Sociology is the essence of society. This general definition has several clarifying definitions:
- the science of the social systems that make up society;
- the science of the laws of the development of society;
- the science of social processes, social institutions, social relations;
- the science of the social structure and social communities;
- the science of the driving forces of consciousness and behavior of people as members of civil society.
The latter definition is relatively new and it is increasingly shared by many sociologists. Proceeding from this definition of sociology, its subject is the totality of social phenomena and processes. They characterize the real public consciousness in all its contradictory development:
- activity, actual behavior of people;
- conditions (environment) that affect their development and functioning in the socio-economic, socio-political and spiritual spheres of society.
Sociology is a very popular science. Many students learn this science in colleges and do sociology homework assignments. If you need to write essay about sociology and you don’t know how to start it, you must read scientific articles on sociology.
The emergence of sociology as a science
The term "sociology" in the literal sense of the word means "the science of society" or "the doctrine of society". For the first time it was used by the French philosopher Augusta Comte in the 1840s. However, many provisions of the future science were anticipated in the works of Confucius, Indian, Assyrian and Ancient Egyptian thinkers.
A special place in the substantiation of social ideas belongs to the ancient Greek philosophers Plato, Aristotle. However, all the social ideas expressed and formulated before the 1900s were the forerunner of sociology, its origins, but not the science itself.
The emergence of sociology as a science reflects a qualitatively new stage in the history of society, when it appeared in the human dimension, each person became a subject of the historical process. This radical turn in social practice and social science is connected with the great bourgeois revolutions, mainly with the French revolution in the late 18th century. It proclaimed freedom, equality, brotherhood of all people, regardless of social origin, social status, religion, nationality. It is from this period that a new understanding of the role of human beings, the study of the consciousness and behavior of people as active participants in economic, social, political and cultural changes.
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