Sociology- Aims and Scope

Sociology Notes

Sociology is a term which was coined by August Comte, the founding father
of sociology. Here the term has been derived from two words- socious, which is a Latin term
means a companion or associate, and logus, a Greek term, means science. Thus, Sociology
may be taken to simply mean science of society.

Some definitions-
 Sociology is a social science which deals with the study of human
relations, social groups and institutions.
 It is a science which deals with the study of social behavior, social life and
group interaction.
 Sociology may be identified as the systematic study of human society,
with special emphasis on modern and industralized systems- Anthony
Giddens
 Sociology is the study of human social life, groups and societies- Anthony
Giddens

Background of Development of Sociology

Sociology developed as a result of social, political and intellectual changes in
the eighteenth century in Europe. The French Revolution, Industrial Revolution and the
democratic system of govt. led to an intellectual ferment, which reflected towards the need of
having a discipline, which would itself to the study social behavior of man.
Saint Simon (1760- 1825) and Auguste Comte (1798- 1857) called the attention to the need
of a new social science, which would totally focus on the study of society. Auguste Comte
called this social science as social physics. Later, he renamed it as sociology. Comte wanted
this new science to adopt the methods of physical sciences.
The nineteenth century sociology laid stress on the study of social
development, social progress, social stability, social structure and social solidarity. Adam
Ferguson, Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Ferdinant Tonnies and George Simmel are some
of the pioneers/ proponents of sociology of the nineteenth century. Emile Durkheim and Max
Weber stand at the border line of the nineteenth and the twentieth century.
The twentieth century sociology shows the tendencies of the general, the
particular and the coordination among the various sciences.

Sociology as a Science
Sociology is a science in the sense that it involves systematic methods of
investigation and the evaluation of the theories of society on the basis of evidence and logical
arguments. However, we cannot model it directly on natural sciences, because the subject
matter of sociology deals with human society and human social behavior, which is
fundamentally different from the subject matter of social sciences.

Aims
According to Comte, Sociology is scientific analysis of society. He regarded
sociology to be the science of all social sciences and as such, he felt that it should coordinate
between all sciences. As such, sociology should aim at social reorganisation/ reconstruction.
In general, we can define the aims of sociology as follows-

 Sociology aims at studying society as a single entity and how it should work
as an entity.
 It studies the manner in which human society has emerged and evolved;
 It focuses on the manner in which societies tend to persist;
 It studies how and why do the societies change;
 In the applied area, sociology tries to suggest the paths of action to ensure the
emergence of new social patterns;
 It aims at studying the social problems and providing solutions to the present
problems and the dilemmas of society.

Important Practical Implications

There has been a long history of arguments in the development of sociology-
some argue that sociology is a theoretical study and as such it should only focus on the
theoretical aspect of human society and should not delve into the practical or applied aspect.
According to others, sociological study would be meaningless and it would lose its relevance
if the sociological knowledge is not put to practical use.
In the practical/ applied area, sociology can meaningful criticism of the
prevailing system and help in the process of social reform in several ways. Sociology can
contribute in this direction in several ways-
 Sociology helps us in understanding a given set of social circumstances in a
better way, which in turn helps in controlling these situations.
 It provides the means of increasing our cultural sensitivities. Thus our policies
can be based on awareness of divergent cultural values.
 We can investigate the intended and unintended consequences of a particular
policy/ program on society.
 It can provide self- enlightenment, or increased self- understanding. This can
help us providing an increased opportunity to alter the conditions of their own
lives.
Durkheim’s Views on Law: Durkheim’s views on law may be regarded to have laid down
the foundation of sociology of law. His views are considered to be important in
jurisprudence.
Durkheim viewed law as a social fact. Durkheim argues that the content of law reflects
collectively held sentiments which are essential for maintaining social solidarity. Taking the
functionalist view on law, he lays down two main functions/ purposes of law- to curtail the
problem of crime within permissible limits and to provide sanctions against it. Further he
opined that laws of the traditional system represent collective consciousness, whereas the
modern laws/ legal system represents the moral sentiments of the people.
Durkheim talks about two types of laws- repressive laws and restitutive laws. Repressive
laws are the laws that deal with criminal offences and are more prominent in simple societies
that are represented by mechanical solidarity. Contrary to this, restitutive laws deal with civil
offences and individual rights. They are present in complex societies with marked organic
solidarity. Criminal laws exemplify repressive laws, whereas commercial laws,
administrative laws, civil laws, procedural laws and constitutional laws.

