By Jason Taylor
06.04.2020
Depending on how you approach it, defining Sociology can be either simple of complicated. It is complicated because there is no one agreed upon definition There are many definitions – and they are probably all correct. It is simple because, in the end, there are some required components to any definition of the subject but provided at least most of these components are present, any order will realistically work.
To begin, it is worth quoting some definitions:
Sociology (in the sense in which this-highly ambiguous word is used here) is a science concerning itself with the interpretive understanding of social action and thereby with a causal explanation of its course and consequences.
(Weber, 1978, p. 4).
Sociology… may be described as the science of collective behaviour.
(Park & Burgess, 1921, p. 42).
Sociology is commonly said to be the science of social facts, that is to say, the science of those phenomena which show the life of societies itself .
(Durkheim, 1982, p. 175)
Sociology is the development of systematic knowledge about social life, the way it is organised, how it changes, its creation in social action, and its disruption and renewal in social conflict.
(Calhoun, et al, 2007, p. 1)
To the newcomer in Sociology, these four quotes may all seem very different. They all use different technical terminology and they may appear to prioritise different conceptual themes. This can make learning the subject, from the start, difficult.
Indeed, defining Sociology once led to my most difficult experiences as a newly qualified teacher. There I was, on a Sunday night, looking forward to getting to know my new group the next day – lively, enthusiastic students, and an easy session ahead – Week 1: What is Sociology? What is Society? I sat there, going through my materials and thinking about what I was going to discuss on each of my carefully put together slides, pre-empting inevitable questions. And I went totally blank… totally blank. I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t even define my own subject. “How on earth do they let me teach this?”, I thought to myself. “How have so many people messed up so royally that I am allowed to teach this stuff”? I went into a bit of a meltdown, doubting my whole education, questioning the ability of my own lecturers (almost all of whom hold PhD’s), questioning teaching mentors, friends, PGCE supervisors. How had so many people overlooked my fraudulence? Had I somehow unconsciously deceived them? Was I just good at hiding my uselessness? How was I going to break this to my wife? How does one explain to their Mum and the rest of their family that they are a fraud? After a good hour-long freak out, I put my work down and made a brew – I needed a time-out.
After 20 minutes or so of thinking it through, I realised I was suffering with what is commonly referred to as imposter syndrome. This refers to feelings of insecurity, incompetence and ineptitude. It is the feeling, for example when starting a new job, that one is an imposter. It is the feeling that you don’t belong, that you do not deserve to be there. And I really did feel like an imposter. It is as though someone could tap you on the shoulder at any moment and explain that a mistake has been made and that you really need to leave.
In reality, however, Sociology is hard to define. There is no one definition. The fact that I was finding it difficult to come up with a total, all consuming, perfect definition of the subject was a result of my awareness that such a definition doesn’t really exist. There is no perfect definition. Rather than seeking one definition then, we can focus on some basic concepts that are likely to be included in most – Sociology is a scientific or systematic study of people in society.
With that in mind, my own definition is:
Sociology is the scientific study of people in society.
But then we have the problem of defining what exactly a ‘society’ is – this question was what caused my meltdown, by the way. Let’s also try to keep this one simple. According to the Oxford English Dictionary on my bookshelf, Society is defined as:
A community of people living in a country or region, and having shared customs, laws, and organisations.
Good enough for me. My advice for those trying to define anything in Sociology is to keep it simple and to-the-point. This science is complex. The nature of society is complex. Our job as sociologists is to take these complex, often hidden aspects of society and make them visible. This is not a call to over-simplify but rather a suggestion to avoid over-complicating unnecessarily.
If we are more concerned with understanding what Sociology is, rather than just looking for basic definitions, it is perhaps easier to consider some of the areas sociologists explore. These include (but are not limited to):
- The Family
- The Education System
- Religion
- Gender
- Sexuality
- Race, Ethnicity and Nationality
- Crime and Deviance
- Prisons
- Social Policy
- Government
- Poverty and Inequality
- Physical and Mental Health
- War and Terrorism
These are very broad themes and each contain their own sub-themes and issues, theories and debates. Some of these areas are explored on this website and my plan is to continue to develop and update the sociological theory presented here.
It is worth recognising that Sociology is a subject that is difficult simply to define – it is therefore difficult to study from the outset. It is a wide, varied and contested subject. But that is the joy of Sociology – embrace it, play around with it! Sociology is a powerful subject that can change you as a person – it can change the way you view yourself and those around you. And prepare for the imposter syndrome. Believe it or not, imposter syndrome is a good indicator that you are doing Sociology and not just common-sense, as we shall see in the section on common-sense.
References
Calhoun, C., Gerteis, J., Moody, J., Pfaff, S., & Virk, I. (2007). Classical Sociological Theory (2 ed.). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing
Durkheim, E. (1895). The Rules of Sociological Method. London: The Free Press.
Park, R. E., & Burgess, E. W. (1921). Introduction to the Science of Sociology. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Weber, M. (1978). Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology (2 ed.). London: California Press.