INTRODUCTION TO
SOCIOLOGY
Owondo Thomas
Bwindi Community Hospital
© 2017 Thomas Owondo. All rights reserved.

INTRODUCTION
• Have you ever wondered why individuals and societies
are so varied?
• Do you ask what social forces have shaped different
existences?
• The quest to understand society is urgent and important,
for if we cannot understand the social world, we are more
likely to be overwhelmed by it. We also need to
understand social processes if we want to influence them.
© 2017 Thomas Owondo. All rights reserved. 2

INTRODUCTION
• 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.
© 2017 Thomas Owondo. All rights reserved. 3

INTRODUCTION
• 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.
• Sociologists believe that our social surroundings influence our
thought and action.
© 2017 Thomas Owondo. All rights reserved. 4

DEFINITION
• It is the scientific study of society, including patterns of social
relationships, social interaction, and culture.
• A social science involving the study of the social lives of people,
groups, and societies.
• The study of our behavior as social beings, covering everything
from the analysis of short contacts between anonymous
individuals on the street to the study of global social processes.
• The scientific study of human societies and human behavior in the
groups that make up a society.
© 2017 Thomas Owondo. All rights reserved. 5

EVOLUTION OF SOCIOLOGY
• Sociology is the scientific study of human social life, groups and
societies.
• There was no sociology as a distinct discipline before the advent of
19th century. As a distinct discipline it emerged about the middle of the
19th century when European social observers began to use scientific
methods to test their ideas. It looks that three factors led to the
development of sociology.
 The first was the Industrial revolution.
 The second factor that stimulated the development of sociology was
imperialism.
 The third impetus for the development of sociology was the success of
the natural sciences. © 2017 Thomas Owondo. All rights reserved. 6

EVOLUTION OF SOCIOLOGY
Industrial revolution.
 By the mid 19th century Europe was changing from agriculture
to factory production. There was the emergence of new
occupations as well as new avenues of employment away from
the land.
 People in these industrial cities developed new ideas about
democracy and political rights. They didnot want to remain tied
to their rulers. Therefore the ideas about individual liberty,
individualrights to life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness
emerged, which actually laid the foundation to futurepolitical
revolution. © 2017 Thomas Owondo. All rights reserved. 7

EVOLUTION OF SOCIOLOGY
 Imperialism.
 Europeans successfully conquered many parts of the world.
They were exposed to radically different cultures. Startled by
these contrasting ways of life, they began to ask why cultures
differed.
 The success of the natural sciences.
 People moved to question fundamental aspects of their social
world. They started using the scientific method (systematic
observation, objectivity) to the study of human behaviour.
© 2017 Thomas Owondo. All rights reserved. 8

EVOLUTION OF SOCIOLOGY
• The term sociology was first used by Frenchman Auguste
Comte in the 1830s when he proposed a synthetic science
uniting all knowledge about human activity.
• The idea of applying the scientific method to the social world,
known as positivism, was apparently first proposed by
Auguste Comte (1798-1857). He was French. He migrated
from a small town to Paris. The changes he himself
experienced, combined with those France underwent in the
revolution, led Comte to become interested in the two
interrelated issues: social order (social static) and social
change (social dynamics). 9

EVOLUTION OF SOCIOLOGY
• What holds the society together (Why is there a social
order)? And once the society is set then what causes it to
change? Why its directions change?
• Comte concluded that the right way to answer such
questions was to apply the scientific method to social life.
• There must be laws that underlie the society. Therefore
we should discover these principles by applying scientific
method to social world. Once these principles discovered
then we could apply these for social reform.
© 2017 Thomas Owondo. All rights reserved. 10

EVOLUTION OF SOCIOLOGY
• Comte advocated for building new societies on twin
foundations of science and industry rather than on religion
and land owner-serf relationship.
• This will be a new science and Comte named it as
Sociology (1838) the study of society. Comte is credited
with being the founder of sociology.
© 2017 Thomas Owondo. All rights reserved. 11

EVOLUTION OF SOCIOLOGY
• Other early pioneer names are:
 Herbert Spenser (1820-1903).
• He was an Englishman and is sometimes called second founder of sociology.
He too believed that society operates under some fixed laws. He was
evolutionary and considered that societies evolve from lower to higher forms.
In this way he applied the ideas of Darwin to the development of human
society, and hence this approach may be called as Social Darwinism.
• By following the basic principle of Social Darwinism Spenser advocated that
`let the fittest survive'. There should be no reform because it will help in the
survival of lower order individuals. (Charity and helping the poor were
considered to be wrong). Spenser was a social philosopher rather than a
social researcher.
© 2017 Thomas Owondo. All rights reserved. 12

EVOLUTION OF SOCIOLOGY
 Karl Marx (1818-1883).
• Karl Marx was a German. According to him the key to
human history is Class Conflict. Not really a sociologist
but wrote widely about history, philosophy, economics,
political science.
• Because of his insights into the relationship between the
social classes, he is claimed to be an early sociologist. He
introduced one of the major perspectives in sociology
conflict perspective.
© 2017 Thomas Owondo. All rights reserved. 13

EVOLUTION OF SOCIOLOGY
 Emile Durkheim (1858-1917).
• He was French. His primary goal was of getting sociology
recognized as a separate academic discipline. His systematic
study comparing suicide rates among several countries revealed
an underlying social factor: People were more likely to commit
suicide if their ties to others in their communities were weak. He
identified the key role of social integration in social life.
 Max Weber (1864-1920).
• Max Weber was a German. He used cross-cultural and
historical materials in order to determine how extensively
social groups affect people's orientations to life 14

