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UNIVERSITY OF CONTINUOUS TRAINING

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
HUMAN AND SOCIAL SCIENCE
DR. IRBIR LATIFA

LESSON ONE
Sociology
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
• Define the term sociology;
• Understand how sociology emerged and developed;

INTRODUCTION:
Sociology is a discipline that belongs to what conventionally is called the social science. The discipline
plays a leading role in the social sciences. The term sociology literally means the science of society; for the term
itself in its direct sense denotes that. Sociology as an academic discipline arose in the first half of 19 th century
(in 1837, to mention the exact year) as a special science dedicated to unravel the fundamental laws governing
the societal phenomena and human social relationship with primary interest in analyzing the problems and
societies of the modern world.
The origin of the discipline.
DEFINITION OF SOCIOLOGY
Before attempting to define what sociology is, les us look at what the popular conceptions of the
discipline seem. As may be the case with other sciences, sociology is often misconceived among the populace.
Though many may rightly and grossly surmise that sociology is about people, some think that it is all about
“helping the unfortunate and doing welfare work, while others think that sociology is the same as socialism and
is a means of bringing revolution to our schools and colleges” (Nobbs, Hine and Flemming, 1978:1).
The first social scientist to use the term sociology was a Frenchman by the name of Auguste Comte who
lived from 1798-1857. As coined by Comte, the term sociology is a combination of two words. The first part
of the term is a Latin, socius- that may variously mean society, association, togetherness or companionship. The
other word, logos, is of Greek origin. It literally means to speak about or word. However, the term is generally
understood as study or science (Indrani, 1998). Thus, the etymological, literal definition of sociology is that it
is the word or speaking about society. A simple definition here is that it is the study of society and culture.
Before going any further, let us note that the concepts “society” and “culture” are central in sociology. While
each concept shall be dealt with later in some detail, it appears to be appropriate here to differentiate between
these two important concepts. Society generally refers to the social world with all its structures, institutions,
organizations, etc. around us, and specifically to a group of people who live within some type of bounded
territory and who share a common way of life. This common way of life shared by a group of people is termed
as culture (Stockard, 1997).
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SCHOLARLY DEFINITIONS:
Now, turning to the definitional issues, it is important that in addition to this etymological definition of the
term, we need to have other substantive definitions. Thus, sociology may be generally defined as a social science
that studies such kinds of phenomena as:
• The structure and function of society as a system.
• The nature, complexity and contents of human social behaviour.
• The fundamentals of human social life.
• Interaction of human beings with their external environment.
• The indispensability of social interactions for human development.
• How the social world affects us, etc.
A more formal definition of sociology may be that it is a social science which studies the processes and
patterns of human individual and group interaction, the forms of organization of social groups, the relationship
among them, and group influences on individual behaviour, and vice versa, and the interaction between one
social group and the other (Team of Experts, 2000).
Sociology is the scientific study of society, which is interested in the study of social relationship between
people in group context. Sociology is interested in how we as human beings interact with each other (the pattern
of social interaction); the laws and principles that govern social relationship and interactions; the/influence of
the social world on the individuals, and vice versa (Ibid.). It deals with a factually observable subject matter,
depends upon empirical research, and involves attempts to formulate theories and generalizations that will make
sense of facts (Giddens, 1982).
Regarding the detective and expository nature the science, Soroka (1992:34) states that “Sociology is a
debunking science; that is, it looks for levels of reality other than those presented in official interpretations of
society and people’s common sense explanations of the social world. Sociologists are interested in understanding
what is and do not make value judgments.”
BRIEF HISTORICAL OVERVIEW:
Sociology and other social sciences emerged from a common tradition of reflection of social
phenomena; interest in the nature of human social behaviour and society has probably always existed; however,
most people in most past societies saw their culture as a fixed and God-given entity. This view gradually was
replaced by more rational explanations beginning from the 17 th century especially in Western Europe
(Rosenberg, 1987). The sociological issues, questions and problems had been raised and discussed by the
forerunners starting from the ancient Greek and Roman philosophers' and Hebrew prophets' times.
Sociology as an academic science was thus born in 19th century (its formal establishment year being
1837) in Great Britain and Western Europe, especially in France and Germany, and it greatly advanced
throughout 19th and 20th centuries.

