Introduction to Sociology 2023 PDF

**CHAPTER ONE: UNDERSTANDING SOCIOLOGY** **1.1. Meaning and Definition of Sociology** The term sociology was first coined by a French philosopher and thinker Auguste Comte (1798-1857) in 1838, linking two words, **socius** and **logos**. Socius is a Latin word to mean society, city, companion, tog...

**CHAPTER ONE: UNDERSTANDING SOCIOLOGY** **1.1. Meaning and Definition of Sociology** The term sociology was first coined by a French philosopher and thinker Auguste Comte (1798-1857) in 1838, linking two words, **socius** and **logos**. Socius is a Latin word to mean society, city, companion, togetherness or people where as logos is a Greek word which means knowledge or wisdom. The literal meaning of sociology is, therefore, the knowledge, study or the science of, or reason of society. Since then the term spread rapidly and is now used in virtually all language to denote any relative rigorous, reasoned (scientific) study of society. Sociologists instead of giving a formal definition of sociology have entered into an extended discussion of its nature. Some, however, have used a colorless definition like "Sociology is the science of society,\" or" the scientific study of society,\" or" the science of social phenomena.\" Others, using more words, add but little, as for example, "Sociology is the name applied to a somewhat inchoate mass of materials which embodies our knowledge about society.\" Other definitions somewhat more definite, yet unsatisfactory in many ways, are, "the science of social process \" and \" the science of social relation.\" Better than these are, \" Sociology is the study of men considered as affecting and as affected by association,\" or, \" the study of human association, including whatever conduces to it or modifies it. Professor Giddings, defines as follows: "Sociology is an attempt to account for the origin, growth, structure, and activities of society by the operation of physical, vital, and psychical causes working together in a process of evolution.\" **Therefore, sociology is a social science concerned with the systematic study of human social relationships and the various ways these relationships are patterned in terms of social groups, organizations and societies.** Sociology is a branch of the science of human behavior that seeks to discover the causes and effects that a rise in social relations among persons and in the intercommunication and interaction among persons and groups. Sociology is concerned with the basic nature of human societies, locally and universally, and with the various processes that preserves continuity and produce change over time. Its long run aim is to discover the basic structure of human society, to identify the main forces that hold groups together or weaken them, and to learn the conditions that transform social life. Sociology also studies the individuals' place in a society, the influence of society on an individual, the influence of individual on society, and the influence between members of society. Sociology includes the study of the customs, structures, and institutions that emerge from interaction, of the forces that held together and weaken them, and of the effects that participation in groups and organizations have on the behavior and character of persons. Sociology and sociologists deal with the social environments: religions behaviors; conduct in the military; the behavior of workers and managers in the industry; the activities of voluntary associations; the changing relationship between men and women or between ageing individuals and their elderly parents. Furthermore, sociology and sociologists study the behavior of groups in cities and neighborhoods; the activities of gangs; criminals, and judges; differences in the behavior of entire classes- the rich, the middles classes, the poor, the down-and- out; the way cities grow and change; the fate of entire societies during and after revolutions; and a host of other subjects. As stated by Soroka (1992:34), Sociology is a debunking science i.e. it looks for levels of reality other than those presented in official interpretations of society and peoples' common sense explanation of the social world. **1.2. The Sociological Imagination** **Sociology and common sense** Common sense is what "everyone knows" or what we experienced. The sources of commonsense may be from faith and beliefs, experiences and conversations, from what we see from TV, from what we read from books, and so forth. While common sense is sometimes accurate, it is not always reliable, because it rests on commonly held beliefs rather than on systematic analysis of facts. Sociologists do not accept something as a fact because "everyone knows it". Instead, each piece of information must be tested and recorded, then analyzed in relation with other data. **Learning to think sociologically**-- looking, in other worlds, at the broader view means cultivating the imagination. Studying sociology cannot be just a routine process of acquiring knowledge. A sociologist is someone who is able to break free from the immediacy of personal circumstances and put things in a wider context. Sociological work depends on what the American author C. Wright Mills, in a famous phrase, called the **sociological imagination**. The sociological imagination requires us, above all, 'to think ourselves away' from the familiar routines of our daily lives in order to look at them anew. Understanding the way in which our individual lives reflect the contexts of our social experience is basic to the sociological outlook. The social contexts of our lives are socially structured, or patterned in distinct ways. Social structure is not like physical structure, which exists independently of human actions. Therefore, human societies are always in the process of structuration. The sociological imagination (perspective) is an unusual type of creative thinking that sociologists rely on in attempting to understand social behavior. It is an awareness of the relationship between an individual and the wider society. It can bring new understanding to daily life around us. Sociological imagination is also the ability to see our private (individual) experiences and personal difficulties as intertwined with the structural arrangements of society and the historical time in which we live. The key element in sociological imagination is the ability to view one's own society as an outsider would, rather than only from the limited perspective of personal experiences and cultural biases. For example, unemployment is not only a personal hardship but also a social problem shared by millions of people. Divorce is a social problem since it is the outcomes of many marriages. By employing the sociological imagination, it is appropriate to question the way that a society is organized or structured. Most of us see the world in terms of the familiar features of our own lives. Sociology demonstrates the need to take a much broader view of why we are as we are, and why we act as we do. It teaches us that what we regard as natural, inevitable, good or true may not be such, and that the 'givens' of our life are strongly influenced by historical and social facts. Understanding the subtle yet complex and profound ways in which our individual lives reflect the contexts of our social experience is basic to the sociological outlook. In studying society, therefore, sociology employees its distinctive perspective which entails the following three ways of looking: 1. Seeing the general in particular 2. Seeing the strange in the familiar 3. Seeing the individuality in social context 1. **Seeing the general in particular** This way of looking entails thinking sociologically by identifying general patterns of social life by looking at concrete specific examples of social life. It involves seeking out general patterns of a given society in the behavior of its particular individual members. One way of thinking sociologically in this way is to identify how society acts differently on various categories of people while acknowledging that each individual is unique. General patterns of a given society such as age, sex, class, power, prestige, etc. can be observed by looking at the different behavioral acts of women versus men, poor versus rich, old versus young, ruled versus ruler. Such perspective helps us to understand the sociological fact that "although every individual is unique, society shapes the lives of members". Through adopting this perspective we will begin to think sociologically by realizing how the society we live in as well as the general category into which we fall within that society shapes our particular life experiences and guides our action, and life choices. 2. **Seeing the strange in the familiar** Peter Berger stated the first wisdom of sociology as" things are not what they seem". Thinking sociologically means giving up or challenging the familiar idea that we live our lives in terms of what we decided. Considering instead the initially strong notion that society shapes our experiences. Hence, sociology shows the patterns and processes by which society shapes what we do ranging from preliminary social unit of the society to different social institutions of a particular society's notion of social, political, and economic events of the world both historically and in contemporary sense. 3. **Seeing the individuality in social context** The sociological imagination often challenges common sense by which revealing ideas shapes that human behavior is not an individualistic as we may usually think. Hence the perspective expresses the power of society to shape individual choices. For most of us, in common sense, daily living is very individual which often carries a heavy load of personal responsibility so that we get ourselves on the back when we enjoy success and kick ourselves when things go wrong. Proud of our individuality, even in painful times, we resist the idea that **we act in socially patterned ways**. However, different sociologists used the distinctive point of view of sociology to explain and analyze most what is usually taken- for -granted as individual act. The sociological perspective leads to global awareness: which is based on the perspective that our place in society profoundly affects our life experiences and hence the position of our society. The larger world system affects everyone in our society. **Advantages of the Sociological Imagination** As we learn to use the sociological perspective, we readily apply it to our daily lives. Doing so provides four general benefits. A. The sociological perspective becomes a way of thinking, a 'form of consciousness' that challenges familiar understandings of ourselves and of others, so that we can critically assess the truth of common assumptions. B. The sociological perspective enables us to assess both opportunities and the constraints that characterize lives. Sociological thinking leads us to see that, better or worse, our society operates in a particular way. It helps us to see the **pattern and order** found in all societies. Moreover, in the game we may decide how to play our card, but it is society that takes the upper hand. The more we understand the game, then, the more effective players we will be. Sociology helps us to understand what we are likely and unlikely to accomplish for ourselves and how we can pursue our goals most effectively. C. The sociological perspective empowers us *to be active participants in our society*. Without an awareness of how society operates, we are likely to accept the status quo. We might just think that this is how all societies are, or how all people behave 'naturally'. But the greater understanding of the operation of a society, the more we can take an active part in shaping social life. D. The sociological perspective helps us *to recognize human differences and human suffering* and to confront the challenges of living in a diverse world. **1.3. Subject Matter and Scope of Sociology** **1.3.1. The Subject Matter of Sociology** Sociology emphasizes more on the following areas of interest. - - - - In general, there are **three** paths that are available for delineating the subject matter of sociology: ***1. The historical path***: whereby we seek through study of the classical sociological writings to find the central traditional concerns and interests of sociology as an intellectual discipline. The historical path offers us the opportunity to benefit from the wisdom of the past. In brief, we ask, "What did the founding fathers say?" 2\. ***The empirical path***: whereby we study current sociological work to discover those subjects to which the **discipline** gives most attention. In other words, we ask, "What are contemporary sociologists doing?" 