without understanding the meanings people attach to
their actions
Some postmodernists argue you can only understand
the world through language, thus there is no way to
observe it directly.

THE SOCIAL WORLD THE NATURAL WORLD

1. Sociology is a social science not a natural science
2. Sociology is a positive and not a normative science
3. Sociology is a pure science and not an applied science
4. Sociology is an abstract science not a concrete science
5. Sociology is both a rational and an empirical science
6. Sociology is a generalizing science and not a
particularizing science
7. The study of people as individuals and as members of
groups (i.e. families, communities, societies, peer
groups….)
8. The social sciences include various areas of study—known
as disciplines—such as history, law, civics and economics
9. The field of human knowledge that deals with all aspects
of the group life of human beings. So, it is subject to
change with the changes the human behavior
 *

1. Sociology is a science of society.

2. As a social science it attempts to study social
life as whole.
3. Economics studies the economic aspects
whereas political science studies political
aspects.
4. Sociology can also be defined as the general
science of society.
Anthropology:
 Anthropology attempts to understand culture by
focusing primarily on preliterate people.
Economics:
 Economics analyzes the production and
distribution of goods and services of a society.
Political Science:
 Political science focuses on politics and
government.
Psychology:
 Psychology concentrates on processes that occur
within the individual.
History:
 It focuses on how societies develop through
history.
‘’Sociology is similar to the other social
sciences in some ways but it is distinct
because it looks all social institutions ,
focused on industrialized societies and
looks at external factors which
influence people.’’
’The function of sociology, as of
every science, is to reveal that
which is hidden.’’
(Pierre Bourdieu)