Historical Perspective of Sociology toward understanding the definition of Sociology — All inquiries were once a part of philosophy, that great mother of the sciences, and philosophy embraced them all in an undifferentiated and amorphous fashion. One by one, however, with the growth of Western civilization, the various sciences Cut the apron strings, as it were, and began to pursue separate and independent courses. Astronomy and physics were among the first to break away, and were followed thereafter by chemistry, biology, and geology. In the nineteenth century two new sciences appeared: psychology or the science of human behaviour; and sociology j or the science of human behaviour; and sociology, or the science of human society. Thus, what had once been cosmology, a subdivision of philosophy, became astronomy; what had once been natural philosophy became the science of physics; what had once been mental philosophy, became the science of psychology; and […]
Sociology, Basic characteristics, Theoretical Perspectives of Sociology
What is Sociology? What are its basic characteristics? Explain major theoretical perspectives of Sociology? Definition of Sociology The subject has been looked from various points of view and now it is an opportune time to define the subject properly. According to P.A. Sorokin “sociology is a generalizing science of socio-cuitural phenomena viewed in their generic forms, types, and manifold interconnections. ” (Bierstedt, 1970. 3-28) Sociology is the scientific study of human society and social behaviour. The subject matter of sociology is huge and complex, and the knowledge produced by sociological research is still imperfect in many ways. However, it has taught us a great deal about ourselves. (RotarTson, 1977 :3) No formal definition of sociology is very satisfactory. Short definitions don’t really define; long definitions are clumsy. Yet a definition of some sort is needed, and sociology is often defined as the scientific study of human social life.. Human beings […]