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The major conditions, societal changes, upheavals and social ferments that gave rise to the emergence
and development of sociology as an academic science include the Industrial Revolution which began in Great
Britain, the French Political Revolution of 1789, the Enlightenment and advances in natural sciences technology.
These revolutions had brought about significant societal changes and disorders in the way society lived in the
aforementioned countries. Since sociology was born amidst the great socio-political and economic and
technological changes of the western world, it is said to be the science of modern society.
The pioneering sociologists were very much concerned about the great changes that were taking place
and they felt that the exciting sciences could not help understand, explain, analyse and interpret the
fundamental laws that govern the social phenomena. Thus, sociology was born out of these revolutionary
contexts.
CONCLUSION: Sociology is the study of social life, social change, and the social causes and consequences
of human behaviour. Sociologists investigate the structure of groups, organizations, and societies, and how
people interact within these contexts.

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LESSON TWO
Founders of Sociology
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
• Appreciate the various views and concepts formulated by the founding fathers of sociology;
• Appreciate the application of sociology in addressing contemporary societal problems.

THE FOUNDING FATHERS

The founders or the pioneering sociologists are the following (Henslin and Nelson, 1995; Giddens,
1996; Macionis, 1997):
1. AUGUSTE COMTE, FRENCH SOCIAL PHILOSOPHER (1798- 1857): Comte was the first social
philosopher to coin and use the term sociology (Nobbs, Hine and Flemming, 1978). He was also the first
to regard himself as a sociologist He defined sociology as the scientific study of social dynamics and social
static. He argued that sociology can and should study society and social phenomena following the pattern
and procedures of the natural science. Comte believed that a theoretical science of society and the systematic
investigation of human behavior were needed to improve society. He argued that the new science of society
could and should make a critical contribution towards a new and improved human society. Comte defined
sociology as the study of social dynamic and social static, the former signifying the changing, progressing
and developmental dimensions of society, while the latter refers to the social order and those elements of
society and social phenomena which tend to persist and relatively permanent, defying change.
2. KARL MARX (GERMAN, 1818-1883): Marx was a world-renowned social philosopher, sociologist and
economic historian. He made remarkable contributions to the development of various social sciences
including sociology. He contributed greatly to sociological ideas. He introduced concepts in sociology like
social class, social class conflict, social oppression, alienation, etc. Marx, like Comte, argued that people
should make active efforts to bring about societal reforms. According to Marx, economic forces are the keys
to underestimating society and social change. He believed that the history of human society has been that of
class conflict. He dreamed of, and worked hard towards realizing, a classless society, one in which there will
be no exploitation and oppression of one class by another, and wherein all individuals will work according
to their abilities and receive according to their needs. Marx introduced one of the major perspectives in
sociology, called social conflict theory (Macionis, 1997).
3. HARRIET MARTINEAU, BRITISH SOCIOLOGIST (1802-1876): At a time when women were
greatly stereotyped and denied access to influential socio-political and academic arena, it is interesting to
have a female academic to be numbered among the pioneering sociologists. Harriet was interested in social
issues and studied both in the United States and England. She came across with the writings of Comte and
read them. She was an active advocate of the abolition of slavery and she wrote on many crosscutting issues

