SOCIOLOGY

BULLET POINTS FOR LECTURE 1

TOPIC: INTRIDUCTIONN OF SOCIOLOGY

Introduction to sociology
 Sociology The word Sociology is derived from the Latin word ‘societies’
meaning ‘society’ and the Greek word ‘logos’ are meaning ‘study or
science’.
 Sociology can simply be defined as a systematic or scientific study of human
society.
 Sociology gives a whole new insight into a human world.
 Sociology meant to find the social reality of a phenomenon.
Subject matter of sociology
 Sociology focused on human interaction.
 The subject matter of sociology is to observe human behaviour.
 It focused on the social factors which influenced human behaviour.
Development of sociology
 Following factors are important in the development of the discipline
 Industrial Revolution
 Growing cities
 Political Changes
 French Revolution
 French Revolution was a political upheaval in France in 1789 and
lasted till 1799
 A bloody revolution compels social thinkers to explore the causes of
revolution and to suggest alternatives to social change.
Brief history of Sociology
 Social analysis has origins its origin from the ancient Greek Philosopher,
Plato
 Chinese philosopher Confucius wrote about the importance of social roles
 Ibn Khaldun, an Arab Islamic scholar is considered as the father of
sociology owing to his book Muqdamah, considered a pioneer advanced
work on society.
  French scholar, Auguste Comte coined the term of Social Physics which
later became Sociology. Comte is known as the father of Sociology.
Sociology as a science
 Sociology is a science but social science.
 Sociology has a scientific approach towards the social phenomenon.
 Sociology is different from other subjects of social sciences in terms of;
 Anthropology deals with past culture and origin of humans.
 History deals with the past historical event and their influence in
today’s life.
 Economics deals with the ways of production and the exchange of
goods and services.
 Psychological investigates the personality and individual behaviour.
 However, sociology focused to the influence that society has on
people’s behaviour and the way they interact and shape the society.
Vocabulary of sociology
Absolute and Relative
Poverty
Acculturation

Action

Ageing

Alienation

Applied Sociology

Ascribed Status

Assimilation

Autarchy

Authority

Balance of power
Blue collar job

Bourgeoisie

Bureaucracy

Bureaucratization

Calvinism

Capitalism

Census

Centre and Periphery

Charismatic Authority

Chicago School

Civil Disorder

Civil Society

Cast and Class System

Class conflict

Cohort Research

Colonialism

Community

Core country

Cult

Cultural Lag

Cultural relativism
Basic concepts
 Society
 Society is a group of people with common territory, interaction, and
culture.
 Culture
 People of the same society share aspects of their culture, such as
language or beliefs. Culture refers to the language, values, beliefs,
behaviour, and material objects that constitute a people’s way of life.
It is a defining element of society.
 Social interaction
 Members of a society must interact one another. If a group of people
within a country has no regular contact with another group, those
groups cannot be considered part of the same society. Geographic
distance and language barriers can separate societies within a country.
 Community
 Bogardes: It is a social group with some degree of "we feelings and
living in a given area"