. . en "culture area," such as Melanesia.

Soc·
. . ·t . sually 111 a g1v d 11 . . Io o
specialize, I IS U d t of a society, an genera f spec1ahze in so 1 .
gists more often st u Yfpar .1s or a process, such as social mobility. Anthrne
. . su~h. as the . am1. y, the community
institution . they st udy, a·uectIy observ·ro.
1
pologists trad1t10n? 11Y ivte ms as reported by their informants. Their methindg
behav10r. or recording. cus om litative and 'c , I.mica
. I ." Soc10 . Iog1sts
. more ofto
11
of analysis _is .essen ti a iesif:nnaires; their analysis is m?re _often formal
nd
rely on statistics a q 1 milieu for the anthropologist 1s the small s If
•t t· The natura . . . . e.
quantI• ad1ve.roup or comm unity, whereas. the. soc10d1og1st 1s qmte at ease in .
conta~ne g 1 d impersonal orgamzations an processes.
studymg.large-sca eth~n are distinctive indigenous peoples preserving the·
So long as ere I k f . I b' Ir
. · 1 thropologists will not ac or a specia su Ject matter
umqu~ cu tures,Ofanthe people he studies move into the modem world the.
Even 1f many . t ay follow comfortably aIong so Iong as "h'1s " peopIe maintain '
01
ant?r?P ?gis mmmunity within the framework of the larger society. But as
a d1stmct1ve co I d d d' d
.its tra d't'
I wna su
1 bi'ects
, become fully accu turate
. . . , an
h are
I 1sperse
·11 b through-
0 t th 1 rger societv and absorbed w1thm 1t, ant ropo ogy w1 e less_able
t u e_ ea as a disti~ctive discipline. It may become a b.ra.uch:of_sociology
o surv1v h II . .
specializing in the study of values or e sma co~mumty; or_ 1t may be
entirely absorbed, along with sociology, m a general science of society.
_,
Disciplines, Boundaries, and Issues .. . .
Benjamin Kidd, wntmg about soc10logy m the 11th
edition of The Encyclopaedia Britannica, said: "Fr~m .the 1~th ~entury for-
ward it may be said, strictly speaking; that all leadm_g c~ntnbutions t~ the
general body of Western philosophy have b~en c~ntnbubons to the science
of society (sociology)." He went on to pomt out that over the years the
following terms have been seriously proposed as substitutes for the word
"sociology" : politics, political · science, social economy, social philosophy,
and social science. 13 Under the circumstances, any novice in the field must
surely ·be forgiven if he expresses some bewilderment when faced with the
task of distinguishing one social science from another. Maintaining these
distinctions is made more difficult by the · readiness of sociologists to accept
1
responsibility for any institution which is not already the subject of an estab-
·,. lished discipline. To the degree that these subjects are important and would
otherwise be neglected, sociologists deserve more to be praised than criticized.
The scholarly world has shown a remarkable capacity to exclude from serious
study enormous ranges of human activity, as if the common human nature
expressed. in family life, in stratification, in crime, made these vulgar studies
unfit s_u?1ec~s for gentlemen scholars. For a new branch of study to win
recog~ibon m the university and the learned academies has been only slightly
les~, difficult than for the camel to pass through that gate in Jerusalem known
as the needle's eye."
This open quality of sociology, its ready ac~eptance of new topical
fiel?s, stems fr?~ the sociologist's general concern ·with systems of social
action and theu mterrelations. 14 Inevitably this leads him to deal with all
aspe{t~ of man's social life, whether or riot the subject has already been
mar ;..bout ~s the special province or preserve of some other discipline.·
ere is no court to which we can turn for the adjudication of such
13 "Sociol " V I X .
14 System:~~'soci~l · fV, Encyclopedia Britannica ( 1911 )~ p. 322 ff.
. ac ion are defined and discussed in Chap. 5.

24
territori~l disputes. Of e~ch ~ntellectual discipline which takes a particular
subject 111 ha1~d we may 111 qmre: Does it ask challenging questions? Is there,
or can we devise, a.method f?r exploring the questions it raises? Once applied,
will this method yiel? mean111gful ~acts? Can these facts be grouped together
to formulate conclus10ns or generalizations which are contributions to knowl-
edge? Do ~hese conclusions ~ow point the way to new questions which can
carry us still further forward 111 our effort to understand man and his works?
How, and how well, sociology meets these challenges we shall see in subse-
quent ~hapters. _In. the next s~ction ~e seek the answer to the first question:
What 1s the ma111 issue to which soc10logy addresses itself?

