Sociology - the discipline

Sociology is study of human social life, groups and societies. It's subject matter is our own behaviour as social being. Sociology studies human society as interconnected whole and how society and individual interact with each other. According to C. Wright Mills, an American sociologists, task of sociology is to unravel the connection between personal problem and public issues which he calls sociological imagination.

Having defined sociology, lets look at its historical evolution, for that understanding the history of a discipline helps us understand the discipline itself.

Modernity and Social Changes in Europe and Emergence of Sociology

In 1838 the French social thinker Auguste Comte was the first to use the term sociology as a way of studying the world in terms of society, having grown up during the aftermath of the French Revolution of 1789. Along with the industrial revolution in England during the 18th century and the rise of urbanisation and mass social change, thinkers such as Comte, Durkheim and Marx began to realise the need to study society in its current form as opposed to the tendency of past philosophers on “imagining the ideal society” (Macionis, Plummer, 1997, p.15).

The period of the late 18th century and early 19th century contributed significantly to the emergence of sociology due to the three significant revolutions that occurred during this time.

The Enlightenment was in many respects a renaissance of scientific thought and signalled the beginning of sociology as a discipline. It changed the way philosophers looked at the world by giving a scientific and analytical approach to their theories. Enlightenment figures such as Charles Montesquieu saw humand development of the application of science to humanity. Claud Henry de Saint Simon believed that rational progress through scientific thought, and a new society based on industrial production and scientific discovery. Darwin’s studies into evolution were controversial as they challenged old established ideas of the church. This also let to idea of 'social Darwinism' i.e. only fittest will survive in the society. Since this is one of the cornerstones of capitalist thought (the dominant political and economic presence in the western world today) it has contributed to the emergence of sociology with thinkers such as Herbert Spencer and Karl Marx holding completely contrasting sociological ideas regarding capitalism.

This intellectual revolution made way for the French revolution, and is thought by some to be the most important political event of modern times. Jean-Jacques Rousseau's idea of  Liberty, Equality, Fraternity electrified the Revolution and became its motto. It granted citizens individual freedoms and removed old established orders such as the church and crown, and gave people a new perspective of the world and the society in which they live. The French revolution also led to the emergence of Nationalism which changed the way many people viewed the state as whole.

The industrial revolution saw massive changes in society by the destruction of the feudal system and the establishment of capitalism, which is a key area of discussion within sociology. Accelerated urbanisation and growing industry led to the emergence of the working class as a large and potentially powerful body, which led to the birth of Marxism, one of the most important fields within sociology, and gave people a new perspective and relationship with the society they lived in.

In summary these events were integral to the emergence of sociology and social sciences in this period of history.

References:

National Council of Educational Research and Training, Introducing Sociology, 2006

Please refer this - Emergence of Sociology. I copied most of the content from here.

Note: Please read here first. I will be compiling material from many sources. Sometimes, I will be doing just copy-paste instead of reinventing the wheel. Of course, I will verify to the best of my knowledge of the subject.