Sociology And Social Science

This essay will include definitions and concepts of how theorists perceive sociology. Sociological thinking will be explained and discussed as to why it is important and how it can contribute to certain questions within society. In addition, this essay will look at the debate of whether Sociology and other social sciences should be considered as a notable and valuable recognition of academic discipline.

According to Giddens & Sutton 7th edn. (2013), Sociology is ‘defined as the scientific study of human life, social groups, whole societies and the human world as such’. A more in-depth interpretation of sociology is that it is the study of society and how it impacts individuals’ decision making, values and morals. The social science itself

Auguste Comte (1978-1857) is cited as the father of sociology and argued that natural sciences would produce a ‘positive science of society’ (Haralambos & Holborn, 2000). Comte too was most influential for the term of ‘positivism’ as he believed that human society could be scientifically studied. Positivism uses objective, quantitative methods to look for patterns and trends within human society. Opposition to this is interpretivism; the theory that gathers in-depth, qualitative data. Interpretivists argue that sociology should not be considered as a science as individuals should be researched as humans with feelings and meanings, not as numbers and statistics.

Functionalist Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) also argued that sociology can be studied scientifically. He conducted a famous positivist research on suicide and found that there were certain categories of people who were more likely to commit suicide. For instance, men would commit suicide more than women and there were more suicides among Protestants than Catholics (Durkheim 1952 [1897]). Durkheim suggested that suicide was determined by two social facts of ‘integration’ and

Christaki (2013) asserts that social sciences have stagnated. Likewise, he comments that ‘they are not only boring but also counterproductive, constraining engagement with the scientific cutting edge and stifling the creation of new and useful knowledge’. The study of social sciences have not become a stand still as new social issues are incorporated in the course modules regularly to keep the knowledge up to date and reliable. If social science degrees were not counted as beneficial information then humanities understanding of society and the relationships among individuals within a society would be non-existent. No one would know why people may or may not be wired to commit crimes or why primary socialisation of children at an early age is important.

Many people would query what is sociology for and why should anyone care about it. Self-enlightenment and an increased self-understanding can be delivered from thinking sociologically. It makes individuals aware of culture and diversity and that there is not just one type of society. Social sciences are seen as not dependable or academically stimulating as natural sciences. But as Goodall & Oswald cites, ‘what principally matters is whether social scientists are doing their job of helping humans to understand the world and improve life’.

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