Sociology. Purpose and types of Sociology used today - Essay Example

? Sociology Introduction Sociology is an ancient that specializes in the human societies. It is among the social sciences that come up in the 18th century through the works of philosophers like Auguste Comte, Emilie Durkheim, and Max Weber among others (Scott 2006). However, Sharma 2007 argues that ,this social science got a poor response from people, and was only used for academic subject way behold the 20th century. This was done through the courtesy of Karl Marx, one of the philosophers who come up with the modern communism as a way to encourage the significance of the people in the discipline. Apparently, numerous definitions have emerged over time to give more explanations of this discipline. Some scholars define ‘sociology as the study of society, which entails the human interactions and relationships’. Others define ‘sociology’ as the scientific study of human behavior within society’ (Sharma 2007). In essence, sociology is the study of the social world, human beings and their behavior patterns. This is done through focusing on ways in which people structure relationships, and how the relationship contributes towards the larger society. According to Shepard 2010, philosophers want to know the effect that is caused by the groups in which people are associated to in terms of birth and or membership. These groups include family, work, education among others meant to shape the behavior of the human beings. Three main ways have been used to intensify the study the social world. They include, scientific, systematic and objective. These definitions give a description of behavior, and knowledge that is used to analyses the social life. Sociology in terms of objectivity has the tendency of creating knowledge that is accurate, and does not rely on the opinion. Thus, sociology does not embrace biasness into research. Additionally, sociology in a systematical approach entails using questionnaires, observations, and other methods that are managed by certain evidential rules (Somekh and Lewin 2005). Simply, sociology attempts to generate knowledge that is factual in regard to human behavior. This is done by generating statements with the nature of the social world, factual both theoretically and practically. For instance, men have larger brains than women. Hence, biologically men are larger than women in terms of brain size to average body weight. Sociology as a social perspective entails looking at a social phenomenon in a specific way in the social world. This is done by the sociologist who struggle to take note on the human social behavior. Of importance to note is that sociologist have diverse perspective in, which they view the social world (Scott 2006). Goertz 2006 argues that, sociological perspective emphasizes on the social context of people’s lives, and the impact of their influence their society through the shared culture and territory. According to sociological philosopher by the name Mills, sociological imagination also known as perspective gives people the chance to understand the relationship between history and biography. Basically, the way people think and the way they do is greatly influenced by the society in which we live in. Purpose of Sociology Sociology plays very crucial roles in society. First, sociology ensures that it gives an explanation pertaining to a specific social phenomenon in details (Smith and Kornblum 2012). It makes generalizations by going beyond a specific case, and making declarations that are related to a broader group. For instance, a sociologist may want to explain not only why a human being behaves in a certain character, but also the reason as to why the other people with the similar characteristics are likely to behave in the same manner. In sociology, to achieve generalizations, sociologist must be in a position to look for patterns, recurring characteristics, and events. Another scientific objective is to ensure that, as an academic discipline it is able to foretell with regard to the current knowledge what is likely to occur in the future. In order to do this, the sociological philosophers do not at all use magic, superstitions or common beliefs, but they base their finding on systematic research. Systematic research entails giving clear explanations to the recipients of their work as they would be expected (Sharma 2007). Needless to mention is that, sociology goes beyond the common believe or common sense that is known and used by human beings. It argues that human beings, and their beliefs might be misguided. For instance, the argument that the world is flat as was believed by human beings was misguided because the world is not flat. In essence, several researches and findings that have been done by sociologists tend to go against what is naturally known as ‘common sense’(Somekh and Lewin 2005). Williams 2000 argues that, not all researches and findings are directly approved. Some researches done by the sociologist tend to show negativity in human beings. For instance, sociologist might come up with a study where people make a decision on committing crimes of a specific nature. During various examinations on operations in the society, sociologists are bound to have varying results in which they are at liberty of determining what information they can use in their research and which ones are not credible. Types of Sociology used today Sociology revolves around science. There are two distinct sciences that have continually been used by scholars all over the world (Taylor and Andersen 2006). Natural sciences are scholarly disciplines that are structured to give explanations and foresee events present in a natural environment. Natural sciences have fields that have research according to the subject matter. These sciences include chemistry, biology, geology, and physics. They may further be divided for a better explanation and understanding as per its nature. On the other hand, social science tries to understand