ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF SOCIOLOGY

INTRODUCTION
         In a strict technical sense, Sociology began in the philosophy of Auguste Comte, since nobody before his time had used this word. On the other hand, the interest in the discussion and study of society appeared much earlier in history. It is therefore possible to have a realistic understanding of the origin of Sociology if we see the discipline as the product of a larger intellectual movement which may be called social thought. This unit examines the development within Sociology and the factors that influence the expansion of Sociology.
The Origin of Sociology
Like the choices made by individuals, major historical events rarely “just happen”. So it was that the birth of sociology resulted from powerful and complex social forces. Although humans have mused about society since the beginning of history, sociology is among the youngest academic disciplines – far newer than history, physics, or economics. Only in 1838 did the French social thinker Auguste Comte (1798-1857) coin the term “sociology” to describe the new way of looking at the world.
      Developments within Sociology
Sociology is a discipline area within distinct historical intellectual and social contexts, and that it is the product of a particular era in particular societies. Major questions about the individual and society have pre-occupied thinkers in all periods of history; the philosophers of Ancient Greek and Rome reflected upon the way society operated and/or should operate. Centuries afterwards social and political theorists and philosophers applied themselves to similar question. But these philosophical analyses of society were essentially based on speculations, on dubious and untested assumptions about the motives of human beings in their behaviour and on undisciplined theorizing, and they lacked systematic analysis of the structure and workings of societies. Philosophers and thinkers frequently constructed grand models and schemes about humans and their societies without looking at how societies actually worked.
     However, from the 18th century onwards in Western Europe, important changes took place in perspectives on and understanding of society and individual’s place in it. Many considerable advances were taking place in scientific discovery with regard to the structure and composition of the physical world surrounding human beings, and with regard to the physical nature and make-up of human beings themselves. The natural sciences though at its infancy were beginning to develop systematic methods for studying the physical world and the individuals part in (and relation to) it. They were being increasingly recognized and valued for providing certain knowledge. Alongside these developments there were also extensive social, economic and political changes which had and were to have profound effects on societies in Western Europe and elsewhere (Industrial and French Revolutions). Scientific and technological advances laid the foundation for the transformation from predominantly rural, agricultural, ‘manual’ way of life to an urban industrial, ‘mechanized’ pattern of living. How inventions and developments in methods of production, transport, etc. changed the scale and location of production at work from the land and small enterprises to the town and city and large-scale enterprises to like factories. A greater variety of occupations emerged. These extensive changes in response to process of industrialization resulted into a major paradox, in that they brought a ‘new society with greater productive potential and more complicated ways of living while at the same time generating extensive disruptions in rational pattern of life and relationships; as well as creating new material problems of overcrowded and unpleasant urban conditions, poverty and unemployment. Sociology as a distinct discipline emerged against the background of these intellectuals, and material changes in the second half of the nineteenth (19th) century. The early sociologists were greatly influenced by the changes in patterns of life which they saw going on around them as industrialization proceeded and they were often deeply disturbed by what they saw. It is certain that early sociologists were not intense ‘radical’ individuals but they could accurately be labeled as ‘conservatives’ made uneasy by the changes they were observing in society. They were greatly concerned with the idea of obtaining exact knowledge of the working of society, and living in a period when the natural sciences were making great contribution to knowledge, felt that the application of natural science methods to the study of society might produce similar advance in understanding. Thus, from the very beginning, there was a great emphasis on the need to analyze social life scientifically. Auguste Comte, the so-called ‘founder’ of sociology stressed the adoption of a scientific method of analyzing society so that we might improve through a thorough understanding of it. Summed up in his famous phrase: “To know, to predict and to control” This early emphasis on the scientific analysis of social life was to have (and still has) considerable implications for the subsequent development of the discipline. Although, the beginning of sociology has been located in Western Europe in the second half of the 19th century, its development and acceptance as an academic discipline was not a uniform and uncomplicated process. Sociology became firmly established in France and Germany earlier than in Britain. The early classical works in sociology of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was produced in France and Germany; with Emile Durkheim in France and Karl Marx Weber in Germany as the outstanding figures. Sociology developed markedly in the USA too and received more widespread acceptance there than in Britain because USA early in 20th century had a great deal of sociological material, (with industrialization, migration, and organization taking place). As an established discipline, however, Sociology is a relatively new arrival on the academic scene, and the real expansion in its popularity has occurred after the first and second world wars.
Factors that Influenced the Expansion of Sociology
i. In the post-war period there has developed a rather more critical awareness of how societies operate. Fewer people simply sit back and accept their societies unthinkingly. They saw overpopulation, poverty and crime in spite of great industrialization.
ii. Alongside this, there has developed an increasing concern with social reform and the re-ordering of society, accompanied by the belief that in order to make such reforms effective and soundly based, knowledge about society and its members is needed.
iii. There has also developed an increasing awareness of other societies and ways of life as a result of better systems of communication, travel and mass media.
iv. It is held those people who work in government, industry, the social services, etc., ought to have some sort of specialist knowledge of society on the grounds that they will be better equipped to meet the demand of their work.
CONCLUSION
     Although many speculative thinkers have thought about the human society, however, it was Auguste Comte who first used the word ‘Sociology’. The achievements in the natural sciences and other extensive changes created enough problems that called for the systematic study of man in society. It scientific posture captured in the phrase ‘to know, to predict and to control’ gave Sociology a unique place in the social sciences. Sociology had since then developed and expanded due to some prevailing factors.
SUMMARY
        In this unit due attention had been given to the origin and development of Sociology. Distinctions were also made between Sociology and natural on one hand and other sciences on the other hand. Inspite of it short history of existence, Sociology has advanced the frontier of knowledge in the scientific study of society.