Karl Marx on law: According to Karl Marx, law is a part of the suprastructure and is
determined by the economic mode of production which is part of the infrastructure) of a
society. The owing class always played an influential role in determining which laws should
be laid down and which acts of individuals should be viewed as crime. Thus, only those laws
are laid down that serve the interest of the owing class and only those acts are defined as
criminal which are conducted by the working class. State tends to lay down certain laws for
the masses (formed of the working class) to create a farce that state works for the welfare of
the society as a whole. There is a mystification created around the laws. State and its
instruments are actually used as a screen to conceal the acts of the owing class. Similarly, the
criminal acts committed by the owning class are not defined as criminal by the state.

Weber’s Ideas of Law: Weber’s sociological writings contain the roots of sociology of law.
Weber studied the empirical characteristics of law, contrary to the approach of others who
focused on the study of its philosophy.
Law according to him belongs to the rational legal authority. These laws are coherent and
calculable, and form the precondition for the development of modern bureaucratic state. They
develop parallel with growth of capitalism.
According to him, central to the idea of modern law is the formal rationalization, which
obtains from its general procedures that are equally applied to all and impart impartial and
fair treatment to the people. The modern laws are also codified and impersonal in nature.
Weber further talked about legal order and explained it as a system where the rules are
enacted and obeyed as legitimate because they are in line with the other laws on how they
should be enacted and how they should be obeyed. It is enacted by the government which is
solely responsible for its enactment and is empowered to use physical force on the deviants.

Development of the connection between society and law

 Intricate relation exists between society and law, which justifies relevance of
sociology I the area of law. The interfacing areas between society and law are known
by various terms- sociology of law, socio- legal studies, Sociological jurisprudence
etc.
 Earlier, law was treated in terms of its own categories, without any reference to the
social environment in which it has developed. Legal experts failed to view the legal
system as a subsystem within the larger social system. As such, these experts remain
completely detached from the social realities and implications of the legal system for a
layman.
 The apparent isolation of the legal system from the outside world has become the most
characteristic feature of this system even in the present times. The lawyers’ conception
of law has been largely refined and shaped by their own professional environment.
They have become highly complacent about their position and the system in which
they work.
 As a result, these lawyers have become very resistant to different views the nature and
functions of law. On the other hand, entire legal system seems to be very complicated
and intimidating to the lay man. This creates a great chasm between the legal world
and the society outside.

 In the 1920s and 1930s, the law professionals of Columbia and Harvard tried to apply
the social scientific theory to legal problems. However, the approach had to be
abandoned as it could not gain much support. The breakthrough came after the
 Second World War, when the study of law and sociology received a new impetus in a
study carried out by School of Law of Univ. of Chicago (the study being funded by
Ford Foundation). This study focused on an interdisciplinary study of jury, tax system
and commercial arbitration. This interdisciplinary study of the jurist system produced
noteworthy results.
 There was a gradual growth of sociological literature on legal system. With the
emergence of the Welfare state, the need for having a new approach to study law
was felt. The sociological study of law produced very rewarding results. In spite of
this, the law experts did not look beyond the deductive style of reasoning, and this
tendency has continued even today.
 Many progressive judges in India (Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, Y.V. Chandrachud, P.N.
Bhagvati, D.A. Desai, O. Chinnapa Reddy, Venkatchelliah) have reflected their views
on the positive relation between society and law, and have adopted the sociological
approach in the interpretation of law. The legal luminaries relaize that the legal
professionals should act by hunch, but on hard facts and concrete realities of the
society
 Law as a social science cannot depend upon abstract principles or rigid legal cannons
alone- it has to placed in the social context in which it occurs and has to relate to the
changing environment.

Relevance of sociology for law

 Sociology deals with study of society, which is a network of relationships that are
enduring and interdependent.
 Society lays down various goals , which need to be fulfilled to ensure human survival.
 Goal attainment cannot be possible if there is no order in the society- thus there is
need for norms/ rules that regulate conduct of humans in the society.
 Understanding of society under sociology helps in understanding how these rules,
which may be informal (customs, morals) or formal (laws) regulate the functioning of
the society generally.
 Sociology deals with various concepts and realties with which law is directly
concerned.
 Rather, law is part a of the larger legal system, which is further an inseparable part of
the larger social system- thus legal system is a sub- system within the larger social
system.
 Sociology deals with understanding of the functioning of society- how formal and
informal rules are laid down and applied – this is important for the legal studies.
 Various methods used by sociologists are being used by the legal professional in their
research- thus legal research cannot be complete without empirical research, so much
so that modern law institutions are ready to hold workshops to help law students,
faculties and professional to have a theoretical and practical understanding of the
sociological empirical methods.

