NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT

Relationship of Sociology and other social science disciplines

Subject: Introduction to Sociology

A study about relationship of Sociology and other social science disciplines such as political science, economy, geography, anthropology and psychology provided for the National Institute of Social Development

Content
What is Sociology? Sociology and History Sociology and Political science Sociology and Economics Sociology and Anthropology Sociology and Psychology Sociology and Geography References .. 3

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What is Sociology?
Prior to compare between sociology and other social sciences a briefing of what sociology is explained in the first place. Sociology, in its most basic definition is the scientific study of human behavior that is shaped by society. To distinguish between Sociology and other social sciences it is always better to know several important points .

Natural vs. Social Sciences According to earlier definition of Sociology it is described that sociology is the scientific study of society and influence on human behavior. In general what is meant by science here is, a set of systematic methods used to study the social and natural worlds. Science is also the knowledge obtained by those methods. And this method should be referred to scientific method. This is a standard sequence of steps in formulating and answering questions. (Asking a Question, Identifying Important Factors, Formulating a Hypothesis, Collecting Relevant Information, Testing the Hypothesis) Thus, Sociology uses these standard methods to study society and human behavior in groups in that society. There are certain goals that scientific inquiry has that define it as a discipline a. ) The first goal of science is to explain why something happens. b .) The second goal is to make generalizations to go beyond the individual case and make statements that apply to a broader group or situation. To achieve generalizations, scientists of all types look for patterns, reoccurring characteristics or events. c. ) The third goal is to predict, to specify what will happen in the future in the light of current knowledge. There are two disciplines and there is a divide in science between the Natural and Social Sciences. a. The Natural Sciences are disciplines designed to understand, explain, and predict events in our natural environment. These disciplines are divided into specialized fields based on what they are studying. For example, biology, chemistry, physics, etc These are also divided into even narrower fields. Each of these areas of investigation examines a particular slice of nature. b. The Social Sciences, on the other hand, focus on the social world - they examine human relationships. Like the natural sciences, social science attempts to be objective when looking for patterns and relationships that arise between people in society. The social sciences are also divided into specialized fields like psychology, economics, political science, etc

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Sociology and History

History is the social science focusing on past events. Historians attempts to unearth the facts surrounding some events that they feel is of social significance. They attempts to establish the context or social milieu, of the event_ the important people , ideas , institutions, social movements or proceeding events that in some way appear to have influenced the outcome they desire to explain . From this context, which they construct from records of the past , they abstract what they consider to be the most important elements, or variebles that caused the event.By means of those casual factors or variables historians explain the past. History is a study of the past which people have already lived.Data for historiens come in the form of record from archives,musiums libraries and personal collections of people. Historians of ancient times also study inscriptions.Historical data may not be complete.Some might have been destroyed , lost , stolen or inaccessible.Therefore historians have to build up their.interpritation of the past of the material. Historians are concerned with specific societies.They tell about the system that prevail in a society at a perticiular time. Whatever comparison historian make are of limited scale. They may compare societies inhabiting the same area. But vast comparison of the societies different in scale and time are beyond the scope of history.Therefore historians rarely attempt to generalize about human society as a whole.They provide a detailed account of a specific social situation. By comparison Sociology is principally concerned with the contemporary societies.Sociologists collect data methods. They do not base themselves on data collected by others; they generate their own data,for which thew term primary data is used. While collectin a sociologist keeps in his mind all the aspects.Ifanswere to certain questions have not been found, he can always go back to his field area to fill in the missing information.Asaresult , collected data by sociologists are more comprehensive than the historian who has to connect himself with whatever is awailable. Althiough sociologists study the contemporary Society , they always refer to the historical material awailable on it for understanding social and cultural change.They may also conduct a sociological study of past societies.in a nutshell a sociologis t may study hiatorical societies using the methodology of his subject ang look at the inter-relationship between diferent institutions. When ths perspective is extended for the studies of historical societies , the branch sociology that deals with it is known as historical sociology.The essential difference between history and sociology is the former is concerned with the past, the latter is mainly concerned with the present day societies. While history does not concern itself with contemporary societies, sociology certainly extends its frontiers to include past societies in its csope.

5 Other significant difference is that while history confines itself with the specific societies , sociology attempts to generalize about human societies. In simple words , Sociology studies at the micro l evel. The sociologists also studies a specific society in all its details, but he compares the society he has studied with the \others with an aim to generalize.Sociologistssaythtat the most im-portant methodology in their science is the most comparative method because it helps them to move from particular to general.Sociology is observational , comparative and generalizing science.History bases itself on an analysys of documents.It tries to illuminate Specific situations. Its conclution are bound by concideration of time and space.

