What is Sociology?

Auguste Comte was the first scholar to use the word sociology in order to refer to the science of human association. The word sociology was derived from the Latin word socius (association, and the Greek word logus (theory) denoted, the theory or science of human association society. Comte wished to establish a science of society that would help to reveal social laws which he believed controlled development and change. Herbert Spencer developed his systematic study of society and frankly adopted the word sociology.

Sociology

Sociology is, quite simply, a way of studying people. Sociologists want to know why people behave the way they do, why they form groups, why they go to war, why they worship, marry, vote, all such things that happen when people interact with one another. This, sociology can be defined as the scientific study of social relations, institutions and society. Various definitions of sociology have been offered by sociologists. Auguste Comte dealt with the problem of defining sociology as a discipline and delineating its nature. The later sociologists focused elaborately on the meaning of sociology. Hobhouse explained how sociology studied the interaction of human minds. Park and Burgess beliefed that sociology is the science of collective behaviour. However, Emile Durkheim was more precise, and he said that sociology is a study of social phenomena.

Max Weber sociology

Max Weber defined sociology in a different way. He says that human activities are oriented to some action. Actions aim at that which fulfills objectives. Individuals in the society engage in actions realization of given goals/interests. Actions, according to Max Weber, constitute the subject matter of sociology. Right from the origin of sociology to the present day, social actions have been considered as the law of sociology. 

In brief, it may be viewed that sociology is the scientific study of the social aspects of human life. Moreover, sociology is the body of knowledge, complied by the scientific method, about human interaction. Interaction we mean reciprocal contact between two or more persons, inter-stimulation and response. Sociologists, therefore, are concerned with man in society, with the human group. From these definitions, we gather that sociology is the study of human society and social behavior well as a study of social relationships and its forms.