5. Sociology

“Social life is the only carrier

of any force and of any sense”

George Simmel

Sociology is the science about society. This word comes from the Latin word societas (society) and the Greek one logos (studies).

Sociology is one of the youngest sciences. In the XIX century this term was introduced by the French scientist and philosopher Auguste Comte (1798-1857), who was considered to be the founder of the sociology as the independent science.

The XIX century is characterized by the factors of social progress, problems of the civil society and social justice. As a result it brought to life a number of social concepts. The most popular theories were offered by G.Hegel, A.Comte, G.Spencer, E.Durkheim, M.Weber, K.Marx. Their ideas of social development included irrefragable and ingenious answers to the questions put by life and science. These answers were actual for solving modern social problems.

Specialists explore society at two levels:

Microsociology - study of human behavior in their direct personal interactions (individuals' behavior, actions, motives when it influences the stability of society or separate social group);

Macrosociology - concentrates on large-scale phenomena and systems (family, education, religion, economic and political systems), i.e. study of interaction between different social parts and its changes.

Sociological knowledge includes:

1. Social institutes (family, education, science, religion, arts, politics, labor);

2. Social communities (small group, organization, stratum, section of class, mob, ethnosociology);

3. Social processes (deviance, conflicts, mobility and migration, city sociology, social movements).

There are following main functions of sociology:

- Cognitive function: Analysis of social processes, followed by working out scientific forecasts of their further developments in materiel, political and spiritual life of society (organization).

- Ideological function: Analysis of exploring processes, social relations and individual activities from the point of view of certain ideology.

- Descriptive (explaining) function: Description and recreation of the picture of the social object in its activities, interactions etc. followed by conclusions and decisions.

- Forecast function: Development of the short-termed forecasts on the basis of social research.

- Transforming function: Collection, accumulation and systematization of information followed by its transformation and practical use.

The basic terms in sociology are “social status” and "social role". Every human holds several positions. Every position with certain rights and duties is called status. A social role is a set of expectations for people who occupy a given social position or status. With each distinctive social status come particular role expectations.

Thus sociology is the systematic study of social behavior and human groups. It focuses primarily on the influence of social relationships upon people's attitudes and behavior and on how societies are established and change.

In this connection sociology of railway system management plays an active role. Sociologists must control management of all rail command systems and subsystems. It includes the choice of right methods of operations, adequate calculation of the working schedule for personnel, development of convenient and comfortable conditions for clients, resolving possible conflicts, keeping friendly atmosphere inside the organization. The need for sociologists in railways is caused by its infrastructures.

Questions:

1. Speak on the origin of the word “sociology”.

2. Who was the first to introduce the term “sociology”?

3. Who were the first sociologists?

4. What were they mainly interested in?

5. What levels do specialists explore society at?

6. What does sociological knowledge include?

7. What are the main functions of sociology?

8. Define the basic terms in sociology.

9. What does sociology primarily focus on?

10. Speak about the role of sociology in railway system management.