Discuss the changing equation of discipline of sociology with other social sciences. (UPSC CSE Mains 2017 - Sociology, Paper 1)
- Sociological study endeavours to study the social life as a whole. But the social life is so complex that it is impossible to isolate social problems from the whole range of human experience.
- Sociology is one of a group of social sciences, which also includes anthropology, economics, political science and history. The divisions among the various social sciences are not clear cut, and all share a certain range of common interests, concepts and methods. It is therefore very important to understand that the distinctions of the disciplines are to some extent arbitrary and should not be seen in a straitjacket fashion. To differentiate the social sciences would be to exaggerate the differences and gloss over the similarities. Furthermore, feminist theories have also shown the greater need of interdisciplinary approach. For instance, how would a political scientist or economist study gender roles and their implications for politics or the economy without sociology of the family or gender division of labour.
- The life of man is many-sided. There is an economic aspect, legal aspect, an aesthetic aspect, a religious aspect, a political aspect, and so forth. Sociology, therefore, can understand social life as a whole by taking help from other social sciences which study exclusively one or the other aspects of human activity.
- Sociology, for example, in order to understand a particular society has to take stock of the economic, political, cultural, geographical environments, language, religion, morals, law and finally inter-action with the rest of the world. That clearly shows that Sociology cannot have an existence independent of other social sciences.
- But that does not mean that Sociology only borrows from other social sciences and gives them nothing. As a matter of fact, the various social sciences, as we shall study below, are very much dependent on Sociology for the simple reason that no aspect of human life can be detached from its social aspect.
- Furthermore, the various social sciences devote themselves to the study of one aspect of human life and, therefore, are not in a position to give us a complete survey of the social life. For instance cultural Anthropology studies man, especially primitive man and his culture only as they existed in times long past.
- Economics studies man only as wealth-getter and wealth-disposer and enquires into the relations of wealth and welfare. History studies the record of man following only chronological knowledge of the significant events.
- Psychology studies man only as a behaving individual. Social Psychology is concerned with the ways only in which the individual reacts to his social conditions and so on. It is left to Sociology to study interrelations between these elements of social life, and by utilising the results arrived at by, special sciences to given an interpretation of social life as a whole.
- In this sense, Sociology is a more comprehensive science and includes the special social sciences. That is why Sociology has been called the mother of all social sciences. It is thus obvious that the different social sciences cannot have their existence independent of others.
- As they all have a common subject—human social behaviour, it is but natural that they should be interrelated. As remarked by Simpson, “Social science is a unity but it is not a fictitious unity; it is a dynamic unity of operating parts, and each part is indispensable to each and all of the others.”
- Sociology and other social sciences have much in common. Recently, there has been a “gradual coming together” of various disciplines. The old barriers are crumbling. The talk of inter-disciplinary approach is much in the air.
- It is proposed to combine gains in “specialization” with gains in cross-fertilization. However, sociologists continue to emphasize the intellectual autonomy of the field of sociology.
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