Sociology and Political science

Focuses The political scientist studies the ways people govern themselves_the various forms of government,their structures , and their relationships to other institutions of society.The political scientist is specially interested in how people attain how rulingpositions intheir society,how they maintain those positions in their society, how they maintain those positions once they secure them. And the conciquences of the activities or rulers for those who are governed. In studieng a government that has a constitutional electorate, the political scientist are specially concerned with voting behavior Political science is also known as the science of government or the science of polity or politics.It is defined as the systematic study of the state and other organs of power.It studies mthe nature of distribution of power in society, the rules according to which competition for power is carried out and the nature of the government and its functions(such as legislative , executive and the judicial). Political science generally studies the complex advanced and modern societies; in other words those societies that have thee machinery of state and written law.It is concerned with large systems . i.e. whole societies and their political states, rather than with micro-level units, for which sociologists are famous.Political scientists donot carry outpieces of intencive field work with societies.Their data come from public documets , census and official reports, prooceedings of the parliament and other political organs, surveys of openions and election results,etc. This implies that political scientists do not go to field to collect data.The data that they interpret are those that have been collected and compiled by others. More over political science, as its name implies , is primarily concerned with political instituteions.i.e. those that deal with the distribution of power in the society and the maintenance of law and order. An important area of political science is of political philosophy , pertaining to the emergence of state and the need of order. Sociology studies of all types of societies irrespective of weather they happen to be classified as tribal peasant or urban-industrial.It is comparative in nature.It gives the information of the distribution of power in those societies (tribal and peasant) that political scientist do not study.Sociology supplements the understandin od political scientists by providing information about the mechanism of social control insimple societies. As of former mentioned that political science is mainly concerned with political institutions.Sociology does not give primacy to any institution.For it all institutions are equally important because each contributes in its own significant way to the functioning ofd society. Thus for sociology , political institution is one of the institutions of society and should be analized in relationship with other institutions of society.Thespecializerd study of political institution that sociologists undertake is known as political sociology.It shares many characteristics in common with political science, but it emphasizes more than the political science th e social bases of the distriobution of power, control mechanism a nd the system of laws.Questions dealing with the relationship between social stratification and the distribution of power or the role of taboos and other prohibitions in the maintenance of social order, or the place of kinship in political system are sociological questions. Sociologists carry out field work with micrio-level units whether they are urban neighbourhoods or political parties.They illuminate the processes at work at local levels.By comparing local situations they

7 reach towars generalizations about the political system as a whole.Both political science sociology aim to reach general positions about political systems but the way in which they accomplish this taskisdifferent.Political scientists begins with macro-units and generalize about them.Sociologistsstiudymicrio-units , systematically compare them and then reach common proposisions. Like political scientists, sociologists also study how people govern one another, especially the impact of various forms of government on people's lives. Like economists, sociologists are concerned with what happens to the goods and services of a society -- but sociologists place their focus on the social consequences of production and distribution.

Sociology and Economics

is another discipline in the social sciences that concentrate on a single social institution.Economic study the production distribution and allocation of the material goods and services of the society.They want to know what goods are being produced at what rate and what cost, and the variables that determines who gets what.They are also interested in the choices that underlie production_ froexample,whywith a limited resources a certain item is being produced instead of another.Some economists also are interested in the conciquences for human life of the facts of production distribution and allocation of goods and services. Economoc is reguarded as the most developed of all social sciences. It has been able to develop both the traditions of both qualitative and quantitative research. One of the branches of economics is called econometrics , which is concerned with the quantitative assessment of the economic phenomena. Compared to other social sciences, including psychology, modern economics is highly mathematical. Economics studies the aspects of production, distribution and exchange, and consiumption in society.It begins with the observation that resources are scarce and limited whereas human needs are unlimited.Hence there is a need to balance between limited resources and unlimited needs and wants.Thestratergy human beings adopt is to make the best use of the resources awailable with them, and at the same time , put a check on ones needs. The process of striking a balance between the two, resources and need is called economization and the science of economic studies. Economic concentrate upon the study of economic system in modern complex and urban-industrial societies.A similarly exist s between economics and political science. Economics looks at modern economic institutions in a comparative perspective , aiming to arrive at general preposisions.Although it recognizes the role of social factors.(such as kinship , religion , values) in influencing economics, it conciders them as essencially irrational , which tend to slow or even retard the growth of economy. For developin economy one has to take rational decetions because they will lead to gains and profits. Each economic system is based on the principle of maximization of gains and returns. Combining these aspects it can be said that economics is concerned with: Therelationship between demands and supplies in a society. The rational use of resources for fulfillingones needs; and The issues of economic development. For sociologists, economic institution is one of the several institutions of human society.Therefore it does not give any priority to its study over other institutions The contribution that social factors make to economics is examined in detail in sociology. Sociologists submit that social factors excdercise a tremendous impact on the decesions people make with respect