 As a social science, sociology helps in understanding the working of the trial courts,
role of lawyers, judges, police, prosecutors etc. It helps in studying the influence of
general background of judges, lawyers and legal experts in deciding cases.
 Sociology helps in studying law as formal rule. As such it helps in understanding how
law regulates the interaction between individual and society, through the institutions,
norms and processes evolved formally. The influence of law on the decision- making
tendency of individuals can also be studied.
 Helps in unravelling the basis (origin) of law and its functions in the society. It helps
in studying the capacity and limits of law in regulating human behaviour. Thus, law
comes to be treated as a product of social customs.
 Sociology deals with social change- this is useful for legal experts and professional as
there occurs a mutual and clear relation between change in society and change in law.
Any change in society is reflected in legal system (acceptance of rights of the third
gender, LGBT community for instance) and any change in the law produces change in
society (Divorce law under Hindu Law lays down grounds for divorce and makes
divorce easy. This has lead to increased divorce rate in society, culminating in higher
incidence of broken/ incomplete families and also higher incidence of crime in
society).
 Context of legalising abortion laws in America and the Civil rights movement in
America is also a good example that lays down the relationship between law and
society.
 Sociology studies various social issues generally and explores social problems- goes
into the cause of and features of the social problems- relevant for law. As such, it
provides deeper understanding of crime and deviance in society
 Knowledge of sociology can help in understanding how best can law be used to
advance individual and social development. There is new focus on role of judges and
lawyers as social engineers who pave the development of society in a particular
direction. Thus, Indian constitution paves the ground for a secular and socialist state
and the laws in India are laid down in this affect. Indian laws also protect the unity of
the Indian society and also helps in retaining the identity of each community by
providing freedom to the people to follow their own culture.
 The evolutionary and functional approaches developed in sociology help in
understanding law in a new dimension. Relevance of works of Emile Durkheim, Karl
Mar, Max Weber, Bronslaw Kasper Malinoswki and Maine in studying law from
social perspective.
Judicial role in social change and its limitations

 Paper presented by Ravi Mishra (VII Semester) an Mohit Chhibber ( III Semester)
Evolution of Judicial review

 According to S.P Sathe, judicial activism is an aspect of judical review.