life through the development of branches of science that focus on the social world. They examine the relationship of human beings in the society (Shepard 2010). Just as the natural science attempts to objectively understand the world of nature, the social science attempt to objectively understand the social world. Thus, the relationship found in the social world must be revealed through the help of the repeated observations. Social sciences are divided in numerous branches with regard to their subject matter. These branches include anthropology, political science, economics, psychology and sociology. Besides, they are also subdivided according to the depth of the subject matter they carry, and the specialization they deal with (Goertz 2006). Anthropology Anthropology is a social science that focuses on tribal people in a traditional set up. Its main concern is ensuring that it understands the culture of a given people in a society. Simply, a culture includes artifacts, structure, ideas and values, and the form of communication that they use. In anthropology, the artifacts within a society include the tools art and weapons that have been used by a specific group in a society. The structure entails the patterns that are used during interaction with one another particularly in leadership positions. Moreover, there is concern on the way in which beliefs impact the lives of members, and the mode of language that is used (Taylor and Andersen 2006). Psychology Psychology is a social science that focused on what happen within an individual with specifics of the skin bound organism. For instance, a team of experimental psychologist tends to rely their research on the perceptions, emotions, and intelligence of individual in order to come up with a psychological conclusion. Additionally, clinical psychologists assist human beings in resolving personal challenges like drug addiction. Others play the role of counselors in institutions, and other formal settings where give personality tests, intelligence tests and other tests to the concerned parties or specific group of people. Economics Economics is a social science that concentrates with a single social institution. The discipline entails the study of how production and distribution of the material and services is done in a society. They emphasize on the cost, production, and allotment of products in a society. Thus, they are in a position to influence the choices in the market and motivate people to purchase some items over others (Taylor and Andersen 2006). Political Science Political Science is a social science that expounds on politics and government. Basically, it examines the formation of governments, their operations, and their connections with other institutions in the society. Of importance to note is that, their main interest is based on how people attain leadership or ruling positions in the society, how they are able to maintain the positions and the penalties that are imposed on them, with regard to their actions for the people they govern. It is importance to note that all these branches of social science have subdivisions which emphasize more about them. Hence, sociology is not to be separated from these social sciences as it works as the source of information and inspiration to similar sciences at large (Williams 2000). Conclusion Sociology is an ancient subject that specializes in the human societies. It is among social sciences that come up in the 18th century through the works of philosophers like Auguste Comte, Emilie Durkheim, and Max Weber among others. However, this social science got a poor response from people, and was only used for academic subject way behold the 20th century. Apparently, numerous definitions have emerged over time to give more explanations of this discipline. In essence, sociology is the study of the social world, human beings and their behavior patterns. This is done through focusing on ways in which people structure relationships, and how the relationship contributes towards the larger society. Sociology plays very crucial roles in society. First, sociology ensures that it gives an explanation pertaining to a specific social phenomenon in details. It makes generalizations by going beyond a specific case, and making a declaration that are related to a broader group. Moreover, it is able to foretell with regard to the current knowledge what is likely to occur in the future. It uses systematic research, which entails giving clear explanations to the recipients of their work as they would be expected. Sociology revolves around science. There are two distinct sciences that have continually been used by scholars all over the world; natural science and social science. Natural sciences are scholarly disciplines that are structured to give explanations and foresee events present in a natural environment. Conversely, social science tries to understand life through the development of branches of science that focus on the social world. These branches include anthropology, political science, economics, psychology and sociology. They play an important role in the life of human beings. Bibliography; Goertz,Gary.,2006. Social science concepts : a user's guide. Princeton ; Oxford : Princeton University Press. Scott, John., 2006. Sociology: The Key Concepts. Routledge, SAGE Publication. Sharma, Rajendra., 2007. Fundamentals of Sociology. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishing. Shepard, Jon., 2010. Sociology. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Smith, Carolyn., and Kornblum, William., 2012. Sociology in a changing world. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Somekh, Bridget. and Lewin, Cathy., 2005. Research methods in the social sciences. London: SAGE Publications. Taylor, Howard., and Andersen, Margaret., 2006. Sociology: understanding a diverse society. Belmont, CA: Thomson/Wadsworth. Williams, Malcolm., 2000. Science and Social Science: An Introduction. Routledge. New York: London. Read More