NATURE OF SOCIOLOGY

            Sociology is a branch of social sciences.It is consid1ered as a separate discipline.It is also known asbrsnch of knowledge because it has own unit characters.It is different from other sciences in certain respect.
         We already mentioned that  sociology is a science.Science is  one of the  most important component of the modern world..It refers to the body of systamatically arranged knowledge.The advanced Learner's dictionary define science as"The knowledge arranged in orderly manner,especially knowledge obtained by observation and testing a facts.
          It is commanly believed that science is mainly concerned with nature and the social aspect ot science is often overloop.Therefore,broadly speaking, science can be divided into two branches.:
              1)Natural and physical science:It is the branch of science which deals with physical or naturals objects such as soil,climate,rock,organism e.t.c.Natural scientist can conduct experiment in order to aquire knowledge and verify the facts.It is further divided into following branches:

•   Physics 
• Chemistry
• Biology
• Mathematics 
• Geology
• Astronomy,e.t.c

             2)Social science:It is the branch of  science which deals social aspects of the society and human being.It means that it is the study of social life of people.Compare to natural science,it is hard to apply the knowledge in practical uses because the social phenomena are in abstract form.The social scientist try to explain social phenomena by using scientific tools and technique.Social science is also further divided into several branches.Some of them are as follows:

• Geography
• History
• Psychology



indian cockfighting culture 

• Political science
• Sociology 
• Anthropology
• Culture e.t.c

                      There is a controversy about the nature of sociology as a science.One group claim that sociology is as much a science as other sciences but some  other scholars accept sociology to be a science because they claim that it lacks experimentation and predictions.For them the term science should only use for physical sciences where there is experimentation and prediction.In this science,sociology is not a science because it's subject matter such as social relationship,society,social life,human behaviour in group are not easily seen from microscope  and they are not observational also.According to Vidya Bhusan and Sachdeva,the main reasons given by the  critics who deny sociology to be regarded as a science are as follows:
1)Lack of experimentation:The term science as used for physical sciences includes the two process of experiment and prediction .Sociology in this sence ,is not a science because the subject matter of sociology,for examples ,human behaviour,their relationship.their norms and values ,costumes e.t.c cannot experiment directly in a lab by man.But these subject matter of sociology are experimented using different scientifc methods and techniques such as questionaires,surveys,case-study and e.t.c
2)Lack of objectivity:In sociology one cannot maintain complete objectivity with the object of his\her experiment as done a physicist.It is not possible for a man to observe his own prejudice and biased nature.Thus social relationship cannot be studid through physical sences.What we see in social relationship is only and outward expression of our inner life.
3)Lack of exactness:One of teh main important characterstics of science is that it should be able to frame certain laws on the basics of observation and hypothesis and such laws should also enable us to predict accurately .Sociology cannot be expressed in precise terms and it's prediction might not come true.It is difficult ot make predictions about human behaviours.
4)Observations:sociologist can observe the  social phenomena and make conclusion in the area of role,status ,co-operation e.t.c.Though they are all abstract terms,we can observe them indirectly.
5)Comparision:It is impossible to experiment sociology in  a lab but sociologist used comparative method for the study of various kind of group of people in order to find out their similariries and dissimilaritiesin their ways of life.
6)Cause and effect relationship:Like in any scientific process,sociology also looks into cause and efffect relationship.For examples,the use of family planing devices is result of law population growth.
              Similarly,Robert Bierstedt has put forward the following points in order to clarify the  nature of sociology as a scientific study of  social phenomena.

• Sociology is a social science not a natural science
• Sociology is a catagorical or positive science and  normative science.
• It is pure or theoritical science.
• It is abstract science not a concrete science.
• It is generalizing and not particularising science.
• It is both rational and an imperical science.