In the context of globalisation, has the scope of sociology been changing India? Comment. (UPSC CSE Mains 2020 - Sociology, Paper 1)
Sociology is the study of man’s behaviour in groups or of the interaction among human beings, of social relationships and the processes by which human group activity takes place. Sociologists differ on what should be the scope of sociology.
- Auguste Comte- Sociology should study social phenomena on scientific lines. He has thus laid stress on scientific approach.
- Emile Durkheim- tried to separate sociology from other social science subjects and also tried to give an independent status to this subject.
- Pareto has tried to give it scientific orientation. According to him in sociology there should be no place for inferences. He is of the view that sociology is much of science and social problems should and can be scientifically studied.
- Max Weber has however said that sociology should merely be an interpretative understanding of social actions and nothing beyond that.
- Non-positivist sociologists such as Mead, Peter Berger etc. emphasis on studying sociology from a micro perspective.
Changing scope of Sociology in the context of Globalization -
- Shift from caste-based perspectives to class-based sociology. As in post-globalised India, class become more important than class
- Re-emergence of Marxist/Conflict perspective to study social institutions → as globalization eventually perpetuated the idea of class society → creating conflicts between haves and have nots
- Emergence of new perspectives in response to the new challenges created by Globalization
- Eco-feminism - In response to environmental destruction and issues faced by female gender
- Post structuralism - It doubts the possibility of attaining universal laws or truths as there is no world that exists independently.
Globalization has hence broadened the scope of Sociology.
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