3\. ***The analytical path:*** whereby we arbitrarily divide and delineate some larger subject matter and allocate it among different disciplines. **1.3.2. Scope of Sociology** The scope of sociological study is extremely wide, ranging from the analysis of passing encounters between individuals on the street to the investigation of global social processes. In general, sociologists focus on social environment. In sociology, social environment refers to all the expectations and incentives established by other people in a person's social world. Sociology deals with behavior ranging from the intimate glances of lovers to the complex coordination of a space shuttle launch. Thus for the purpose of analysis, we often speak of social behavior as occurring in three different level; 1. **Micro level**; is concerned with the behavior of the individual and his\\her immediate other 2. **Middle level**; middle level social phenomena s are those that occur in communities or in organization such as voluntary association 3. **Macro level**; deals almost exclusively with much larger society and it refers to the whole societies and the ways in which they are in changing. ##### Macro and Micro sociology There are generally two levels of analysis in sociology, which may also be regarded as branches of sociology: **micro-sociology and macro-sociology**. **Micro-sociology** concentrates on the study of small groups and the patterns and processes of human social relations, i.e. face to face interactions between humans. It is interested in small scale aspects of society or social phenomena. It focuses on social interaction; analyzing interpersonal relationships, and on what people do and how they behave when they interact. It also involves the detailed study of what people say, do and think moment by moment as they go about their daily lives. **Macro-sociology** concentrates on large groups, events or whole societies. Macro sociologists attempt to explain the fundamental patterns and processes of large-scale social relations. It focuses on the broad features of society to examine the large scale social phenomena that determine how social groups are organized and positioned within the social structure. It also emphasizes upon large scale and long term social processes, including the state, class, the family, the economy, culture, and society. Clearly, the micro-sociological and macro-sociological levels are not independent of one another. Large structures at the macro level are makeup of repetitive patterns of interaction at the micro level. In turn, what people think, say and do at the micro-level is influenced and shaped by large structures at the macro level. ##### Basic and Applied Sociology **Basic (pure) sociology** is concerned with increasing theoretical understanding of society or social phenomena -- knowledge on its own sake. It refers to research carried on to expand man's pofrontiers of knowledge irrespective of the immediate application/ of utility of that knowledge, or the research output. **Applied Sociology** on the other hand, is concerned with applying sociological knowledge or methods to solve practical problems. It refers to a research carried on in an effort to make practical application of scientific knowledge, to know and improve some social phenomena. Pure and applied sociology are not mutually exclusive, but complement to each other. Within these general frameworks, sociology may be divided in to specific sub-fields on the basis of certain criteria. The most important fields of sociology can be grouped in to six areas. - **The field of social organization and theory of social order**: focuses on institutions and groups, their formation and change, manner of functioning, relation to individuals and to each other. - **Social Control**: focuses on the ways in which members of a society influence one another so as to maintain social order. - **Social Change**: focuses on the way society and institutions change over time through technical inventions, cultural diffusions and cultural conflict, and social movements, among others. - **Social Processes**: focuses on the pattern in which social change takes place, and the modes of such processes. - **Social Groups**: focuses on how social groups are formed, structured, and how they function and change. - **Social Problems**: focuses on the social conditions which cause difficulties for a large number of persons and which the society is seeking to eliminate such as crime, poverty, prostitution, child abuse, war, ethnic conflict, marital conflict, etc. Currently, sociology has got quite several specific sub divisions or fields of specialization in it including criminology, demography, human ecology, political sociology, medical sociology, sociology of development, social psychology, sociology of science and technology, sociology of law, urban and rural sociology, economic sociology, industrial sociology, etc **1.4. Relevance of Sociology** How can sociology help us in our lives? - Learning sociology provides us with the sociological imagination- a particular way of looking at the word around us through sociological lenses. - Helps us understand how social forces influence our goals, attitudes, behavior, and personality. - Helps us to cast a side our own biased assumptions, stereotypes and ethno- centric thinking and practices, to become more critical, broad --minded and respectful in our interpersonal and inter- group relationships. - We can be more humane and people centered; we give high value to human dignity. - We play practical roles to tackle social pathologies (problems). - Awareness of cultural differences (diversities). - Learning sociology allows us to see the social world from other view-points than our own. - Self -- enlightenment (self-knowledge). - Sociology can provide us with increased self- understanding. It helps us to know our selves. - Assessing the effects of policies. - Sociological research provides practical help in assessing the results of policy initiatives and implementations. **1.5. Sociology and Other Social Sciences** **Science:** is the application of systematic methods to obtain knowledge and the knowledge obtained by those methods. Comparing sociology with other sciences help us better understand the place of sociology. **Sociology and Political Science**: focuses on *politics and government*. Political scientists study how people govern themselves: the various forms of government, their structures, and their relationships to other institutions of society. Political scientists are especially interested in how people attain ruling positions in their society, how they maintain those positions, and the consequences of their activities for those who are governed. **Sociology and Economics**: Economics also concentrates on a single social institution, like political science. It studies the *production, distribution and consumption of goods and services* by a society. They want to know what goods are being produced at what rate and at what cost, and how those goods are distributed. They are also interested in the choices that determine production and consumption for example, the factors that lead a society to produce one certain item instead of another. **Sociology and Anthropology**: Anthropology, in which the primary focus has been preliterate or *tribal people*, is the sister discipline of sociology. The main focus of anthropologists is to understand culture- a people's total way of life. Culture includes (1) the group's artifacts such as its tools, art, weapons; (2) the group's structure, that is, the hierarchy and other patterns that determine its members' relationships to one another; (3) the group's ideas and values, especially how its belief system affects people's lives; and (4) the group's forms of communication, especially language. The anthropologists' traditional to focus on tribal people is now giving way to the study of groups in industrialized settings. Furthermore, anthropology (physical anthropology) studies human biology. The main difference lays on method of inquiry. Predominantly, anthropological inquiry is carried out through fieldwork (long time qualitative research through the presence of the researcher in the society under study). However, it is difficult to put clear cut boundary between the two disciplines. **Sociology and Psychology**: The focus of psychology is on processes that occur within the *individual*. Psychologists are primarily concerned with *mental processes*: intelligence, emotions, perception and memory. Some concentrates an attitudes and values, others focus on personality, mental aberration (psychopathology or mental illness), and how individuals cope with the problem they face. **Sociology and Law**: Law is a system of rules, usually enforced through a set of institutions as stated earlier. **Sociology**: is the scientific study of human society and human behavior. It is one of the sciences that modern civilization has developed. Sociology has many similarities to other social sciences. Like political science, sociology studies how people govern one another and the impact of various forms of government on human life. Sociologists, like economists, study the social consequences of production and distribution of goods and services. Like psychologists, sociologists are also concerned with how people adjust to the difficulties of life. Like Anthropologists, sociologists are also concerned with the study of culture. What distinguishes sociology from other social sciences? Political science and economics concentrates on a single social institution. But sociologists do not concentrate on a single social institution. Unlike anthropology, sociology focuses primarily on industrialized societies. And unlike psychologists, sociologists stress factors external to the individual to determine what influences. **1.6. Historical Development of Sociology** Sociology is a relatively new science, emerging as a distinctive discipline in the 19^th^ century. By the end of that century, the discipline was well established in most European and several U.S universities. Although the early development of sociology occurred in Europe, Sociology's maturation has taken place largely in USA. Sociology has never been a discipline in which there is a body of ideas that everyone accepts as valid. Many students are puzzled by the diversity of approaches they encounter. Because, studying about our own lives and behavior is the most complex and difficult endeavor we can undertake. The objective and systematic study of human behavior and society is a relatively recent development whose beginnings date from the late 1700s. A key development was the use of *science to understand the world*- the rise of scientific approach. Traditional and religious- based explanations were supplanted by rational and critical attempts of knowledge. **1.6.1. Factors Contributed to the Development of Sociology** Certain developments in Europe paved the way for the emergence of sociology. Generally, the most important factors contributed for the development of sociology are called the nineteenth century social currents or social issues. Among those factors the most important ones include: **A). The French Revolution (1789)** The long series of political revolutions ushered in by the French Revolution in 1789 and carrying over through the nineteenth century was *the most immediate factor in the rise of sociological theorizing*. The impact of these revolutions on many societies was enormous, and many positive changes resulted. However, what attracted the attention of many early theorists was not the positive consequences, but the negative effects of such changes. These writers were particularly disturbed by the resulting chaos and disorder, especially in France. They were united in the desire to restore order to society. Some of the more extreme thinkers of this period literally wanted a return to the peaceful and