1.

0 TOPIC: THE SUBJECT MATTER OF SOCIOLOGY

1.1 INTRODUCTION
Sociology is often defined as the scientific study of society. Auguste Comte, the founding
father of sociology, defined it as social physics, because sociology like physics should apply those
scientific methods which have made great advances in the natural sciences possible in
understanding human behaviours. The discipline of sociology has therefore, not only come to stay,
but more importantly, Conte’s works present the first scientific study of society. Since then
sociology has been concerned with the study of human society in all its facets or ramifications.
1.2 OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lecture, you should be able to:
(a) describe the subject matter of sociology;
(b) explain the nature of human society
1.3 MAIN TEXT
(a) The Subject Matter of Sociology
Auguste Comte, the founding father of sociology, advocated that human society and its
various components i.e., the subject matter of sociology should be studied as static and
dynamic. Static in the sense of its various components i.e, structure and functions, (i.e,
subsystems institutions and persons) and dynamic in terms of the changes of changing
circumstances that have occurred overtime. He also formulated the law of three stages of
societal growth i.e, theological, being the primitive or pre-literate stage where the powers of
priests etc. dominated human society; the metaphysical, marking the period of enlightenment
and reformation, as well as reasoning, and the scientific, being the stage of industrial,
revolution and scientific discoveries, as well as technological growth and development.
Following Comte, Herbert Spencer regards sociology as the study of society like a biological
organism with interdependent parts, functioning independently and interdependently for the
survival of the whole system. Society as a system has sub-system institutions, and persons
with statuses and roles for their existence or survival and that of the society. In a similar
manner, Emile Durkheim considers the network of human relationships and societal growth
from a simple, undifferentiated form i.e. homogeneity to highly differentiated or complex
form or industrialized society. In other words, man and societal progress over definite
historical periods and attendant changes that have occurred overtime.
According to Durkheim society is a moral entity that is external to the individual’s but coerces
their compliance through their belief system into a community or moral entity. Karl Marx
equally concerned with the nature of human society, (as the subject matter of sociology) was
interested largely with conflicts in society since most human societies are stratified, especially
along class dimensions. Due to the existence of classes in human societies, conflicts become
inevitable over material resources in terms of owners and non-owners of means of production.
The mode of production determines the nature of the classes, and relationships in the super
structural arrangement of the society. All human societies as Marx contended have progressed
from primitive communism to slavery, to feudalism, to capitalism from where further
conflicts will lead to the overthrow of the bourgeoisie, resulting in socialism, a classless and
egalitarian society. Finally, communism, would be attained as the last stage of societal or
human growth and development. The history of all hitherto existing society, has therefore,
been the history of class struggle. Sociological studies should thus be concerned with
conflicts, not only consensus in the understanding of human behaviours or society.
Contrary to Marx, Weber considers sociology as dealing with the study of organizations and
the role of ideas in the development of human society. He argued that modern or contemporary
societies are being organized especially along the Bureaucratic dimensions as demonstrated
by his theory of Bureaucracy. The role of ideas is also significant in transforming the societies,
through his protestant, ethics and spirit of capitalism i.e, the Calvinistic doctrine of John
Calvin. Weber has also drawn the attention of sociology to the study of power and authority
relationships in society, which he christened domination. According to Weber legitimated
power results in authority which leads to three types of domination. These legal or rational,
traditional and charismatic domination. Rational domination is the basis for morden
bureaucracies with definite hierarchical arrangements and structures, as well as functions. The
traditional domination is through customs and traditions, while that of charismatic is through
the gift of Grace, or extra-ordinary qualities of the individual or person.
At any rate, besides those already mentioned, others such as Talcott Persons and R.K. Merton
are equally concerned with the subject matter of sociology, Talcott Parsons in particular,
conceives of society (the object of study) as a social system.
According to Parsons, it is important to know how societies evolved. Although he was mostly
concerned with modern societies like U.S.A, his analysis was on whole societies. He believed
that certain types of social structure are important for every society. In his published essay on
‘Evolutionary Universals in Society, he indicated his analysis of whole societies as social
systems, with inter-dependents parts, functioning for the survival of the system.
