Sociology and Its Relationship to Studying Other Social Sciences
Sociology, like other social sciences, studies society. Unlike other sciences, sociology considers society as an integral system of the functioning of social communities, studies the relationships that exist between these communities, and investigates and explains people’s behavior in society. Sociology explores social norms, values, roles, statuses, preferences, public opinion, and other phenomena that make up social life.
The specificity of sociology lies in its borderline position between natural science and socio-humanitarian knowledge. It simultaneously uses the methods of philosophical and socio-historical generalizations and the specific methods of the natural sciences – experiment and observation. Sociology has strong links with applied mathematics, statistics, logic, and linguistics. Applied sociology interacts with ethics, aesthetics, medicine, pedagogy, planning, and management theory. In the system of socio-humanitarian knowledge, sociology plays a unique role, as it gives other sciences about society a scientifically based theory of society through its structural elements and their interaction; methods and techniques of human study.
Ways of Viewing Society
Structural-Functional Perspective
According to the structural-functional approach, society can be represented as a set of subsystems and a set of individual positions occupied by individuals and roles corresponding to these positions. The state and behavior of significant elements and individuals are explained by the needs to perform functions and roles. Therefore, the main task of the study, according to representatives of this approach, is to identify the elements of the system, their functions, and types of communication between them. Tweedell (2021) notes that T. Parsons is considered the founder of the structural-functional approach. The scientist divided society into four major subsystems: economic, political, normative, and cultural, each of which performs a specific function important for maintaining the integrity of the system.
Social Conflict Perspective
From the point of view of the theory of social conflict, the basis for the functioning of society is the balance of conflicts, which establishes the basic rules of social interaction between groups and individuals. According to Andersen (2019), one of the proponents of this approach, Dahrendorf, argued that conflict is the flip side of any integration, so it is inevitable in society. Conflicts are based on the motives and interests of various subjects. The task is not to avoid conflicts but to direct them along a specific path that does not destroy the system but leads to its gradual evolution.
Interactionist Perspective
Followers of interactionism consider human society as a product of interpersonal interaction and the values attached to such interaction. Plummer (2021) affirms that interactionists are interested in the question of what and how the entire process of social interaction is carried out and regulated. In this regard, the theme of symbols and meanings becomes key. According to Mead, any interpersonal interaction as a fundamental basis for the existence of society presupposes the possession of a symbolic system, primarily language, which allows a person to see himself in the world through symbols and create new symbols.
Components of Culture
Symbols are objects that are given an arbitrary meaning that members of a culture generally agree on, and all communication is based on the ability to symbolize (Tweedell, 2021). For example, symbols characters that represent specific sounds or even concepts (as in Chinese) make up different writing systems.
Language is the ability to symbolically communicate with one another, and it’s what makes human culture possible (Tweedell, 2021). For example, English or French.
Values are the shared ideas of those things that members of a culture think are good and desirable (Tweedell, 2021). For example, the key values for Americans are freedom and personal rights in property and speech, education and religion, dress and residence, while for the Chinese – conformity to the group, family and place of ancestors, friendship, and devotion to authority.
Norms are the limits that a culture imposes upon its members’ behavior (Tweedell, 2021). For example, there are informal norms (no belching at the dinner table), and formalized norms (the provisions of the US Constitution).
Ethnocentrism is a concept that refers to an attitude asserting that the values and norms of one’s own culture are superior to those of other cultures (Tweedell, 2021). An example would be colonial imperialism, when the colonizers considered the inhabitants of the colonies uncivilized, and Nazi Germany, when the Aryans considered themselves the master race.
Cultural relativism is the view that every culture should be analyzed in its own context and by its own standards, and that cultural understanding is best achieved by understanding a cultural group as it views itself and not by imposing some external standard (Tweedell, 2021). For example, it is customary in American culture to have one spouse, while polygamy is the accepted norm in many Muslim countries.
Norms and Values in American Society
For example, there is a social norm to cross the street at a green light. This norm is based on such values as public order and security. Another example of a norm is the prohibition against causing physical and psychological harm to another person. This norm is based on such values as persons and their lives.
References
Andersen, M. L. (2019). Sociology: The essentials. Cengage Learning.
Plummer, K. (2021). Sociology: The basics. Taylor & Francis Group.
Tweedell, C. B. (2021). Sociology: A Christian approach for changing the world (3rd ed.). Slingshot.