What is sociology?

• Sociology is the systematic study of society (Macionis and Plummer, 2005).

• It is the study of human society and social interactions and is, therefore, concerned with the
interactions of humans and the meaning they attach to these interactions.
• The founding father of sociology is the French philosopher. Auguste Comte (1798-1857) and he
• Comte referred to sociology as the scientific study of society and argued that all societies develop
and progress through three (3) stages: religious, metaphysical (being philosophical), and scientific.
• Sociology is an important social discipline because:
(a) it allows for the investigation of the influence of social forces on human behaviors:
(b) it helps the individual to understand human society and how social systems, structures and
institutions works;
(c) it looks beyond common sense to understand human actions and interactions;
(d) it allows for critical thinking about social issues and problems;
DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGY AS A
DICIPLINE
• Sociology is considered one of the main social disciplines.

• A social discipline is a branch of social science that deals with human

behavior. Other examples of social discipline are anthropology,
psychology, political science, economics and history.

• Sociology tends to overlap with these social disciplines because they

all deal, in some way, with human actions, behaviors and
interactions. Additionally, they all want to explain why society
operates the way it does.