The object of study of sociology is human society, individually and collectively, through the application of the scientific method to its structures, forms of organization and behaviors.
Sociology approaches man as a social being and seeks to cover all the edges that start from there. It is formally known as the science that deals with the conditions of existence of human societies.
Sociology is a dynamic field of study, because it must adapt its reflections based on the social changes that occur throughout history, seeking to encompass its determining factors and phenomena.
Throughout its existence as a social science, sociology has applied multidisciplinary techniques that have allowed it to reflect on its basic foundations. This has also allowed him to adopt new methods as new organic scenarios are discovered in which man is socially involved.
It is considered a science that goes far beyond its basic concepts, because its object of study cannot be considered mechanical or absolute. Therefore, there will always be new phenomena whose responses or causes must be approached with fresh perspectives and novel concepts.
Social theories and sociology
Before being established and assimilated as a science or field of knowledge, the origins of sociology were manifested in the social theories that different authors have worked on throughout history.
These theories have arisen due to different contextual aspects, such as the implementation of the first social orders, worked by Aristotle in works such as The Republic.
They have also been generated by the irruption of a new organization due to drastic changes in labor and production relations, as was the case in the work of Karl Marx.
Other authors who developed their own social theories, and who even today are a reference for the study of man in society, were René Descartes, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim, Auguste Comte, Adam Smith and Henri de Saint-Simon, among others.
Emile Durkheim, pioneer of sociology - Source: verapatricia_28
A relevant aspect of this and of sociology itself is that many currents handle ideas that are opposed to each other, which has allowed a great historical richness when it comes to the confrontation of thoughts and ideas.
Social theories start from a fundamental element: man. Most of the authors who have imposed their social thoughts on collective knowledge, have done so starting from their own conception of man based on his environment.
From this they build what would be the social order and the society in which this type of man would develop.
Social theories, in themselves and as part of sociology, present an ideal conception of society that is not necessarily reflected in reality.
Sociology, once it entered the world scientific field, began to take into account the contextual aspects of each historical moment in order to establish its own positions.
Paradigms of sociology
Once recognized as a social science capable of applying scientific methods adapted to its purposes with relative effectiveness, a series of paradigms and approaches have been established in the sociological field that have served to address certain social phenomena.
It should be noted that these paradigms have been changing, and new ones have emerged throughout history, in pursuit of the respective phenomena that originate them.
Among the best known and most applied, we can consider the paradigm or functionalist approach, first proposed by Emile Durkheim.
This paradigm approaches society as a complex system whose internal elements are connected to each other, providing functionality to the whole.
The structuralist current of the 20th century was managed from this approach, whose perception established that society progressed gradually through the application of norms and precepts that would guarantee stability.
Another important paradigm is that of ethnomethodology, which consists of a more pragmatic approach based on man and his immediate environment.
According to this paradigm, the environment influences man through the practices and activities to which he has had to undergo to guarantee his subsistence.
Other paradigms that have received great importance, especially after the decline of older currents, have been the theoretical approaches to conflict and exchange.
The first arises in the middle of the 20th century, from the hand of thinkers such as Jurgen Habermas or Michel Foucault; it can be perceived as a slightly more woven look at the internal dynamics of a social system.
The exchange theory starts from behaviorism, and has great psychological implications in relation to the forms of behavior of man according to his needs and ambitions.
Sociological paradigms are usually overcome. Today neo-Marxist approaches have displaced several of the others mentioned.
Sociology Methods
Because sociology cannot develop as a rigid science, the versatility of its techniques has made it use different methods that in other scientific fields might not be seen together in the same subject.
Sociology can apply the scientifically popular quantitative and qualitative methods as well as the comparative method.
In the case of sociology, qualitative research focuses on the understanding and reflection of human behavior, as well as the explanation of the reasons or consequences of this.
The qualitative approach focuses on answering the how and why of something, by studying small samples under very specific conditions.
Quantitative research is more common because it is used to have general notions about one aspect or several phenomena, through the application of scientific, statistical and numerical techniques that respond to patterns without much specificity.
In this way, relationship patterns are sought that would then allow qualitative approaches to specific aspects.
What in sociology is defined as a comparative method is nothing but the relationship that could exist between different phenomena of a study process that in principle could seem isolated, but with an implicit capacity to influence each other.
References
- Bourdie, P. (2005). An invitation to reflexive sociology. XXI CENTURY.
- Chinoy, E. (1996). Society: an introduction to sociology. Mexico: Fund for Economic Culture.
- FES. (sf). What is sociology. Obtained from the Spanish Federation of Sociology: fes-sociologia.com
- Martinez, JC (May 22, 2012). What is sociology? Obtained from Ssociologists: sociologos.com
- Simmel, G. (2002). Fundamental questions of sociology. Barcelona: Gedisa.