Sociology

Sociology is a relatively new science born at the beginning of the 19th century. Together with philosophy, psychology, political science, and anthropology, sociology belongs to the humanities and explores “society” in its broad sense. It is the science of social phenomena, structures, relations, social problems, and their causes. The actions of individuals and groups; the social meaning that these actions obtain; the social interactions caused by [Page 1628]coexistence in organized, rule-based societies; the ways with which social cohesion is achieved and social conflict is resolved; as well as the regulatory power mechanisms in societies are some of the main questions of modern sociology's research agenda. Processes of institutionalization, socialization, and social stratification are of paramount interest for the several subfields of sociology.

Sociology is neither a homogenous science, nor does it consist of a unified analytical framework; a series of various methods and methodologies has been developed since its birth. Sociological research is constructed both on empirical methods and on theoretical models, attempting to argumentatively interpret and causally explain social reality and social phenomena. Empirical research is based both on quantitative methods like statistics and on qualitative ones, like interviews, questionnaires and observation. Theoretical models use historical analysis and are in critical dialogue with opposing social theories.

Most sociological approaches combine theoretical and empirical methods and also attempt new methodologies, comparisons and critiques. Because the approaches to the social world differ from one social theory to another, the questions under research differ as well. Therefore, the social problems that are each time chosen for analysis among others, as well as the social aspects that are considered most appropriate to focus on, depend on a variety of differentiating factors between sociological schools. These include: The ways with which political needs, political orientations, and ideological starting points affect the structuring of the sociological approach; the observing position of sociologists and their social and economic status; and their educational and cultural background.

Most importantly, the research issues that are each time considered to necessitate further examination, elaboration or critique, depend on the historical socioeconomic and political circumstances in which they were born and established. Thereby, sociological theories are not isolated from society, its ruling power and the social needs that are prioritized in a given spatio-temporally defined social condition. On the contrary, they stand in a dialectical relation with these social conditions. Either by analyzing them in order to make them more efficient for some parts of society, or by criticizing and deconstructing them, sociological theories reflect the specific conditions and historical circumstances that allowed and signified their production.

Among the abundance of sociologists who provided sociology with important analytical instruments and enriched the field, a few pioneering figures were: The positivist philosopher August Comte (1798–1857) who has been named as the “father of sociology” and was seeking to create a social science resembling natural sciences; Karl Marx (1818–83) with his theory of capitalism, class struggle, and historical materialism; Max Weber (1864–1920) who introduced the concept of rationalization and studied the structuring of the modern state and its bureaucracy mechanisms; Emile Durkheim (1858–1917) who studied the division of labor and introduced the concept of anomie in order to examine the consequences of social change; and Georg Simmel (1858–1918) who discussed the development of modern cities and the effects of urbanization processes on the lives of individuals.

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