determination of any science - sociology, and this is no exception - it starts with the definition of the key basic principle, laws, categories and methodologies.From the name itself - "socio" (society, community) and "logos" (science, knowledge) - we can make a conclusion that sociology - the science of society.But how to separate it from other social sciences, such as political science, social psychology, and others?What, in fact, is sociology?The definition of this science is given, among others, in Vebsterovskom dictionary: "Sociology - the science of the history of development, the laws of organization and collective problems of human life as a unit of society, representing certain social groups and communities."
But before we can answer the question, what is sociology, we must clearly understand what is the social group and the community?Is every group of people is such?People are social groups only by virtue of association in this group because of the historical stable ties.Not everyone, situational, like passengers on a ship or in a movie theater audience, namely sustainable.Social groups, so you can call a family, educational or labor collective.But it is also a community can be called and the people who directly with each other may not be familiar with - the age groups, social strata and classes, ethnic groups, religious communities, in the end, the state and the nation.
Determining what is sociology, with respect to these communities and groups can be characterized as follows: the science studies the laws of the formation of these groups, their functioning in the building of the state mechanism and the relationship between them.This is the subject of sociology.Of course, Aristotle called the human "zoon politikon" - that is "social animal", but sociology as a science is a fairly young.It originated only in the XIX century., And since then, from her "spun off" the other direction, into an independent social science.
, who first introduced into scientific use the term "sociology", was Auguste Comte in 1842 in his book "Course of Positive Philosophy," he explained that such a sociology, and described this science.Being a supporter of the principle of "stability and progress", Comte knocked on the physical understanding of the society of balance and symmetry of the structural elements of society.Thus, sociology, according to Comte, is the knowledge of the society as some kind of a structural body in which each "molecule" can be studied from the standpoint of the public good, and sociology itself can be considered as social statics and social dynamics.He proposed to explore the social processes following the example of the natural sciences.Therefore, the method is called Comte's social physics.
great contribution to the definition of what is sociology, Marx introduced.After analyzing the society of his time period of "industrial revolution", Marx developed a brilliant and has not yet refuted the doctrine of socio-economic formations.The main "transmission belt" in the process moving society, he called the material and economic relations.The merit of Marx is the fact that it defines society as a dynamic structure that is the product of historical development.
scholar Max Weber and Emile Durkheim developed their own sociological theories formed the basis of the subject of sociology.What is the theme uniting of different abilities and level of development of people in the same social groups - they wondered issue.According to Weber - is to achieve their goals through individual collective efforts of the entire group of people.Durkheim answers this question differently: to act a certain way, the individual makes a "collective consciousness" that is, the rules and regulations adopted in society, a society, a country to which the individual belongs.