BRANCHES/FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY
• As sociology is considered a very popular and fast growing
science came into existence (only after 1839 AD) is vast and
broad discipline. It has lots of specialists so that we can divide it
into various sub-divisions on the basis of its contents.
• The main branches of sociology are as follows:
 Historical Sociology; It is the study of social facts and social
groups. It studies the background of any social events. How and
when different social groups or organizations originated ?
Eg. The history of Hindu, Roman, Greek, Luo etc. and other major
civilizations.
© 2017 Thomas Owondo. All rights reserved. 15

BRANCHES/FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY
 Criminology; This branch of sociology studies the criminal
behavior of individuals or groups. Origin of crime its types nature,
causes as well as law, punishment, police, etc. come under this
study, The efforts for the improvement is also studied. Different
organizations establish to control the crime as well as their role
also come under its study.
 Sociology of Knowledge; The newly emerged branch of
sociology indicates that our knowledge is the product of social
phenomena. This means our knowledge is always influenced by
society. The economic religious political and other interests save
the human belief and idea.
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BRANCHES/FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY
Sociology of Religion; This branch studies the structure of the
religion in social system as no society is free from the influence of it. It
analyses the social behavior of human beings. It also studies the
religious constitutions and their role in the society. Augste Comte,
Emile Durkheim, Herbert Spencer did the study of elementary forms of
religious life.
 Political Sociology; This branch of sociology studies different
political moments of the society. It includes the study of different
political ideology (view), their origin, development and functions. In this
study, different political parties are considered as social institutions.
Various activities and behavior of political parties are studied in this
branch. As they are the part of social system. 17

BRANCHES/FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY
Industrial Sociology; This branch of sociology is concerned with
the industrial relationship of the human beings. It studies the different
industrial organizations and institutions. As well as their interrelationship
and links with other various institutions of society. It also studies the inter
relationships of industrial institutions with various aspects of human life
such as culture, beliefs, customs, religion or the way of life.
Urban Sociology; This branch of sociology studies the way of life of
urban people. It gives information about the social organizations and
institution of urban society as well as social structure and social
interaction. It also studies the social pathology of urban society such as
discrimination) crime, corruption, robbery, beggary, loot, theft,
unemployment, prostitution, environmental pollution, etc.
© 2017 Thomas Owondo. All rights reserved. 18

BRANCHES/FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY
Rural Sociology; This branch of sociology studies the way of life of
rural people as the rural population is higher than the urban. The patterns of
life such as behavior, belief, culture, tradition norms, values, etc. are totally
different than of urban people. So, it studies the rural society in scientific way.
It also studies rural life, social institutions, social structure, social processes,
etc. of the rural society.
 Sociology of Law; Sociology of law and legal system are considered
as the part of society, as social institution. Law is one of the very important
means of social control. Law is related with other different social sub
systems. Such as economy, nature of distribution, authority, structure of
family kinship relationships, etc. So, this branch of sociology is related to
moral order for the society as formulation and implementation of rules and
regulations, law and order come under this. 19

BRANCHES/FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY
Sociology of Demography; Demography of scientific
mathematical and statically study of population. It studies about size,
situation, composition, density, distribution, and measurement etc. of the
population. In this branch of sociology, we study the distribution of human
population with the analysis of population change in sociological
perspectives. It also finds out the determining factors of population
change and its trend.
 Sociology of Economy; This branch of sociology studies production,
distribution, consumption and exchange of goods and services. This
branch also studies the economic activities of the society in which the
focus is given about the socio-cultural factors. The access in production,
the mode of distribution, the real consumers, the role of culture in such
activities are studied under it. Eg. “Why Moslems don’t eat pork?” 20

BRANCHES/FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY
Theoretical Sociologist; It includes micro theory or
small/middle/large theory. The theories of Karl Marx, August Cimte,
Max Wever, Emmile Durkhaim, Sorokin, etc are studied under the
theories of sociology. Eg. The theories of “Economic determinism” and
the theory of “Class Struggle” of Karl Marx. Eg. “Theory of Sucide” by
Emmile Durkhaim.
Sociology of Psychology (Socio-psychology); Social
psychology is the study of how people are shaped and affected by their
social environments. Social psychologists, while looking at the role that
society plays on an individual, are more interested in the role that a
person’s interpretation of stress, social challenges, prejudice, criminal
activity, etc., plays in their mental and emotional functioning. 21

BRANCHES/FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY
• Besides the above mentioned
various branches of sociology,
other different branches are
also emerging day by day as
sociology is a very broad
social science. Some of their
names are listed below:
 Sociology of Family
 Sociology of Race
 Sociology of Occupation
 Sociology of Culture
 Sociology of Planning
 Sociology of Moment
 Sociology of Differentiation
 Sociology of Art
 Sociology of literature
 Sociology of Peace
 Sociology of Development
 Sociology of Military
 Sociology of Stratification, etc.
© 2017 Thomas Owondo. All rights reserved. 22

TERMS IN SOCIOLOGY
• Society – population that shares the same territory and is
bound together by economic and political ties.
• Values – shared ideas about desirable goals.
• Norms – shared rules of conduct that specify how people
ought to think or act.
• Socialization – the process of learning the roles,
statuses, and values necessary for participation in social
institutions.
© 2017 Thomas Owondo. All rights reserved. 23