Sociology: Ext. 101 ( Rural Sociology)
Dr. Yagya  Prasad  Giri
Lecture – 1.
Topic:  Sociology , Meaning , Scope, Importance, and relationship with other social sciences
Introduction : Sociology is the youngest of the social science and known a science of society or  the study of human group life. In 1839 that Auguste Comte the French philosopher and sociologist had coined the term sociology and defined the scope and methods it should employ so, he is known s Father of Sociology. In his major publication “ Cours de philosophic ( positive philosophy ) he had clearly  pointed out  the need for creation of distinct science of society  which he first called social physics and later sociology. Likewise other social science were already established earlier than  sociology by different thinkers and philosophers such as Herodotus-  father of history; Aristotle – Father of political science, Manu – The great law giver and  Kautilya – an authority in Arthasastra.
It is important to understand the meaning and scope of  science and society in order to understand the subject sociology .







Science :  Science is a body of knowledge  systematically arranged,  concerned with discovering and organizing facts, principles, and methods. There are two types of sciences to deal with the different branches of knowledge, they are physical and social sciences .
Physical sciences:  deal with mostly natural inanimate subjects. The relation between cause and effect is more clear in physical sciences  They are more precise, accurate, exact, and less dubious ex. Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Geography, and astronomy etc.
Social sciences: social sciences deals in a scientific way with relationships among human beings . Social science is often  loosely applied to any kind of study which is concerned with man and society. According to Young and Mack “ By social science we mean those bodies of knowledge complied through the use of scientific methods which  deal with forms and contents of men’s interaction.’ Ex. History, Poetical science, Economics, Sociology , Anthropology and Psychology etc.
Society :  is a large , permanent, self-sufficient, self-perpetuating ( long lasting ) group of interacting people who share certain common values and believes. Primary purpose to study Sociology is to explore how the activities of individuals fit together to produce orderly collective  life. A social system is made up of interacting among of two or more people .






What is sociology ?
The word sociology is derived from the Latin word societus means society and Greek word logos means study of science, thus the science of society . According Prof. Gensburg  “ as the study society that is of the web or tissues of human interaction and interrelations.” We can also define sociology as it is study of  man’s  behavior in groups or of interaction among human beings .
Some definitions of sociology :
1. Sociology is the science of society or social phenomenon –L.F.  Ward
2. The subject matter of sociology is the inter-action of human minds – L.T. Hobhouse
3.Socilogy is a science of collective behavior – R.E. Park, F.W. Burgees
4. Sociology deals with the behavior of man in groups. – Kimball Young
5. Sociology may be defined as  a body of scientific knowledge about human relationships.  – J.F Cuber
Sociologists differ in their opinion about the subject matter of sociology .