relatively orderly days of the Middle Ages. The more sophisticated thinkers recognized that social change had made such a return impossible. Thus they sought instead to find new bases of order in societies that had been overturned by the political revolutions of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This interest in the issue of social order was one of the major concerns of classical sociological theorists, especially Comte and Durkheim. The revolution marked the triumph of secular ideas and values such as liberty and equality, over the traditional social order. The 1789 French Revolution was quite different from the rebellions of previous times. In the French Revolution, for the first time in history there took place the overall dissolution of social order by a movement guided by secular ideas. The French revolution which was aimed to abolish monarchical system was excessive in nature that caused instability and disorder in French society. Social thinkers of the time like Auguste Comte worried how to restore the social order. They needed an appropriate science that they could use to understand, explain and solve the social problems of French society. **B). The Industrial Revolution (late 18^th^ century- Britain)** The Industrial Revolution grew out of many economic and political developments as well as intellectual ones. Increasingly the European economy shifted from a strictly agricultural one to an economy based on manufacturing, trading, and many scholars sometimes called "The Industrial Revolution." Industrial Revolution as a process begun in England and spreading out across Europe and the United States. The transformation of Western European societies from being agriculturally based to being industrially based, manual production system which involved human and animal power was replaced by production system that involved in animated energy sources like coal, steam, hydro electric powers and so on. The industrial revolution brought massive social changes and social problems. The industrial revolution has brought a number of changes such as; - New technological innovations (stem power and machinery) - Migration of peasants from the land (rural area) to factories and industrial work. - Rapid expansion of urban areas ushered in new forms of social life (relationships). E.g. Change in family structure (from extended family to nuclear family). Along with and as a result of industrial revolution a number of social changes occurred in European newly industrialized societies. Some of the massive changes occurred in Europe following the industrial revolution. Urbanization was one of the social changes. Following the establishment of factories and industries urban centers were developing around them. Urbanization process was also accompanied by massive migration of people from rural to urban. There were pulling and pushing factors for the massive migration. The pulling factor was the need of job as daily laborer for wage in the factories in the urban centers. The pushing factor was the eviction of peasants from their agricultural land of crop production in favor of sheep rearing which was demanded for wool production for textile factories. Other massive social changes were the change of economic system from feudalism to capitalism and the beginning of massive education. The industrial revolution and its consequences, massive social changes, resulted in a number of social problems. The people migrated to urban centers from partly pushing factor in rural areas ended up *unemployed*; there was no housing service that could absorb the excessive migrants; migrants from different corners of the urban center came from different cultural back grounds that caused *cultural confusion*. The new way of life in general and the eviction of people from rural areas had *broken the social networks* such as the family, kinship, social values and norms. Furthermore, people engaged in different *criminal activities* which were partly contributed by poverty. Industrialism and urbanism are at the heart of the transformation that has irreversibly dissolved most traditional forms of society. Sociology come into being as those caught up in the initial series of change brought about by the cumulative effects of the factors discussed above. **C). The Enlightenment and advances in natural sciences and technology** It is the view of many observers that the Enlightenment constitutes a critical development in terms of the later evolution of sociology. The Enlightenment was a period of remarkable intellectual development and change in philosophical thought. A number of long-standing ideas and beliefs -- many of which related to social life -- were overthrown and replaced during the Enlightenment. The most prominent thinkers associated with the Enlightenment were the French philosophers Charles Montesquieu (1689-1755) and Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). The influence of the Enlightenment on sociological theory, however, was more indirect and negative than it was direct and positive. As Irving Zeitlin puts it, "Early sociology developed as a reaction to the Enlightenment." Enlightenment is the eighteenth century social philosophical and intellectual movement that emphasized *human progress* and the poser of *reason* and based on Darwinian Theory of Evolution. Overall, the Enlightenment was characterized by the belief that people could comprehend and control the universe by means of reason and empirical research. The view was that because the physical world was dominated by natural laws, it was likely that the social world was, too. Thus it was up to the philosopher, using reason and research, to discover these social laws. Once they understood how the social world worked, the Enlightenment thinkers had a practical goal -- the creation of a "better," more rational world. With an emphasis on reason, the Enlightenment philosophers were inclined to reject beliefs in traditional authority. When these thinkers examined traditional values and institutions, they often found them to be irrational -- that is, contrary to human nature and inhibitive of human growth and development. The mission of the practical and change-oriented philosophers of the Enlightenment was to overcome the irrational systems. The theorist who was most directly and positively influenced by Enlightenment thinking was Karl Marx, but he formed his early theoretical ideas in Germany. The enlightenment thinkers started to ask question about society that sociologists eventually came to ask: why do people do what they do? Why is there inequality? Wide spread poverty? Crime? Before the eighteen-century, the answers to those questions had been religious. The enlightenment altered a traditional explanation of human behavior. The central belief of enlightenment is that *society is created by people* and people can determine what society becomes as well as the belief that human individual action is strongly influenced by society's patterns, led to the development of sociology as a science in nineteenth century. Enlightenment thinkers rejected the notion that we could understand the world by explaining events in religious terms. Instead, they said we must *turn to reason and science*, for everything in society like everything in nature, was lawful. In the human history for long period of time religion and religious leaders had been the only source of explanation regarding every aspect of human life. Whatever positive thing happen to human individuals or society as whole, it was simply believed as blessing from supernatural powers. If the opposite, something negative happened like famine, war, disease the only assumption was as if the curse from God. For all things people had been thought created for the glory of God and questioning about the nature of human being, government and natural environment was considered to be sinful. The enlightenment was an important beginning to the study of society because it pointed the way, and it asked the important questions even beyond the religious explanation. By doing so it resulted in *secularization* where by the religious aspect of human life was separated from the nonreligious one. *The dominance of religion as the only source of explanation ceased for the first time*. Social thinkers started to explain social phenomena using scientific evidences which made possible the development of sociology and other social sciences. Another important result of enlightenment was the development of natural or physical sciences that contributed to development of sociology. Sometimes before the development of sociology, natural sciences like Biology, Physics and Chemistry were developed. These sciences had developed their own methods of study that they employed for studying physical features. Social thinkers, at then, had adopted those methods and modified them to use in studying social phenomena. The enlightenment also inspired the French Revolution, the other powerful influence on the development of sociology. **Secularization** Secularization is the process whereby religious thinking, practices and institutions lose social significance. The influence of religion was minimal. Before secularization people were under sacred outlook or taking everything for- grant (believing that everything is predetermined by God). Therefore, sociology is a secular science. Note: The Industrial Revolution, the French political revolution, and the Enlightenment and advance in natural sciences and a technology were the major conditions that gave rise to the emergence and development of sociology as an academic science. **1.6. Founding Fathers (Pioneers) of Sociology** 1. **Auguste Comte** **(1798-1857), French Social Thinker** The word "Sociology" was first coined in 1838 by Auguste Comte, French man, in his work *Positive Philosophy*. His full name was Isidore-Auguste-Marie-Francois-Xavier-Comte and he termed sociology replacing social physics which was termed ***in 1824***. Comte is generally referred to as the father of Sociology. **He defined sociology as the scientific study of social dynamics and social static.** While s**ocial dynamics** refers to the changing, progressing and developmental dimensions of society and the study of factors contributed to progress and social change, s**ocial static s**ignify the social order and those elements of society and social phenomena which tend to persist and relative permanent, defying change. It studies the mechanism through which societies maintain themselves to the new generation and how society is held together. Originally Comte used the term "social physics", but some of his intellectual rivals at the time were also making use of the term. He wanted to distinguish his own views from theirs, and he coined the term sociology to describe the subject he wished to establish. **He believed that the science of sociology should be based on systematic *observation and classification (positivism)*, the same principle that governed the study of the natural sciences. Positivism is the idea of applying the scientific method to the social world. Comte said sociology would use empirical methods to discover basic laws of society, which would benefit human kind by playing a major part in the improvement of the human condition.** Comte argued that sociology can and should study society and social phenomena following the pattern and procedures of the natural science. His vision for sociology was that of positive science. He believed that sociology should apply the same rigorous scientific methods to the study of society that physics or chemistry use to study the physical world. This approach is called **positivism**. Positivism holds that science should be concerned only with observable entities that are known directly to experience. *A positivist approach to sociology believes in the production of knowledge about society based on empirical evidence drawn from observation, comparison and experimentation.