The concept of judicial review originated with Dicey’s rule of law. It had the following
postulates :
 i) The rule of law states that there must be supremacy of law, no one shall be
punished except for definite breach of law and the breach of law must be proved in a
duly constituted court of law
 ii) Rule of law means that, “ no man is above law”. Every man whatever his rank or
condition, is subject to the ordinary laws of the state and amenable to the jurisdiction
of ordinary tribunals.
 iii) It is the result of statutes and judicial decisions determining the rights of private
persons. Thus, the constitutional law of the country follows from the ordinary law of
the land.
Evolution of judicial activism
 “Judicial Activism”, a term framed by the critiques of the ‘creative’ role of judiciary,
is the extension of judicial review, a significant derivative of Dicey’s Rule of Law
doctrine, to the legislative and executive actions.
 Exercise of creative approach of judiciary by which it emphasises upon liberal,
creative and purposive interpretation of the laws can be called as “judicial activism”
as it is different from conventional judicial role for ensuring justice. Judicial activism
is a weapon for social empowerment by which judges efforts to render socio-
economic justice.
 Judicial activism is more about telling the legislature and the executive what they
should do. Judiciary by applying Doctrine of Judicial Review attempts to determine
the constitutionality of law as well as validity of the administrative actions.
Judicial role in social change
 The Courts started widening the scope of judicial review to the implementation of
socio- economic justice in the wake of “democratic socialism”.
 The courts have been creating some innovative remedies to enforce socio- economic
rights, though the Constitution did not permit socio-economic rights to be justifiable
or enforceable.
 It can be said that judicial activism has no expressed legal basis but undoubtedly has
moral basis for achieving the goal of a welfare state and for the protection of the
socially and economically downtrodden.
 The judiciary has shown its readiness to take into consideration rights of those
sections of the people who cannot easily approach the courts.
 The Courts by interpreting the various Articles of the Constitution (like Articles 14,
19 and 21) brought some of the Directive Principles of State Policies under the
purview of the Fundamental Rights.
 Article 21 has been given a new content and Directive Principles of Stare Policies are
activated from its long lasting dormancy and now integrated and read with the
Fundamental Rights. Right to Education, Right to Privacy, Right to Clean
Environment and Right to Free and Compulsory Legal Aid are some of the new
additions to the article 21.
 In 1985 Justice P.N. Bhagwati converted a letter written to him on a post card into a
Public Interest Litigation, introducing a new instrument of social change. It is said
that PIL is a most important vehicle of judicial activism.
 It has been held that the writ of habeas corpus can be issued not only for releasing a
person from illegal detention but also protecting prisoners from inhuman and
barbarous treatment.
 In Veena Sethi v/s State Of Bihar the court was informed through a letter that some
prisoners, who were insane at the time of trial but subsequently declared sane, were
not released due to inaction of state authorities and had to remain in jails from 20 to
30 years. The court directed that they be released forthwith.
 The vital role played by the Apex court in protecting environment from pollution is
remarkable, many Non- Government Organisations drew the attention of the Court
through PIL, particularly when the legislature is lagging behind in bridging the lacuna
in the existing legal system and administration is not well equipped to meet the
challenges of controlling environmental pollution.
 In the Pollution  of Taj Mahal Case commonly known as M.C Mehta  v/s UOI,
the petitioner through PIL tried to draw the attention of the court towards the
 degradation of the Taj Mahal due to the pollution caused by a number of chemically
hazardous industries established and functioning around the Taj Mahal.
 Justice Kuldip Singh, held that the 292 polluting industries locally operating in the
area are the main source of  pollution and directed them to change over within fixed
time schedule to natural gas as industrial fuel and if they could not do so they must
stop functioning and be reallocated alternative plots in the industrial estate outside Taj
Trapezium
 Considering right to privacy in the case of Vishakha vs. state of Rajasthan , the
Supreme Court made a landmark judicial pronouncement that the sexual harassment
of working women amounts to violation of right of gender equality and right to life
and personal liberty guaranteed under Art.14 and 21. As a logical consequence it also
amounts to the violation of right to practice any profession, occupation or trade.
 The SC laid down certain guidelines to be observed at all work place or other
institutions until legislation is enacted for the purpose. These guidelines would be
treated as the law declared by SC under Art 141.
 This case law provided relief to millions of working women who were compelled to
remain silent at their working place even though they face sexual comment,
harassment etc. In fact this case fills the lacuna in law to deal with this kind of
problem facing by working women at their working place.
 In writ a petition filed by the farmers of Greater Noida, commonly known as
Birender Kumar vs. State of U.P against unlawful change of land use, Supreme
Court cancelled the acquisition of land by Uttar Pradesh Government as it was
acquired for industrial purpose but it was given to builders for making apartments.
The court ordered that land should be revert back to farmers from whom land was
acquired.
Limitations on judicial role in social change
 Judiciary has been applauded for being instrumental in social change, but at the same
time, it is criticised for an alleged judicial overreach, blurring the line of separation
between Legislature and Executive on one hand and the Judiciary on the other.
 The critiques of judicial activism argue that excessive use of judicial review tends to
elevate judiciary to the rank of super-legislature keeping separation of power at stake.
Sometimes judicial activism is portrayed as men in power versus men in gown, i.e.
democratically elected legislature versus unelected judges.
Importance of judicial self restraint
 The philosophy behind the doctrine of judicial self restraint is that there is broad
separation of powers under the Constitution and the three organs of the State, the
legislature, the executive, and the judiciary must respect each other and must not
ordinarily encroach into each other’s domain, otherwise the system cannot function
properly.
 As observed by Justice AS Anand, former Chief Justice of India: “Courts have to
function within the established parameters and Constitutional bounds. With a view to
see that judicial activism does not become judicial adventurism, the courts must act
with caution and proper restraint.
 They must remember that judicial activism is not an unguided missile. Public
adulation must not sway the judges. They must remember that they cannot run the
government.
Conclusion
 We shall conclude with the words of Justice Bhagwati, that there is no need for
judges to feel shy or apologetic about the law creating roles. The judiciary acts as the
last resource for the common man in the present socio-political scenario, when he
exhausts all of his alternatives.
 At the same time, we believe that the courts are no substitute for the legislative or the
executive organs of the government. They represent the will of the people of the
country and must be questioned.
 A perfect balance between both, is what is needed to achieve the goal of the welfare
state which our founding fathers dreamt of.