The Birth and the rise of sociology

The study of society

Text 1

Welcome to sociology

Socioligy is a fascinating and widely applicable field which teaches how to think about how people create, maintain and are effected by social forces. Critical thinking, problems solving, written communication, oral communication and interpersonal skills are all cultivated by studing sociology. We are excited about the opportunities that sociology has for students and welcome you to explore the world through a sociological perspective.

Let’s figure out just what sociology is. Unlike many other subjects, sociology is a new subject for many students. Therefore, it may be helpful to give a quick introduction to what siciologists do. Sociologists are interested in all sorts of topics. For example, some sociologists focus on the family, adressing issues such as marriage, divorce, child rearing, and domestic abuse, the ways these things are defined in different cultures and times, and their effect on both individuals and institutions. Others examine larger social organizations such as business and governments, looking at their structure and hierarchies. Others focus on social movements and political protest. Finally, sociologists may look at divisions and inequality within society, examining phenomena such as race, gender, and class, and their effect on people’s choices and opportunities. As you can see, sociologists study just about everything.

At its most basic, sociology is an attempt to understand and explain the way that individuals and groups interact within a society. How exatly does one reach this goal? C. Wright Mills in his book “The Sociological Imagination” (1959) writes that “ neither the life of an individual nor the history of a society can be understood without understanding both.” Why? Well, as Karl Marx observes “humans make their own history, but they do not make it just as they please, they do not make it under circumstances chosen by themselves, but under circumstances directly encounted, given and transmitted from the past.” Thus, sociology is the study of the interaction between individuals and larger social forces.

Three types of arguments are particularly common: the “individual argument,” the “human and nature argument,” and the “society argument.” The “individual argument” generally states that “individual is free to make choices, and any outcomes can be explained exclusively of his or her ideas and decisions.While it is true that we all make our own choices, we must also keep in mind that, to paraphrase Marx, we make these choices under circumstances given to us by the structure of society. Therefore, it is important to investigate what conditions made these choices possible in the first place, as well as, what allows some individuals to successfully act on their choices while others cannot. The “human nature argument” seeks to explain social behavior through a quass-biological argument about humans, and often states that: ”Humans are by nature X, therefore it is not surprising that Y.” While siciologists disagree over whether a universal human nature even exists, they all agree that it is not an acceptable basis of explanation. Instead, sociology asks why we call some behavior natural, and demands to look into the social factors which have constructed “natural” state. The “society argument” often arises in response to critiques of the above styles of argumentation, and tends to appear in a form such as: ”Society made me do it.” This sociological argument uses society as the basis for explanation. Society is really a process, made up of ongoing interactions at multiple levels of size and complexity. People make decisions and choices. Some groups and individuals benefit, while others do not. Identifying these intermediate levels is the basis of socioligical analysis.

Sociology is an empirical discipline. Empirism in sociology means basing your conclusions on evidence that is documented and collected with as much rigour as possible. This evidence usually draws upon observed patterns and information from collected cases and experiences, not just from isolated reports. Socioligical evidence falls into two main groups: quantitative and qualitative.Quantitative data are based on surveys, censuses, and statistics. These provide large numbers of data points, which is particularly usefull for studing large scale of social processes, such as income inequality, population changes, changes in social attitudes, etc. Quantitative data produces a measurement of subject’s characteristics and behavior, while qualitative research generates information on their meanings and practices. Unfortunately, much of sociology has split into two methods. Many tend to exclusively favor qualitative over quantitative data, or vice versa. However, since each method has its own strength and weakness, combining methods can be particularly effective.

So we reach the end of this brief glimpse into the world of sociology. These basic guidelines will help you get started.

I Vocabulary

fascinating – обворожительный, пленительный
applicable – применимый, пригодный, подходящий
issues – спорные вопросы
domestic abuse – домашнее насилие
circumstances – обстоятельства
argument – дискуссия, спор
interaction – взаимодействие
rigour – точность, тщательность
quantitative – количественные
qualitative – качественные
surveys – соц. опросы
censuses – результаты
datum (pl.-data) – данные, факты, сведения
glimpse – представление
to create – порождать, творить, создавать
to maintain – поддерживать
to focuse on – сосредоточивать внимание на
to reach one’s goal – добиваться цели
to observe – наблюдать
to encount – сталкиваться
to transmit – передавать
to seek (sought) – искать
to demand – требовать
to arise (arose, arisen) – возникать , появляться

II Comprehension check

What does sociology teach?
What topics are sociologists interested in?
What is sociology?
What three types of arguments are particularly common?
What does the “individual argument” state?
What does the “human nature argument” seek to explain?
What does the “society argument” use as the basis for explanation?
What does empirism in sociology mean?
What groups does sociological evidence fall into?
What are quantitative data based on?
What does qualitative research generate information on?

Text 2

The Birth and the rise of sociology

We cannot study society without considering the rise of sociology as an academic discipline. Sociology is one of the most recent social sciences. People have always attempted to comprehend or understand society. Several Greek philosophers, including Aristotle and Plato, pondered the nature of society and government, Confucius taught people how to behave in a well-regulated society. Iben Caldoun, an Arab scholar living in Morocco in the thirteenth century, pondered the nature of conflict in societies. However, the distinctive intellectual tradition we now call sociology began in Western Europe in the nineteenth century. Its rise was associated with several great changes that occurred in Europe, including the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, and the rapid urbanization that occurred in every European society. Most of the important founders of modern, Western sociology observed these changes and provided the beginnings of what became the empirical, scientific study of society – sociology.