* Comte considers sociology as a "queen of science "at the top of other social sciences and its practitioners/ sociologists as "scientist priests". **Comet's Law of the Three Stages** According to Comte, society tends to evolve through three stages of human intellectual progress or development that states each mental age of human kind is accompanied by a specific type of social organization and political dominance. Comte claims that human efforts to understand the world have passed through the following three consecutive stages. **The Theological Stage (from** medieval period to 1300 AD): In this stage thoughts were guided by religious ideas and the belief that society was an expression of God's will. Supernatural force is the central idea and things were taken-for- granted. There was no critical investigation, both philosophical speculation and scientific explanation were absent, but dominated by religious interpretation of occurrences. According to Comte this stage refers to the period when everything in human living condition was explained and understood through the supernatural powers. The period covered the earliest era of human history extending through the medieval period to 1300. Whatever happens to or for society was believed to be a curse or blessing from the super natural power. It was believed that some were created good and other criminal. The lords were considered as elect of God. People regarded society as an expression of external purpose and will on earth. The family was the prototypical social unit, the standard to which others conform. Political dominance is held by priests and military personnel. **The Metaphysical / Abstract Stage (1300-1800 AD):** Explanation of human society developed by religion gradually changed in to metaphysical. Abstract natural forces were believed to be the source of explanation and understanding. The explanation was in influenced by the philosophical idea of Thomas Hobbes that state 'society is not a reflection of God; rather the reflection of the selfishness of individuals. The state replaced the family as the prototypical social unit and the political dominance was held by the clergy and lawyers. **Positive / the Scientific Stage (Post 1800s):** All social phenomena are investigated in a scientific manner through observations, experiment and comparison. The stage encouraged the application of scientific techniques to the social world. **Both physical and social world began to follow the scientific method to express the relationship between the world and human being. Empirical evidence and rational reasoning became sources of explanation. Comte said that through scientific methods people began to understand different things occur in the societies like crime, poverty, conflict and other social conditions. These scientific methods led sociology to understand the cause of occurrence of different situations in the society. Political dominance is held by individual administrators and scientific moral guides, and the whole human race replaces the state as the operative social unit.** In keeping with this view, Comte regarded sociology as the last science to develop following on from physics, chemistry and biology but as the most significant and complex of all sciences. Although Comte's vision for the reconstruction of society was never realized, his contribution to systematizing and unifying the society was important to the later professionalization of sociology as an academic discipline. 2. **Herbert Spencer ( 1820-1903)** He was an English sociologist and philosopher and is usually called the second founder of sociology. Spenser believed that society operates according to fixed laws. He believed that there exists a gradual evolution of society from the primitive (militant) to the industrial. As generation pass, he said, the most capable and intelligent (the fittest) members of a society survive, while the less capable die out. Therefore, overtime societies steadily improve. Spencer called this principle "the *survival of the fittest*". Although Spencer coined this phrase, it is usually attributed to his contemporary Charles Darwin, who proposed that living organisms evolve over time as they survive the conditions of their environment. Because of their similarities, Spencer's view of the evolution of societies became known as **"*Social Darwinism*".** Drawing on Charles Darwin's study on the origin of species, Spencer applied the concept of evolution of the species to societies in order to explain how they change , or evolve, over time. Similarly, he adapted Darwin's evolutionary view of the "survival of the fittest" by arguing that it is "natural" that some people are rich while others are poor. Spencer was famous for the organic analogy of human society- Social Darwinism (the attempt to apply, by analogy, the evolutionary theories of plant and animal development to the explanation of human society and social phenomena). Unlike Comte, Spencer suggested that since societies are bound to change eventually, one need not be highly critical of present social arrangements or work actively for social change. Spencer did not feel compelled to correct or improve society; instead, he merely hoped to understand it better. Spencer didn't think sociology should guide social reform. In fact he was convinced that no one should intervene in the evolution of society. The fittest members did not need any help. They would always survive on their own and produce a more advanced society. Consequently, Spencer believed that ideas of charity and helping the poor were wrong, whether carried out by individuals or by the government. He opposed not only the law to aid the poor but also any state interference in public affairs. The subject matter of sociology as Spencer defined contains the family, politics, religion, social control, industry or work etc. He stressed the obligation of sociology is to deal with the interrelations between the different elements of society, to give an account of how the parts influence the whole and are in turn reacted upon. 3. **Emile Durkheim** (1858-1917)- French Durkhiem, one of the most influential figures in the development of sociology in the 20^th^ C., was conservative in his approach. Durkhiem see society as a real entity: society is order, a set of social force, a moral agreement, what he called a *"collective consciences"* fragile, very real, and important, for determining much of what the individual does. One of the Durkhiem's classic works, suicide, is an attempt to show that, in highly personal, individual "choice" like suicide, the individual is profoundly influenced by social forces that he or she does not even recognize. Society, to Durkhiem, is more than the individuals who make it up. It is almost a living thing, apart from the individual, developed over time, and influential in all action. Society has a reality of its own: it is sui-generis. To Durkhiem, the ultimate justification of sociology is the study of these social forces (or what he called "*social facts*"). Social phenomena such as conventions, social rules and beliefs, and institutions like family, education and law, were regarded by Durkhiem as 'social facts'. I.e. they are external to the individual, and exist independently of that person, exercising constraint on his or her behavior. Like Comte, Durkheim believed that we must study social life with the same objectivity as scientist study the natural world. His famous first principle of sociology was '**study social facts as things**!'; by this he meant that social life could be analyzed as rigorously as objects or events in nature. He said, for example, "Law is the measuring road of any society". Law reproduces the principal forms of social solidarity (cohesion). For Durkheim, the main intellectual concern of sociology is the study of social facts. Rather than applying sociological methods to the study of individuals, sociologists should instead examine social facts (aspects of social life that shape our actions as individuals), such as the state of the economy or the influence of religion. His writings have had a more lasting impact on modern sociology than those of Comte. He thought that many of his predecessor's ideas were too speculative and vague. And saw sociology as a new science that could be used to elucidate traditional philosophical questions by examining them in an empirical manner. Durkheim stressed the importance of abandoning prejudices and ideology. A scientific attitude (practice) demands a mind with open to the evidence of the senses and free of preconceived ideas which come from outside. He was particularly inserted in **social and moral solidarity** what holds society together and keeps it from descending in to chaos. Solidarity is maintained when individuals are successfully integrated in to social groups and are regulated by a set of shared values and customs. In his first major work, "The Division of Labour in Society" (1893), Durkheim presented an analysis of social change which argued that the advent of the industrial era meant the emergence of a new type of solidarity. According to Durkheim there are two types of Solidarity, namely 1. Mechanical Solidarity and 2. Organic Solidarity He related these solidarities to the division of labour ( the growth of distinctions between deferent occupations). **[Mechanical Solidarity]** This type of solidarity is characterized by traditional cultures with a low division of labour and most members of the society are involved in similar occupations, they are bound together by common experience and shared beliefs. The Strength of these shared beliefs is repressive- the community swiftly punishes anyone who challenges conventional ways of life. There is little room for individual dissent. In general, mechanical solidarity is grounded in consensus and similarity of belief. Industrialization and urbanization (which led to a growing division of labor), specialization of tasks and increasing social differentiation, etc. were forces that contributed to the breakdown of mechanical solidarity: **[Organic Solidarity]** In organic solidarity societies held together by people's economic interdependence and recognition of the importance of other's contributions. As the division of labour expands, people become more and more dependent on one another, because each person needs goods and services that those in other occupations supply. This indicates the fact that there is economic reciprocity and mutual dependence. The rapid and intense processes of change give rise to major social difficulties. They can have disruptive effects on traditional lifestyles, morals, religious beliefs and every day patterns without providing clear new values. Durkheim linked these unsettling conditions to **anomie** (a feeling of aimlessness or despair provided by modern social life). Durkhiem was concerned about the tendency of modern society to produce what he called Anomie, and there by suicide. By *anomie*, Durkhiem referred to the breaking down of the controlling influence of society, which leaves people without the moral guidance that societies usually offer. People become detached from society. They lack social support, and they are no longer regulated by clear norms. Life becomes meaningless. **[Suicide]** Suicide (taking one's own life willfully) seems to be purely personal act; however, social facts exert a fundamental influence on suicide behavior --anomie being one of these influences. Even though humans see themselves as individuals exercising free will and choice, their behaviors are often socially patterned and shaped. One Durkhiem's major work, suicide, is still considered as an outstanding example of how sociologists are able to test ideas scientifically. He compared the suicide rate of several European countries. He found that each country's suicide rate is different and that it remained stable year after year. He found that different groups within a country had different suicide rate. Especially Durkhiem found, Protestants, the wealthy, men, and the unmarried killed themselves at a higher rate than did Catholics and Jews, the poor, women, and married people. Durkhiem explained these differences by reasoning that suicide varied according to people's *social integration,* the degree to which people are tied to their social groups. There were also lower suicide rates during times of war than during times of economic change or instability. Low suicide rates categories of people are who have strong ties to other. By contrast, high suicide rates were found among types of people who are typically individualistic. These findings led Durkheim to conclude that there are social forces external to the individual which affects suicide rates. He related