SOCIOLOGY

SYLLABUS
1. Sociology as a Discipline

(a) Development of Sociology as a discipline.

Origins of Sociology

Sociology developed as a result of the changes that took place in Europe during the

late 18th and 19th centuries, that is, the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution. The

industrial revolution drastically changed the way goods were produced, and consequently the

organisation of social life. Prior to the industrial revolution, people farmed and lived in feudal

existence with the church influencing their way of life. However, in the industrial era, cities

developed due to the emergence of factories and the social structure changed. Traditional

structures or institutions such as the family, religion, education and politics were being

broken down and replaced by new ones and the influence of the church was declining. The

social thinkers of the time were concerned with these changes, which, to them, fostered chaos

and instability in society. Along with these changes, however, major discoveries in the natural

sciences were taking place, which gave social thinkers hope for society. The natural sciences

made advances such as Newtons Theory which unravelled the mysteries of the natural world.

Social thinkers, therefore, believed that the mysteries of the social world could also be

unravelled. They believed that the laws of the social world could be discovered and, once

they were found, order and stability would be restored to society. Thus, the changes which

occurred in Europe along with the discoveries in the physical and natural sciences, led to a

new way of thinking about the social world, and scholars turned to science to provide

answers to the issues of the day. This resulted in a new discipline called sociology.
The Sociological Imagination

Sociological reasoning is often referred to as the sociological imagination the

ability to see the relationship between individual experiences and the larger society (Mills,

1959b). The sociological imagination is important to each of us because having this

awareness enables us to understand the link between our personal experiences and the social

contexts in which they occur. Each of us lives in a society, and we live out a biography within

some historical setting.

C. Wright Mills (1959) described the diff erent levels on which social events can be

perceived and interpreted. He used the term the sociological imagination to refer to this

relationship between individual experiences and forces in the larger society that shape our

actions The sociological imagination is the process of looking at all types of human behavior

patterns and finding previously unseen connections among them.

Sociologists talk about the connection between learning to understand and then

change society as being the sociological imagination. C. Wright Mills (191662), a colorful

and controversial professor at New Yorks Columbia University who is profiled below, coined

this term. The sociological imagination is the ability to see the interrelationships between

biography and history, or the connections between our individual lives and larger social

forces at work shaping our lives (e.g., racism or political agendas).

In attempting to understand social behavior, sociologists rely on a particular type of

critical thinking. A leading sociologist, C. Wright Mills, described such thinking as the

sociological imagination an awareness of the relationship between an individual and the

wider society, both today and in the past (Mills [1959] 2000a).
 (b) The development of Sociology in the Caribbean.

Auguste Comte. The French philosopher Auguste Comte (17981857)

coined the term sociology. founder of sociology.

Comtes theory that societies contain social statics (forces for social order and stability) and

social dynamics (forces for conflict and change) continues to be used in contemporary

sociology. stressed that the methods of the natural sciences should be applied to the objective

study of society.

the French Revolution of 17891799.

. Sociology would include all other sciences and bring them all together into a cohesive

whole.

Comte feared that the excesses of the French Revolution had permanently impaired

Frances stability. Yet he hoped that the systematic study of social behavior would eventually

lead to more rational human interactions.. He called it the queen, and its practitioners

scientist- priests.. It is also the period during which he became known for developing the

scientific view of positivism. He thought sociology could draw on the same resources as the

natural sciences, namely observation, experimentation, and comparison (Coser 1977, 5).

Rather, he became head of a new religious organization, which he foresaw as someday being

led by sociologist-priests.
 He stressed that sociology should be scientific, much like the natural sciences. He felt

that sociology should be rooted in positivism, that is, knowledge should be derived from

observable facts, rather than from superstition, fantasy, or other non-empirical (nonverifiable)

sources. He believed that the social world was governed by a set of laws, which made it

possible for the study of society to be scientific in nature. He felt that by studying society in

this way, sociology would help correct the ills of society. Thus sociology was seen as the

queen of all sciences and sociologists as belonging to a priesthood of humanity, by Comte,

because sociology and sociologists would be able to restore order in society. Comtes work

laid the groundwork for the development of Sociology as it is known today. Many of Comte's

doctrines were later adapted and developed by social philosophers, especially the

Functionalists.