Sociology’s early founders had at least two things in common: They were interested in 1) understanding society as a whole, and they were trying to comprehend; 2) the nature of social change and stability. Society is the general concept, which encompasses the permanent structures, or social arrangements, which impinge on the lives of ordinary people. Structures include institutions such as family, religion, and education, which often endure for generations and give stability and continuity to a society. Early founders of sociology were interested in the decay of an old society and the emergence of new social forms. They were interested in how changes affected individuals – how people respond when the old rules no longer govern.

Many academic disciplines developed to explain segments of the social world. Psychology studies the individual; political science studies systems of government; anthropology studies features of diverse cultures; economics studies micro and macro levels of economic exchange; sociology alone focuses on group behavior in society as a whole. However, no single academic discipline had sufficient scope to explain the complexities of societal transformation as Europe moved from a feudal to industrial economy.

For many reasons, including the popularity and importance of the physical sciences and ideas emerging from the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, and the Romantic Movement, many people in eighteenth-century Europe rejected traditional theological explanations. To many people, the will of God was not an adequate explanation for the dramatic social changes many experienced in the early decades of the Industrial Revolution.

If traditional and theological explanations were inadequate, what might take their place? Some were attracted to philosophical explanations. However, others sought explanations rooted in the observation of human social arrangements. If the physical sciences could help us understand the world of nature, might we not create a social science? To be scientific, the new discipline would have to be based on the empirical observation of social life. Observations or facts do not speak for themselves. Not only do humans create them, but once we have gathered and organized our observations, we also have to create concepts and theories to provide general explanations for the facts and relationships we observe. The first sociologists created large-scale social theories to explain those aspects of society of greatest interest: how societies change and how they stay the same.

One way to view social theories is to examine their origins – what were the dominant social conditions that were influencing the awareness of the theorist? This is studied as the sociology of knowledge itself. An individual may extend ideas or improve available concepts, but such work is always done in the context of existing knowledge. You may develop a new theory, but your insights will almost certainly emerge from ideas you have previously learned. Karl Mannheim, a German sociologist who died in 1947, was one of the important contributors to the study of the social origin of knowledge.

The way I view the world, just as the way you do, is greatly influenced by my previous experiences and the way I understand these experiences. We will look at some of the early influences on sociology in terms of the broad social conditions that influence the development of different social theories.

I Vocabulary

society – общество
to comprehend – понимать
to ponder – обдумывать, взвешивать, размышлять (on, upon, over)
to occur – случаться, происходить
to encompass – окружать, заключать
to endure – длиться, продолжаться
decay – разложение, упадок
to respond – отвечать
sufficient – достаточный
to emerge – вставать, возникать (о вопросе)
to reject – отвергать
to emphasize – подчеркивать, акцентировать
intentionally – намеренно
observation – наблюдение; to observe – наблюдать
awareness – осознание; to be aware of – осознавать
to extend – расширять
insight – 1) интуиция; 2) понимание
to contribute – делать вклад (в науку и т.п. to); contributor – содействующий, помощник

II Comprehension check

1. What have people attempted to understand from early in recorded history?

2. What philosophers pondered the nature of society?

3. When and where did sociology begin?

4. What was its rise associated with?

5. What were Sociology’s early founders interested in?

6. What does sociology focus on?

7. Why did people in eighteenth-century Europe reject traditional theological explanations for the social changes in the society?

8. What did physical sciences help us to understand?

9. What did the first sociologists try to explain?

10. What is studied as the sociology of knowledge itself?

11. How can we view social theories?

12. What influences the way people view the world?

III Look through the texts again and find the words that mean:

1. Knowledge about the world especially based on physical examination and testing and on facts that can be proved.

2. People in general considered in relations to the structure of laws, organizations that makes it possible for them to live together

3. The situation, place or physical matter from which something begins.

4. Knowledge or understanding of a particular subject or situation.

5. Someone’s idea of how something is or should be done.

6. The ability to understand and realize what people or situation are really like.

7. Someone who gives ideas to something, that a lot of people are also involved in.

IV Translate from Russian into English:

1. Термин «социология» происходит от латинского «societas» – «общество» и греческого «logos» – «учение», обозначая «учение об обществе».

2. Объектом социологии является общество.

3. Предмет социологии – это социальная жизнь общества.

4. В сравнении с математикой, физикой и химией законы социологии носят вероятностный характер. Они могут произойти или не произойти, т.к. полностью зависят от воли и действий людей.

5. Ключевым понятием социологии является взаимоизменение.

6. Роль социологии возрастает в кризисных ситуациях, когда важно учесть общественное мнение.

V Communicative practice

1. Is sociology a science? If yes, why is it different from other sciences?

2. Why is it important to study sociology for any specialist?

3. Is sociology in great demand today? Why?

4. Would you like to work as a sociologist today? In what country? Why?

Unit II