Scope of Sociology | Sociology Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Introduction - Scope of Sociology

Each scientific discipline has its own specific areas of focus and research domains. For a systematic study of any discipline, it is essential to clearly define its scope and boundaries. However, in the case of sociology, there is no unanimous agreement among scholars regarding its scope. As V.F. Calberton points out, sociology is such a flexible science that it becomes challenging to pinpoint where its boundaries start and end, or where it overlaps with other disciplines like social psychology, economic theory, and biological theory. Determining these distinctions is a complex task.
However, there are two main schools of thought regarding the scope of sociology: 

• The specialistic or formalistic school and
• The synthetic school.

The Specialistic or Formalistic School

The Specialistic or Formalistic School is a school of thought in sociology led by German sociologist Georg Simmel. Key proponents of this approach include Vierkandt, Max Weber, Small, Von Wiese, and Tonnies. This school believes that sociology should be considered a pure and independent science with a limited scope, focusing on specific aspects of human relationships and avoiding historical studies of concrete societies.

• Focus on Forms of Social Relationships: The Formalistic School argues that sociology should primarily study the 'forms' of social relationships rather than their contents. This includes aspects like competition, subordination, and division of labor, which can be found in various fields of social life such as economics, politics, religion, morality, and art. By analyzing these forms, sociology can describe, classify, and analyze social relationships.
• Vierkandt's View on Mental or Psychic Relationships: Vierkandt believes that sociology should focus on the ultimate forms of mental or psychic relationships that connect people in society. He suggests that when studying culture, sociology should not delve into the actual contents of cultural evolution but should limit itself to identifying the fundamental forces of change and persistence.
• Max Weber's Interpretation of Social Behavior: Max Weber argues that the primary goal of sociology is to interpret or understand social behavior. However, he acknowledges that social behavior does not encompass the entire realm of human relations. He further states that sociology should focus on analyzing and classifying types of social relationships.
• Small's Limited Field of Sociology: Small insists that sociology should only cover a limited field, a view shared by Von Wiese and Tonnies. These scholars believe that sociology should not aim to study every aspect of human relations but should focus on specific areas.
• Criticisms of the Formalistic School : The views of the Formalistic School have been widely criticized for several reasons. First, critics argue that the school has unnecessarily narrowed the scope of sociology by focusing only on the general forms of social relationships and ignoring their concrete contents. Second, the distinction between forms and contents is deemed unworkable, as social forms cannot be separated from their content since they change when the content changes. Third, sociology is not the only discipline that studies social relationships, as other sciences like international law, political science, and economics also examine these aspects. Lastly, the idea of establishing a pure sociology is deemed impractical, as no sociologist has been able to develop one so far. Instead, an interdisciplinary approach is more valued in contemporary research.

The Synthetic School

The synthetic school of thought in sociology aims to combine various social sciences to create a comprehensive understanding of social life. This approach views sociology as a general social science, rather than a specialized or pure one. The main proponents of this school include Durkheim, Hob House, Ginsberg, and Sorokin. They argue that all aspects of social life are closely interconnected, so studying only one aspect is not enough to understand the entire phenomenon. This perspective has led to the development of a more systematic and general sociology.

Durkheim's Three Divisions of Sociology

Durkheim, a key figure in the synthetic school, proposes three main divisions or fields of inquiry within sociology: Social Morphology, Social Physiology, and General Sociology.

• Social Morphology: This field studies the territorial basis of people's lives and investigates population-related issues such as size, density, and distribution.
• Social Physiology: This branch includes the sociology of religion, morals, law, economic life, and language.
• General Sociology: This can be considered the philosophical aspect of sociology, dealing with the general nature of social facts and aiming to formulate general social laws.

Ginsberg's Four Branches of Sociology

Ginsberg, another advocate of the synthetic school, identifies four main tasks of sociology:

• Social Morphology: This branch deals with the quantity and quality of the population, studying social structures, groups, and institutions.
• Social Control: This field examines both formal and informal means of social control, such as customs, traditions, morals, religions, conventions, laws, courts, and legislation. It focuses on the regulatory agencies of society.
• Social Processes: This area of study investigates different modes of interaction, including cooperation, competition, conflict, accommodation, assimilation, isolation, integration, differentiation, development, arrest, and decay.
• Social Pathology: This branch studies social maladjustment and disturbances, as well as various social problems like poverty, begging, unemployment, overpopulation, prostitution, and crime.

Functions of Sociology According to Ginsberg

Ginsberg summarizes the main functions of sociology as follows:

• Classifying types and forms of social relationships.
• Determining the relationship between different factors of social life, such as economic, political, moral, religious, legal, and intellectual elements.
• Identifying the fundamental conditions of social change and persistence, and discovering sociological principles governing social life.

The Broad Scope of Sociology

• Sociology has an extensive scope, covering various aspects of society such as social processes, social control, social change, social stratification, social systems, social groups, and social pathology.
• It is neither possible nor necessary to limit the scope of sociology, as this would be, as Sprott puts it, "a brave attempt to confine an enormous mass of slippery material into a relatively simple system of pigeonholes."

Conclusion

The scope of sociology is a matter of debate among scholars, with two main schools of thought: the Specialistic or Formalistic School and the Synthetic School. The former believes in a limited and pure sociology, focusing on specific aspects of social relationships, while the latter views sociology as a general social science that combines various disciplines to create a comprehensive understanding of social life. Both approaches have their merits and criticisms, but ultimately, the vast and complex nature of human society demands a flexible and interdisciplinary approach to studying its various aspects.