Sociology of knowledge is the study of how social contexts and structures influence human thought. It presumes that knowledge has a social component and is shaped by economic, religious, political and other social interests. Early thinkers like Vico and Marx recognized the role of society in shaping beliefs, though Marx's view that all knowledge is distorted by class interests is now seen as untenable. Durkheim argued that perception and experience are derived from social structures, which may be true for simple societies but not complex ones. The foundations of sociology of knowledge were established by Karl Mannheim in the 1930s and 1950s as he tried to systematically address the relationship between society and knowledge, though the problems it raises remain largely unsolved.

1. Sociology of knowledge
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2. JASHORE UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY,
BANGLADESH
Written: .Nasim Hossain
Edited & published: Md. Humayun kobir
Department : Agro product processing technology

3. Sociology
 The term sociology was coined by French Philosopher Auguste
Comte in 1838,who for this reason is known as the “Father of
Sociology. Sociology was composed of two word :socius ,meaning
companion or associ :te; and ‘logos’ meaning science or study.

4.  Sociology is the study of human relationships and institution
.Sociology’s subject matter is diverse ,ranging from crime to
religion ,from the family to the state ,from the divisions of race
and social class to the shared beliefs of a common culture
,and from social stability to radical change in whole societies
.Unifying the study of those diverse subjects of study is
sociology’s purpose of understanding how human action
and consciousness both shape and are shaped by
surrounding culture and social structures.

5. Definition of Sociology
Sociology has been defined in a number of ways by different
sociologists.
Such as:
1.Auguste Comte, the founding father of sociology ,defines
sociology as the science of social phenomena “subject to
natural and invariable laws, the discovery of which is the object
of investigation.
2.Kingsley Davis says that “Sociology is general science of
society”.
3.Harry M. Johnson opines that “sociology is the science that
deals with social groups” .
4.Emile Durkheim defines sociology as the “science of social
institutions”.

6. .
5.Park regards sociology as “the science of collective
behaviour”.
6.S5mall defines sociology as “the science of social relations.”
7.Marshal Jones defines sociology as “the study of man in
relationship to men”.

7. Sociology of knowledge
The sociology of knowledge is the study of the relationship
between human thought and the social context within which it
arises, and of the effects that prevailing ideas have on societies.

8. .
 ‘Sociology of knowledge ‘is one of the recently emerged branches of
sociology .This branch pre –supposes the idea “that our knowledge is in
some measure a social product”. Thinkers had recognised long back
the important of economic ,religious, political and other interests is
shaping human beliefs and ideas. The history of Greece and Rome in
particular has strongly supported. In this book “New Science “ (1725)
Vico tried to show heroic literature constituted the thought made of a
specific kind of society.

9. .  The problem of the relationship between society and
knowledge has been raised by Marxism, and it has offered a
solution to it also. “According to Marx and Engels, all
knowledge has been distorted, directed and conditioned by
the interests conscious and unconscious ,of conflicting
exploited and exploiting classes.” In the light of contemporary
sociological information, this view is found to be untenable as a
total sociology of knowledge.

10.  Durkheim tried to approach this problem in his own way. In “ The
Elementary Froms of the Religious Life” 1912 and “Sociology and
Philosophy” 1952 (essays translated) he argued that our perception
and experience are derived from and constitute a part of social
structure. This view may be alright for simplex societies and not for
complex societies. Even Comte’s three stages of social evolution had
been regarded as stages of forms of thought of which the last stage,
that is, the positivist stage is alone objective.

11.  The foundations of sociology of knowledge will have to be
found in Kurl Mancheim’s “ Ideology and Utopia”1936 and “
Essays on the Sociology of Knowledge”, 1952. Manheim tried
to face “The problem of sociology of knowledge with great
philosophical learning and methodological ingenuity”. A
number of sociologists are attracted by the subject of
sociology of knowledge but the problems it raises are
unsolved.

12. The End