9 to resources, their use and distribution.The factors that seem irrational to economics are infact quite meaningful than the perspective of people.From their studies in tribal and peasant societies sociologists have conferm this point. In many societies people indulge in what is calledwastefullexpenditurebut this is knowingly done to enhance ones prestige and honour.In other words wealth is expended for social purposes.Sociologists look at the social aspects of economy.In this term their work is different from that of the economists, who is mainly concerned with the economic consequences of peoples actions. There are some other aspects in which these two subjects differ.Economists collect their data from government publicatiuons , census reports, proceedings of the banking institutions , economic surway reports and balance sheets. Etc. These data patterns to macro-level situations.It is from a study of these institution that eco\nomists attemptmake generalizations. Rarely they study the society at a micro level , for instance at a level of a village or urban neighbourhood. Sociologists , by comparison carry out their studies at micro level using the methodology of intensive fieldwork.The economists approach is deductive, i.e. he arrives at general proposisions from which specific statements can be made.The sociological approach is inductive.From particular studies , one tries to generalize the whole , and these propositions are subjected to further testing. Finally Sociology is not quantitative as is economics.

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Sociology and Anthropology

The primary concern of anthropologists is to understand culture, the total way of life of a group of people.Culture includes (1)the artifacts that people produce such as their tools art and weapons;(2)the groups structure, that is, the heiarchy and other group patterns thagt determine peoples relationships to hteir fellow members;(3)ideas and values, especially the belief system ofa people and their effects on peoples life;and(4)their forms of communication, especially their language.Theanthropoloists traditional focus on the past societies and contemporary tribal people has winded and , some anthropologists study groups in industrialized settings. Anthropologists who focus on modern societies are practically indistinguishable from sociologists. Anthropology is a study of biological and socio cultural aspects of human beings. It is a scientific study of man in all its diamention, both biological and socio-cultural.The branch of anthropology that studies the aspects of human kind is called physical or biological anthropology, while the study of social and cultural aspects is known as social anthropology.The third branch of anthropology is a study of languages in a comparative perspective.It is known as a linguistic anthropology or Anthropological linguistics.The branch of anthropology that studies the pre- historic past of mankind before writing began is called archaeological anthropology or pre-historic arcaeology.Of the four branches of anthropology, sociology most closely related to social anthropology. Sociology came in to existence as a subject during the late 18 century. Social anthropology had its begenings as a discipline during the second half of the nineteenth century, but it came to occupy a respectable place in the first half of the 20thcentury.The division of labour that traditionally developed was that sociology concentrated on the study of complex , modern and urban-industrial societies, whereas social anthropology studied tribal , peasant and pre-literate societies of the world, those societies that were largely untouched by the forces of civilization.In the beginning sociologists studied the societies which were their own, while anthropologists studied the societies that were different from theirs.this was the reason why sociology came to be reguarded as the study ofones own society, while anthropology earned the reputation of being the study of other cultures. Besides this distinction , the similarities among them were important.both studied the human society in a holistic manner, and attempt to generalize.Both were comparative in nature.in fact the French sociologist Emile durkhiem called anthropology as a comparative sociology.Socialanthropologyisconsideredas a branch or better as a sociology of primitive societies. The distinction between sociology and social anthropology could be applied without much problem where the difference between the our and their societies, i.e. between civilized and primitive societies, was huge and perceptible.Itwa the case in America, Australia, new Zealand or Africa where the native population is totally different from its white colonizers.But this distinction between sociology and social anthropology was not found to be much use in India, because of the continuity between different population.In many cases it wasnt possible to distinguish between tribal and non-tribal or rural and

11 urban populations.In many such cases, the distinction between sociologyand social anthropology was coml=pletely blurred. With the passage of time sociology and social anthropology specialized in the study of different types of societies, they contributed to the developmentof different theoretical interests.Sociologists have made significant contribution to survey methods of data collection., whereas anthropologists contribution has been to field work methodology.Anthropologists have contributedimmencely to the underastanding of kinship and religion, because these two have been institutions of crutial importance in simple societies.To the underastanding of social stratification , education and urban-industrial society, the contribution of sociologists is unparalleled, because these institutions are of primary institutions in modern societies.these specialization apart, there are more similarities between sociology and social anthropology than are between either of them and other social sciences. Like anthropologists, sociologists study culture; they have a particular interest in the social consequences of material goods, group structure, and belief systems, as well as in how people communicate with one another.

