SOCIETIES AND CULTURES

PREPARED FOR:
MANOLO HILO

PREPARED BY:
JOHN PEARNEL VERALLO
SOCIOLOGY

Sociology was coined by the French philosopher Auguste Comte, who is also considered
as the father of sociology.

The term is coined from the word sociologie which is a combination of the Greek word
socius which means “companionship” or “friendship” and the suffix –ology, which
means “the study of.” Thus, sociology is simply defines as “the study of society.”

As an academic discipline, sociology inquires into social behavior and historical

development of social institution. It makes use of empirical to investigate the different
facets and functions of the societies.
To provide understanding of ourselves and others as a member of the society.

The sociological perspective provides us with the ability to systematically differentiate

and assess fundamental social issues.
The definition of sociology vary depending on the sociologists perspective
confining sociology in a strict formal definition that a matter of a debate.
Like Emile Durkheim define sociology as: “the science of social institutions”

Max Webber defined sociology as “the science which attempts the interpretative
understanding of social action in order thereby to arrive at a casual explanation of its course
and effect.

On the other hand, Morris Ginsberg defined the discipline as “the study of human
interactions and interrelations, their conditions and consequences.”
From all the definition one definition comes up:

Sociology is an inquiry of the human condition, one can deduce the

human condition – how an individual lives and interacts with the society
and ow the relationship transcends individual perspective.

Society – including the groups where we belong and the community

where we live in – is a part of parcel of what we define us.
 Development of Sociology
Age of Enlightenment:

Sociology as a discipline originated as an inquiry on the shifting on socioeconomic and

political dynamic in Europe after the French revolution. It is within this Age of Enlightenment
influenced the yet budding social sciences. Adopting the thrust of philosophies of science and
knowledge, sociology took on a positive route – a course wherein a society and its Clements
were studied in a highly scientific approach and was thus treated like the natural sciences.

Comte’s Development:

The positivist orientation was super headed by Aguste Comte. Comte’s work
was followed by series of sociological inquiries that investigated issues linked to
capitalism, urbanization, modernity, colonization, and imperialism.
13th Century:

Early forms of social development like Chinese thinker Confucius and Ma

Duanlin both documented the social dynamics of Chinese society, the form doing
so in 5th century BCE and the latter, in 13th century CE.

In the Middle East, Ibn Khaldun did an early form of sociological inquiry in his
work Muqaddimah (1377), where he explored the concepts of social cohesion and
social conflict.
19th Century:

In the 1980’s sociology became part of American universities. The

American Journal of Sociology was first published in 1985 and a decade
thereafter, the American Sociological Society was formed.

The European counterparts, the first American sociologists were not

scholars in the fields of history, philosophy, or political science, but for
social workers and ministers.

That is why amidst the rapid technological developments and sociological

problems that arouse in Industrial Revolution, academic publications on
sociology were mostly suggestions and recommendations on how to deal
with social issues and problems.
In 1930’s however, sociological publications became more and more
scientific in their approach, which provided more thoroughly research
articles.

All this time, sociology started to evolve as a formal academic discipline

which utilized empirical scientific methodologies.
Theological stage:

Theological stage places God or the supernatural as the cause of all things
in the universe. Concepts and ideas were intertwined with the belief in the
divine beings.
Metaphysical stage:

Metaphysical stage replaced supernatural concepts with abstract principle.

Also more rational than the theological stage, the metaphysical stage still
asserts that the abstract concepts and ideas are the causes of things in the
universe.
Positive stage:

Positive stage means as the height of mans thinking as it relies on scientific

methods, observation, and experimentation to determine the causes of tings.
Herbert Spencer

The English social philosopher Herbert Spencer (1820-1903) applied biological

concepts into the field of sociology with his theory of organic analogy. In his work
Principles of Sociology (1876), Spence; compared the development and activity
of the society of a living organism.

He said that the like organisms, society grows and develops in a gradual process
and passes through stages of complexity. Just as the organs in the body have
different purposes, society has institutions that have specific functions.
Lester Ward

He introduces the sociology as an academic discipline in American higher

education institutions. Ward theorized that a societies progressed could be
controlled and cannot be simply driven by the by deterministic forces like
evolution.

In is work Dynamic Sociology (1889), Ward claimed that all sciences must be
beneficial to man and that sociology should give particular focus to this fact.

For Ward, science is not a study that should be disjointed from society, but an
inquiry that focuses on how humans could progress.
Emile Durkheim

A French sociologist, a social psychologists, a philosopher, focused his study

on phenomenon suicide. He was credited as one of the founding fathers of
modern sociology. Durkheim’s research of nature of suicide demonstrated
how a scientific study of society can be done.