his explanation to the idea of social solidarity and to two types of bonds with in society. These bonds are **social integration** and **social regulation**. People who were integrated strongly into social groups, and those desires and aspirations were regulated by social norms, were less likely to commit suicide. Durkheim identified four types of suicide, in accordance with the relative presence or absence of integration and regulation. These include egoistic suicide, anomic suicide, altruistic suicide, and fatalistic suicide. I. **Egoistic Suicide** Egoistic suicide is marked by low integration in society and occur when on individual is isolated, or when his or her ties to a group are weakened or broken. According to his study, this type of suicide is common, for example, among protestants (because of the personal and moral freedom- meant that they stand alone' before God) and single people (since they remain more isolated within society as compared to married one's). II. **Anomic Suicide** This type suicide is caused by a lack of social regulation. It is common during rapid change or instability in society and divorce. If there is no rule and regulation governing the process of divorce, and individual is more likely to commit anomic suicide. The absence of governing rule and regulation will also work for suicide committed during economic instability. III. **Altruistic Suicide** Altruistic suicide occurs when an individual is over -- integrated (social bonds are too strong) and values society more than himself or herself. Suicide becomes a sacrifice for the "greater good". It is common in "traditional" societies where values, norms, customs and expectation of the group have on extreme influence on the group. Japanese kamikaze pilots of WWII, a military self- sacrifice and the Hindu Suttee (self-killing performed by a woman up on the death of her husband) are examples of altruistic suicide. IV. **Fatalistic suicide** Fatalistic suicide results when an individual is over- regulated by society. The oppression of the individual causes a feeling of powerlessness before fate or society. Durkheim saw this as of little contemporary relevance. This type of suicide occurs because of hopeless and depressing situation. People sentenced for life imprisonment and people living with incurable disease may feel hopeless because of their condition and commit fatalistic suicide. 4. **Karl Marx** (1818---1883) Karl Marx, a German Philosopher, had a different conception with Herbert Spencer about the nature of society and social change. Spencer describes society as a set of interrelated parts that promoted its own welfare. Marx described society as a set of conflicting groups who have different values and interests whose selfish and often ruthless competition harmed society. Spencer saw progress coming from only non-interference with natural, evolutionary process. Marx, too, believed in an unfolding, evolutionary pattern of social change. He envisioned a linear progression of modes of production from ancient civilization through slavery, feudalism, capitalism, and communism. His ideas contrasts sharply with those of Comte and Durkheim, but like them, he sought to explain the changes that were taking place in society during the time of the industrial revolution. His interest in the European labour movement and socialist ideas were reflected in his writings. Marx always concerned to connect economic problems to social institutions. Therefore, his writings were rich in sociological insights. According to the principle of economic determinism (an idea often associated with Marx), the nature of society is based on the society's economy. A society's economic system determines the society's legal system, religion, art, literature and political structure. Marx himself did not use the term economic determinism; the term was applied to his ideas by others, no doubt a consequence of his concentration on the economic sphere in capitalist society. The mistake interpreters have made is to assume that because Marx perceived the economic institution as having primacy in capitalist society, he believed that all societies operated according to the same principles. Moreover, Marx recognized that even in capitalist society economic institutions mutually affect each other. Marx even wrote that sometimes the economy "conditions" rather than "determines" the historical process in capitalistic society. **Capitalism and Class Struggle:** Although recognizing the presence of several social classes in the 19th Century industrial society, farmers, factory workers, craft-people, owner of small businesses, wealthy capitalist, Marx predicted that all industrial societies ultimately would contain only two social classes. These are 1. *The bourgeoisie* -- those who own the means for producing wealth in industrial society and 2. *The proletariat* -- those who sell their labor for the bourgeoisie for subsistence wages For Marx, the key to unfolding of history was class conflict between those controlling the means for producing wealth and that laboring for them. Just as slave owners had been over thrown by the slaves and landed aristocracy revolted against by the peasants, the capitalist would fall to the wageworkers. Out of this conflict a classless society would emerge without exploitation of the powerless by the powerful. Marx concentrated primarily on **change** in modern times. For him, the most important changes where bound up with the development of capitalism. Capitalism is a system of production which involves the production of goods and services sold to a wide range of customers. He identified two main elements within capitalist enterprise. These are capital and wage- labor. Capital is any asset, including money, machines, or factories, which can be used in order to make future assets. Wage- Labor refers to the pool of workers who do not own the means of their livelihood but must find employment provided by the owners of capital. For Marx, while the ruling classes are capitalists, the working classes are class of wage workers. The peasants helped to form an urban- based industrial working class, referred to as the proletariat. According to Max, capitalism is inherently a class system in which class relations are characterized by conflict. Although owners of capital and workers are each dependent on the other (the capitalist need labor and the workers need wages) the dependency is highly unbalanced. Factory is a center of conflict between proletariat and capitalist. The relationship between classes is an exploitative one since workers have little or no control over their labor. It is not ideas or values human beings hold that are the main sources of social change. Social change is prompted primarily by economic influences. Conflicts between classes provide the motivation for historical development- they are the motor of history. Therefore, all human history thus far is the history of class struggles. Marx believed in the inevitability of a workers' revolution which would overthrow the capitalist system and usher in a new society in which there would be no classes. By this he didn't mean that all inequalities between individuals would disappear. 5. **Max Weber** Like Marx, Max Weber (pronounced 'Vaber') (1864-1920**)** was a German sociologist whose interests and concerns ranged across many areas. Born in Germany, where he spent most of his academic career, Weber was an individual of wide learning. Much of his work was concerned with the development of modern world of capitalism and the ways in which modern society was different from earlier forms of social organizations. Through a series of empirical studies, Weber set forth some of the basic modern industrial capitalist societies. He devoted the greater part of his observation on sociology as a discipline to expounding the special method he advocated. He stressed that one cannot understand human behavior simply by looking at statistics. He claimed that statistics must be interpreted. To do so, he said that, we should use *VERSTEHEN,* the German word for "understanding" or "insight," in our intellectual work. Social behavior cannot be analyzed by objective criteria we use to measure weight or temperature. To fully comprehend behavior, we must learn the subjective meanings people attach to their actions. Weber believed that the best interpreter of human action is someone who has been there, someone who can understand the feelings and motivations of the people they are studying. In short, we must pay attention to what are called *subjective meanings*, the way in which people interpret their own behavior. We cannot understand what people do unless we look at how people view themselves and explain their own behavior. In common with other thinkers of his time, Weber sought to understand the nature and courses of social change. Even though he was influenced by Marx, he was strongly critical of some of Marx's major views. He rejected the materialistic conception of history and saw class conflict as less significant than did Marx. In Weber's economic view, economic factors are important, but ideas and values have just as much impact on social change as economy does. In Weber's view, economic factors are important, but ideas, values and belief have just as much impact on social change. They had the power to bring about transformations, to shape society and our individual action. Unlike other early sociological thinkers, Weber believed that sociology should focus on **social action**, **not structures**. Individuals have the ability to act freely and to shape the future. He argued that human motivation and ideas were the forces behind change: ideas, values and beliefs had the power to bring about transformations. He did not believe, as Durkheim and Marx did, that structures existed external to or independent of individuals. Rather, structures in society were formed by a complex interplay of actions. It was the job of sociology to understand the meanings behind those actions. For Weber sociology should be" **Value free**". By this he meant that a sociologist\'s values, personal beliefs about what is good or worthwhile in life and the way the world ought to be shouldn\'t affect his/her social research. Weber wanted objectivity or total neutrality to be the whole mark of sociological research. If values influence research, he said, sociological findings will be biased. The idea of the "**ideal type**" was an important element in Weber's sociological perspective. Ideal types are key conceptual tools, or analytical models that can be used to understand the world. In the real world, ideal types rarely, if ever, exist- often only some of their attributes will be present. Ideal type serves for understanding situation in the real world by comparing to it and served as a fixed point of reference. An ideal type is a construct, or made- up model, that serves as a measuring rod against which actual cases can be evaluated. **[Note:] -** By "ideal type" Weber did not mean that the conception was perfect or desirable goal. Instead, he meant that it was a "pure" form of a certain phenomenon. For example bureaucracy is component of formal organization that uses rules and hierarchal ranking to achieve efficiency. The following are the major characteristics of the ideal-typical bureaucracy: 1. It consists of a continuous organization of official functions (offices) bound by rules. 2. Each office has a specified sphere of competence. The office carries with it a set of obligations to perform various functions, the authority to carry out these functions, and the means of compulsion required to do the job. 3. The offices are organized into a hierarchical system. 4. The offices may carry with them technical qualifications that require that the participants obtain suitable training. 5. The staff that fills these offices does not own the means of production associated with them; staff members are provided with the use of those things that they need to do the job. 6. The incumbent is not allowed to appropriate the position; it always remains part of the organization. 7. Administrative acts, decisions, and rules are formulated and recorded in writing. **1.8. Major Sociological Perspectives** **What is Theory?