Sociology is the systematic study of human society and social interaction. It examines how social forces influence individual behavior and how individuals shape society. The founders of sociology, like Auguste Comte, sought to apply the scientific method to understand society. Comte believed sociology had progressed through theological, metaphysical, and scientific stages of understanding society. Sociology studies all aspects of human social life using empirical evidence and seeks to understand both micro-level interactions and macro-level social structures and institutions.

1. Introduction to
Sociology
Lecture By: Ayesha Yaqoob

2. What is sociology and sociological perspective?
Sociology is the systematic study of human society. At the heart of sociology is a
special point of view called the sociological perspective. “A sociological perspective is
simply a way of looking at society”.
 Social relation
 Human interaction
 Group behavior
 Trends, patterns of populations
 Culture
 The “nurture” of the nature/nurture debate
 Seeing the connection between large scale social forces and our individual behaviors
 Micro – Macro link

3. What is Sociology?
 Sociology is a social science that studies human society and behavior.
 Sociologists are mainly interested in social interactions – how people
relate to one another and how they influence each others decisions.
 Sociologists focus on the group, rather than the individual.
 Sociologists examine social phenomena or observable facts or events
involving human interaction to make predictions about future trends
and behaviors.

4.  Seeing the General in the Particular
We begin to see the world sociologically by realizing how the general categories into which
we fall shape our particular life experiences. Society has the power to guide our actions,
thoughts, and feelings.
Example: We may think that friendship results simply from the personal understanding of
people. Yet the sociological perspective shows us that factors such as age, sex, race, and
social class guide our selection of a friend.

5.  Seeing the Strange in the Familiar
The society shapes what we think and what we do. We think that our decision
are controlled by us but sociological perspective reveals that it is society that
shapes our decisions.
Example: A simple decision of joining a specific college is not in our control,
as factors like merit, economic status, and gender determine the type of college
we choose.
 Seeing Society in Our Everyday Lives
To see how society shapes personal choices, consider the number of children
women have.
Example: Women in developed countries have less children whereas women in
developing countries have more children.

6. Question?
Have you ever wondered why individuals and societies are so
varied? Do you ask what social forces have shaped different
existences?
 Sociology can help us to understand ourselves better, since it
examines how the social world influences the way we think,
feel, and act. It can also help with decision-making, both our
own and that of larger organizations. Sociologists can gather
systematic information from which to make a decision, provide
insights into what is going on in a situation, and present
alternatives.

7. What Do Sociologists Study?
 Sociologists study all things human, from the interactions
between two people to the complex relationships
between nations or multinational corporations. While
sociology assumes that human actions are patterned,
individuals still have room for choices. Becoming aware
of the social processes that influence the way humans
think, feel, and behave plus having the will to act can
help individuals to shape the social forces they face.

8. Benefits of Sociological Perspective
 1- The sociological perspective helps us assess the truth of common sense.
We all take many things for granted, but that does not make them true. One
good example is a belief that we are free individuals who are personally
responsible for our own lives.
For example: Our thoughts that people are responsible for their own lives and
fate.
 2- The sociological Perspective helps us see the opportunities and
constraints in our lives.
Sociological thinking leads us to see that, in the game of life we have a say in
how to play our cards, but it is society which actually deals us the hand.
Sociology helps us “size up” our world so we can pursue our goals more
effectively.
For example: We migrate to the other countries , by comparing the two different
cultures and looking at the better opportunity.

9.  Sociological Perspective Empowers us to be active participants in our
society
The more we understand about how society works, the more active citizens we
become. For some this may mean supporting society as it is others may attempt
nothing less than changing the entire world in some way.
For example: Living in Pakistan, becoming the active citizens of this country.
 Sociological Perspective helps us live in a diverse world
The sociological perspective encourages us to think critically about the relative
strengths and weaknesses of all ways of life, including our own life.
For example: We assess at our own daily life by evaluating our daily life critically.

10. Sociology as a profession/Scope
Sociology is a social science.
 The sociological field is primarily research-based, meaning that sociologists conduct
 research on people on a wide variety of topics.
 The American Sociological Association has members who study in over 40 areas
 Sociology & Careers
Fields that Sociologists go into:
 –Academics – Teaching/Research
 –Criminal Justice
 –Demography & City planning
 –Marketing
 –Corporate Sociology – Research & Evaluation
Example: Health care, hospitals employ sociologists to determine…
 –Patterns of health and illness within a population
 –How factors such as race, gender, and social class affect health

11. The origins of sociology (History)
Three kinds of change were especially important in the development of sociology:
A New Industrial Economy
During the Middle Ages in Europe, most people plowed fields near their homes or
worked in small-scale manufacturing. By the end of the eighteenth century,
inventors used new sources of energy to operate large machines in factories. People
left laboring at home and start becoming the part of a large labor force, under the
control of strangers who owned the factories.

