Sociology is a science whose object of study is society. The analysis of society is carried out by studying its needs, goals, activities. The tasks of sociology include many concepts, but the basic ones imply a global study of all social processes. Thus, science cannot consider only one direction of an individual’s activity, it must produce an analysis based on a whole set of elements of society’s life.
Object of study
Tasks and the object of sociology are close concepts, since one follows from the other. It is important to understand the meaning of each in order to distinguish between them. The object is the whole of human society, all the information about it that has been obtained by other sciences. A society that has its own individual segments, certain patterns in them, is considered the meaning of the existence of sociology, since that is what it studies very carefully.
Conventionally, several main objects are distinguished:
The world community with its structure and system.
The society of a certain country with its foundations and traditions.
Micro-community - certain social groups, families, organizations.
- The individual himself, personality, unit of society.
Subject of science. What is the difference from the object?
The subject and tasks of sociology are interconnected, in some ways they are even identical. The first concept combines all the laws of development of society and the interaction between different groups, organization.
The subject can be all the characteristic relationships between individuals and the patterns that arise from these relationships. It is important that sociology does not take into account some isolated processes, but extensive cases that affect the entire society as a whole.
When it becomes necessary to clarify a specific subject of science, they often cite some social phenomenon and key event.
- group interconnection - a process of internal integration or debate between communities of people;
- the emergence and development of social formations - the institution of the family, religion and other things;
- any social processes - migration, social mobility.
The object, subject, and tasks of sociology are concepts that are firmly interconnected. Without them, the existence of science and its development is impossible.
The functions of sociology
Each science has certain functions. In sociology, they are as follows:
- Cognitive - is responsible for introducing, studying society. Here a person seeks answers to the question of what kind of modern society is it.
- Conceptual and descriptive - describes the life of the society.
- Ideological - exists in order to highlight the specific ideals of people. Responsible for the development of ideology, worldview in society.
- Management - helps to find more effective ways to solve social problems. Gives important advice, action plans for the ruling authorities.
- Evaluation - provides an objective assessment of society by analyzing all institutions and structural units.
- Explaining - solves issues related to some phenomenon or process in society.
- Predictive - determines the probable future that awaits this social platform.
- Educational - responsible for knowledge of sociology. Which give students in universities, as well as specialists in continuing education courses.
The functions and tasks of sociology coexist together as a determinant and a determinant. That is, the former outline a specific action plan, while the latter help to implement it.
The tasks of sociology
We figured out the functions of the science we are studying. Now we examine its tasks:
- The study of all factors in society.
- The choice of the most significant events for science, which are typical for society. It is important that these phenomena are repeated after a certain period, only then it will become possible to highlight the roles that a person tries on himself when solving problems.
- Explanation that society is developing as a specific system with all structural divisions. That is, a certain part will change, and this will necessarily entail changes in other areas of society. As a result, the whole system will become completely different. The consequence of this task should be the understanding that society is a whole framework that has its own details.
- The fulfillment of the prognostic function, that is, sociologists must anticipate exemplary events in the probable future, try to change them, or, conversely, contribute to an early attack.
- Making recommendations for management due to identified trends in the development of society.
The main tasks of sociology duplicate the functions of science, but give them a deeper meaning. The action indicated in them must be performed throughout the entire process of studying society.
Structure
The goals and objectives of sociology are aimed at all structural parts of society. Science is very extensive, therefore, approaches to the study of its structure are sufficient. The first assumes that there are two types of sociology - fundamental and applied.
The first implies that science has a definite theoretical foundation that will interact with other similar sciences. The second explores specific social events or facts.
The second approach to structuring
Many sociologists present the structure of sociology from a slightly different angle, believing that it is represented by the ratio of the general and the branch. That is, the concept consists of certain branches of the studied science.
There are 3 levels in this approach:
- General - helps to develop the goals and objectives of sociology. Presented as a theoretical basis.
- Industry - the sociology of law, economics, youth and other things.
- Empirical - specific methods and techniques for collecting information.
Industries
The sociology of education is an essential part of science. Education is perceived here as a social institution. His tasks in sociology, the relationship with other institutions are considered.
Another industry is the field of science, which considers the relationship of politics with other areas of society, as well as the relationship of a political institution with social ones. This is the sociology of politics.
The sociology of labor is a segment that science is actively studying. It imprints all human activity, which is perceived as a social process inherent in society. It also provides the most effective ways to increase efficiency, change attitudes to work, and modernize equipment and machinery for work.
Sociology of Management - analyzes the entire system of government. Which arises as a result of some kind of social relations.
The tasks of media sociology in this case include an active study of all typical situations in the development of mass communications, identifying patterns in the actions of social institutions. Which are the cause of the appearance of the media.
Sociology of public opinion - the subjects here are specific mechanisms by which public opinion is born and develops. Various interconnections between groups of people, between people and events in society are considered.
Value
Modern science of society shows that people are very difficult to get used to a new life, which is changing every day. Despite serious technical progress, in any case, knowledge about a person, about society and relations in it play an important role. Thus, the more developed civilization becomes, the more it becomes necessary for sociological knowledge.
Any specialist from various fields should have a basic understanding of society, the tasks and functions of sociology. This is important, since he must be able to predict with the help of such knowledge probable outcomes when interacting with society.
Also, science is of great importance for people who not only want to build a career, but also form a family, find friends, properly raise a child.
E. Durkheim brought out a wonderful idea about the science of society:
Sociology would not be worth an hour of labor if it did not allow improving society.
Sociology helps people see and analyze the problems that arise in society. Science itself is not able to solve all difficulties, for this it needs a person who absorbs all knowledge and information, and then can apply them in practice, thereby improving the surrounding reality, helping people around and himself.