Toward a Definition of Sociology: \

Social Order, Disorder, and Change
If you were to insist that the basic problem to which
sociology addre~ses itself be described in a single phrase, we would reply:
It seeks to expla111 the nature of social order and social disorder.
S-2$.Q!9gy shares with · a_ll other essentially scientific perspectives. the ,
assumption that there is order in nature, and tbat it can be discovered, /
described, an_d understood. J~ J_~e 1~~§_ 9f p~ysiq d~_scribe t4e underlying_
order govern111g the relati~1! objects, astronomy the order of the
plan~~ry -~~ste~ ,__ g~9-logy the ·o!der m_1derlying th~e history and_pres~n~. _str~c-
fiife _of .the eartli, so sociology seeks to discover,-·aescribe; and expla111 the
order which characterizes the social life of man. · ·
---·· -- when we-sp_e_i!k of "order" we mean .that ·events occur in a more-or-less
regularsequence or pattern, ·so·}fia-t we cari make an e-mpirically verifiabl~-
statement about the relation or one event to another at given ·points in time
under specified condition<.Sociology deals witl-t'.'.'.!~~~~! S_!,!<;h_fo_~ ~ o~ 9rder, _
varying greatly in scale but eac;h__Jiavmg_s}il?s_"tantiall)'._ _same cha~a_ct~t-
- --1neprofilem-1sp erhaps mosf 1evident at the level of the largest unit
with which sociology usually deals, the nation-state or other form of large-
scale society. Collectively, the members of a large society perform millions,
or even billions, of social acts in the ~o'urs~ _ of a single 'day.~5 YyJJhe outcome
if iiot
- oedlarr(' ' total corifosion
---....
and ·chaos;
. .,
bu·t ra tner
-~-·
' '" .,
·a ·.rea~onabl~
.
approxima- .
ti?n otorder. .~i~-Q!~~~i!5~ch inaiyidual _t_gym~u~_~ P~I~_tl_c.9_1u.se
w!~~ ut t_?.~_s~~-o1!~lr, ii:iterf~n-~g -~~t1l.!!.1~.l!~!-12~ ~JJ rtll_~_rs_!?.! _!!_)~e1E P.~~?~e~,.,
ana goals. Indeed, this order generally assures that each can actually faciTitate
to someclegree the attainment by others of their goals. T he prime object
.2.f sociol~__y_ E_ !? ~~EB!!LE.?.~ .this ..£f:?P11s~= ~~?~t: .?ow ~ e ~. r~~son]gl~ ·
.. d~ coordniahon _of so many diverse · mwv1dual a.cbons yields the
·routiile1fowofsociaf1ife:Wnenwe·s af fna'fThereisasocial~stem;· we refei -
toThecoorctinaticm-an<fintegration-of sociai ''Ifcl,s- wliich- permittfiemrooccur·
in a-·way tli~f piodii_~es ~~er -rathii_~~ii£![~ . .
Since our emphasis on orcler may be so easily misunderstood, we hasten
to :ffid. early and emphatically that to delineate the nature of the social order
is not necessaritvfoa rove 75rus1:i'fyte/\--mrnti'f:rfi'a"n""'goveminehE -aTso
v ops a social order. A sociologist who studiesif7niry-expl~ffi"'1'.h"e-role
of fhe~mcmulitlrtcpany in monopolizing political power. He may show how
the media of mass communication are used to mobilize public opinion and to
manufacture the appearance of consensus, or expose the role which secret-
police terror plays in permitting the elite to effect social control. In so doing,
•
15 See Chap. 5 for definitions and discussions of the terms social act and society.