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such as racial and gender relations, and she traveled widely. She helped popularize the ideas and writings of
Comte by translating them into English (Henslin and Nelson, 1995).
4. HERBERT SPENCER, BRITISH SOCIAL PHILOSOPHER, (1820-1903): Spencer was a prominent
social philosopher of the 19th century. He was famous for the organic analogy of human society. He viewed
society as an organic system, having its own structure and functioning in ways analogous to the biological
system. Spencer's ideas of the evolution of human society from the lowest ("barbarism") to highest form
("civilized") according to fixed laws were famous. It was called "Social Darwinism", which is analogous to
the biological evolutionary model. Social Darwinism is the attempt to apply by analogy the evolutionary
theories of plant and animal development to the explanation of human society and social phenomena (Team
of Experts, 2000).
5. EMILE DURKHEIM, FRENCH SOCIOLOGIST, (1858-1917): Durkehiem was the most influential
scholar in the academic and theoretical development of sociology. He laid down some of the fundamental
principles, methods, concepts and theories of sociology; he defined sociology as the study of social facts.
According to him, there are social facts, which are distinct from biological and psychological facts. By social
facts, he meant the patterns of behavior that characterize a social group in a given society. They should be
studied objectively. The job of a sociologist, therefore, is to uncover social facts and then to explain them
using other social facts. Some regard Durkheim as the first sociologist to apply statistical methods to the
study of social phenomena (Macionis, 1997; Clahoun, et al, 1994).
6. MAX WEBER, GERMAN SOCIOLOGIST (1864-1920): Weber was another prominent social scientist.
According to him, sociology is the scientific study of human social action. Social action refers to any “action
oriented to influence or influenced by another person or persons. It is not necessary for more than one person
to be physically present for action to be regarded as social action….” (Team of Experts, 2000). It is
concerned with the interpretive understanding of human social action and the meaning people attach to their
own actions and behaviors and those of others. Weber was a renowned scholar who like Marx, wrote in
several academic fields. He agreed with much Marxian theses but did not accept his idea that economic
forces are central to social change. Weber argues that we cannot understand human behavior by just looking
at statistics. Everyactivity and behavior of people needs to be interpreted. He argued that a sociologist must
aim at what are called subjective meanings, the ways in which people interpret their own behavior or the
meanings people attach their own behavior (Henslin and Nelson, 1995; Rosneberg, 1987).

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LESSON THREE
Branches of Sociology
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
• Describe the subject-matter, scope and basic concerns of sociology;
• Describe macro-sociology and micro-sociology;
• Describe the relationship of sociology with other fields of study.

INTRODUCTION:
The problem of definition in sciences is one of the most common problems especially in social sciences
as the concepts are not easy for people to grasp. It is noticed that since the time of August Comte, scholars have
been trying to identify the scope of this field. The French and German scholars made every effort in defining
the scope of sociology compared to their American and English counterparts. What is noteworthy is that scholars
disagree not only on the definition of sociology but also on its scope and branches.
BRANCHES OF SOCIOLOGY
The first scholars divided the branches of sociology based on the main social phenomena. Therefore they
had family; religion, government system, social stratification, crime and deviations. Other scholars divide it based
on its scope of interest. Therefore we have theoretical and practical sociology. Another way of division is the
level of analysis. In this, we have wide-scope and narrow-scope levels of analysis; also labeled: macro and micro
sociology
LEVELS OF SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS
There are generally two levels of analysis in sociology, which may also be regarded as branches of
sociology: micro-sociology and macro- sociology (Henslin and Nelson, 1995). Micro-sociology is interested in
small-scale level of the structure and functioning of human social groups; whereas macro-sociology studies the
large-scale aspects of society.
Macro-sociology focuses on the broad features of society. The goal of macro-sociology is to examine the
large-scale social phenomena that determine how social groups are organized and positioned within the social
structure. Micro-sociological level of analysis focuses on social interaction. It analyzes interpersonal
relationships, and on what people do and how they behave when they interact. This level of analysis is usually
employed by symbolic interactionist perspective.
Some writers also add a third level of analysis called meso-level analysis, which analyzes human social phenomena
in between the micro- and macro-levels. Reflecting their particular academic interest sociologists may prefer one
form of analysis to the other; but all levels of analysis are useful and necessary for a fuller understanding of social
life in society.

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THE MAN FIELDS OF SOCIOLOGY
Within these general frameworks, sociology may be divided into specific sub-fields on the basis of certain
criteria. The most important fields of sociology can be grouped into six areas (World Book Encyclopedia, 1994:
Vol. 18; Pp. 564-568).
• The Field of Social Organization and Theory of Social Order: focuses on institutions and groups, their
formation and change, manner of functioning, relation to individuals and to each other.
• Social Control: focuses on the ways in which members of a society influence one another so as to maintain
social order.
• Social Change: focuses on the way society and institutions change over time through technical inventions,
cultural diffusion and cultural conflict, and social movements, among others.
• Social Processes: focuses on the pattern in which social change takes place, and the modes of such processes.
• Social Groups: focuses on how social groups are formed, structured, and how they function and change.
• Social Problems: focuses on the social conditions which cause difficulties for a large number of persons and
which the society is seeking to eliminate. Some of the problems may include: juvenile delinquency, crime, chronic
alcoholism, suicide, narcotics addiction, racial prejudice, ethnic conflict, war, industrial conflict, slum, areas,
urban poverty, prostitution, child abuse, problem of older persons, marital conflicts, etc.
Currently, sociology has got quite several specific subdivisions or fields of specialization in it: some of
these include the following: criminology; demography; human ecology; political sociology; medical sociology;
sociology of the family; sociology of sports; sociology of development; social psychology; socio- linguistics;
sociology of education; sociology of religion; sociology of knowledge; sociology of art; sociology of science
technology; sociology of law; urban sociology; rural sociology; economic sociology; and industrial sociology.