** Theory is tentative idea or testable hypothesis and statement about the nature of reality that could be accepted, rejected or modified after empirical study. It is systematic attempt to explain how two or more phenomena are related. It is also a general statement about how some parts of the world fit together and how they work (Macionis, 1997). Theory is asset of interconnected hypotheses that offer general explanations for natural or social phenomena. A *theory* is "a statement of how and why specific facts are interrelated" (Macionis and Gerber, 2002). Recall that Emile Durkhiem observed some categories of people (men, Protestants, the wealthy, and the unmarried) has high suicide rates than others (women, Catholics and Jews, the poor, and the married). He explained this observation by creating a theory: A high risk of suicide results from a low level of social integration. Ferrante (2006) indicated that sociological theory is "a set of principles and definitions that tell how societies operate and people in them relate to one another and respond to the environment." There are three major theoretical perspectives in sociology. These are the structural functionalist perspective, the conflict perspective, and the symbolic- interactionist perspective. 1. **The Structural- Functionalist Perspective** It is one of the dominant theories both in Anthropology and Sociology. It is sometimes called functionalism. The theory tries to explain how the relationships among the parts of society are created and how these parts are functional and dysfunctional. It focuses on consensus, social order, structure, and function in society. Functionalists sees society as a complex system whose parts work together to promote solidarity and stability. It states that our social lives are guided by social structure. It states that "the existing social structure is essential for the proper functioning of the society as a system." The major terms and concepts developed in this theory include or the theory focuses on order, structure, function (manifest or direct functions and latent or hidden, indirect functions) and equilibrium. It pays considerable attention to the persistence of shared ideas in society. Social order is maintained through agreement and consensus. The different parts of a social system are closely interrelated that what happens in one affects the others, and is influenced by them in turn. It means the parts of a social system are interdependent just as the human body is made up of interrelated parts, each of which plays a role in maintaining the whole. For instance, Armies (for weapon) → Manufactures (for trained or educated man power) → schools (for budget) → Government (for revenue or income, or protection) → society or armies. This simple model shows the functional interdependence existing among the parts of the social system. Society like human body is composed of parts. The parts of society include family, politics, religion, education, health, and so on. Each of society's parts functions together to maintain a larger system. Function is the contribution a part makes to order and stability within the system according to functionalists. Functionalism views the parts of society as organized into an integrated whole consequently, a change in one part of a society leads to change in other parts. A major change in the economy, for example, may change the family. This is what happened as a result of the industrial revolution. Before the industrial revolution, agriculture was the dominant economic system in European countries. The industrial revolution changed this and the family structure, political system and so on. The need for a large farm labor force (fulfilled by having many children) disappeared as industrialization proceeded, and family size decreased. Functionalists realize that societies are not perfectly integrated. A certain degree of integration is necessary for the survival of a society, but the actual degree of integration varies. Another assumption of functionalism is that societies tend to return to the state of stability or equilibrium after some upheaval has occurred. A society may undergo change over time, but functionalists believe that it will return to a state of stability by incorporation of these changes so that the society will again be similar to what it was before any change occurred. Because a society both changes and maintains most of its original structure over time, functionalists refer to a dynamic equilibrium, a constantly changing balance among its parts. For example, the student unrest on college and university campuses of USA during the 1960s, this created some changes. These changes, however, have been absorbed into it, leaving it only somewhat different from the way it has been before the student unrest. The functional aspect in the theory stresses the role played by each component part in the social system, whereas the structural perspective suggests an image of society where in individuals are constrained by the social forces, social backgrounds and by group membership. It also visualizes or focuses on the macro aspects (study of society as a whole) of social life where all the parts of the social system/ structure/ act together even though each part may be doing different things /work/. Functionalists argue that the overall goal of the various social structures is to maintain consensus, stability, harmony and order (not conflict) in society. For a system to operate effectively each of the individual sub- systems must perform its task and function. The major argument is "**society shapes the individuals**." **Critique of functionalism:** - Focuses on macro- level (large scale) analysis of society neglecting micro- level (small scale) societal realities. - The perspective doesn't provide us with the entire story of social life and social change. - It tends to exaggerates consensus, integration and stability while disregarding conflict, disensus and instability. - Conservativeness in their approach: Critics argue that this perspective is by nature conservative in that it defends existing arrangements. Functionalists justified the existence of poverty as functional and legitimizing the status quo. Functionalists reject this criticism, claiming that they are not justifying poverty's existence, but rather simply illustrating why such parts continue to exist despite efforts to change and eliminate them. - The other critic is on the functionalists' claim that parts exist because they serve function. The critiques argued that a part may not serve any function when it is first introduced. Often people have to work to make parts useful. The functionalists assumed that every part functions in some way to support smooth operation of society; this theory has difficulty accounting for the origin of social instability. This assumption also lead functionalists to overlook the fact that stability and order are frequently achieved at a cost to some segment of the society, such as poor and powerless individuals. - The focus on stability and order means that divisions or inequalities in society- based on factors such as class, race and gender- are minimized The proponents of Functionalism, a sociologist Robert K. Merton (1967), added some concepts to functionalism to address some of the critiques. A contemporary American sociologist, Robert K. Merton identified two types of functions that contribute to the stability and order. These are Manifest and Latent Functions. The manifest functions are those consequences which are intended, open obvious, conscious, and recognized, and latent functions are those which are neither intended nor recognized. For example, the manifest function of education is teaching writing skills, knowledge and so on. At the same time the schools are providing a free 'baby- sitting' service to parents and increasing the manpower available for employment- these are some of the latent function of education. Merton also identified that parts of a social system can have a dysfunction -- undesirable effects on the operation of society. For example, the dysfunction of the automobiles is for polluting the air. Dysfunctions can also be either manifest or latent functions. Manifest dysfunctions are a part's anticipated disruptions to order and stability. On the other hand, latent dysfunctions are unintended, unanticipated disruptions to order and stability. 2. **The Conflict Perspective** Conflict theory is rooted in the writings of Karl Marx, class conflict, though not all conflict theorists accept all of Marx's arguments. The conflict perspective is a theoretical framework based on the assumption that society is a complex system characterized by inequality and conflict ***that generate social change***. This approach complements the structural functional paradigm by high lighting not integration but division based on social inequality. So rather than identifying how social structure promotes the operation of society as a whole, this approach focus on how these patterns benefits to some people while being harmful to others. This theory stresses the importance of power and conflict in societal relationships, as well as the problems brought about by social and economic inequality, and scarcity of resources. It emphasize conflict, rather than consensus, and constant social change, rather than stability emanating due to the existence of scarcity of resources for achieving goals. Conflict theorists see society less as a cohesive system and more an arena of conflict and power struggles. The major argument of this school of through is that "*instead of people working together to further the goals of the social system, people are seen achieving their will at the expense of others".* During conflict and instability, the member of society will partly win and partly will lose power/ resource. Marx believed that the economic system of a society shapes all other aspects of social life and breeds persistent social conflict. He said, the only way for workers to overcome their oppression is through social action and revolution. Instead of people working together to further the goals of the "social system," - People are seen achieving their will at the expense of others - People compete against each other for scarce resources The struggle between social classes was the major cause of change in society. Much change happens as rich people and poor people compete over scarce resources. Not all conflict theorists are Marxist. Weber, for instance, is also a conflict theorist but not Marxist. Whereas Marx focused on class conflict as the "engine" of historic change, other see conflict among groups and individuals as a fact of life in any society. Conflict can occur over many other aspects of society unrelated to class. For example, conflict can occur when two people have a car accident, between men and women (husband and wife), etc. Like the functionalists, conflict theorists recognize the existence of social structures, but instead of structures existing for the good of the whole system, social structures (institutions) serve the interest of the powerful. Marx said that there are two classes- bourgeoisie and the proletariat-in capitalist system. According to him, class membership is determined by the individual's relationship with the means of production. Means of production includes the land, machinery, buildings, tools, and other technologies needed to produce and distribute goods and services. The bourgeoisie is the more powerful class that owns means of production and able to purchase labor. The proletariats do not own anything of the production process except their labor. On the other hand, workers' interests are to gain more income and control over their work. As the result of divergences of interest and value, the two classes are in struggle with each other. The value and interest of the two classes are different. The bourgeoisie are interested to make profit. They need constantly to expand markets for their products. They always search for ways that maximize their profit and minimize their loss. This can be achieved by making production system more efficient, less dependent on human labor, and by using cheap labor and raw materials. The bourgeoisie consider the working class like machines or raw materials. In general, the owner class wants to make more profit by lowering labor cost and getting workers to work hard. Conflict exists between the two because the bourgeoisie, who owns the means of production, exploits the workers. The bourgeoisie make profit without making any value but by paying small amount of profit the working class make in the form of wage and forcing them to work hard to increase output. Key concepts developed in this perspective include conflict, complementation, struggle, power, inequality, and exploitation. The conflict perspective analyze large- scale society (wide patterns of behavior). The powerful influence or coerce the rest of the population in to compliance and conformity. Therefore, social order is maintained, not by popular agreement, but rather by the direct or indirect exercise of power by the dominant group. **Critiques of the conflict perspective:** - Conflict theorists argue that conflict (than consensus) is essentially functional for society; it quickens group allegiances and loyalties and thus act as a social glue that binds people together. It overstates the importance of conflict and disregards the stability and order that do exist within societies. - The theory over emphasize inequality and division, neglecting the fact of how shared values and interdependence generate unity among members of society. - Criticized for its explicit political goals. - It sees society in very broad terms (macro-level), neglecting micro- level social realities. - The theory ignores the contribution of industrialization in improving the wellbeing of humans. - The theory is also criticized for over emphasizing changing society rather than understanding how order and stability can be maintained. 