we can summarize  following views from different definition given by different writers
·        Sociology is a science of society .
·        Sociology is a science of social relationships .
·        Sociology is the study of  social life .
·        Sociology is the study of  human behavior in groups.
·        Sociology is the study of  social action
·        Sociology is the study of forms of social relationships
·        Sociology is the study of  social groups or social system.  
Importance :
Two world wars of 20th  century has created fear for human beings which were happened because the cultural balance was disturbed   by the process of French Revolution and Industrial revolution of  18th  and  19th   century in Europe  . Many social observers have been warning human beings for many years regarding  the danger of increasing imbalance of their culture . Advancement of physical sciences  created many weapons that were harmful for human beings. Imbalanced advancement between physical and social sciences created the danger of destruction of entire world and human race. Hence the  necessity of  development of social science emerged . It is realized that imbalance between physical and social science research is to be set right. Advancement of alone physical science cannot brings human happiness, social sciences are equally important in promoting human welfare because social science helps to manage social friction and violence  and maintain self- respecting relation between man to man.
Man’s behavior in society is determined mainly by two forces such as  physical and social, which he has trying to understand and control from time immemorial. Attempt to comprehend and control  the natural phenomenon had started earlier and resulted in greater success that advances he fields of physical sciences. In order to understand social environment man started studies latter and in different aspects  of the society that gave rise to different social sciences like history, Poetical science, economics, sociology , anthropology and psychology . In order to understand the society as a whole unit, need of sociology as a new social science  emerged.
 Relationship with other Social Sciences :
Nature and necessity impel man to live in the society they have to interact with environment as well as other human beings or the society. Human beings has been trying to understand and control   physical ( natural ) and social forces from the time immemorial. In the course of time , physical sciences e.g. Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Geology, Geography, and astronomy  and social sciences e.g. History, Political science, Economics, Sociology , Anthropology and Psychology  came into existence.
Sociology and Economics  : Economics is concerned with production of goods and services .It deals with flow of money and relationship of price to supply and demand. Economist does not study social factors related to economics but the sociologist do, sociologist for example the social background of businessman and mangers, and contribution of education to productivity.
Sociology and political science:
political science covers its two branches such as political theory and public administration. Area areas related to political sciences such as social background of political activist and the way people acquires their political believes mainly concerned with human behavior .
Sociology and History :
Obviously, history deals with past and sociology is more concerned with present or recent past. Straight description of any past event with detail and accuracy is the concern of history but sociology deals with the factors of events which created the happening of event, and some time compare similar events occurred in different time period  and try to come out with a conclusion that may be useful to human beings for future days.
Sociology and Geography:
Geography is concerned with the relationship of human beings and their natural environments . Soil composition ,elevation, land type, climate, weather are some of the study areas of geography but sociology is concerned with social  setting in different types of land, climate, soil type etc. for example sociologists may be interested to study on  impact of different of housing in family and others social issues.
Sociology and Psychology:
It is called as science of mind. It deals with mental processes like thinking, learning, remembering, decision making. Now a days psychologist study feeling, emotion , motive and personality. Sociology studies the effect of social factors on personality or behavior of individual person living in a particular society.
Sociology and Anthropology:
Anthropology is also vague as sociology. It includes archaeology, physical anthropology , cultural history , many branches of linguistics  and all aspects of primitive humanity. It has close relation with natural sciences like zoology and botany . Anthropology overlaps on sociology as science of culture. Anthropology studies primitive or non-literate humanity whereas sociology studies the advanced civilizations. Anthropology studies society as a whole but sociology focuses on  its parts and processes. eg. Part like family and process like spread of rumor .
Sociology and Social work:
Social work is not actually a  science but  it is a profession that trains their members . Social work is a applied field of sociology. The relation of social work to sociology is similar to engineer’s relation to physics. Social worker  personally  contacts the target people to influence them but sociology supports policy makers by supplying research result to influence the society positively.
Sociology and Ethics:
Ethics is the science of morality .it is concerned with the rightness and wrongness of the human action. Sociology includes all aspect of human concerns in a society;  it investigates all aspect of social life such as economic, religious, political , cultural and  moral. Human interaction with society influences the moral standard of individual member of society , thus sociology and moral science are inter related and different in their scope.
Sociology and Jurisprudence:
Jurisprudence is the science of law. It is concerned with the entire body of legal principles. Sociology and jurisprudence are intimately related to each other . Law controls and regulates the action of human beings in a society through legal provision so it is related to society thus sociology . sociology studies how the legal rules manages society’s smooth going and efficiency  of current rules regulations whether they are  in the favor of humanity or not. Sociology of law or  sociological jurisprudence studies legal aspect of sociology and it is divided into two divisions,  they  are criminology and penology . Criminology is concerned with the systematic Study of crime and criminal behavior from the social point of view, penology studies the effects of various penal systems of punishment  and efficacy of reform and rehabilitation schemes in changing criminal behavior. Legal sociology provides valuable suggestion and feedback to policy maker and  law maker and executer as well .
Sociology and  Biology:
Biology is a science of man’s biological development including sexual , anatomical and personal peculiarities .It tells us how man’s body and mind works and how the human  body parts react to external world or nature  physically .  Here sociology is concerned with human interaction and inter-relation in the society. Eg. Social Campion of birth control has  different concern biologically and  sociologically .











References
1. Chitamber, JB (1990) Introduction to Rural Sociology. Wiley Eastern Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi.
2. Dahama OP and Bhatnagar, OP (1987) Education and Communication for Development. Oxford  and IBH Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi
3. Daivadeenam, Pujari (2002) Educational Psychology in Agriculture. Agrotech Publishing Academy, Udaipur.
4. Desai, AR (1978) Rural Sociology in India. Popular Prakashan, Bombay.
5. Ray, GL (2003) Extension Communication and Management. Kalyani Publishers. New Delhi.
6. Sharan, AK (1999) Social Psychology. Commonwealth Publishers. New Delhi
7. Vidhya Bhushan and D.R.Sachdeva (1999) An Introduction to Sociology. Kitab Mahal . Allahabad.
8. C.N. Shankar Rao (2004) .  Sociology . S. Chand and Company .New Delhi .
9. Metta Spencer and Alex inkeles (1979). Prentis-Hall International Inc. . London


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