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LESSON FOUR
Language, Culture and Society
Learning Objectives
At the end of this lesson, students will be able to:
• Differentiate between culture and society
• Be able to understand the complex relationship between language and culture.
• Know the politics of how language powerfully constructs identities in relation to class, caste, race, gender, history
and colonialism.

INTRODUCTION:
The methodology of Humanities seeks to understand how culture constructs reality through language.
The importance of language in the production of knowledge and identities is of prime importance in humanities.
LANGUAGE, SOCIETY AND CULTURE
In the twentieth century, "culture" emerged as a concept central to anthropology including all human phenomena
that are not purely results of human genetics. Specifically, the term ‘culture’ as two meanings:
I. The evolved human capacity to classify and represent experiences with symbols, and to act imaginatively
and creatively.
II. The distinct ways in which people living in different parts of the world classified and
represented their experiences, and acted creatively.
An integral part of any culture is its language. Language not only develops in conjunction with society’s
historical, political and economic evolution but also decides that society’s attitude and thinking. Language not
only expresses concepts and ideas it also shapes thought. Language and culture are inseparable. At the most basic
level, language is a method of expressing ideas. That is, language is communication. It is usually verbal, visual
(via signs and symbols), or semiotics (via hand or body gestures). Culture, on the other hand, is a specific set of
ideas, practices, customs and beliefs which make up a functioning society as different from others.
Language is specific to a culture. It is a culture that creates a language as a medium of
communication within a specific social group with distinct ethnic and cultural traits passed down
as heritage from generation to generation. However any change in the language brings a change in the culture.
Language is the verbal expression of culture. Culture is the ideas, customs and beliefs of a community with
a distinct language - everything speakers can think about and every way they have of thinking about things as
medium of communication. For example, the Latin language has no word for the female friend of a man (the
feminine form of amicus is amica, which means mistress, not friend) because the Roman culture could not
imagine a male and a female being equals, which they considered necessary for friendship. Similarly there is no
masculine gender for ‘virgin’ since culture does not dictate such sexual purity for men.
It is thus clear that a culture constructs its language according to social needs and demands. Language is used
to maintain and convey culture and cultural ties. Language provides us with many of the categories we use for
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expression of our thoughts. Thus our thinking is influenced by the language which we use. The values and
customs in the country we grow up in shape the way in which we think to a certain extent. It is apparent that
culture, as the totality of human’s way of living and as an imbued set of behaviour and modes of perception,
becomes highly important in language. A language is part of a culture and a culture is part of a language; the two
are intricately interwoven so that we cannot separate the two without losing the significance of either language
or culture.
Language is a part of culture, yet it is more than that. It is central to culture since it is the
means through which most of culture is learned and communicated. Infants learn the language and
simultaneously acquire the culture of the society into which they are born. Only humans have the
biological capacity for language, which allows them to communicate cultural ideas and symbolic
meanings from one generation to the next and to constantly create new cultural ideas. The capacity for language
separates humans from other primates. In any language, an infinite number of possible sentences can be
constructed and used to convey an infinite number of cultural ideas.
Because of this, human language is significantly different from any other system of animal communication.
A culture uses language as a distinct medium of communication to convey its defining
ideas, customs and beliefs from one member of the culture to another member. Cultures can
develop multiple languages, or "borrow" languages from other cultures to use; not all such languages are co-
equal in the culture. Culture is often defined by the predominant language used by its members. Languages, on
the other hand, can be developed (or evolved) apart from its originating culture. Certain languages have scope
for cross-cultural adaptations and communication, and may not actually be part of any culture. Additionally,
many languages are used by different cultures (that is, the same language can be used in several cultures).
As cultures come up with new ideas, they develop language components to express those
ideas. For example studies are being conducted on the influence of computers and the internet on
language. The reverse is also true - that is, the limits of a language can prevent certain concepts
from being part of a culture. Finally, languages are not solely defined by their developing
culture(s) - that is, most languages borrow words and phrases ("loan words") from other existing
languages to describe new ideas and concepts. Indian loan words that have come into English in
recent times include ‘guru’, ‘mantra’, ‘curry’ and so on. In fact, in the modern very-connected
world, once one language manufactures a new word to describe something, there is a very strong
tendency for other languages to "steal" that word directly, rather than manufacture a unique one
itself.
Language provides us with many of the categories we use for expression of our thoughts.
Thus our thinking is influenced by the language which we use. The values and customs in the
country we grow up in shape the way in which we think to a certain extent. Various studies have
been carried out, among them, a well-known hypothesis is the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis made by

