DEFINATION OF SOCIOLOGY

Since the appearance of Ibn Khaladun’s (1332-1406 A.D.) Maqaddamah’ , various authors have given a variety of definitions of Sociology. The simplest and the briefest of study is of a highly generalized level and nature. The question arises as to what is “society”? Sociology literature contains a number of definitions of society. There is no complete consensus on a single definition of the concept among sociologists themselves. This puts serious limitations on the basic unit of study and analysis in sociology in evolving a single definition of the discipline.

BASIC   UNIT OF STUDY

The Basic unit of study in Sociology is neither an individual nor his physical structure. His organs or his mental capabilities as seen do not constitute the subject matter of sociology. Sociology is interested in what happens when individuals meet, talk, cooperate, compete  quarrel ,love , or hate one another in their family , economics , political , educational, religious, play, and recreational activities This, the unit of study, at lowest level, in this discipline is an interacting individual. The locus of study in sociology in social interaction. The logical question arises.” What is social interaction”? Social interaction refers “ to any tangible event that influences the overt and/or covert behavior of an individual”. Such an event presupposes that there are(1) two or more than two individuals(2) there is a communication between these individuals (3) some of these individuals are passing on any message while others are receiving the message (4) these individuals are sharing common symbols and (5) they perceive, define , evaluate, interpret and relate the situation in a meaningful way for getting hints for their behaviours  performance. When two or more individuals are in a state of interaction, they form a group. The systematic study of structure and functioning of human groups may be defined as Sociology. The concept of interaction is basic and fundamental for group and societal life. The subject matter of sociology is individual in interaction having interdependence on one another. The same matter is also studied by other social sciences but the focus of attention on social relationship makes Sociology distinct from other social sciences. A brief account in respect of relationship of Sociology with other social sciences has been given in the latter part of the present chapter.

When the individuals are in a state of interaction and they are interdependent, they develop relationships with one another. They act one way or the other in different social situations. The study of such human relationships is the field of Sociology. How and why men act differently in the same situation and how and why people act similarly in different circumstances. This is a sociologist’s primary field of study. Sociology seeks to find out such  uniformities and universalities in human relationships. Such findings are predictive in nature.

Since Sociology aims at analyzing, describing, interpreting and predicting human behavior, therefore, biological   characteristics, geographical environment, group life and cultural factors are given much importance while studying human behavior scientifically. Sociology studies every aspect of human behavior, irrespective of the fact that it is right or wrong, desired or undesired , normal or abnormal, good or bad. The subject matter of Sociology is to study human behavior which is influenced by virtue of group participation without passing any value judgement. Every human behavior is social as it is the outcome of an interacting individual. The study of such human behavior falls within the province of Sociology.

SOCIAL NORMs

The products of interacting individuals are many but social norms are the most outstanding and important from the sociological point of view. Social norms are the shared expectations from an individuals in a social situation ( a recurring group event in which the role and the status of an individual  is distributed with reference to time an space ).  Which  stabilize the structural aspect of the group and regulate its functionaries. Competition , conflict, cooperation, accommodation and assimilation are the important intersactional   processes, which are the outcome of normative order of a given group at a given time and place. The study of these social processes is of major concern for a student of Sociology.

SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS AND SOCIETY

When the norms are refined and placed in order, an inter-related system of such norms pertaining to a relatively limited area of group activity is called a social institution. The family, marriage, economic, political, religious, play and recreation are important social institutions of people living in a community. If we see all the social institutions of society as a whole, it constitutes the social structure of society. The changing  aspect of social structure is called social organization. Sociology is the synthesizing and generalizing science understanding, analyzing, describing and interpreting human relationship occurring in social organization at a given time and place.