Emergence of Sociology, Lecture notes of Sociology

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EMERGENCE OF SOCIOLOGY

BY: DEVANSH MALHOTRA

SOCIOLOGY HAS A LONG PAST

BUT A SHORT HISTORY.



Human being is gregarious by nature.

There have been many efforts made

since time immemorial to study the

human society, it can be traced back to

the ancient Greek philosophers namely

Plato and Aristotle. The two great

thinkers of time discussed at length

about the problems of society in their

works.

THE AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT

After the protestant reformation initiated by Martin Luther King Jr. further carried on by Calvin and the invention of printing press by Johannes Gutenberg both of which took place in Germany around 15 th century, these above mentioned developments took out the whole Europe to the age of enlightenment.

The 16 th century Europe witnessed the emergence of thinkers such as Niccolo Machiavelli in Italy and Thomas Hobbes in England who propounded realistic approach to the problems of human society and even analyzed the system of statecraft.

Montesquieu in his book

‘ The spirit of Laws’

propounded that many

external factors such as

climate also influence

human behavior. The

Europe of 18

th

century

witnessed the publications

of many books of different

thinkers and some of the

ideologies propounded by

them even led to the French

revolution.

FRENCH REVOLUTION

TO UNDERSTAND A SCIENCE IT IS NECESSARY TO

KNOW ITS HISTORY.

(AUGUSTE COMTE)

Father of

Sociology

Auguste Comte is credited to be the father of this modern discipline in 1839 he coined the term ‘ SOCIOLOGY’ for the first time in his famous work “ Positive Philosophy”. The term ‘Sociology’ is derived from the Latin words Socius meaning companion or associate, and the Greek word Logos, meaning study or science. To quote Bottom Ore, “ The conditions which gave rise to sociology were both intellectual and social”.

HERBERT SPENCER

Then Comes Herbert Spencer, an English scholar who was more precise and specific in specifying the subject matter of the subject. According to him, the fields of sociology are: the family, politics, religion, social control and industry or work. He drew parallels with the human organism, and was influenced by the famous biologist Charles Darwin. He emphasized on the theory of Laissez faire (free market) and individualism. He even stated that the different parts of society such as the state, market or the economy work together to ensure the smooth functioning of the society.

Sociology and Social anthropology

arrived at the Indian coasts in the ships

of The Great British Empire, after the

Great Mutiny of 1857 to help them rule

the land of Mighty warriors such as

Rajputs, Marathas, Pathans, Sikhs,

Bengalis, etc. These sciences were to be

used as tools to study Indian Social

Structure and to prevent any further

Mutinies or uprisings. Along with its

sisters such as Ethnography and

Anthropology; Sociology started serving

the vested interests of The Mighty British

Empire of Victorian Era.

 (^) Land, and the revenue and authority that accrued from the relationship between it and the state, had been fundamental to the formation of the early colonial state, eclipsing the formation of Company rule in that combination of formal and private trade that itself marked the formidable state-like functions of the country.  (^) Sociology and social anthropology developed in India in the colonial interests and intellectual curiosity of the western scholars on the one hand, and the reactions of the Indian scholars on the other. British administrators had to acquire the knowledge of

" We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern; a class of persons, Indian in blood and color, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals, and in intellect".

Many of the western scholars were interested in learning the language of Vedas i.e. Sanskrit, lives of people of Vedic and Aryan Civilizations, whereas others were interested in discovering the rich and intellectual developments of political statecraft, economy, law and philosophy that took place in Ancient India. Marx and Engels were attracted by the nature of oriental disposition in India to build their theory of evolution of capitalism. Even the Great British Jurist Sir Henry Summer Maine was interested in Hindu Legal System and Village Communities to propound the theory of Status to Contract. Max Weber was also interested in Hinduism and other Oriental Religions, which in turn proved beneficial in developing a