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two American linguists Edward Sapir and Benjamin Whorf. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis describes the
relationship between language, culture and thought. The core idea is that man’s language moulds his perception
of reality. We see the world in the way that our language describes it, so that the world we live in is a linguistic
construct. Depending on the language we speak we see the world differently. His best example was the
comparison between the idea of snow of an English person and an Eskimo person. The Eskimo has many words
to describe snow, while the English only have one. An Eskimo has specific words to describe wet snow, snow
currently falling and so on. Therefore an Eskimo perceives the snow in a different way from an English person.
Therefore, a ‘snow world’ in an Eskimo’s eye and an English speaker’s eye would be different. This example
shows that people’s perceptions of their surroundings are modified by the conceptual categories their languages
happen to provide. Another example is the Dani people, a farming group from New Guinea. They only have
two words to describe the two basic colors: dark and bright. Hence a Dani person cannot differentiate colors as
well as an English person is able to.
This hypothesis dictates that language and culture influence one another. In a group of people whose
language has no word for "yellow", they may as a culture consider yellow and orange objects to be the same
color (whereas in English there are different words for these colors so that the objects are seen as having
completely different colors). For a society that uses a language in which the word for "beautiful" is the same as
the word for "clean", it may be difficult or impossible for the people in that society to accept that something
dirty could be beautiful and they may equate cleanliness with beauty.
Similarly, a society's culture will influence their language. If a group lives in a cold area with heavy, constant
snowfall, they may have many different, specific words for snow, whereas a group living in a warm climate may
only have one word for snow. Similarly an interesting example is the concept of time in different cultures. In
English a watch ‘runs’ (as in time is running out), in Spanish it ‘walks’, in French it ‘marches’, in German it
‘functions’. Here it becomes clear how different cultures value time. In the Anglo value system time flies, the
watch runs and time is money.
There is plenty of other linguistic evidence of culture differences. The relationship issue for
example is often used to explain the cultural difference between Chinese people and English
speakers. In Chinese, there are more precise terms for describing relationships than in English.
Chinese people distinguish relatives on mother’s side from those on father’s side. They have the
word ‘biao’ to call the brothers and sisters on mother’s side and the word ‘tang’ for the father’s
side. Also, the uncles and aunts are addressed differently on each side. On the contrary, in English,
there are limited words to describe relationships. This difference indicates that relationships play
an important role in Chinese culture. Relationships among people are generally considered
important for Chinese people. The precise terms for describing family and other relationships
reflect the Chinese culture, and the language may in turn influence the Chinese way of thinking.
Talking about relationships, in English, we have the phrase ‘-in law’ to address a certain kind of

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relatives, this may indicate that compared to relationships, law plays a more important role in the
western culture. Another example can be found between English and French. English borrows a lot of words
from French, and a large part of them are the names of food. Pork, veal, mutton are all French words. Even the
word ‘cuisine’ is from French. Judging from the language, we can tell that French cuisine must be more famous
than English food and the catering culture is more important in France than in English speaking countries.
CONCLUSION
Human beings make sense of their life in society by building up patterns of
action, organising perceptions into coherent patterns, and organising their own actions on patterned lines too.
In other words, we fall into habitual ways of acting. When we relate to others we relate to them as typical,
as ideal types. Interaction takes place on the basis of a mutual process.

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