3. **Symbolic Interactionist perspective** Symbolic interactionist drawn much of their idea from American sociologists George Herbert Mead, Charles Horton Cooley, and Herbert Blumer( who coined the term symbolic interactionism). The theory is concerned with how the ***self develops***, the meaning people attach to their own and others action, how people learn these meanings and how meanings evolve. They said that we learn meanings from others and adjust ourselves according to those meanings. Meanings are subject to change. The symbolic interaction paradigm is a theoretical frame work based on the assumption that society is the product of the everyday interaction of individuals. This approach is primarily concerned with human behavior on a personal level. Integrationists reminded us that the different social institutions are ultimately created, maintained, and changed by people interacting with one another. George Herbert Mead devised a symbolic interaction approach that focuses on signs, gestures, shared rules and written and spoken languages. Symbols play an important role in interaction according to the symbolic interactionist perspective. A symbol is "any kind of physical phenomena-word, object, color, sound, feeling, odor, movement, or taste-to which people attach a name, meaning or value"(White, 1949 cited in Ferrante, 2006). Symbols are shared by people and used to communicate with one another. Symbolic interactionism, also known as social action theory, is concerned with micro level analysis of social life and problems- how individuals subjectively act and react to objective situations and realities. Interactionists see symbols as an especially important part of human communications. Members of a society share the social meanings of symbols. People manipulate symbols and create their social worlds through interaction. Symbolic interactionism is concerned with the meanings that people place on another behavior. Human beings are unique because most of what they do with one another has meaning beyond the concrete act. According to Mead people do not act or react automatically but carefully consider what they are going to do. They take into account the other people involved and the situation in which they found themselves. The expectations and interactions of other people greatly affect each individual's actions in addition; people give things meanings and act or react on the bases of these meanings. Because most human activity take place in social situations in the presence of other people, we must fit what we as individuals do with other people in the same situation are doing. We go about our lives under the assumption that most people share our definition of basic social situations. According to interactionists, the same situation need not evoke (suggest) the same response in two people or in the same person in different circumstances. They stated that interaction is generally *face to- face* and addresses "*every day*" activities. The interactionists perspective takes the position that it is people who exist and act. All the other "*structures" found in society are nothing but human creations*. For them, society is always in a process of being created, and this occurs through interaction, communication and negotiation. This perspective views symbols as the basis of social life. Symbols are things to which we attach meanings and they stand for something else other than themselves. The theory stresses the analysis of how our behaviors depend on how we define others and ourselves. It concentrates on process , rather than structure, and keeps the individual actor at the center. The essence of social life and social reality is the active human being trying to make sense of social situations. In general, this theory calls attentions to the detailed, person- oriented processes that take place within the larger units of social life. It generalizes about every day forms of social interaction in order to explain society as a whole. Social order is maintained through shared understanding of everyday behavior and the social meanings of symbols. Critiques of Symbolic Interactionism: - The symbolic interactionist approach ignores what Emile Durkheim called "social facts"- ideas, feelings, and ways of behaving" that possesses the remarkable property of existing outside the consciousness of the individual. Symbolic interactionists cannot account for social structures and processes that are larger than the individuals interacting within them. - Symbolic interactionists acquire direct, firsthand, and extensive knowledge of a social world. The direct approach has shortcomings; because symbolic interactionists' presence as observers can skew/distort the data. That is, those being observed may act in ways they think the researcher wants them to act. 1.9. Sociological Research Methods ---------------------------------- **Application of the scientific method** The scientific method is a systematic, organized serious of steps that insures maximum objectivity and consistency in researching a problem. The scientific method requires precise preparation in developing useful research. It also requires that research results be both valid and reliable. **Validity** refers to the degree to which a measure or scale truly reflects the phenomenon under study. **Reliability** refers to the extent to which a measure produces consistent results. The basic goal of sociological research is to understand the social world in its many forms. Sociologists and other researchers follow the following five basic (common) steps in the scientific method: 1. Defining the problem 2. Reviewing the literature 3. Formulating the hypothesis 4. Selecting the research design and then collecting and analyzing data, and 5. Developing the conclusion 1. **Defining the Problem** The first step in any research project is to state as clearly as possible what you hope to investigate that is, define the problem. Early on, any social science researcher must develop an operational definition of each concept being studied. An operational definition is an explanation of an abstract concept that is specific enough to allow a researcher to assess the concept. 2. **Reviewing the Literature** By conducting a review of the literature- relevant scholarly studies and information- researchers refine the problem under study, clarify possible techniques to be used in collecting data, and eliminate or reduce available mistakes. 3. **Formulating the Hypothesis** A hypothesis is a speculative statement about the relationship between two or more factors know as variables. For instance, income, religion, occupation, and gender can all serve as variables in a study. We can define a variable as a measureable trait or characteristic that is subject to change under different conditions. The variable hypothesized to cause or affects another is called the independent variable. The second variable is termed as the dependent variable because its action "depends" on the influence of the independent variable. For example, if our hypothesis is that the higher one's educational degree, the more money one will earn, and the independent variable that is to be measured is the level of education. The variable that is thought to "depend" on it- income - must also be measured. Identifying independent and dependent variables is a critical step in clarifying cause- and --effect relationships. Causal logic involves the relationship between a condition or variable and a particular consequence, with one event leading to the other. For instance, being less integrated in to society may be directly related to, or produce a greater likelihood of, suicide. Similarly, the time students spend reviewing material for a quiz may be directly related to, or produce a greater likelihood of, getting a high score on the quiz. A correlation exists when a change in one variable coincides with a change in the other. Correlations are an indication that causality may be present; they do not necessary indicate causation. 4. **Selecting the research design and then collecting and analyzing data** A research design is a detailed plan or method for obtaining data scientifically. Selection of research design is often based on the theories and hypothesis the researcher starts with. The major research designs that sociologists regularly use to generate data include surveys, observation, experiments, and existing sources. A **sample** is a selection from a larger population that is statistically repetitive of that population. It needs careful selection. The most frequently used, by social scientists, sample is the random sample. In a random sample, every member of an entire population being studied has the same chance of being selected. **Surveys:** A survey is a study, generally in the form of an interview or questionnaire that provides researchers with information about how people think and act. There are two main forms of surveys: the [interview], in which a researcher obtains information through face-to - face or telephone questioning, and the [questionnaire], in which the researcher uses a printed or written form to obtain information from a respondent. Each of these has its own advantages. An interviewer can obtain a higher response rate because people find it more difficult to turn down a personal request for an interview than to throw away a written questionnaire. In addition, a skillful interviewer can go beyond written questions and probe for a subject's underlying feelings and reasons. On the other hand, questionnaires have the advantage of being cheaper, especially in large samples. The survey is an example of quantitative research which collects and reports data primary in numerical forms. While this type of research can make use of large samples, it can't offer great depth and detail on a topic. That is why researchers also make use of qualitative research, which relies on what is seen in field and naturalistic settings, and often focuses on small groups and communities rather than large groups or whole nations. The most common form of qualitative research is observation. **Observation*:*** Investigators who collect information through direct participation and/or closely watching a group or community are engaged in observation. An increasingly popular form of qualitative research in sociology today is ethnography. Ethnography refers to efforts to describe an entire social setting through extended systematic observation. Anthropologists rely heavily on ethnography. **Experiments:** When sociologists want to study a possible cause- and --effect relationship, they may conduct experiments. An experiment is an artificially created situation that allows the researcher to manipulate variables. In the classic method of conducting an experiment, two groups of people are selected and matched for similar characteristics, such as age or education. The researcher, then assign the subjects to one of two groups: the experimental or the control group. The experimental group is exposed to an independent variable; the control group is not. Sociological research don't often rely on this classic form of experiment, because it generally involves manipulating human behavior in an appropriate manner, especially in a laboratory setting. **Use of Existing Sources:** Sociologists do not necessarily need to collect new data in order to conduct a research and test hypotheses. The term secondary analysis refers to a variety of research techniques that make use of previously collected and publicly accessible information and data. Secondary analysis is considered to be non-reactive, since it does not influence people's behavior. As an example, Emile Durkheim's statistical analysis of suicide neither increased nor decreased human self- destruction. 