12.  The Growth of Cities
Countless farmers had to move to the cities in search of work in the new factories.
As cities grew larger, these urban migrants faced many social problems, including
pollution, crime, and homelessness.
 Political Change
Europeans in the Middle Ages viewed society as an expression of God’s will. But
as cities grew, people start talking about their self-interest. In the new political
climate, philosophers spoke of personal liberty and individual rights.
 A New Awareness of Society
Huge factories, exploding cities, a new spirit of individualism— these changes
combined to make people more aware of their surroundings. The new discipline of
sociology was born in England, France, and Germany—precisely where the
changes were greatest.

13. The founders or the pioneering sociologists
Auguste Comte
 French social thinker Auguste Comte (1798–1857) coined the term
sociology in 1838 in his famous book “Positive Philosophy” to describe a
new way of looking at society.
 Comte was the first social philosopher to coin and use the term sociology.
 He believed that a science of sociology should be based on systematic
observation.

16. Three stage historical development of sociology by
Auguste Comte
Auguste Comte saw sociology as the product of a three-stage historical
development.
 Theological stage
From the beginning of human history to the end of the European Middle Ages is
the theological stage.
According to theological stage people took a religious view that “society
expressed God’s will”.
 Metaphysical stage
People saw society as a natural rather than a supernatural system.
For example, Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), suggested that society reflected the
failings of a selfish human nature and not the perfection of God.

17.  Scientific stage
Auguste Comte apply scientific approach—to the study of society.
Comte’s approach is called positivism, a way of understanding based on
science. Society operates according to its own laws (just as the physical
world operates according to gravity and other laws of nature).
 Later Herbert spencer in England published his Principles of Sociology
in which he applied the theory of organic evolution to human society.
 These founders were basically social philosophers, so while they called
for scientific investigation they did little of it themselves.
 A Frenchman Emile Durkheim gave the most notably early
demonstration of scientific methods in sociology. in his Rules of
Sociological Methods, he outlined the methodology which he pursued for
his famous study of Suicide.

18. Science as One Type of Truth
 Following are some ways of knowing truth;
 One kind of knowing is belief or faith.
 A second kind of truth comes from recognized experts.
 A third type of truth is based on simple agreement among ordinary
people.
 Science represents a fourth way of knowing. Science is a logical system
that bases knowledge on direct systematic observation.
 Standing apart from faith, the wisdom of “experts,” and general
agreement, scientific knowledge rests on empirical evidence that is
information we can verify with our senses.

19. Common Sense versus Scientific
Evidence
 scientific evidence sometimes challenges our common sense.
 Here are some statements that many assume are true;
 “Poor people are far more likely than rich people to break the law.”
 “Most poor people don’t want to work.”
 “Differences in the behavior of females and males are just ‘human
nature.’”
 “People change as they grow old, losing many interests as they focus on
their health.”
 we need to evaluate more critically what we see, read and hear.
Sociology can help us do that.

20. Some Limitations of Scientific Sociology
 Science is one important way of knowing. Yet, applied to social life,
science has several important limitations, like;
 Human behavior is too complex for sociologists to predict any
individual’s actions precisely.
 Because humans respond to their surroundings, the presence of a
researcher may affect the behavior being studied.
 Social patterns vary; what is true in one time or place may not hold true
in another.
 Because sociologists are part of the social world they study, they can
never be 100 percent value-free when conducting social research.

21. Subject matter of Sociology
 Man’s life is many sided, to study one side thoroughly, specialization of
interest is needed in every side.
 Sociology covers a large number of areas in its study.
 Included problems, phases of social life and institutional structures.
Social problems such as poverty, crime and mental diseases. Social
institutions as family, economy and education
 Sociology is divided into several fields of inquiry such as sociology of
family, political sociology, sociology of community, sociology of law,
the sociology of economic life, sociology of religion, educational
sociology, sociology of health and illness and so on.

22. Scope and Importance of Sociology
 The discipline is growing popular as knowledge and as profession.
 Sociology explains social conditions of life and guides in all social
phenomena. Therefore sociological knowledge is a tool of life for man.
Man seeks knowledge to understand and control this universe by
prediction. Sociological knowledge provide these general laws of
society.
 Sociology as profession is becoming popular in Pakistan. Special job
areas include research, academics, health and social welfare, town
planning, public administration, planning and development, rural
community development, jail department etc.
 Due to social changes in world, people are facing various social
problems. For the solution of these problems the subject of sociology
playing its part. Sociology explained such problems and try to give
solution for them.