25
the sociological perspective
w
. . deed in any necessary way judg-
he obviously is not justifying, ~xcusm~ ni°r The sociologist may certainly be
i~g the social order with which he 1ea s. nd to emphasize one rather than
stimulated by his own values to exp orela doing the job of analysis, he is
. h. ch· a system. n b . h" h
another problem wit m su . . . with the system a as1s on w IC we can
also giving those of us not fam;J:::al ·udgment. But such judg~ent should
form our own moral and po lt k of de~~ bing th~ _b! SIC order by
not be confused with the ~eplarate . alssvstem is ent in ,212eration.
. d ·11 nart1cu ar soc1a L . ___,_c;..,,-,--,- "~ d h Id 1
which, fo~ ~ j !--~->- ·-·--"-n_.,1th. the problem of or er _s OU_ ...-n~t ..,~ad
The
.,,........ soc10Jog1sths hconcer~---~t - -· t 1.n· or re------=
no m eres sponsibilihr ~; ·ft;t studymg marii-
.- ._
to
one assume_ that e as .
1
t m functions flawlessly, regardless of the
1esta_Qon_~ of ~1s~~d_ef . No_ s~ciavi~~e~. Certainly ~9 _soc~~l _syste~ _!s -~~~ect
perspective ~rom w~ich 1} 1~ its memoers.1f is· endemic 1~ --~oc~a, 'hfe ~that
from th;:.P..9..1.~.t of_view O a 1 lues not fulfilled, some goals not attameo.'
1
some no~:11~ "Y H.no~ be m~~r~o:: v:,ibe som'e· important realms fn- ~hich 'tlie
1na~e~,_m_ ~ny so~1ety, _t 11 . or ligally defined standard, and·-often aj ·grea't·
m~1ority 'fvw ~te e 1ocia Y o( the highways of the United States during .
~9~tL_ofbh eD. tnp ka ondg a?llysuffice to make the point. Almost all societies
the a or ay wee en w1 . . . Jer __ -·-· . --~-
know periods, often long ones, gf.Jiot, civil war, m?b vi~ ence? ten:or, .~Q~ ·
and gen'~~al disorganization. Each of these __ m~mfestat10ns is__ a ~: P!_£1:ure
fiOiiUilme social order already established _or, as m case of count_er-revolufioo,·
one seeking to estabiisli itself. And ·even _ch_~9~9e_IJS.. ..not.. ne.c..ess~gly ch,~0,2.
Within both individual and collective life. tbere a_:r_:~ -~·'.nat~~al f.g_:r_:ces
making fo; ·order and stability ancrother equally "natural" forces mam g for --
d~~91:de~, _cgnflict, a?d di~ru~tion. T.!l_~_~_!!~p~e- _forces may be
~ ] Ier~nt_at_ d~fl.."!e-'.!t J:!!lles. It 1s a matter of preference, of personal
mclination or pnilosophic onentat10n, whether yo~ choose ~o see the world
as a place inherently in a state of disorder strugglmg to ach1ev~ som~ order,
or as normallv in a condition of order but subject to constant d1srupt10n and
the threat of 'disorder. For myself, I am quite satisfied that it fits the existing
facts better, and is more conducive to effective analysis, to assume order as
man's basic condition. To make this assumption is very far from passing on
the importance of studying · man's frequent and important plunges into a
state of relative disorder. I stress "relative," because without some order,
even within conditions of seeming general disorder, man would cease to sur-
vive. Some societies persistently failed to solve the problem of maintaining
order, and. have dissolved, their members scattered, absorbed elsewhere, or
totally vanished. But always there has been another social system in which
order prevailed and social man survived.
J. _f.: ~-?._cio.19.gy w~ic~ .co_~pletelyj gnores th_e manifestations of disorder
m socia} 11e.)t£i~~th:,Jll) i.IJ~omplet~-~·~d) nactequate 'sodology.Noless "may ·
1resaicf o1 one which denies the basic facts of s'ocial order andt ums its back
on the mechani~ms ~hich i_nsu_re it, concerning itself exclusively with the
problems of social d1sorgamzation. The conflict between those who hold
th.. for
out · ,, anf "equilibrium
~· . . . theory" and. .1:.l'imc--1.
e wuo urge· -~-us to ·adop t a " ~ · 1fl..1c
,:,---·""'- -t
th eoz..d?--~f ~iett.E- steri~e, ~ince a complete socj_oi'ogy must iricftj4~.-both
16

"l1'jf · s u Y O ~e,_r_-~_ncla1sorcter,anclalso o·roraerly arid~disorderly change.

on-
mold ~eldman ~nd W iloett""Mooreurge us·-the ·more dynamic . inclusiv·e
conception ?f society as a "tension management system." '
The order' char t · t · 0 f • .
regularTzea--pa1rems o/.:. e~IS l~w _. ~~y .so_c_1~l .~ystem thus consists_ of both
___ . action and msbtubons that control, ameliorate, ·•or·
16 These conceptions 0· f society
· . protagonists are discussed
and their · in Chap. · 3.

26
the sociological perspective