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Sociology and Psychology

Concentrates on processes occurring within the individual,within what they call the skin bound organism..Thepsychologists is primarily concerned with what is sometimes reffered to as the mind. Psychologists tipically study such phenomina as perception , attitudes and values.They are also specially interested in personality in mental aberration( or mental illness), and in how individuals cope with the problems they face. The individual and society are two main concepts in social sciences.Society is defined as an enduring set of relations between persons.It is an aggregation of individuals which is different from a crowd.Eachindividual of a society has its own identity, autonomy and mental make up.This would explain why there is a variation between the behavior of two individuals belonging to the same society.the individual internalizes this knowledge and behaves accordingly.However putting this knowledge into action, the individual introduces the element of variation.Even when it is a same kind of situation, each individual will behave differently. The discipline that focuses apon the individual is known as psychology.It is studies the mental structure, of the individual , his memory, intelligence , deep rooted complexes and psychological problems, etc.In other words psychology tries to understand why an individual behaves in the manner he does.It studies psychic (or mental ) facts. In addition to qualitative assestment, psychology makes a lot of use ofquantitativetechniques , for it measures phenomena in precise terms.For understanding certain psychological phenomena, knowledge of the human biologicalsystem is also required.thus psychology pays a lot of assestment to the understanding of human body, specially the nervous system. The branch of psychology that studies the behavior of people in a situation of crowd or mob is called social psychology.Croud behavior is also called collective behavior , which is the subject matter of psychology and is distinguished from behavior that takes place in enduring groups and institutions (such as neighbourhood and families) . The latter is called social behavior , the studuy of which is the subject matter of sociology. Social psychology lies in between psychology and sociology. And unlike psychologists, sociologists stress factors external to the individual to determine what influences people If the psychology is the study of psychic facts, the facts that pertain to the mental structure of the individual sociology is the study of social facts, which are of a continuing entity called society. They are the ones accordintowhich people behave in relation to others. Language is an example of the social fact. Individuals imbibe it during the process of socialization.But the specific way in which they use it depend upon their personality, psychological facts,likes and deslikes, and other personal factors.They do not how ever change the structure of language, its grammer vocabulary and the rules of speakiong the areas with which sociologists are concerned.An example will clarify the distinction between the sociology and psychology. Suppose a law court is in session, and the accused , lawyers, and judjes are

13 discussin the case.The rules according to which they would decide the case are of interest to sociologists.The rights and duties of each of the members involved in the judicial process are also of sociological interest.In short sociologists are interested in the totality of the judicial process. But of interest to psychologists is what goes in the mind of people engaged in the court proceedings.That is why the sociologists make a distinction between social and psychic facts, the former are studied by the sociologists and , the latter is studied by psychologists.Here it is noticeable that theconcept of roles .Status refers to the social position which an individual occupies and the behavior he carries out by virtue of that is called role.Status is a bundle of rights and duties, which society gives and defines.Society allocates statuses.the individual occupy them and are trained to carry out their respective pieces of behavior.The individual performs the role but the way in which he expected to behaves comes from society.thus the concept of status and role linked to society with individual and in turn they establish a link between psychology and sociology. Although like psychologists, sociologists are also concerned with how people adjust to the difficulties of life.

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Sociology and Geography.

Geography is concerned with the relationship between human beings and their natural environment. Sociologists are concerned with human behavior It is largely affected by geographical environment. The rigidity, politeness etc. are important personality traits, which depend on geographical conditions. The close relationship of both of the subjects does not mean that they are one and the same subjects. Sociology is a social science, while geography is partly a natural science and partly social science Physical geographers are often interested in climate, agriculture, social composition and other natural phenomena. Social or cultural geographers may examine many of the same areas that sociologists are interested in. Urban geographers and urban sociologists sometimes work together; they may, for example team up to study the impact of various kinds of housing on family life. Geographers have also made contribution to the explanation of social phenomena, but since geographic conditions furnish only one of four determinants of social facts, geography alone will never be able to explain the particularities of national life and all determination of the influence of the surface forms of the earth on the mental process of its imhabitants is a contribution to sociology, and must be taken up into it as an integral part of its fourfold explanation.The geographers find in physiographic phenomena a part of the conditions which affects social realities and are led by the interest of the theme to set about the explanation of social phenomena.but as geographers they alone cant complete the explanation. Geography is the exactand organized knowledge of the distribution of phenomena on the surface of earth, culminating in the explanation of the interaction of man with his terrestrial environment. Sociology leaves geographers to make important contributions not only to the explanation of the distribution of their form and character. The explanation of what men do and the explanation of where they do it seem at least in some cases to be inseperable. This is specially true in the case of economic activities,while migration and war, are themselves strickly social phenomena which cannot be explain by geography.Moreover the work of explaining the distribution of social phenomena would be identified with sociology rather than geography.

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References :
Sociology and Psychology; Sociology and Geography E. C. Hayes American Journal of Sociology , Vol. 14, No. 3 (Nov., 1908), pp. 371-407

Giddens Anthony,(2000), Sociology, Polity Press, U.K