In said research, Durkheim obtain massive amounts of data which he analyzed

before arriving at a conclusion. His finding suggest that an individual is likely
to commit suicide when he/she connects more with society.

He believes that sociology could really be adopted to observe such and such
phenomena.
Max Weber
A German sociologists (1864-1920), he is credited as also one of the founding
fathers of modern sociology. Weber’s inquiries revolve around his ideas of
social action. For him, sociology must determine the motivation behind these
actions, and why and how these actions were done.
Weber attributed actions to particular way of thinking or rationality. He
identified the four ways of social actions:
The zweckrational action the act done in order to achieve a distinct goal.
The wertrational action the act done which is motivated by the idea of value.
The affective action the act done as an emotional response.
The traditional action the act done in order to follow traditions and customs.
Karl Marx

A German sociologist and philosopher, is credited for being one of the founding fathers of
the modern sociology. Moving away from Hegelian dialectical idealism which perceived
truth to be confined in ideas. Marx inversion of Hegel is called dialectical materialism. For
Marx, truth about society is not found in abstract ideas or principles, but is found instead in
the observable and knowable world.

Dialectics is described as a process wherein an ideas (thesis) is met by the opposite idea
(antithesis) and its combination creates a new idea (synthesis). While Hegel use dialectics
to described history as ideas which constant change and adopt, Marx use the dialectics to
describe the materialist view of world history.

He stated that society evolves due to necessary material goods required from human living
and that social living and that social order is established around the concept of production
or producing these goods.
 The fields of sociology
Human Ecology

This studies the society in relation with its environment. The discipline also considers how
the environment is affected by the society and how it is utilized for production and
habituation. Human ecologists view communities in terms of area or region so they can
better explain ecological factors and concerns. Human ecology attempts to study the
problem encountered in urban environment, the relationship between population density and
environmental quality, and the disruption or ecosystems due to human intervention.

Penology or Penal Science

This studies how punishment is conducted on the offending members of the societies. As an
interdisciplinary approach between sociology and criminology, this fields involves laws and
implementation of policies and procedures. It also inquires on the consequence is using
punishment as a method to curb social disorder and the investigation of its ethical and moral
basis.
Sociology of work

This used as an inquiry into the effects of the Industrial Revolution on

societies. Marx studied the condition of workplaces, Durkheim studied the
how stability and normalization within society occurs as new types of work
emerged, and Weber studied concept of authority and how it evolved.

Today however, this field shifted its inquiry on how individuals, groups,
communities, and societies relate to and interact with different industries.
For example, a popular topic of sociology of work in the Philippines is the
effect of call centers as a new type of work.
 Key concepts

Society is defined as a “group of people who share in one form or another distinct commonality.” The
term comes from the greek word “socius”, which means “companionship” or “friendship.”
Society is instrumental in studying this discipline as it defines the nature of man (in other
words, man is a social animal, according to Aristotle). As the popular saying “No man is an island”;
therefore, humans need society in order to live and, for Aristotle, to achieve happiness.

Institutions is a complex and an organized entity which aims to protect and enable the continuing
function of values adopted by society. The five basic social institutions include the family,
government, economy, education and religion.

Norms refer to the values and behaviors which are considered acceptable in the society. More often,
norms exhibit strictness as it requires a level of conformity. Social norms affect or impose itself on
every type of human interaction and situation.
For example going to malls just wearing your pajamas is possible and is not acceptable.
Deviance is the straying away from or going out from what is the norm. deviant behavior is
punished, awarded, or accepted without punishment or reward. Deviance is punishable when it
veers from normal behavior, expectations, social values, or law. Deviance is a punished in the case
of a ,murderer who violates value of life placed by the society.

On the other hand, deviance is rewarded in case of firefighters who voluntarily gets close to raging fires to
save lives rather than avoid fire, which is normal behavior (we are taught at an early age to avoid fire, lest we
get burned by it). While getting closer to fire is an abnormal response to danger, such deviation is rewarded
because it upholds values encourage by societies (in this case the value of life).

On the other hand, deviance is neither punished or rewarded if the actions do not disregard societal values, but
still deviate from what is considered a norm.

For example, it is now fashionable to own the latest model of smartphone, but some people still use
old models or do not even carry phones with them. Not owning the latest smartphone or simply not
having one does not violate any social values, but it goes against social norms.
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