Parsons (1964) was also concerned with human behaviours in society which he christened
social action. It is known as social analysis which sociologists should also concern themselves
with. He therefore, classified human behavior based on motivations for human action. In other
words, human minded behavior, which is dominated by the motives of the actor
Furthermore, according to him, for any society to survive and develop, it requires five
functional prerequisites which should be the concern of all sociologists in their investigations.
These are (a) pattern maintenance (b) tension management (c) goal attainment (d) adaptation
to environment and € integration of the various components. However R.K Menton (1957) in
his ‘social theory and social structure’ stated that a society can have latent and manifest
functions. Latent functions referring to the unintended consequences of social action or human
behaviours, and the manifest referring to the intended consequences. For example, the
chairman of NEC in Nigeria after an election announces the result of the winners of the
elections with the intention of educating the general public and the politicians bout the
electoral process and outcome of the balloting, only to achieve demonstrations from the
supporters of the losers, after the announcement which is not intended by the chairman.
(b) Methodology of Sociological Study
The Methology of sociology as conceived by the founding fathers of the discipline, which has
been summarized by John Rex refers to classification searching for laws and establishment of
causal relations and sequences.
Sociology should classify social facts in terms of observable characteristics of human
behaviours and institutions or organizations. This is normally based on empirical
investigations. This method is similar to the biological sciences which deal largely with the
classification of living things into animals and plants. Even amongst animals further
classifications are made. The human body in particular is classified into various systems i.e.
digestive excretory, ambulatory, skeletal, reproductive etc. in a similar vein, the sociologists
classify human society into various systems e.g. the political, economic, cultural, religious,
amongst others.
In searching for laws, sociologists achieve it in two ways. Firstly, it is by the process of
induction and secondary, it is by the process of education. Induction is the process of moving
from a particular phenomenon to generalizations of the incidence of such phenomena. In other
words, by observing characteristics of a group of people in understanding the bahviour
manifestations of the larger segments, of corporate groups in society. Deduction is by moving
from the general characteristics to the particular characteristics or differences involved with
the phenomenon under study. The manifest characteristics can thus be utilized to understand
the unobservable of any given phenomenon/
Sociologist establish causal relations and sequences through cause and effects relationships.
In understanding the relationships among variables, in terms of independent and dependent
variables, the sociologist applies the causality model. In any given event or social occurrences,
there is always cause and effects. The causes may not be the direct outcomes in terms of
causes and consequences of social behaviors or events or even social action. Several other
methods also exist but would be considered in subsequent analysis.
In any case, sociology has applied and will continue to apply its methodology in the
understanding of society and network of human relationships. The founding fathers were
concerned or pre-occupied with these models of investigations as they relate to human
behaviours and the social system. The study of man and his society requires these methods
and approach. Yet it cannot exact as in the case of the physical sciences. Moreover, sociology
is a social science dealing with human beings who are complex and difficult to experiment
under controlled laboratory situations to give solid results. Nevertheless, its objectivity and
methodology give credence to the discipline as the science of society.
(c) The Scope of Sociology
Sociology deals with human society which is complex, diverse, embracing various activities
of human endeavor. It is therefore, wide ranging covering most aspects of human concerns.
Man’s behaviours and network of relationships in the market situation, politics or power
relationship, worship or church service, health care, industry, security and all other
innovations, or activites in a constantly chaning world, or dynamic societies are of major
concern to the sociologist. Consequently, there is sociology of medicine, sociology of law,
industrial sociology, sociology of religion, social work, political sociology, sociology of the
military, criminology, urban and rural sociology, amongst others covering different spheres
of human endeavours. These aspects also provide the basis for specializations in certain areas
of society or human concrns.
(d) Limitations of Sociology
Although sociology is a wide ranging discipline, it has obvious limitations. In the first place,
it is a social science not a physical science. Therefore, it does not cover all spheres of the
society especially those areas that concern largely the physical sciences like biology,
chemistry etc.. However, in the study of social life, social action and social aggregates,
sociology becomes prominent hence it is concerned with the study of social life, other
discipline such as economics, political science, psychology and geopgraphy share most
concerns with sociology, nevertheless, the dichotomy is very clear between the subject matter
of sociology and those of the other social sciences, including the physical sciences, as already
indicated by the founding fathers of the discipline