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Paper prepared by Prof. Omar Hasan Kasule Sr. MB ChB (MUK), MPH (Harvard) DrPH (Harvard) Chairman, Institutional Review Board - KFMC
DEFINITION AND CLASSIFICATION
• Sociology is a discipline that studies the structure, interactions, processes of change in society. Its basic units of study are the institutions, communities, populations, and social groups based on gender, race, and ethnicity.
• Sociology is concerned with the normal and abnormal and therefore studies crime and social deviation.
• Sociology has a wide scope and uses a wide variety of tools. It is closely related to other social science disciplines especially anthropology.
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT - 1
• Sociological ideas can be traced to the ancient Greeks but as discipline sociology emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries. The term sociology was first used by Auguste Comte in 1838 N.
• The period of foundation from the late 19th century to World War I. The discipline was influenced by Darwinian determinism but with the waning of interest in evolutionary theory, 4 deterministic theories were developed: economic determinism, geographic determinism, psychologic determinism, and cultural determinism. These deterministic theories have had varying degrees of impact on sociology at various epochs in time.
• Economic determinism reflected the views of Karl Marx that the economic system determined social behavior.
• Geographical or ecological determinism holds that climate and geography are determinants of social behavior.
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT - 2
• Psychological determinism explains social behavior in terms of individual attributes: drives, motives, intelligence, emotions, etc.
• Cultural determinism holds that culture is the determinant of social behavior.
• Functionalism is a school of thought based on functional linkages that hold a group together. The functionalist theory had to undergo major modifications when it was realized that its predictions differed from the results of empirical research. The new school of thought that developed was the functionalist-conflict school that emphasized the role of social conflicts. Sociologists also studied changes in the stratification of society based on gender, race, and socio-economic indicators.
• After the second world war sociology became more interdisciplinary and more specialized. Political and economic aspects of sociology were studied. Other sociologists studied social movements.
PARADIGMS AND METHODS
• Sociological research today depends on the collection and analysis of data. Usually, extensive amounts of data are collected without prior theoretical considerations. Hypotheses are developed during the analysis.
• Data collection takes various forms: participant observation, life histories, case studies, interviews, questionnaires, etc. Data collection based on specific mapping of urban areas provides specific insight on some variables. Experiments on social interactions are also used as part of sociological research.
• Statistical techniques such as correlation and regression are used to study the relationships between sociological variables. Sociologic al data usually has too many variables. These are reduced to fewer variables by factor analysis before applying analytic techniques.
• Qualitative research techniques are also used. Respondents may be asked to indicate the degree of agreement or disagreement with given propositions. The sociological methodology has to address issues of validity of data and bias.
• Results are often not easy to interpret because social experience is very complicated. Sociologists argue about whether research should respond to theory or to societal problems.
ISLAMIC EPISTEMOLOGICAL CRITIQUE
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