5. **Developing the Conclusion** Scientific studies, including those conducted by sociologists, do not answer all the questions that can be raised about a particular subject. Therefore, the conclusion of a research study represents both an end and a beginning. It terminates a specific phase of the investigation, but should also generate ideas for future study. **Ethics of Research:** The professional society of the discipline, the American Sociological Association (ASA), first published the code of ethics in 1971 and revised it most recently in 1997. It puts forth the following basic principles: 1. Maintain objectivity and integrity in research. 2. Respect the subjects' right to privacy and dignity. 3. Protect subjects from personal harm. 4. Preserve confidentiality. 5. Seek informed consent (permission) when data are collected from research participants or when behavior occurs in a private context. 6. Acknowledge research collaboration and assistance 7. Disclose all sources of financial support. CHAPTER TWO: SOCIETY AND CULTURE ================================ 1. **The Concept of Society** A society is a system of interrelationships which connects individuals together. It also refers to the people who share and engage in culture. Society is an autonomous grouping of people who inhabit a common territory, have a common culture (shared set of values, beliefs, customs etc) and are linked to one another through routinized social interactions and interdependent statuses and roles. **2.3. Basic features of society** - Society is usually a relatively large grouping of people in terms of size. - Its members share common and distinct culture - has a definite limited space or territory - The people who make up a society have the feeling of identity and belongingness, the feeling of oneness. - Members of a society are considered to have a common origin and common historical experience - Members of a society may also speak a common mother tongue or a major language that may serve as a national heritage. - A society is autonomous and independent i.e. it has all the necessary social institutions and organizational arrangements to sustain the system. However a society is not an island rather societies are interdependent. People interact socially, economically and politically. It is important to note that the above features of a society are by no means exhaustive and they may not apply to all societies. The level of society's economic and technological development, the type of economic or livelihood system a society is engaged in, etc may create some variations among societies in terms of these basic features. **2.3. Types of Society** There are different criteria to classify society. Some of the criteria include residence, religion, wealth, and level of development, industrialization / modernization and the like. **[Criteria]** **[Types of Society]** Residence Rural and urban Society Religion Secular and Sacred society Wealth Rich and Poor Society Level of development Developed and under developed society Industrialization Industrial and Pre-industrial society **2.3.1. Pre- modern societies** **Hunters and Gatherers** They gain their livelihood from hunting, fishing, and gathering edible plants growing in the wild. Little inequality is found in most hunting and gathering groups (compared with modern societies). They have little interest in developing material wealth beyond what is needed to cater for their basic wants and preoccupied with religious values, ceremonial and ritual activities. Differences of position or rank tend to be limited to age and sex. - Men are almost always the hunters while women gather wild crops, cook and bring up the children - Men tend to dominate public and ceremonial positions. **N.B**. Hunters and gatherers are not merely "primitive' people whose ways of life no longer hold any interest for us. While studying them we can find different interesting features. Example - The absence of war - The lack of major inequalities of wealth and power - The emphasis on cooperation rather than competition. **2.3.2. Pastoral and Agrarian societies** Pastoral societies rely mainly on domestication of livestock (animals) while agrarian societies rely on growing crop (practice agriculture). Many societies have had mixed pastoral and agrarian economies. Depending on the environment in which they live, pastoralists rear and herd animals such as cattle, sheep, goats, camels or horses. Although their way of life is more complex in material terms than that of hunters and gatherers, people in pastoral societies do not normally accumulate many material possessions. They were ruled by chiefs or warrior kings. **2.3.3. Non industrial or traditional civilizations** These societies were based on the development of cities, and showed very pronounced inequalities of wealth and power among classes. They were associated with (headed by) the rule of kings or emperors. Because they involved the use of writing, science, and art flourished they are often called civilizations. The earliest civilizations developed in the Middle East usually in fertile river areas. - Based largely on agriculture - They are large in size 4. **Modern Societies or Industrial societies** Industrialization refers to the emergence of machine production based on the use of inanimate power resources (like steam or electricity). Industrial societies sometimes also called 'modern' or 'developed' societies. They have the following prime features: - A large majority of the employed population work in factories, offices or shop rather than in agriculture. - Over 90% of people live in towns and cities, where most jobs are to be found and new job opportunities are created. - The largest cities are vastly greater in size than the urban settlements found in traditional civilizations. - Social life becomes more impersonal and anonymous and many of day -to-day encounters are with strangers rather than with individual known to us. - Large scale organizations, such as business corporations or government agencies came to influence the lives of virtually everyone. - They have more developed and intensive forms of government (political systems). - The industrial societies ware the first nation-states to come in to existence. Nation -- States are political communities divided from each other by clearly delimited borders rather than the vague frontier areas that used to separate traditional states. **2.4. The Concept of Culture** Different scholars defined culture differently. According to E.B. Taylor, British Anthropologist (1832-1917) "culture is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society." This definition is from idealistic perspective. Hence, it includes those aspects of culture that take non-physical form and hence are unobservable. Paddington defined culture as the sum total of material and intellectual equipment where by people satisfy their biological and social needs and adapt themselves to the environment. This definition includes aspects of culture that have physical existence and hence are observable. And the definition is from materialist perspective. According to UNESCO (2002) culture should be regarded as "the fact of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual, and emotional features of society that encompasses art, literature, life styles, and ways of living together, value systems, traditions, and beliefs". From the above definition we can conclude that culture includes both the materials resources and non-materials resources of group life. There are two types of culture 1. Material (tangible), and 2. Non-material (intangible) culture Tangible or material culture includes physical artifacts, symbolic objects like clay pots, dress, houses / buildings / computers, car, household utensils, ornaments, coins, flags etc. Intangible or non-material culture comprises the ideas, tattooing, hospitality, values, norms, beliefs, customs and that society professes to hold (e.g. monogamy, democracy language). **2.5. Definitions of basic cultural concepts** **1*.* Cultural Universals** Cultural Universals refers to those practices, beliefs, values, norms, material objects, etc, which are observed across all societies in the world, or across different social groups with in a society. They condition behavioral similarity among individuals in a given society or across societies. They do not allow differences in actions and behaviors, lifestyles, attitude, etc. **Example of cultural universals include** -Age grading - Joking - Athletics -Kin groups - Kin terminology - Calendar -Language - Marriage -Family -Religious rituals - Food taboos - Sexual restrictions -Funeral rituals - Medicine -Courtship -Dancing - Mourning -Dream interpretation etc **2*.* Cultural Alternatives and Specialties:** Refers to the activities which the member of society may freely choose to follow or not to follow. They are diverse ways of doing the same thing. They also refer to two or more forms of behavior in a particular society which are acceptable in a given situation. Cultural alternatives and specialties are those elements of culture which are shared by the members of certain social groups but which are not shared by the total population. They cause behavioral differences among people as opposed to cultural universals. Modern societies offer far more cultural alternatives than had many societies of the past. For example, one widely shared cultural universal by many societies is that people have to work and participate in some labor activity in order to earn a living. But the choice of occupation is left to individuals. Cultural specialties: - refers to the special skills or abilities and behavior associated with the cultural alternative. **3. Culture Shock:** Culture shock is temporary psychological and social maladjustment individuals experience when they came across the society different from their own culture i.e. first contact. It is a feeling of confusion and anxiety caused by contacts with one another culture. It refers to the feeling of surprise, disorientation, and frustration of those who find themselves among people who do not share their basic values and beliefs. No person is protected from culture shock. Although individual variation is common, highly ethnocentric people are exposed widely to culture shock. On the other hand cultural relativists may find it easy to adapt to (overcome) culture shock. **4. Ethnocentrism:** Ethnocentrism is a tendency to feel that one's own particular culture or way of life is superior, right, and natural and that all other cultures are inferior and often wrong and unnatural. It is basically an inclination to judge other cultures in terms of the values and norms of one's own culture. To address the costs of ethnocentrism, one has to deal with cultural relativism and pluralism. **5. Xenocentrism:** Xenocentrism is the opposite of an ethnocentric attitude. It is a belief that every other nation or culture is somehow superior to one's own. It is also preference for products, styles, ideas, country, people, society, ethnic group, sex, religion... of someone else's culture rather than that of one's own. **6. Cultural Relativism:** Refers to the notion that each culture should be evaluated from the stand point of its own setting rather than from the stand point of a different culture. Cultural relativism may be regarded as the o